I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3774 
To provide for unemployment benefits for victims of Hurricane Katrina. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 14, 2005 
Mr. MCDERMOTT (for himself, Mr. JEFFERSON, and Mr. STARK) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To provide for unemployment benefits for victims of 
Hurricane Katrina. 
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 2005’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents is 
as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Federal-State agreements. 
Sec. 3. Requirements relating to regular compensation. 
Sec. 4. Requirements relating to emergency extended unemployment compensa-
tion. 
Sec. 5. Payments to States. 
Sec. 6. Financing provisions.
Sec. 7. Definitions. 
Sec. 8. Applicability. 
SEC. 2. FEDERAL-STATE AGREEMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any State that is a qualified State 
and that desires to do so may enter into and participate 
in an agreement under this Act with the Secretary. Any 
State that 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.—Any agreement 
under subsection (a) shall provide that the State agency 
of the State— 
(1) will make payments of regular compensation 
in conformance with the requirements of section 3; 
and 
(2) will make payments of emergency extended 
unemployment compensation in conformance with 
the requirements of section 4. 
(c) QUALIFIED STATE.—For purposes of this Act, 
the term ‘‘qualified State’’ means Alabama, Florida, Lou-
isiana, and Mississippi. 
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO REGULAR COM-
PENSATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under this Act 
shall provide that the State agency of the State will make 
payments of regular compensation to individuals in
amounts and to the extent that they would be determined 
if the State law of such State were applied with the modi-
fication described in subsection (b). 
(b) MODIFICATION DESCRIBED.— 
(1) ADDITIONAL AMOUNT.—In the case of an 
eligible individual, the amount of regular compensa-
tion (including dependents’ allowances) payable for 
any week of unemployment to which such agreement 
applies shall be equal to the amount determined 
under the State law (before the application of this 
paragraph), plus an additional— 
(A) 25 percent, or 
(B) $100, 
whichever is greater. 
(2) ELIGIBLE
INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of 
this section, the term ‘‘eligible individual’’ means an 
individual who— 
(A) is receiving regular compensation 
under the State law of the State that is a party 
to the agreement; and 
(B) at any time during the week before the 
week that includes August 28, 2005, either held 
employment in or resided in an area— 
(i) that is within a qualified State; 
and
(ii) for which the President has de-
clared a major disaster under the Robert 
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) as 
a result of Hurricane Katrina. 
(c) NONREDUCTION RULE.—Under the agreement, 
subsection (b) 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 such 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-
fication described in subsection (b)) will be less than 
(2) the average weekly amount of regular com-
pensation which would otherwise have been payable 
during such period under such State law, as in effect 
on August 28, 2005. 
(d) COORDINATION RULE.—The modification de-
scribed in subsection (b) shall also apply in determining 
the amount of benefits payable under any Federal law, to 
any eligible individual, to the extent that those benefits 
are determined by reference to regular compensation pay-
able under the State law of the State involved.