II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4283 

To provide funding for States to improve their unemployment insurance 

technology systems, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2020 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. 

MENENDEZ, Mr. CASEY, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, and Ms. ROSEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To provide funding for States to improve their unemployment 

insurance technology systems, 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 ‘‘Unemployment Insur5 ance Technology and Accessibility Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SPECIAL TRANSFER FOR INFORMATION TECH7 NOLOGY FUNDING. 

8 Section 903 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

9 1103) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(j) SPECIAL TRANSFER IN FISCAL YEAR 2020 FOR

2 IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other 

4 amounts, the Secretary of Labor shall provide for 

5 the making of grants to the accounts of the States 

6 in the Unemployment Trust Fund, by transfer from 

7 amounts in the Federal unemployment account, in 

8 accordance with succeeding provisions of this sub9 section. 

10 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The amount of 

11 payment under paragraph (1) with respect to any 

12 State shall, as determined by the Secretary of 

13 Labor, be equal to the amount obtained by multi14 plying $500,000,000 by the same ratio as would 

15 apply under subsection (a)(2)(B) for purposes of de16 termining such State’s share of any excess amount 

17 (as described in subsection (a)(1)) that would have 

18 been subject to transfer to State accounts, as of Oc19 tober 1, 2019, under the provisions of subsection 

20 (a). 

21 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any amount trans23 ferred to the account of a State by reason of 

24 this section shall be used by the State agency 

25 of such State to improve the information techVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4283.IS S4283

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1 nology used by the State agency to administer 

2 the unemployment compensation laws of the 

3 State. 

4 ‘‘(B) CONDITION FOR RECEIVING A

5 GRANT.— 

6 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—As a condition of 

7 receiving a grant under this subsection, a 

8 State shall certify to the Secretary of 

9 Labor that, within 2 years of receiving 

10 such grant— 

11 ‘‘(I) the information technology 

12 used by the State agency to admin13 ister the unemployment compensation 

14 laws of the State will meet the re15 quirements described in clause (ii); 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(II) applications for unemploy18 ment compensation, and assistance 

19 with the application process, will be 

20 accessible in at least two of the fol21 lowing: in-person, by phone, or online. 

22 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—The require23 ments for the information technology de24 scribed in this clause are the following: 


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1 ‘‘(I) REQUIREMENTS FOR ON2 LINE CLAIM-FILING SYSTEM.—Any 

3 online claim-filing system used by the 

4 State shall— 

5 ‘‘(aa) ensure that the proc6 ess of filing initial and continuing 

7 claims for unemployment com8 pensation can be readily under9 stood and accomplished by the 

10 vast majority of claimants, in11 cluding individuals with limited 

12 English proficiency, individuals 

13 with disabilities, older individ14 uals, and individuals with literacy 

15 challenges; 

16 ‘‘(bb) be available in any 

17 language spoken by more than 1 

18 percent of the State’s population, 

19 and such translations must be 

20 completed by human translators 

21 rather than translation software; 

22 ‘‘(cc) be accessible and opti23 mized for both desktop com24 puters and mobile devices. Any 

25 features of the system (such as 


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1 the ability to upload documenta2 tion) that are available in the 

3 desktop version of the online 

4 claim-filing system must also be 

5 available in the mobile version; 

6 ‘‘(dd) allow for electronic 

7 submission of documentation re8 quired to support a claim; 

9 ‘‘(ee) be available 24 hours a 

10 day, 7 days a week; and 

11 ‘‘(ff) have an automated 

12 password reset function that can 

13 be completed online. 

14 ‘‘(II) ADDITIONAL REQUIRE15 MENTS FOR INFORMATION TECH16 NOLOGY.—Any other requirements de17 termined appropriate by the Secretary 

18 of Labor. 

19 ‘‘(iii) REPAYMENT IF REQUIREMENTS

20 NOT MET.—If, at the end of the 2-year pe21 riod described in clause (i) with respect to 

22 a State, the Secretary of Labor finds that 

23 the State is not in compliance with the 

24 conditions described in subclauses (I) and 

25 (II) of clause (i), the State shall be reVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4283.IS S4283

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1 quired to return the full amount of the 

2 grant to the Secretary of Treasury. Such 

3 repayment shall be deposited into the gen4 eral fund of the Treasury. 

5 ‘‘(4) FUNDING.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There are appro7 priated from the general fund of the Treasury, 

8 without fiscal year limitation, to the Federal 

9 unemployment account $500,000,000 for mak10 ing grants to States under this subsection. The 

11 amount transferred under the preceding sen12 tence shall not be taken into account for pur13 poses of any determination under section 902, 

14 910, or 1203 of the amount in the Federal un15 employment account as of any given time. 

16 ‘‘(B) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary of 

17 Labor shall certify to the Secretary of the 

18 Treasury for payment to each State the sum 

19 payable to each State under this subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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