I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7744 

To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid leave programs, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 23, 2020 

Mr. GOMEZ (for himself, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 

CARSON of Indiana, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. 

GOTTHEIMER, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KHANNA, 

Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. MOORE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. PORTER, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, 

Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. SPEIER, and Mr. SUOZZI) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT OF QUALIFIED STATE 

2 PAID LEAVE PROGRAMS. 

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

4 Secretary of the Treasury such sums as necessary to make 

5 payments to States to reimburse eligible State expendi6 tures in accordance with this section. 

7 (b) ELIGIBLE STATE EXPENDITURE.—For purposes 

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

9 means any expenditure by a State— 

10 (1) made during the period beginning on Janu11 ary 27, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2021, 

12 with respect to any qualified paid leave program; 

13 and 

14 (2) consisting of any of the following: 

15 (A) The payment of benefits by the State 

16 under such program. 

17 (B) Subject to subsection (d), the reim18 bursement of benefits paid by a private em19 ployer or insurer— 

20 (i) required to maintain such program 

21 under the law of the State; or 

22 (ii) offering such a program on the 

23 basis of reimbursement of tax relief pro24 vided by the State. 

25 (C) The administrative costs to the State 

26 of operating a qualified paid leave program 


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1 maintained by the State or issuing reimburse2 ments described in subparagraph (B). 

3 (c) QUALIFIED PAID LEAVE PROGRAM.— 

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

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

6 program maintained by a State, or by a private em7 ployer or insurer required to maintain such program 

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

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

10 extent that such benefits are paid for circumstances 

11 related to COVID-19 (as determined pursuant to 

12 paragraph (3)). 

13 (2) APPLICABLE PAID LEAVE BENEFITS.— 

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

15 subparagraph (B), a paid leave benefit de16 scribed in this paragraph is a benefit which pro17 vides full or partial wage replacement to em18 ployees on the basis of specifically defined 

19 qualifying events defined under the law or pro20 gram policy of a State and which ends either 

21 when the qualifying event is no longer applica22 ble or a set period of benefits is exhausted. 

23 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—A paid leave benefit 

24 described in this paragraph does not include— 


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1 (i) any form of accrued paid leave or 

2 any form of paid leave for which accrued 

3 paid leave is required to be substituted; 

4 (ii) any form of compensation paid in 

5 remedy for a workplace injury, illness, or 

6 death or in exchange for forfeiting any 

7 right of action against the employer for a 

8 workplace injury, illness, or death; or 

9 (iii) any paid leave with respect to 

10 which any taxpayer is eligible for a credit 

11 under division G of the Families First 

12 Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 

13 116–127). 

14 (3) CIRCUMSTANCES RELATED TO COVID-19.— 

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

16 circumstances related to COVID-19 if, in order to be 

17 eligible for such benefit, the recipient must be an in18 dividual who (as determined by the qualified paid 

19 leave program under the law of the State)— 

20 (A) has a current or presumptive diagnosis 

21 of COVID-19 from a health care provider; 

22 (B) is under quarantine (including self-im23 posed quarantine or self-isolation) at the in24 struction of a health care provider, employer, or 

25 a local, State, or Federal official— 


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1 (i) in order to prevent the spread of 

2 COVID-19; or 

3 (ii) due to underlying health condi4 tions that put the individual at high risk if 

5 they contract COVID-19; 

6 (C) is engaged in caregiving for an indi7 vidual who has a current or presumptive diag8 nosis of COVID-19 from a health care provider 

9 or is under quarantine as described in subpara10 graph (B); or 

11 (D) meets such other circumstances re12 lated to COVID-19 as the law of the State or 

13 the Secretary of the Treasury (in consultation 

14 with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv15 ices and the Secretary of Labor) may provide. 

