I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5669 
To provide emergency unemployment compensation to coal mining workers 
who lost their jobs due to Federal environmental regulations, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 7, 2016 
Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To provide emergency unemployment compensation to coal 
mining workers who lost their jobs due to Federal envi-
ronmental regulations, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating Opportunities 
for America’s Laid-off (COAL) Miners Act of 2016’’. 
SEC. 2. FEDERAL-STATE AGREEMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any qualifying State which de-
sires to do so may enter into and participate in an agree-
ment under this Act with the Secretary of Labor (in this 
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Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’). Any State which is 
a party to an agreement under this Act may, upon pro-
viding 30 days’ written notice to the Secretary, terminate 
such agreement. 
(b) QUALIFYING STATE.—For purposes of subsection 
(a), a ‘‘qualifying State’’ means a State in which the coal 
mining and related industries have been adversely im-
pacted by regulations promulgated by the Environmental 
Protection Agency or the Department of the Interior, in-
cluding— 
(1) Alabama; 
(2) Illinois; 
(3) Indiana; 
(4) Kentucky; 
(5) Ohio; 
(6) Pennsylvania; 
(7) Tennessee; 
(8) Virginia; 
(9) West Virginia; 
(10) Wyoming; and 
(11) any other State that the Secretary deter-
mines— 
(A) has traditionally relied on coal mining 
for a substantial portion of its economy; and 
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(B) has experienced a significant reduction 
in coal mining-related activity over the 5-year 
period preceding the determination, as dem-
onstrated by employment data, per capita in-
come, or other indicators of reduced economic 
activity. 
(c) PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT.—Any agreement 
under subsection (a) shall provide that the State agency 
of the State will make payments of coal mining emergency 
unemployment compensation to individuals who— 
(1) have exhausted all rights to regular com-
pensation under the State law or under Federal law 
with respect to a benefit year (excluding any benefit 
year that ended before the date of the enactment of 
this Act); 
(2) have no rights to regular compensation with 
respect to a week under such law or any other State 
unemployment compensation law or to compensation 
under any other Federal law; 
(3) are not receiving compensation with respect 
to such week under the unemployment compensation 
law of Canada; and 
(4) are able to work, available to work, and ac-
tively seeking work. 
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section 3 shall not exceed the amount established in 
such account for such individual. 
(f) COORDINATION RULE.—An agreement under sub-
section (a) shall apply with respect to a State only upon 
a determination by the Secretary that, under the State 
law or other applicable rules of such State, the payment 
of extended compensation for which an individual is other-
wise eligible must be deferred until after the payment of 
any coal mining emergency unemployment compensation 
under section 3 for which the individual is concurrently 
eligible. 
(g) UNAUTHORIZED ALIENS INELIGIBLE.—A State 
shall require as a condition of eligibility for coal mining 
emergency unemployment compensation under this Act 
that each alien who receives such compensation must be 
legally authorized to work in the United States, as defined 
for purposes of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (26 
U.S.C. 3301 et seq.). In determining whether an alien 
meets the requirements of this subsection, a State must 
follow the procedures provided in section 1137(d) of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–7(d)). 
(h) ACTIVELY SEEKING WORK.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 
(c)(4), the term ‘‘actively seeking work’’ means, with 
respect to any individual, that such individual— 
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(A) is registered for employment services 
in such a manner and to such extent as pre-
scribed by the State agency; 
(B) has engaged in an active search for 
employment that is appropriate in light of the 
employment available in the labor market, the 
individual’s skills and capabilities, and includes 
a number of employer contacts that is con-
sistent with the standards communicated to the 
individual by the State; 
(C) has maintained a record of such work 
search, including employers contacted, method 
of contact, and date contacted; and 
(D) when requested, has provided such 
work search record to the State agency. 
(2) RANDOM AUDITING.—The Secretary shall 
establish for each participating State a minimum 
number of claims for which work search records 
must be audited on a random basis in any given 
week. 
(i) PROVISION OF SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—An agreement under sub-
section (a) shall require the following: 
(A) The State which is party to such 
agreement shall provide reemployment services 
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and reemployment and eligibility assessment ac-
tivities to each individual who receives coal min-
ing emergency unemployment compensation 
under this Act, while such individual continues 
to receive such compensation. 
