I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3022
To provide for a program of temporary enhanced unemployment benefits.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 4, 2001
Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. STARK, Mr.
ENGLISH, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. MCDERMOTT, and Mr. COYNE) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To provide for a program of temporary enhanced
unemployment benefits.
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 ‘‘Temporary Unemploy-
ment Compensation Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FEDERAL-STATE AGREEMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any State which desires to do so
may enter into and participate in an agreement under this
Act with the Secretary of Labor (hereinafter in this Act
referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’). Any State which is a party
to an agreement under this Act may, upon providing 30
days’ written notice to the Secretary, terminate such
agreement.
(b) PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under sub-
section (a) shall provide that the State agency of the
State will make—
(A) payments of regular compensation to
individuals in amounts and to the extent that
they would be determined if the State law were
applied with the modifications described in
paragraph (2), and
(B) payments of temporary supplemental
unemployment 
compensation 
to 
individuals
who—
(i) have exhausted all rights to reg-
ular compensation under the State law,
(ii) do not, with respect to a week,
have any rights to compensation (excluding
extended compensation) under the State
law of any other State (whether one that
has entered into an agreement under this
Act or otherwise) nor compensation under
any other Federal law (other than under
the Federal-State Extended Unemployment
Compensation Act of 1970), and are not
paid or entitled to be paid any additional
compensation under any State or Federal
law, and
(iii) are not receiving compensation
with respect to such week under the unem-
ployment compensation law of Canada.
(2) MODIFICATIONS
DESCRIBED.—The modi-
fications described in this paragraph are as follows:
(A) An individual shall be eligible for reg-
ular compensation if the individual would be so
eligible, determined by applying—
(i) the base period that would other-
wise apply under the State law if this Act
had not been enacted, or
(ii) a base period ending at the close
of the calendar quarter most recently com-
pleted before the date of the individual’s
application for benefits,
whichever results in the greater amount.
(B) An individual shall not be denied reg-
ular compensation under the State law’s provi-
sions relating to availability for work, active
search for work, or refusal to accept work, sole-
ly by virtue of the fact that such individual is
seeking, or available for, only part-time (and
not full-time) work.
(C) The amount of regular compensation
(including dependents’ allowances) payable for
any week shall be equal to the amount deter-
mined under the State law (before the applica-
tion of this subparagraph), plus an additional—
(i) 15 percent, or
(ii) $25,
whichever is greater.
(c) NONREDUCTION RULE.—Under the agreement,
subsection (b)(2)(C) shall not apply (or shall cease to
apply) with respect to a State upon a determination by
the Secretary that the method governing the computation
of regular compensation under the State law of that State
has been modified in a way such that—
(1) the average weekly amount of regular com-
pensation which will be payable during the period of
the agreement (determined disregarding the modi-
fications described in subsection (b)(2)) will be less
than
(2) the average weekly amount of regular com-
pensation which would otherwise have been payable
during such period under the State law, as in effect
on September 11, 2001.
(d) COORDINATION RULES.—
(1) REGULAR COMPENSATION PAYABLE UNDER
A FEDERAL LAW.—The modifications described in
subsection (b)(2) shall also apply in determining the
amount of benefits payable under any Federal law to
the extent that those benefits are determined by ref-
erence to regular compensation payable under the
State law of the State involved.
(2) TSUC TO SERVE AS SECOND-TIER BENE-
FITS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
extended benefits shall not be payable to any indi-
vidual for any week for which temporary supple-
mental unemployment compensation is payable to
such individual.
(e) EXHAUSTION OF BENEFITS.—For purposes of
subsection (b)(1)(B)(i), an individual shall be considered
to have exhausted such individual’s rights to regular com-
pensation under a State law when—
(1) no payments of regular compensation can
be made under such law because such individual has
received all regular compensation available to such
individual based on employment or wages during
such individual’s base period, or
(2) such individual’s rights to such compensa-
tion have been terminated by reason of the expira-
tion of the benefit year with respect to which such
rights existed.
(f) WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT, TERMS AND CONDI-
TIONS, ETC. RELATING TO TSUC.—For purposes of any
agreement under this Act—
(1) the amount of temporary supplemental un-
employment compensation which shall be payable to
an individual for any week of total unemployment
shall be equal to the amount of regular compensa-
tion (including dependents’ allowances) payable to
such individual under the State law for a week for
total unemployment during such individual’s benefit
year,
(2) the terms and conditions of the State law
which apply to claims for regular compensation and
to the payment thereof shall apply to claims for tem-
porary supplemental unemployment compensation
and the payment thereof, except where inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act or with the regula-
tions or operating instructions of the Secretary pro-
mulgated to carry out this Act, and
(3) the maximum amount of temporary supple-
mental unemployment compensation payable to any
individual for whom a temporary supplemental un-
employment compensation account is established
under section 3 shall not exceed the amount estab-
lished in such account for such individual.
SEC. 3. TEMPORARY SUPPLEMENTAL UNEMPLOYMENT
COMPENSATION 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 temporary supple-
mental unemployment compensation, a temporary supple-
mental unemployment compensation account.
