II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3655 

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 

DECEMBER 4, 2012 

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. LIEBERMAN) 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 2012’’. 

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

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi9 sion of law, in the case of an individual eligible to receive 


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1 unemployment assistance under section 410(a) of the Rob2 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

3 Act (42 U.S.C. 5177(a)) as a result of a disaster declara4 tion made by reason of Hurricane Sandy after October 

5 20, 2012, the President shall make such assistance avail6 able for 39 weeks after the date of the disaster declara7 tion. 

8 (b) REFERENCES.—References in this Act to ‘‘Hurri9 cane Sandy’’ shall be deemed to include Tropical Storm 

10 Sandy, occurring in the fall of 2012. 

11 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO STATES. 

12 (a) PAYMENTS TO STATES.— 

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

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

15 amount of unemployment compensation paid under 

16 the provisions of the State law to affected individ17 uals in each State in which a major disaster was de18 clared with respect to that State or any area within 

19 that State under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

20 Assistance Relief and Emergency Assistance Act by 

21 reason of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. 

22 (2) FUNDING AND TRANSFER OF FUNDS.— 

23 (A) FUNDING.—There are appropriated, 

24 out of moneys in the Treasury not otherwise ob25 ligated, such sums as may be necessary for purVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:13 Dec 05, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3655.IS S3655

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1 poses of carrying out this section, and such 

2 sums shall not be required to be repaid. 

3 (B) TRANSFERS.—Notwithstanding any 

4 other provision of law, the Secretary of the 

5 Treasury shall transfer from the General Fund 

6 of the Treasury to— 

7 (i) the extended unemployment com8 pensation account (as established by sec9 tion 905 of the Social Security Act (42 

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

11 of Labor estimates to be necessary to make 

12 payments to States for the unemployment 

13 compensation identified in paragraph (1); 

14 and 

15 (ii) the employment security adminis16 tration account (as established by section 

17 901 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

18 1101)) such sums as the Secretary of 

19 Labor estimates to be necessary for pur20 poses of assisting States in meeting the 

21 costs of administering this section. 

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

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

24 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 23, 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 20 

24 C.F.R. 625.5(c)) of the major disaster that was de25 clared with respect to that State or any area within 


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1 that State under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

2 Assistance Relief and Emergency Assistance Act by 

3 reason of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. 

4 SEC. 4. REGULATIONS. 

5 The Secretary of Labor may prescribe any operating 

6 instructions or regulations necessary to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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