I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4934 
To provide for a program of emergency unemployment compensation, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 15, 2008 
Mr. MCDERMOTT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To provide for a program of emergency unemployment 
compensation, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents is 
as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION 
Sec. 101. Federal-State agreements for emergency unemployment compensa-
tion. 
Sec. 102. Emergency unemployment compensation account. 
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Sec. 103. Payments to states having agreements for the payment of emergency 
unemployment compensation. 
Sec. 104. Financing provisions. 
Sec. 105. Fraud and overpayments. 
Sec. 106. Definitions. 
Sec. 107. Applicability. 
TITLE II—INCREASED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS 
Sec. 201. Federal-State agreements for increased unemployment benefits. 
Sec. 202. Payments to States having agreements under this title. 
Sec. 203. Financing provisions. 
Sec. 204. Definitions. 
Sec. 205. Applicability. 
TITLE III—IMPROVED UNEMPLOYMENT COVERAGE 
Sec. 301. Special transfers to State accounts in the Unemployment Trust 
Fund. 
TITLE 
I—EMERGENCY 
UNEM-
PLOYMENT COMPENSATION 
SEC. 101. FEDERAL-STATE AGREEMENTS FOR EMERGENCY 
UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO OR TERMINATE AN 
AGREEMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 
any State which desires to do so may enter into and 
participate in an agreement under this title with the 
Secretary of Labor (in this title referred to as the 
‘‘Secretary’’). Any State which is a party to an 
agreement under this title may, upon providing 30 
days’ written notice to the Secretary, terminate such 
agreement. 
(2) CONDITION.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—An agreement under 
this title shall not be effective unless it is en-
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tered into during a period of rising unemploy-
ment. 
(B) PERIOD OF RISING UNEMPLOYMENT.— 
For purposes of this title, a period of rising un-
employment shall be considered to exist as of 
the first day of the first month following any 
month— 
(i) which begins after December 31, 
2007, and 
(ii) in which the total number of un-
employed persons in all States exceeds by 
at least 1,000,000 the total number of un-
employed persons in all States in the same 
month of the preceding year, as deter-
mined by the Secretary using the season-
ally-adjusted monthly estimates of civilian, 
noninstitutionalized unemployed persons 
16 years of age or older (as indicated by 
the Current Population Survey of the Bu-
reau of the Census). 
(C) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall cause to 
be published in the Federal Register notice of 
any determination of a period of rising unem-
ployment, including the commencement date of 
such period. 
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(b) PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT.—Any agreement 
under subsection (a) shall provide that the State agency 
of the State will make payments of emergency unemploy-
ment 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 March 1, 2007); 
(2) have no rights to regular compensation or 
extended compensation with respect to a week under 
such law or any other State unemployment com-
pensation law or to compensation under any other 
Federal law; and 
(3) are not receiving compensation with respect 
to such week under the unemployment compensation 
law of Canada. 
(c) EXHAUSTION OF BENEFITS.—For purposes of 
subsection (b)(1), an individual shall be deemed to have 
exhausted such individual’s rights to regular compensation 
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 
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(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. 
(d) WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT, ETC.—For purposes 
of any agreement under this title— 
(1) the amount of emergency unemployment 
compensation which shall be payable to any indi-
vidual for any week of total unemployment shall be 
equal to the amount of the regular compensation 
(including dependents’ allowances) payable to such 
individual during such individual’s benefit year 
under the State law for a week of total unemploy-
ment; 
(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 
emergency unemployment compensation and the 
payment thereof, except where otherwise inconsistent 
with the provisions of this title or with the regula-
tions or operating instructions of the Secretary pro-
mulgated to carry out this title; and 
(3) the maximum amount of emergency unem-
ployment compensation payable to any individual for 
whom an emergency unemployment compensation 
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lowances) payable to the individual during the 
individual’s benefit year under such law, or 
(B) 26 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. 
SEC. 103. PAYMENTS TO STATES HAVING AGREEMENTS FOR 
THE PAYMENT OF EMERGENCY UNEMPLOY-
MENT COMPENSATION. 
(a) GENERAL RULE.—There shall be paid to each 
State which has entered into an agreement under this title 
an amount equal to 100 percent of the emergency unem-
ployment compensation paid to individuals by the State 
pursuant to such agreement. 