(b) AMOUNT IN ACCOUNT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount established in
an account under subsection (a) shall be equal to the
lesser of—
(A) 50 percent of the total amount of reg-
ular compensation (including dependents’ allow-
ances) payable to him during his benefit year
under such law, or
(B) 13 times his weekly benefit amount.
(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.
(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of
any computation under paragraph (1) (and any de-
termination of amount under section 2(f)(1)), the
modification described in section 2(b)(2)(C) (relating
to increased benefits) shall be deemed to have been
in effect with respect to the entirety of the benefit
year involved.
SEC. 4. PAYMENTS TO STATES HAVING AGREEMENTS
UNDER THIS ACT.
(a) GENERAL RULE.—There shall be paid to each
State which has entered into an agreement under this Act
an amount equal to—
(1) 100 percent of any regular compensation
made payable to individuals by such State by virtue
of the modifications which are described in section
2(b)(2) and deemed to be in effect with respect to
such State pursuant to section 2(b)(1)(A),
(2) 100 percent of any regular compensation—
(A) which is paid to individuals by such
State by reason of the fact that its State law
contains provisions comparable to the modifica-
tions described in section 2(b)(2)(A)–(B), but
only
(B) to the extent that those amounts
would, if such amounts were instead payable by
virtue of the State law’s being deemed to be so
modified pursuant to section 2(b)(1)(A), have
been reimbursable under paragraph (1), and
(3) 100 percent of the temporary supplemental
unemployment compensation paid to individuals by
the State pursuant to such agreement.
(b) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT.—Sums under sub-
section (a) payable to any State by reason of such State
having an agreement under this Act shall be payable, ei-
ther in advance or by way of reimbursement (as may be
determined by the Secretary), in such amounts as the Sec-
retary estimates the State will be entitled to receive under
this Act for each calendar month, reduced or increased,
as the case may be, by any amount by which the Secretary
finds that the Secretary’s estimates for any prior calendar
month were greater or less than the amounts which should
have been paid to the State. Such estimates may be made
on the basis of such statistical, sampling, or other method
as may be agreed upon by the Secretary and the State
agency of the State involved.
(c) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES, ETC.—There is
hereby appropriated out of the employment security ad-
ministration account of the Unemployment Trust Fund
(as established by section 901(a) of the Social Security
Act) $500,000,000 to reimburse States for the costs of
the administration of agreements under this Act (includ-
ing any improvements in technology in connection there-
with) and to provide reemployment services to unemploy-
ment compensation claimants in States having agreements
under this Act. Each State’s share of the amount appro-
priated by the preceding sentence shall be determined by
the Secretary according to the factors described in section
302(a) of the Social Security Act and certified by the Sec-
retary to the Secretary of the Treasury.
SEC. 5. FINANCING PROVISIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Funds in the extended unemploy-
ment compensation account (as established by section
905(a) of the Social Security Act), and the Federal unem-
ployment account (as established by section 904(g) of the
Social Security Act), of the Unemployment Trust Fund
shall be used, in accordance with subsection (b), for the
making of payments (described in section 4(a)) to States
having agreements entered into under this Act.
(b) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall from time
to time certify to the Secretary of the Treasury for pay-
ment to each State the sums described in section 4(a)
which are payable to such State under this Act. The Sec-
retary of the Treasury, prior to audit or settlement by the
General Accounting Office, shall make payments to the
State in accordance with such certification by transfers
from the extended unemployment compensation account
(or, to the extent that there are insufficient funds in that
account, from the Federal unemployment account) to the
account of such State in the Unemployment Trust Fund.
SEC. 6. FRAUD AND OVERPAYMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual knowingly has
made, or caused to be made by another, a false statement
or representation of a material fact, or knowingly has
failed, or caused another to fail, to disclose a material fact,
and as a result of such false statement or representation
or of such nondisclosure such individual has received any
regular compensation or temporary supplemental unem-
ployment compensation under this Act to which he was
not entitled, such individual—
(1) shall be ineligible for any further benefits
under this Act in accordance with the provisions of
the applicable State unemployment compensation
law relating to fraud in connection with a claim for
unemployment compensation, and
(2) shall be subject to prosecution under section
1001 of title 18, United States Code.
(b) REPAYMENT.—In the case of individuals who
have received any regular compensation or temporary sup-
plemental unemployment compensation under this Act to
which they were not entitled, the State shall require such
individuals to repay those benefits to the State agency,
except that the State agency may waive such repayment
if it determines that—
(1) the payment of such benefits was without
fault on the part of any such individual, and
(2) such repayment would be contrary to equity
and good conscience.
(c) RECOVERY BY STATE AGENCY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The State agency may re-
cover the amount to be repaid, or any part thereof,
by deductions from any regular compensation or
temporary supplemental unemployment compensa-
tion payable to such individual under this Act or
from any unemployment compensation payable to
such individual under any Federal unemployment
compensation law administered by the State agency
or under any other Federal law administered by the
State agency which provides for the payment of any
assistance or allowance with respect to any week of
unemployment, during the 3-year period after the
date such individuals received the payment of the
regular compensation or temporary supplemental un-
employment compensation to which they were not
entitled, except that no single deduction may exceed