II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4097 

To provide a temporary moratorium on eviction filings, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 29, 2020 

Ms. WARREN (for herself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. WYDEN, 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. 

CARDIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. HARRIS, and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide a temporary moratorium on eviction filings, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Protecting Renters 

5 from Evictions and Fees Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EVICTION MORATORIUM. 

7 Section 4024 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9058) 

8 is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 4024. TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON EVICTION FIL2 INGS. 

3 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

4 ‘‘(1) according to the 2018 American Commu5 nity Survey, 36 percent of households in the United 

6 States, or more than 43,000,000 people, are renters; 

7 ‘‘(2) in 2019, renters in the United States paid 

8 $512,000,000,000 in rent; 

9 ‘‘(3) according to the Joint Center for Housing 

10 Studies of Harvard University, 20,800,000 renters 

11 in the United States spent more than 30 percent of 

12 their incomes on housing in 2018 and 10,900,000 

13 renters spent more than 50 percent of their incomes 

14 on housing in the same year; 

15 ‘‘(4) according to data from the Department of 

16 Labor, more than 40,000,000 people in the United 

17 States have filed for unemployment since the 

18 COVID–19 pandemic began; 

19 ‘‘(5) the impacts of the spread of COVID–19, 

20 which is now considered a global pandemic, are ex21 pected to negatively impact the incomes of poten22 tially millions of renter households, making it dif23 ficult for them to pay their rent on time; and 

24 ‘‘(6) evictions in the current environment would 

25 increase homelessness and housing instability, which 

26 would be counterproductive to the public health 


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1 goals of keeping individuals in their homes to the 

2 greatest extent possible. 

3 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) COVERED DWELLING.—The term ‘covered 

5 dwelling’ means a dwelling that is occupied by a ten6 ant— 

7 ‘‘(A) pursuant to a residential lease; or 

8 ‘‘(B) without a lease or with a lease ter9 minable at will under State law. 

10 ‘‘(2) DWELLING.—The term ‘dwelling’— 

11 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 

12 section 802 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 3602); and 

14 ‘‘(B) includes a house or dwelling de15 scribed in section 803(b) of such Act (42 

16 U.S.C. 3603(b)). 

17 ‘‘(c) MORATORIUM.—During the 1-year period begin18 ning on March 27, 2020, the lessor of a covered dwelling 

19 may not— 

20 ‘‘(1) make, or cause to be made, any filing with 

21 the court of jurisdiction to initiate a legal action to 

22 recover possession of the covered dwelling from the 

23 tenant for nonpayment of rent or other fees or 

24 charges, or for reasons motivated wholly or in part 


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1 by the nonpayment of rent or other fees or charges 

2 by the tenant; or 

3 ‘‘(2) charge fees, penalties, or other charges to 

4 the tenant related to such nonpayment of rent. 

5 ‘‘(d) NOTICE TO VACATE AFTER MORATORIUM EXPI6 RATION DATE.—After the expiration of the period de7 scribed in subsection (c), the lessor of a covered dwelling 

8 may not require the tenant to vacate the covered dwelling 

9 by reason of nonpayment of rent or other fees or charges 

10 before the expiration of the 30-day period that begins 

11 upon the provision by the lessor to the tenant, after the 

12 expiration of the period described in subsection (c), of a 

13 notice to vacate the covered dwelling.’’. 

Æ 


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