I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 19

To provide for a program of temporary enhanced unemployment benefits. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2003

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, and Mr. LEVIN) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL

To provide for a program of temporary enhanced 

unemployment benefits.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Economic Security Act 

5 of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL-STATE AGREEMENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any State which desires to do so 

8 may enter into and participate in an agreement under this 

9 Act with the Secretary of Labor (hereinafter in this Act 

10 referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’). Any State which is a party 

11 to an agreement under this Act may, upon providing 30 
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1 days’ written notice to the Secretary, terminate such 

2 agreement. 

3 (b) PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under sub5 section (a) shall provide that the State agency of the 

6 State will make payments of regular compensation 

7 to individuals in amounts and to the extent that they 

8 would be determined if the State law were applied 

9 with the modifications described in paragraph (2). 

10 (2) MODIFICATIONS DESCRIBED.—The modi11 fications described in this paragraph are as follows: 

12 (A) In the case of an individual who is not 

13 eligible for regular compensation under the 

14 State law because of the use of a definition of 

15 base period that does not count wages earned 

16 in the most recently completed calendar quar17 ter, then eligibility for compensation under this 

18 title shall be determined by applying a base pe19 riod ending at the close of the most recently 

20 completed calendar quarter. 

21 (B) In the case of an individual who is not 

22 eligible for regular compensation under the 

23 State law because such individual does not meet 

24 requirements relating to availability for work, 

25 active search for work, or refusal to accept 
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1 work, because such individual is seeking, or is 

2 available for, less than full-time work, then 

3 compensation under this title shall not be de4 nied by such State to an otherwise eligible indi5 vidual who seeks less than full-time work or 

6 fails to accept full-time work. 

7 (C) The amount of regular compensation 

8 (including dependents’ allowances) payable for 

9 any week shall be equal to the amount deter10 mined under the State law (before the applica11 tion of this subparagraph), plus an additional—

12 (i) 15 percent; or 

13 (ii) $25, 

14 whichever is greater. 

15 (c) NONREDUCTION RULE.—Under the agreement, 

16 subsection (b)(2)(C) shall not apply (or shall cease to 

17 apply) with respect to a State upon a determination by 

18 the Secretary that the method governing the computation 

19 of regular compensation under the State law of that State 

20 has been modified in a way such that—

21 (1) the average weekly amount of regular com22 pensation which will be payable during the period of 

23 the agreement (determined disregarding the modi24 fications described in subsection (b)(2)) will be less 

25 than 
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1 (2) the average weekly amount of regular com2 pensation which would otherwise have been payable 

3 during such period under the State law, as in effect 

4 on September 11, 2001. 

5 (d) COORDINATION RULE.—The modifications de6 scribed in subsection (b)(2) shall also apply in determining 

7 the amount of benefits payable under any Federal law to 

8 the extent that those benefits are determined by reference 

9 to regular compensation payable under the State law of 

10 the State involved. 

11 SEC. 3. PAYMENTS TO STATES HAVING AGREEMENTS 

12 UNDER THIS ACT. 

13 (a) GENERAL RULE.—There shall be paid to each 

14 State which has entered into an agreement under this Act 

15 an amount equal to—

16 (1) 100 percent of any regular compensation 

17 made payable to individuals by such State by virtue 

18 of the modifications which are described in section 

19 2(b)(2) and deemed to be in effect with respect to 

20 such State pursuant to section 2(b)(1), and 

21 (2) 100 percent of any regular compensation—

22 (A) which is paid to individuals by such 

23 State by reason of the fact that its State law 

24 contains provisions comparable to the modifica-
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1 tions described in section 2(b)(2)(A)–(B), but 

2 only 

3 (B) to the extent that those amounts 

4 would, if such amounts were instead payable by 

5 virtue of the State law’s being deemed to be so 

6 modified pursuant to section 2(b)(1), have been 

7 reimbursable under paragraph (1). 

8 (b) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT.—Sums under sub9 section (a) payable to any State by reason of such State 

10 having an agreement under this Act shall be payable, ei11 ther in advance or by way of reimbursement (as may be 

12 determined by the Secretary), in such amounts as the Sec13 retary estimates the State will be entitled to receive under 

14 this Act for each calendar month, reduced or increased, 

15 as the case may be, by any amount by which the Secretary 

16 finds that the Secretary’s estimates for any prior calendar 

17 month were greater or less than the amounts which should 

18 have been paid to the State. Such estimates may be made 

19 on the basis of such statistical, sampling, or other method 

20 as may be agreed upon by the Secretary and the State 

21 agency of the State involved.

