II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4276 

To require the Secretary of Labor to establish a program for providing 

portable benefits to eligible workers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2020 

Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mr. DAINES) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Labor to establish a program 

for providing portable benefits to eligible workers, 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 ‘‘Emergency Portable 

5 Benefits for Independent Workers Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Many independent workers and workers in 

9 alternative work arrangements, constituting a sizable 

10 percentage of the workforce in the United States, do 


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1 not have access to benefits and protections typically 

2 provided through traditional full-time employment. 

3 (2) Workers in alternative work arrangements 

4 include independent contractors, domestic workers, 

5 temporary workers, the self-employed, and others in 

6 contingent work arrangements. 

7 (3) According to a 2017 survey by the Bureau 

8 of Labor Statistics, workers in alternative work ar9 rangements as their primary form of occupation con10 stitute 10.1 percent of the labor force, roughly 

11 16,000,000 Americans. 

12 (4) In response to the global pandemic caused 

13 by the coronavirus, Congress created the temporary 

14 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program under 

15 title II of division A of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, 

16 and Economic Security Act (Public Law 116–136) 

17 to provide access to unemployment insurance to pre18 viously ineligible workers, such as gig workers, free19 lancers, and the self-employed. 

20 (5) The people of the United States should not 

21 need an Act of Congress to have access to essential 

22 benefits and protections during the next economic 

23 downturn. 

24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CORONAVIRUS.—The term ‘‘coronavirus’’ 

2 has the meaning given the term in section 506 of the 

3 Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supple4 mental Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116– 

5 123). 

6 (2) ELIGIBLE WORK.—The term ‘‘eligible work’’ 

7 means any work performed for pay that is not in 

8 connection with traditional full-time employment. 

9 (3) ELIGIBLE WORKER.—The term ‘‘eligible 

10 worker’’ means— 

11 (A) any worker who is not a permanent 

12 full-time employee of the parent entity hiring 

13 the worker for the eligible work, including any 

14 independent contractor, contract worker, self15 employed individual, freelance worker, or tem16 porary worker; and 

17 (B) any worker not traditionally eligible 

18 for unemployment compensation under the law 

19 of the State, including such a worker who has 

20 been affected by the coronavirus. 

21 (4) PORTABLE BENEFITS.—The term ‘‘portable 

22 benefits’’— 

23 (A) means work-related benefits that are 

24 provided to eligible workers for eligible work in 


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1 a manner that allows the worker to maintain 

2 the benefits upon changing jobs; and 

3 (B) includes— 

4 (i) contributions on behalf of the eligi5 ble worker made by a hiring entity (includ6 ing multiple entities, if applicable) in con7 nection with eligible work performed by the 

8 worker for the entity, including entities 

9 that facilitate the sale of such work; 

10 (ii) contributions made by the eligible 

11 worker; 

12 (iii) contributions on behalf of the eli13 gible worker made by consumers; 

14 (iv) contributions on behalf of the eli15 gible worker made by labor organizations 

16 or worker advocate non-profit organiza17 tions; 

18 (v) contributions made by a State or 

19 local unit of government; or 

20 (vi) a combination of two or more of 

21 the contributions described in clauses (i) 

22 through (v). 

23 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

24 the Secretary of Labor. 


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1 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

2 the several States of the United States, the District 

3 of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the 

4 United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the North5 ern Mariana Islands. 

6 (7) WORKER ADVOCATE NON-PROFIT ORGANI7 ZATION.—The term ‘‘worker advocate non-profit or8 ganization’’ means an entity— 

9 (A) that is an organization— 

10 (i) described in section 501(c) of the 

11 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and ex12 empt from tax under section 501(a) of 

13 such Code; or 

14 (ii) wholly owned or controlled by an 

15 organization described in clause (i); 

16 (B) all of whose actions regarding pro17 viding benefits to workers are taken for the sole 

18 purpose of maximizing benefits to the workers; 

19 (C) that is neither owned nor controlled, in 

20 whole or in part, by any entity that is not an 

21 organization described in subparagraph (A)(i); 

22 and 

23 (D) that has a board of directors that 

24 holds a fiduciary duty to the workers with re25 spect to provision of the benefits. 


