I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1789

To make permanent certain authority relating to self-employment assistance

programs, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 8, 1995

Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. HOUGHTON) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To make permanent certain authority relating to selfemployment assistance 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. SELF-EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 507(e)

5 of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implemen6 tation Act (26 U.S.C. 3306 note) is hereby repealed.

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Subsection (e) of

8 section 507 of such Act is further amended—
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1 (1) by amending the heading after the sub2 section designation to read ‘‘EFFECTIVE DATE.—’’;

3 and

4 (2) by striking ‘‘(1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—’’ and

5 by running in the remaining text of subsection (e)

6 immediately after the heading therefor, as amended

7 by paragraph (1).

8 SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION PRO9 GRAMS.

10 (a) GENERAL RULE.—Section 3306 of the Internal

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

12 the following:

13 ‘‘(u) SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION PROGRAM.—For

14 purposes of this chapter, the term ‘short-time compensa15 tion program’ means a program under which—

16 ‘‘(1) the participation of an employer is vol17 untary;

18 ‘‘(2) an employer reduces the number of hours

19 worked by employees in lieu of temporary layoffs;

20 ‘‘(3) such employees whose workweeks have

21 been reduced by at least 10 percent are eligible for

22 unemployment compensation;

23 ‘‘(4) the amount of unemployment compensa24 tion payable to any such employee is a pro rata por25 tion of the unemployment compensation which would
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1 be payable to the employee if such employee were to2 tally unemployed;

3 ‘‘(5) such employees are not required to meet

4 the availability for work or work search test require5 ments while collecting short-time compensation bene6 fits, but are required to be available for their normal

7 workweek;

8 ‘‘(6) eligible employees may participate in an

9 employer-sponsored training program to enhance

10 jobs skills if such program has been approved by the

11 State agency;

12 ‘‘(7) the State agency may require an employer

13 to continue to provide health benefits, and retire14 ment benefits under a defined benefit plan (as de15 fined in section 3(35) of the Employee Retirement

16 Income Security Act of 1974), to any employee

17 whose workweek is reduced pursuant to the program

18 as though the workweek of such employee had not

19 been reduced;

20 ‘‘(8) the State agency may require an employer

21 (or an employers’ association which is party to a col22 lective bargaining agreement) to submit a written

23 plan describing the manner in which the require24 ments of this subsection will be implemented and
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1 containing such other information as the Secretary

2 of Labor determines is appropriate; and

3 ‘‘(9) the program meets such other require4 ments as the Secretary of Labor determines are ap5 propriate.’’.

6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

7 (1) Subparagraph (E) of section 3304(a)(4) of

8 such Code is amended to read as follows:

9 ‘‘(E) amounts may be withdrawn for the

10 payment of short-time compensation under a

11 short-time compensation program (as defined in

12 section 3306(u));’’.

13 (2) Paragraph (4) of section 3306(f) of such

14 Code is amended to read as follows:

15 ‘‘(4) amounts may be withdrawn for the pay16 ment of short-time compensation under a short-time

17 compensation program (as defined in subsection

18 (u));’’.

19 (3) Section 303(a)(5) of the Social Security Act

20 is amended by striking ‘‘the payment of short-time

21 compensation under a plan approved by the Sec22 retary of Labor’’ and inserting ‘‘the payment of

23 short-time compensation under a short-time com24 pensation program (as defined in section 3306(u) of

25 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986)’’.
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1 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This Act, and the amendments made by this Act,

3 shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.

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