22 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES, ETC.—There is 

23 hereby appropriated out of the employment security ad24 ministration account of the Unemployment Trust Fund 

25 (as established by section 901(a) of the Social Security 
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1 Act) $500,000,000 to reimburse States for the costs of 

2 the administration of agreements under this Act (includ3 ing any improvements in technology in connection there4 with) and to provide reemployment services to unemploy5 ment compensation claimants in States having agreements 

6 under this Act. Each State’s share of the amount appro7 priated by the preceding sentence shall be determined by 

8 the Secretary according to the factors described in section 

9 302(a) of the Social Security Act and certified by the Sec10 retary to the Secretary of the Treasury. 

11 SEC. 4. FINANCING PROVISIONS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Funds in the extended unemploy13 ment compensation account (as established by section 

14 905(a) of the Social Security Act), and the Federal unem15 ployment account (as established by section 904(g) of the 

16 Social Security Act), of the Unemployment Trust Fund 

17 shall be used, in accordance with subsection (b), for the 

18 making of payments (described in section 4(a)) to States 

19 having agreements entered into under this Act.

20 (b) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall from time 

21 to time certify to the Secretary of the Treasury for pay22 ment to each State the sums described in section 4(a) 

23 which are payable to such State under this Act. The Sec24 retary of the Treasury, prior to audit or settlement by the 

25 General Accounting Office, shall make payments to the 
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1 State in accordance with such certification by transfers 

2 from the extended unemployment compensation account 

3 (or, to the extent that there are insufficient funds in that 

4 account, from the Federal unemployment account) to the 

5 account of such State in the Unemployment Trust Fund. 

6 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

7 For purposes of this Act: 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘‘compensation’’, 

9 ‘‘regular compensation’’, ‘‘base period’’, ‘‘State’’, 

10 ‘‘State agency’’, ‘‘State law’’, and ‘‘week’’ have the 

11 respective meanings given such terms under section 

12 205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment 

13 Compensation Act of 1970, subject to paragraph 

14 (2). 

15 (2) STATE LAW AND REGULAR COMPENSA16 TION.—In the case of a State entering into an 

17 agreement under this Act—

18 (A) ‘‘State law’’ shall be considered to 

19 refer to the State law of such State, applied in 

20 conformance with the modifications described in 

21 section 2(b)(2), subject to section 2(c), and 

22 (B) ‘‘regular compensation’’ shall be con23 sidered to refer to such compensation, deter24 mined under its State law (applied in the man25 ner described in subparagraph (A)), 
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1 except as otherwise provided or where the context 

2 clearly indicates otherwise. 

3 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—An agreement entered into under 

5 this Act shall apply to weeks of unemployment—

6 (1) beginning after the date on which such 

7 agreement is entered into, and 

8 (2) ending before July 1, 2004. 

9 (b) SPECIFIC RULES.—Under such an agreement—

10 (1) the modification described in section 

11 2(b)(2)(A) (relating to alternative base periods) shall 

12 not apply except in the case of initial claims filed 

13 after September 11, 2001, and 

14 (2) the modifications described in section 

15 2(b)(2)(B)–(C) (relating to part-time employment 

16 and increased benefits, respectively) shall apply to 

17 weeks of unemployment (described in subsection 

18 (a)), irrespective of the date on which an individual’s 

19 claim for benefits is filed. 

20 SEC. 7. NO REDUCTION IN UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSA21 TION AS A RESULT OF PENSION ROLLOVERS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3304(a) of the Internal 

23 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 

24 the following flush sentence: 
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1 ‘‘In no event shall paragraph (15) apply in the case of 

2 any rollover distribution which is not includable in gross 

3 income for the taxable year in which paid.’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para6 graph (2), the amendment made by this section shall 

7 apply to compensation paid for weeks of unemploy8 ment beginning on or after the date that is 60 days 

9 after the date of enactment of the Economic Secu10 rity Act of 2003. 

11 (2) EXTENSION OF EFFECTIVE DATE FOR

12 STATE LAW AMENDMENT.—If the Secretary of 

13 Labor determines that a State requires an amend14 ment to State law for that State to meet the require15 ments imposed under the Federal-State Extended 

16 Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 

17 U.S.C. 3304 note) by the amendment made by this 

18 section, the State shall not be regarded as failing to 

19 comply with the requirements of such Act solely on 

20 the basis of its failure to meet these requirements 

21 before the first day of the first calendar quarter be22 ginning after the close of the first regular session of 

23 the State legislature that begins after the date of the 

24 enactment of this Act. For purposes of the previous 

25 sentence, in the case of a State that has a 2-year 
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1 legislative session, each year of the session is consid2 ered to be a separate regular session of the State 

3 legislature.

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