II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4316 

To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid leave programs, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2020 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. REED, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced 

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

on Finance 

A BILL 

To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid 

leave programs, 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 ‘‘State Paid Leave for 

5 America Now (PLAN) Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT OF QUALIFIED STATE 

7 PAID LEAVE PROGRAMS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are appropriated to the 

9 Secretary of the Treasury such sums as necessary to make 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4316 IS

1 payments to States to reimburse eligible State expendi2 tures in accordance with this section. 

3 (b) ELIGIBLE STATE EXPENDITURE.—For purposes 

4 of this section, the term ‘‘eligible State expenditure’’ 

5 means any expenditure by a State— 

6 (1) made during the period beginning on Janu7 ary 27, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2021, 

8 with respect to any qualified paid leave program; 

9 and 

10 (2) consisting of any of the following: 

11 (A) The payment of benefits by the State 

12 under such program. 

13 (B) Subject to subsection (d), the reim14 bursement of benefits paid by a private em15 ployer or insurer— 

16 (i) required to maintain such program 

17 under the law of the State; or 

18 (ii) offering such a program on the 

19 basis of reimbursement of tax relief pro20 vided by the State. 

21 (C) The administrative costs to the State 

22 of operating a qualified paid leave program 

23 maintained by the State or issuing reimburse24 ments described in subparagraph (B). 

25 (c) QUALIFIED PAID LEAVE PROGRAM.— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4316 IS

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, 

2 the term ‘‘qualified paid leave program’’ means any 

3 program maintained by a State, or by a private em4 ployer or insurer required to maintain such program 

5 under the law of the State, that provides paid leave 

6 benefits described in paragraph (2), but only to the 

7 extent that such benefits are paid for circumstances 

8 related to COVID–19 (as determined pursuant to 

9 paragraph (3)). 

10 (2) APPLICABLE PAID LEAVE BENEFITS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

12 subparagraph (B), a paid leave benefit de13 scribed in this paragraph is a benefit which pro14 vides full or partial wage replacement to em15 ployees on the basis of specifically defined 

16 qualifying events defined under the law or pro17 gram policy of a State and which ends either 

18 when the qualifying event is no longer applica19 ble or a set period of benefits is exhausted. 

20 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—A paid leave benefit 

21 described in this paragraph does not include— 

22 (i) any form of accrued paid leave or 

23 any form of paid leave for which accrued 

24 paid leave is required to be substituted; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4316 IS

1 (ii) any form of compensation paid in 

2 remedy for a workplace injury, illness, or 

3 death or in exchange for forfeiting any 

4 right of action against the employer for a 

5 workplace injury, illness, or death; or 

6 (iii) any paid leave with respect to 

7 which any taxpayer is eligible for a credit 

8 under division G of the Families First 

9 Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 

10 116–127). 

11 (3) CIRCUMSTANCES RELATED TO COVID–19.— 

12 For purposes of this section, a benefit is paid for 

13 circumstances related to COVID–19 if, in order to 

14 be eligible for such benefit, the recipient must be an 

15 individual who (as determined by the qualified paid 

16 leave program under the law of the State)— 

17 (A) has a current or presumptive diagnosis 

18 of COVID–19 from a health care provider; 

19 (B) is under quarantine (including self-im20 posed quarantine or self-isolation) at the in21 struction of a health care provider, employer, or 

22 a local, State, or Federal official— 

23 (i) in order to prevent the spread of 

24 COVID–19; or 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4316 IS

1 (ii) due to underlying health condi2 tions that put the individual at high risk if 

3 they contract COVID–19; 

4 (C) is engaged in caregiving for an indi5 vidual who has a current or presumptive diag6 nosis of COVID–19 from a health care provider 

7 or is under quarantine as described in subpara8 graph (B); or 

9 (D) meets such other circumstances re10 lated to COVID–19 as the law of the State or 

11 the Secretary of the Treasury (in consultation 

12 with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv13 ices and the Secretary of Labor) may provide. 

