I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1154

To permit States to establish programs using unemployment funds to assist

unemployed individuals in becoming self-employed.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 1, 1993

Mr. WYDEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Ways and Means

A BILL

To permit States to establish programs using unemployment

funds to assist unemployed individuals in becoming selfemployed.

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 PROGRAMS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of law, the Secretary of Labor (hereinafter in this

6 section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) may authorize

7 States to establish and operate self-employment programs

8 that meet the requirements of this section.

9 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary may authorize

10 a State self-employment program, if a State applies to
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1 participate in such a program, and the Secretary deter2 mines that—

3 (1) the State program does not result in any

4 cost to the Unemployment Trust Fund (established

5 by section 904(a) of the Social Security Act) in ex6 cess of the cost that would be incurred by such State

7 and charged to such Fund if the State had not par8 ticipated in a self-employment program;

9 (2) the State program provides unemployment

10 benefits only to individuals who are entitled to un11 employment compensation under State law (without

12 regard to any disqualification resulting from self-em13 ployment and without regard to any State law relat14 ing to availability for work, active search for work,

15 or refusal to accept work);

16 (3) the State program contains a process to tar17 get individuals who have been permanently separated

18 from their jobs or do not expect to be recalled to

19 their jobs;

20 (4) benefits under the State program are avail21 able only to individuals who are likely to receive un22 employment compensation for the maximum number

23 of weeks that such compensation is available under

24 the State law during a benefit year; and
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1 (5) the aggregate number of individuals receiv2 ing benefits under the State program does not at

3 any time exceed 5 percent of the number of individ4 uals receiving compensation under the State law at

5 such time.

6 (c) BENEFITS.—If the Secretary authorizes a self7 employment program for a State under this section, the

8 State may use the State unemployment fund to provide

9 cash unemployment benefits, exclusive of the expenses of

10 administration, to individuals participating in the pro11 gram. Such benefits shall be used to assist participating

12 individuals in becoming self-employed.

13 (d) REPORTS.—

14 (1) STATE REPORTS.—Any State operating a

15 self-employment program authorized by the Sec16 retary under this section shall report annually to the

17 Secretary on the number of individuals who partici18 pate in the program, the number of individuals who

19 are able to develop and sustain businesses, the oper20 ating costs of the program, compliance with program

21 requirements, and any other relevant aspects of pro22 gram operations requested by the Secretary.

23 (2) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than

24 December 31, 1996, based on the reports received

25 from States operating self-employment programs
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1 under this section, the Secretary shall report to the

2 Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Com3 mittee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep4 resentatives with respect to the operation of the

5 State programs. The report shall contain the Sec6 retary’s recommendations regarding establishment of

7 a permanent self-employment program as part of the

8 regular unemployment compensation program.

9 (e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

10 terms ‘‘compensation’’, ‘‘regular compensation’’, ‘‘benefit

11 year’’, ‘‘State’’, and ‘‘State law’’, have the respective

12 meanings given such terms by section 205 of the Federal13 State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of

14 1970.

15 (f) TERMINATION.—The provisions of this section

16 shall not apply after September 30, 1997.

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