I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6347 
To establish a moratorium on evictions from rental dwelling units during 
the public health emergency relating to coronavirus, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 23, 2020 
Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois (for himself, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. WILSON of 
Florida, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. 
CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. RYAN, Ms. 
ESHOO, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. 
POCAN, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. SOTO, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. NOR-
TON, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. BEYER, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. 
FUDGE, Ms. MENG, Mr. VARGAS, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. NAD-
LER, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Mr. HAS-
TINGS, Ms. OMAR, Mr. ENGEL, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, 
Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. RUSH, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. KEN-
NEDY, and Ms. GARCIA of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To establish a moratorium on evictions from rental dwelling 
units during the public health emergency relating to 
coronavirus, 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 ‘‘Rental Eviction Mora-
torium Act of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON EVICTION FILINGS. 
(a) CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.—The Congress finds 
that— 
(1) according to the 2018 American Community 
Survey, 36 percent of households in the United 
States—more than 43 million households—are rent-
ers; 
(2) in 2019 alone, renters in the United States 
paid $512 billion in rent; 
(3) according to the Joint Center for Housing 
Studies of Harvard University, 20.8 million renters 
in the United States spent more than 30 percent of 
their incomes on housing in 2018 and 10.9 million 
renters spent more than 50 percent of their incomes 
on housing in the same year; 
(4) Moody’s Analytics estimates that 27 million 
jobs in the U.S. economy are at high risk because 
of COVID-19; 
(5) the impacts of the spread of COVID-19, 
which is now considered a global pandemic, are ex-
pected to negatively impact the incomes of poten-
tially millions of renter households, making it dif-
ficult for them to pay their rent on time; and 
(6) evictions in the current environment would 
increase homelessness and housing instability which 
would be counterproductive towards the public 
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health goals of keeping individuals in their homes to 
the greatest extent possible. 
(b) MORATORIUM.—During the period beginning on 
the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the 
date described in paragraph (1) of subsection (d), the les-
sor of a covered dwelling may not make, or cause to be 
made, any filing with the court of jurisdiction to initiate 
a legal action to recover possession of the covered dwelling 
from the tenant regardless of cause, except when a tenant 
perpetrates a serious criminal act that threatens the 
health, life, or safety of other tenants or staff of the prop-
erty in which the covered dwelling is located. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 
following definitions shall apply: 
(1) COVERED DWELLING.—The term ‘‘covered 
dwelling’’ means a dwelling that is occupied by a 
tenant— 
(A) pursuant to a residential lease; or 
(B) without a lease or with a lease ter-
minable at will under State law. 
(2) DWELLING.—The term ‘‘dwelling’’ has the 
meaning given such term in section 802 of the Fair 
Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3602) and includes houses 
and dwellings described in section 803(b) of such 
Act (42 U.S.C. 3603(b)). 
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(d) SUNSET.— 
(1) SUNSET DATE.—The date described in this 
paragraph is the date of the expiration of the 6- 
month period that begins upon the termination by 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the 
emergency declared on March 13, 2020, by the 
President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 
et seq.) relating to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 
(COVID-19) pandemic. 
(2) 
NOTICE
TO
VACATE
AFTER
SUNSET 
DATE.—After the date described in paragraph (1), 
the lessor of a covered dwelling may not require the 
tenant to vacate the covered dwelling before the ex-
piration of the 30-day period that begins upon the 
provision by the lessor to the tenant, after the date 
described in paragraph (1), of a notice to vacate the 
covered dwelling. 
Æ 
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