14 (d) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN REIMBURSEMENTS.— 

15 A State may not treat an expenditure described in sub16 section (b)(2) with respect to a qualified paid leave pro17 gram as an eligible State expenditure— 

18 (1) with respect to benefits paid by the State 

19 under such program as described in subparagraph 

20 (A) of such subsection, if the State, during the pe21 riod described in subsection (b)(1) or during the 6- 

22 month period immediately following such period, re23 stricts eligibility or reduces program benefits (in24 cluding with respect to duration of leave, wage reVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 4316 IS

1 placement rate, or maximum benefits or coverage) 

2 related to such program; and 

3 (2) with respect to benefits paid by a private 

4 employer or insurer as described in subparagraph 

5 (B) of such subsection, unless the private employer 

6 or insurer receiving reimbursement under such sub7 section provides assurances to the satisfaction of the 

8 State that— 

9 (A) the private employer or insurer has in 

10 effect procedures— 

11 (i) to determine whether a benefit is 

12 paid for circumstances related to COVID– 

13 19 that comply with the standard estab14 lished in subsection (c)(3); and 

15 (ii) to report such determinations to 

16 the State; and 

17 (B)(i) during the period described in sub18 section (b)(1) and during the 6-month period 

19 beginning on the date on which the entity re20 ceives such reimbursement from the State, the 

21 private employer or insurer will not— 

22 (I) raise any premium (if applicable) 

23 with respect to any plan for which the pri24 vate employer or insurer submitted expend25 itures to the State for reimbursement, unVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 4316 IS

1 less the premium increase is directly and 

2 proportionally tied to expanded or in3 creased paid leave program benefits man4 dated by law or to increased utilization un5 related to circumstances related to 

6 COVID–19 (as determined pursuant to 

7 subsection (c)(3)); or 

8 (II) reduce any benefit (including with 

9 respect to duration of leave, wage replace10 ment rate, or maximum benefits or cov11 erage) with respect to any such plan; and 

12 (ii) in any case in which the private em13 ployer or insurer violates clause (i), the private 

14 employer or insurer agrees to repay the State 

15 any such reimbursement received. 

16 In any case in which a private employer or insurer repays 

17 any amount to a State pursuant to paragraph (2)(B)(ii), 

18 the State shall repay to the Secretary of the Treasury such 

19 portion of payments received by the State under sub20 section (a) as pertain to such amount. 

21 (e) TIMING AND PROCEDURE FOR PAYMENTS.— 

22 (1) CERTIFICATIONS BY STATES.— 

23 (A) INITIAL ESTIMATE.—Not later than 

24 September 30, 2020, each State seeking a pay25 ment under this section shall certify to the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 4316 IS

1 retary of the Treasury an initial estimate of the 

2 total amount of eligible State expenditures the 

3 State expects to make with respect to calendar 

4 years 2020 and 2021. 

5 (B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than July 

6 1, 2023, each such State shall certify a final re7 port of the total amount of eligible State ex8 penditures made with respect to such calendar 

9 years. Such report shall also include— 

10 (i) the number of benefit claims that 

11 qualified for reimbursement, by eligibility 

12 category and type of leave; 

13 (ii) the average duration of benefit re14 ceipt with respect to each such eligibility 

15 category and type of leave; and 

16 (iii) any demographic information 

17 about recipients, disaggregated by eligi18 bility category and type of leave, which is 

19 collected by the State or private employer 

20 or insurer during the application process. 

21 Not later than December 31, 2023, the Sec22 retary of the Treasury shall submit a report to 

23 Congress providing aggregate data summarizing 

24 such final report. Such final report shall not in25 clude any individually identifiable information 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 4316 IS

1 or any information which is protected by State 

2 or Federal privacy law, and nothing in this sub3 paragraph shall be construed to require a State 

4 or private employer or insurer to collect any in5 formation from applicants beyond the extent in6 formation described in clause (iii) is collected 

7 during the application process. 

8 (2) TIMING OF PAYMENTS.—The Secretary of 

9 the Treasury shall make payments under this section 

10 on a quarterly basis during calendar years 2020 and 

11 2021 beginning on December 31, 2020, based on an 

12 amount equal to 75 percent of the initial estimates 

13 received pursuant to paragraph (1)(A). 

14 (3) RECONCILIATION.—Not later than Sep15 tember 30, 2023, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 

16 reconcile with each State amounts paid pursuant to 

17 paragraph (2) with the final report submitted by the 

18 State pursuant to paragraph (1)(B), and shall pay 

19 additional amounts to the State or collect overpay20 ments as necessary based on the amount specified in 

21 such final report. 

22 (f) DEFINITION OF STATE.—For purposes of this 

23 section, the term ‘‘State’’ means any of the 50 States or 

24 the District of Columbia. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 4316 IS

1 SEC. 3. STUDY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 

3 United States shall conduct a study to examine the poten4 tial impact on the economy had a national paid leave pro5 gram been in effect during and after the COVID–19 pan6 demic. 

7 (b) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2022, 

8 the Comptroller General shall submit a report to Congress 

9 on the results of the study under subsection (a). 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS