II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 803 

To provide enhanced disaster unemployment assistance to States affected 

by Hurricane Sandy and Tropical Storm Sandy of 2012, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 24, 2013 

Mr. REID (for Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL)) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To provide enhanced disaster unemployment assistance to 

States affected by Hurricane Sandy and Tropical Storm 

Sandy of 2012, 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 ‘‘Superstorm Sandy Un5 employment Relief Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF DISASTER UNEMPLOYMENT BEN7 EFIT PERIOD. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the maximum 

9 time period for assistance established under section 410(a) 


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1 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

2 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5177(a)), in the case of an indi3 vidual who is eligible to receive unemployment assistance 

4 under that section 410(a) as a result of a disaster declara5 tion made by reason of Hurricane Sandy after October 

6 20, 2012, the President shall make such assistance avail7 able for 39 weeks after the date of the disaster declara8 tion. 

9 (b) REFERENCES.—References in this Act to ‘‘Hurri10 cane Sandy’’ shall be deemed to include Tropical Storm 

11 Sandy, occurring in the Fall of 2012. 

12 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO STATES. 

13 (a) PAYMENTS TO STATES.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Payments shall be made to 

15 a State in an amount equal to 100 percent of the 

16 amount of unemployment compensation paid under 

17 the provisions of the State law to affected individ18 uals in each State in which a major disaster was de19 clared with respect to that State or any area within 

20 that State under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

21 Assistance Relief and Emergency Assistance Act by 

22 reason of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. 

23 (2) FUNDING AND TRANSFER OF FUNDS.— 

24 (A) FUNDING.—There are appropriated, 

25 out of moneys in the Treasury not otherwise obVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:35 Apr 29, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S803.IS S803

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1 ligated, such sums as may be necessary for pur2 poses of carrying out this section, and such 

3 sums shall not be required to be repaid. 

4 (B) TRANSFERS.—Notwithstanding any 

5 other provision of law, the Secretary of the 

6 Treasury shall transfer from the General Fund 

7 of the Treasury to— 

8 (i) the extended unemployment com9 pensation account (as established by sec10 tion 905 of the Social Security Act (42 

11 U.S.C. 1105)) such sums as the Secretary 

12 of Labor estimates to be necessary to make 

13 payments to States for the unemployment 

14 compensation identified in paragraph (1); 

15 and 

16 (ii) the employment security adminis17 tration account (as established by section 

18 901 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 1101)) such sums as the Secretary of 

20 Labor estimates to be necessary for pur21 poses of assisting States in meeting the 

22 costs of administering this section. 

23 (3) TERMS OF PAYMENTS.—Payments made to 

24 a State under this section shall be made by way of 

25 advance or reimbursement. 


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1 (4) LIMITATIONS ON PAYMENTS.—No payments 

2 shall be made to a State under this section for un3 employment compensation paid by the State to an 

4 affected individual, if the State is advanced or reim5 bursed for the costs of such unemployment com6 pensation under other provisions of Federal law. 

7 (b) APPLICABILITY.—Payments to a State under 

8 subsection (a) shall be available for unemployment com9 pensation payable with respect to weeks of unemploy10 ment— 

11 (1) beginning on or after October 28, 2012; and 

12 (2) ending on or before July 28, 2013. 

13 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi14 nitions shall apply: 

15 (1) STATE; STATE LAW.—The terms ‘‘State’’ 

16 and ‘‘State law’’ have the meanings given those 

17 terms in section 205 of the Federal-State Extended 

18 Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 

19 U.S.C. 3304 note). 

20 (2) AFFECTED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘af21 fected individual’’ means an individual eligible for 

22 unemployment compensation under State law, whose 

23 unemployment is a direct result (as described in sec24 tion 625.5(c) of title 20, Code of Federal Regula25 tions) of the major disaster that was declared with 


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1 respect to that State or any area within that State 

2 under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Assistance 

3 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act by reason of 

4 Hurricane Sandy in 2012. 

5 (d) SENSE OF THE SENATE.—It is the sense of the 

6 Senate that— 

7 (1) upon receiving a reimbursement or advance 

8 under this section, a State should, if State law al9 lows— 

10 (A) reverse or waive any charges to em11 ployer accounts related to unemployment com12 pensation paid to affected individuals for which 

13 the reimbursement or advance is provided; or 

14 (B) in the case of a State or local govern15 mental entity, non-profit organization, Indian 

16 tribe, or other employer, which elected to reim17 burse the State for unemployment compensa18 tion paid to affected individuals in lieu of pay19 ing taxes based on charges to its employer ac20 count, reimburse such employer for such costs; 

21 and 

22 (2) in the case of an affected individual in a 

23 State who, in relation to their initial week of unem24 ployment during the applicable period under subVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:35 Apr 29, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S803.IS S803

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1 section (b), received a waiting period credit instead 

2 of an unemployment compensation payment— 

3 (A) the State, if State law allows, should 

4 provide for retroactive payment of unemploy5 ment compensation for such week; and 

6 (B) the State may receive reimbursement 

7 under this section for such retroactive payment. 

8 SEC. 4. REGULATIONS. 

9 The Secretary of Labor may prescribe any operating 

10 instructions or regulations necessary to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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