II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2081 

To require participation in public service and engagement in an active job 

search as conditions for receipt of extended unemployment benefits. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2012 

Mr. BURR (for himself, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. COCHRAN, Mrs. HUTCHISON, 

Mr. CORNYN, Mr. PAUL, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. ENZI, Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. WICKER, Mr. RISCH, Ms. AYOTTE, Mr. 

BOOZMAN, Mr. COBURN, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. THUNE, and Mr. CHAMBLISS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To require participation in public service and engagement 

in an active job search as conditions for receipt of extended unemployment benefits. 

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 ‘‘Extended Unemploy5 ment Benefits Reform Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The Founding Fathers of this Nation held 

2 the value and virtue of work to be an integral part 

3 of the American spirit of freedom and unity. 

4 (2) Honest work of an individual’s choice, 

5 whether paid or unpaid, benefits both the individual 

6 and society as a whole. 

7 (3) The betterment of communities through 

8 public service should be encouraged by the Federal 

9 Government. 

10 (4) After the first months of eligibility for un11 employment benefits, involvement by an individual in 

12 public service will not infringe on such individual’s 

13 readiness to work or their ability to search for em14 ployment. 

15 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR RECEIPT OF EX16 TENDED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3304 of the Internal Rev18 enue Code of 1986 (relating to approval of State unem19 ployment compensation laws) is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (18), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

22 at the end; 

23 (B) by redesignating paragraph (19) as 

24 paragraph (20); and 


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1 (C) by inserting after paragraph (18) the 

2 following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(19) extended compensation, including any 

4 such compensation under a temporary program, 

5 shall not be payable to an individual for any week 

6 in which such individual does not— 

7 ‘‘(A) perform at least 20 hours of public 

8 service (as described in subsection (g)); and 

9 ‘‘(B) engage in at least 20 hours of active 

10 job searching (as described in subsection (h)); 

11 and’’; and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub13 sections: 

14 ‘‘(g) PUBLIC SERVICE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

16 (a)(19)(A), the term ‘public service’ means unpaid 

17 service by an individual to an organization described 

18 in section 501(c)(3), or a Federal, State, or local 

19 agency (as permitted in accordance with applicable 

20 Federal, State, and local law), with tangible evidence 

21 to be provided to the State agency by the individual 

22 on a weekly basis demonstrating that the individual 

23 has performed such service during the previous 

24 week. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—For purposes of the public 

2 service requirement under subsection (a)(19)(A), an 

3 individual shall be deemed to have satisfied such re4 quirement for that week if the individual— 

5 ‘‘(A) provides tangible evidence to the 

6 State agency demonstrating that such indi7 vidual was unable to perform the required pub8 lic service for that week due to an illness or 

9 family emergency; 

10 ‘‘(B) is a parent of a qualifying child (as 

11 defined in section 152(c)) and provides tangible 

12 evidence to the State agency demonstrating an 

13 inability to perform the required number of 

14 hours of public service due to responsibility for 

15 child care; 

16 ‘‘(C) provides tangible evidence to the 

17 State agency demonstrating an inability to per18 form the required number of hours of public 

19 service due to a lack of available transportation, 

20 telephone, or internet services; or 

21 ‘‘(D) provides tangible evidence of a bona 

22 fide attempt to perform public service and, pur23 suant to such criteria as is determined appro24 priate by the State agency, is determined to be 

25 unable to perform such service due to a lack of 


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1 available public service opportunities in the area 

2 in which the individual resides. 

3 ‘‘(3) PERFORMANCE OF WORK ACTIVITIES.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara5 graph (B), the total number of hours of public 

6 service required under subsection (a)(19)(A) 

7 shall be reduced by 1 hour for each hour during 

8 that week that an individual performs work ac9 tivities. 

10 ‘‘(B) MINIMUM PUBLIC SERVICE REQUIRE11 MENT.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), any 

12 reduction in the total number of hours of public 

13 service required under subsection (a)(19)(A) 

14 based upon performance of work activities shall 

15 not be greater than 15 hours for each week. 

16 ‘‘(C) DEFINITION OF WORK ACTIVITIES.— 

17 For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘work 

18 activities’ has the same meaning as provided 

19 under subsection (d) of section 407 of the So20 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 607), except that 

21 such activities shall not include job searching, 

22 as described in paragraph (6) of such sub23 section. 

24 ‘‘(h) ACTIVE SEARCH FOR EMPLOYMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

2 (a)(19)(B), the term ‘active job searching’ means an 

3 active and ongoing search for employment by an in4 dividual, with tangible evidence of such search to be 

5 provided to the State agency by the individual on a 

6 weekly basis, which shall include a record of poten7 tial employers contacted by the individual (including 

8 relevant contact information for such employers) and 

9 such other information as determined appropriate by 

10 the State agency. 

11 ‘‘(2) ALTERNATIVE JOB SEARCH REQUIRE12 MENTS.—The State agency may reduce the total 

13 number of hours of active job searching required 

14 under subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(19) and 

15 provide alternative job search requirements for an 

16 individual who has met the requirements under sub17 paragraphs (A) and (B) of such subsection for a pe18 riod of not less than 12 weeks.’’. 

19 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para21 graph (2), the amendments made by this section 

22 shall take effect on July 1, 2012. 

23 (2) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION

24 REQUIRED.—In the case of a State which the Sec25 retary of Labor determines requires State legislation 


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1 (other than legislation appropriating funds) in order 

2 for the State law to meet the additional require3 ments imposed by the amendments made by sub4 section (a), the State law shall not be regarded as 

5 failing to comply with the requirements of such sec6 tion 3304(a)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

7 1986, as added by such amendments, solely on the 

8 basis of the failure of the State law to meet such ad9 ditional requirements before the 1st day of the 1st 

10 calendar quarter beginning after the close of the 1st 

11 regular session of the State legislature that begins 

12 after the date of enactment of this Act. For pur13 poses of the previous sentence, in the case of a State 

14 that has a 2-year legislative session, each year of 

15 such session shall be deemed to be a separate reg16 ular session of the State legislature. 

Æ 


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