16 (d) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN REIMBURSEMENTS.— 

17 A State may not treat an expenditure described in sub18 section (b)(2) with respect to a qualified paid leave pro19 gram as an eligible State expenditure— 

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

21 under such program as described in subparagraph 

22 (A) of such subsection, if the State, during the pe23 riod described in subsection (b)(1) or during the 6- 

24 month period immediately following such period, re25 stricts eligibility or reduces program benefits (inVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744

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1 cluding with respect to duration of leave, wage re2 placement rate, or maximum benefits or coverage) 

3 related to such program; and 

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

5 employer or insurer as described in subparagraph 

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

7 or insurer receiving reimbursement under such sub8 section provides assurances to the satisfaction of the 

9 State that— 

10 (A) the private employer or insurer has in 

11 effect procedures— 

12 (i) to determine whether a benefit is 

13 paid for circumstances related to COVID14 19 that comply with the standard estab15 lished in subsection (c)(3); and 

16 (ii) to report such determinations to 

17 the State; and 

18 (B)(i) during the period described in sub19 section (b)(1) and during the 6-month period 

20 beginning on the date on which the entity re21 ceives such reimbursement from the State, the 

22 private employer or insurer will not— 

23 (I) raise any premium (if applicable) 

24 with respect to any plan for which the pri25 vate employer or insurer submitted expendVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744

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1 itures to the State for reimbursement, un2 less the premium increase is directly and 

3 proportionally tied to expanded or in4 creased paid leave program benefits man5 dated by law or to increased utilization un6 related to circumstances related to 

7 COVID-19 (as determined pursuant to 

8 paragraph (3)); or 

9 (II) reduce any benefit (including with 

10 respect to duration of leave, wage replace11 ment rate, maximum benefits or coverage) 

12 with respect to any such plan; and 

13 (ii) in any case in which the private em14 ployer or insurer violates clause (i), the private 

15 employer or insurer agrees to repay the State 

16 any such reimbursement received. 

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

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

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

20 portion of payments received by the State under sub21 section (a) as pertain to such amount. 

22 (e) TIMING AND PROCEDURE FOR PAYMENTS.— 

23 (1) CERTIFICATIONS BY STATES.— 

24 (A) INITIAL ESTIMATE.—Not later than 

25 September 30, 2020, each State seeking a payVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744

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1 ment under this section shall certify to the Sec2 retary of the Treasury an initial estimate of the 

3 total amount of eligible State expenditures the 

4 State expects to make with respect to calendar 

5 years 2020 and 2021. 

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

7 1, 2023, each such State shall certify a final re8 port of the total amount of eligible State ex9 penditures made with respect to such calendar 

10 years. Such report shall also include— 

11 (i) the number of benefit claims that 

12 qualified for reimbursement, by eligibility 

13 category and type of leave; 

14 (ii) the average duration of benefit re15 ceipt with respect to each such eligibility 

16 category and type of leave; and 

17 (iii) any demographic information 

18 about recipients, disaggregated by eligi19 bility category and type of leave, which is 

20 collected by the State or private insurer 

21 during the application process. 

22 Not later than December 31, 2023, the Sec23 retary of the Treasury shall submit a report to 

24 Congress providing aggregate data summarizing 

25 such final report. Such final report shall not inVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744

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1 clude any individually identifiable information 

2 or any information which is protected by State 

3 or Federal privacy law, and nothing in this sub4 paragraph shall be construed to require a State 

5 or private insurer to collect any information 

6 from applicants beyond the extent information 

7 described in clause (iii) is collected during the 

8 application process. 

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

10 the Treasury shall make payments under this section 

11 on a quarterly basis during calendar years 2020 and 

12 2021 beginning on December 31, 2020, based on an 

13 amount equal to 75 percent of the initial estimates 

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

15 (3) RECONCILIATION.—Not later than Sep16 tember 30, 2023, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 

17 reconcile with each State amounts paid pursuant to 

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

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

20 additional amounts to the State or collect overpay21 ments as necessary based on the amount specified in 

22 such final report. 

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

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

25 the District of Columbia. 


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1 SEC. 3. STUDY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General shall 

3 conduct a study to examine the potential impact on the 

4 economy had a national paid leave program been in effect 

5 during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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

7 the Comptroller General shall submit a report to Congress 

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

Æ 


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