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1 (8) WORK-RELATED BENEFITS.—The term 

2 ‘‘work-related benefits’’ means benefits of a type 

3 that are commonly provided to traditional full-time 

4 employees, such as workers’ compensation, paid 

5 leave, skills training, disability coverage, health in6 surance coverage, retirement saving, income secu7 rity, and short-term saving. 

8 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF PORTABLE BENEFITS PRO9 GRAM. 

10 (a) EMERGENCY PORTABLE BENEFITS PROGRAM

11 ESTABLISHED.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—By not later than September 

13 1, 2020, the Secretary shall award funding, through 

14 allotments described in subsection (b), to States 

15 to— 

16 (A) assist in the technology modernization 

17 necessary for the expansion of unemployment 

18 insurance; and 

19 (B) support broad innovation and experi20 mentation with respect to portable benefits. 

21 (2) DURATION OF ALLOTMENTS.—Allotments 

22 awarded under this subsection shall be for not less 

23 than a 2-year period. 

24 (b) FORMULA.—Each State’s allotment under this 

25 section shall bear the same relation to the amount availVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276

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1 able to carry out this section as the population of the State 

2 bears to the population of all States. 

3 (c) STATE REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 (1) PLAN AND IMPLEMENTATION REQUIRE5 MENTS.—A State that accepts an allotment under 

6 this section shall agree to— 

7 (A) submit a plan for the use of the allot8 ment, in accordance with the requirements of 

9 subsection (d), by not later than 90 days after 

10 receiving the allotment; and 

11 (B) fully implement the plan submitted 

12 under subparagraph (A) by not later than 2 

13 years after receiving the allotment. 

14 (2) RETURN OF FUNDS.—A State that does not 

15 wish to receive an allotment under this section or 

16 does not submit a plan described in paragraph 

17 (1)(A) by the deadline required under such para18 graph shall return the State’s allotment to the Sec19 retary of the Labor. 

20 (3) USE OF RETURNED FUNDS.—The Secretary 

21 of Labor shall use any funds returned under para22 graph (2) to provide supplemental allotments to the 

23 States that did submit a plan under paragraph (1), 

24 in the same manner as under subsection (b). 

25 (d) USES OF FUNDS.— 


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1 (1) USE OF FUNDS TO IMPROVE UNEMPLOY2 MENT COMPENSATION ADMINISTRATION.—A State 

3 receiving an allotment under this section shall use 

4 50 percent of the amount of such allotment for im5 proving the administration systems of its unemploy6 ment compensation law, including by taking such 

7 steps as may be necessary to ensure adequate re8 sources in periods of high demand and by modern9 izing the information technology infrastructure used 

10 for such administration. 

11 (2) USE OF FUNDS TO ESTABLISH EXPERI12 MENTAL PORTABLE BENEFIT PROGRAMS.—A State 

13 receiving an allotment under this section shall, in 

14 partnership with a local government, labor organiza15 tion, or worker advocate nonprofit organization, use 

16 50 percent of the amount of such allotment for the 

17 design, implementation, and evaluation of new mod18 els or approaches for providing portable benefits to 

19 eligible workers, including— 

20 (A) innovative proposals for paid leave, in21 cluding paid family leave and medical leave, 

22 paid sick days, and annual leave; 

23 (B) providing a job seeker’s allowance; 

24 (C) retirement-related benefits; 


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1 (D) the long-term expansion of eligibility 

2 for unemployment compensation; and 

3 (E) other programs specific to local econo4 mies in the State. 

5 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

6 Not later than September 30, 2022, the Comptroller 

7 General of the United States shall evaluate the outcome 

8 of the allotments provided under section 4 and provide a 

9 report on such evaluation to Congress. Such report shall 

10 include an assessment of the impact of such allotments 

11 on the compensation of workers receiving portable benefits 

12 under section 4, in the aggregate and disaggregated by 

13 socio-economic and racial or ethnic demographic variables. 

14 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro16 priated to carry out this Act $500,000,000 for fiscal year 

17 2021. 

18 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated under 

19 subsection (a) shall remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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