(B) As a condition of eligibility for coal 
mining emergency unemployment compensation 
for any week— 
(i) a claimant who has been duly re-
ferred to reemployment services shall par-
ticipate in such services; and 
(ii) a claimant shall be actively seek-
ing work (determined applying subsection 
(g)). 
(2) DESCRIPTION
OF
SERVICES
AND
ACTIVI-
TIES.—The reemployment services and in-person re-
employment and eligibility assessment activities pro-
vided to individuals receiving coal mining emergency 
unemployment compensation described in paragraph 
(1)— 
(A) shall include— 
(i) the provision of labor market and 
career information; 
(ii) an assessment of the skills of the 
individual; 
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(iii) orientation to the services avail-
able through the one-stop centers estab-
lished under title I of the Workforce In-
vestment Act of 1998; and 
(iv) review of the eligibility of the in-
dividual for emergency unemployment com-
pensation relating to the job search activi-
ties of the individual; and 
(B) may include the provision of— 
(i) comprehensive and specialized as-
sessments; 
(ii) individual and group career coun-
seling; 
(iii) training services; 
(iv) additional reemployment services; 
and 
(v) job search counseling and the de-
velopment or review of an individual reem-
ployment plan that includes participation 
in job search activities and appropriate 
workshops. 
(3) PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENT.—As a con-
dition of continuing eligibility for coal mining emer-
gency unemployment compensation for any week, an 
individual who has been referred to reemployment 
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services or reemployment and eligibility assessment 
activities under this subsection shall participate in 
such services or activities, unless the State agency 
responsible for the administration of State unem-
ployment compensation law determines that— 
(A) such individual has completed partici-
pating in such services or activities; or 
(B) there is justifiable cause for failure to 
participate or to complete participating in such 
services or activities, as determined in accord-
ance with guidance to be issued by the Sec-
retary. 
SEC. 3. COAL MINING EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COM-
PENSATION ACCOUNT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under this Act 
shall provide that the State will establish, for each eligible 
individual who files an application for coal mining emer-
gency unemployment compensation, a coal mining emer-
gency unemployment compensation account with respect 
to such individual’s benefit year. 
(b) AMOUNT IN ACCOUNT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount established in 
an account under subsection (a) shall be equal to the 
lesser of— 
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(A) 62 percent of the total amount of reg-
ular compensation (including dependents’ allow-
ances) payable to the individual during the indi-
vidual’s benefit year under such law, or 
(B) 16 times the individual’s average week-
ly benefit amount for the benefit year. 
(2) WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT.—For purposes 
of this subsection, an individual’s weekly benefit 
amount for any week is the amount of regular com-
pensation (including dependents’ allowances) under 
the State law payable to such individual for such 
week for total unemployment. 
(c) COORDINATION OF COAL MINING EMERGENCY 
UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION WITH REGULAR COM-
PENSATION.— 
(1) If— 
(A) an individual has been determined to 
be entitled to coal mining emergency unemploy-
ment compensation with respect to a benefit 
year, 
(B) that benefit year has expired, 
(C) that individual has remaining entitle-
ment to coal mining emergency unemployment 
compensation with respect to that benefit year, 
and 
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(D) that individual would qualify for a new 
benefit year in which the weekly benefit amount 
of regular compensation is at least either $100 
or 25 percent less than the individual’s weekly 
benefit amount in the benefit year referred to 
in subparagraph (A), 
then the State shall determine eligibility for com-
pensation as provided in paragraph (2). 
(2) For individuals described in paragraph (1), 
the State shall determine whether the individual is 
to be paid coal mining emergency unemployment 
compensation or regular compensation for a week of 
unemployment using one of the following methods: 
(A) The State shall, if permitted by State 
law, establish a new benefit year, but defer the 
payment of regular compensation with respect 
to that new benefit year until exhaustion of all 
coal mining emergency unemployment com-
pensation payable with respect to the benefit 
year referred to in paragraph (1)(A). 
(B) The State shall, if permitted by State 
law, defer the establishment of a new benefit 
year (which uses all the wages and employment 
which would have been used to establish a ben-
efit year but for the application of this para-
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