(b) TREATMENT
OF REIMBURSABLE COMPENSA-
TION.—No payment shall be made to any State under this 
section in respect of any compensation to the extent the 
State is entitled to reimbursement in respect of such com-
pensation under the provisions of any Federal law other 
than this title or chapter 85 of title 5, United States Code. 
A State shall not be entitled to any reimbursement under 
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such chapter 85 in respect of any compensation to the ex-
tent the State is entitled to reimbursement under this title 
in respect of such compensation. 
(c) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT.—Sums payable to 
any State by reason of such State having an agreement 
under this title shall be payable, either in advance or by 
way of reimbursement (as may be determined by the Sec-
retary), in such amounts as the Secretary estimates the 
State will be entitled to receive under this title for each 
calendar month, reduced or increased, as the case may be, 
by any amount by which the Secretary finds that the Sec-
retary’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. 
SEC. 104. FINANCING PROVISIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Funds in the extended unemploy-
ment compensation account (as established by section 
905(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1105(a)) of 
the Unemployment Trust Fund (as established by section 
904(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1104(a)) shall be used for 
the making of payments to States having agreements en-
tered into under this title. 
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(b) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall from time 
to time certify to the Secretary of the Treasury for pay-
ment to each State the sums payable to such State under 
this title. The Secretary of the Treasury, prior to audit 
or settlement by the Government Accountability Office, 
shall make payments to the State in accordance with such 
certification, by transfers from the extended unemploy-
ment compensation account (as so established) to the ac-
count of such State in the Unemployment Trust Fund (as 
so established). 
(c) ASSISTANCE
TO STATES.—There are appro-
priated out of the employment security administration ac-
count (as established by section 901(a) of the Social Secu-
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1101(a)) of the Unemployment Trust 
Fund, without fiscal year limitation, such funds as may 
be necessary for purposes of assisting States (as provided 
in title III of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 501 et 
seq.)) in meeting the costs of administration of agree-
ments under this title. 
(d) APPROPRIATIONS
FOR CERTAIN PAYMENTS.— 
There are appropriated from the general fund of the 
Treasury, without fiscal year limitation, to the extended 
unemployment compensation account (as so established) 
of the Unemployment Trust Fund (as so established) such 
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sums as the Secretary estimates to be necessary to make 
the payments under this section in respect of— 
(1) compensation payable under chapter 85 of 
title 5, United States Code; and 
(2) compensation payable on the basis of serv-
ices to which section 3309(a)(1) of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 applies. 
Amounts appropriated pursuant to the preceding sentence 
shall not be required to be repaid. 
SEC. 105. 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 an 
amount of emergency unemployment compensation under 
this title to which he was not entitled, such individual— 
(1) shall be ineligible for further emergency un-
employment compensation under this title in accord-
ance with the provisions of the applicable State un-
employment compensation law relating to fraud in 
connection with a claim for unemployment com-
pensation; and 
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(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 amounts of emergency unemployment com-
pensation under this title to which they were not entitled, 
the State shall require such individuals to repay the 
amounts of such emergency unemployment compensation 
to the State agency, except that the State agency may 
waive such repayment if it determines that— 
(1) the payment of such emergency unemploy-
ment compensation 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 emergency unemployment 
compensation payable to such individual under this 
title or from any unemployment compensation pay-
able to such individual under any Federal unemploy-
ment 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 
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week of unemployment, during the 3-year period 
after the date such individuals received the payment 
of the emergency unemployment compensation to 
which they were not entitled, except that no single 
deduction may exceed 50 percent of the weekly ben-
efit amount from which such deduction is made. 
(2) OPPORTUNITY FOR HEARING.—No repay-
ment shall be required, and no deduction shall be 
made, until a determination has been made, notice 
thereof and an opportunity for a fair hearing has 
been given to the individual, and the determination 
has become final. 
(d) REVIEW.—Any determination by a State agency 
under this section shall be subject to review in the same 
manner and to the same extent as determinations under 
the State unemployment compensation law, and only in 
that manner and to that extent. 
SEC. 106. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title, the terms ‘‘compensation’’, ‘‘regular 
compensation’’, ‘‘extended compensation’’, ‘‘benefit year’’, 
‘‘base period’’, ‘‘State’’, ‘‘State agency’’, ‘‘State law’’, and 
‘‘week’’ have the respective meanings given such terms 
under section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Unem-
ployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 
note). 
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