but only if exhaustion occurs upon or after the close 
of the week that includes August 28, 2005; 
(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; 
(3) are not receiving compensation with respect 
to such week under the unemployment compensation 
law of any other country; and 
(4) at any time during the week before the 
week that includes August 28, 2005, either held em-
ployment in or resided in an area— 
(A) that is within a qualified State; and 
(B) for which the President has declared 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 Hurri-
cane Katrina. 
(b) EXHAUSTION OF BENEFITS.—For purposes of 
subsection (a)(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 
(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. 
(c) WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT, ETC.—For purposes 
of any agreement under this subtitle— 
(1) the amount of emergency extended unem-
ployment compensation which shall be payable to 
any individual for any week of total unemployment 
shall be equal to the amount of the regular com-
pensation (including dependents’ allowances) payable 
to such individual during such individual’s benefit 
year under the State law for a week of total unem-
ployment; 
(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 extended unemployment compensation 
and to the payment thereof, except where otherwise 
inconsistent with the provisions of this subtitle or 
with the regulations or operating instructions of the 
Secretary promulgated to carry out this subtitle; and
(3) the maximum amount of emergency ex-
tended unemployment compensation payable to any 
individual for whom an emergency extended unem-
ployment compensation account is established under 
subsection (d) shall not exceed the amount estab-
lished in such account for such individual. 
(d) EMERGENCY EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT COM-
PENSATION ACCOUNTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under this 
subtitle shall provide that the State will establish, 
for each eligible individual who files an application 
for emergency extended unemployment compensation 
an emergency extended unemployment compensation 
account with respect to such individual’s benefit 
year. 
(2) AMOUNT IN ACCOUNT.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount established 
in an account under paragraph (1) shall be the 
amount equal to 26 times the individual’s aver-
age weekly benefit amount for the benefit year. 
(B) WEEKLY
BENEFIT
AMOUNT.—For 
purposes of this paragraph, an individual’s av-
erage weekly benefit amount for any week is the 
amount of regular compensation (including de-
pendents’ allowances) under the State law pay-
able to such individual for such week for total 
unemployment. 
SEC. 324. PAYMENTS TO STATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—There shall be paid to each State 
which has entered into an agreement under this subtitle 
the following: 
(1) An amount equal to 100 percent of any ad-
ditional regular compensation made payable to indi-
viduals by such State by virtue of the modification 
described in section 322(b) and deemed to be in ef-
fect with respect to such State pursuant to section 
322(a). 
(2) An amount equal to 100 percent of any 
emergency extended unemployment compensation 
paid to individuals by such State pursuant to such 
agreement. 
(3) An amount equal to 100 percent of any reg-
ular compensation, not otherwise reimbursable under 
this section, paid by such State under the State law 
of such State— 
(A) to individuals whose unemployment 
was a result of Hurricane Katrina (as deter-
mined under criteria established by the Sec-
retary); and
(B) for any weeks of unemployment to 
which such agreement applies. 
(b) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT.—Sums payable 
under this section to any State by reason of such State 
having an agreement under this subtitle shall be payable, 
either in advance or by way of reimbursement (as may 
be determined by the Secretary), in such amounts as the 
Secretary estimates the State will be entitled to receive 
under this subtitle 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. 
SEC. 325. FINANCING PROVISIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Funds in the extended unemploy-
ment compensation account and the Federal unemploy-
ment account of the Unemployment Trust Fund shall be 
used, in accordance with succeeding provisions of this sec-
tion, for the making of payments to States having agree-
ments entered into under this subtitle. 
(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 subtitle. 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— 
(1) by transfers from the extended unemploy-
ment compensation account of the Unemployment 
Trust Fund, to the extent that they relate to 
amounts described in paragraph (1) or (2) of section 
324(a); and 
(2) by transfers from the Federal unemploy-
ment account of the Unemployment Trust Fund, to 
the extent that they relate to amounts described in 
section 324(a)(3). 
SEC. 326. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this subtitle— 
(1) the terms ‘‘Secretary’’, ‘‘State’’, ‘‘State 
agency’’, ‘‘State law’’, ‘‘regular compensation’’, 
‘‘week’’, ‘‘benefit year’’, and ‘‘base period’’ have the 
respective meanings given such terms under section 
205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment 
Compensation Act of 1970; 
(2) the terms ‘‘wages’’ and ‘‘employment’’ have 
the respective meanings given such terms under sec-
tion 3306 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
(3) the term ‘‘extended unemployment com-
pensation account’’ means the account established 
by section 905(a) of the Social Security Act; 
(4) the term ‘‘Federal unemployment account’’ 
means the account established by section 904(g) of 
the Social Security Act; and 
(5) the term ‘‘Unemployment Trust Fund’’ 
means the fund established by section 904(a) of the 
Social Security Act. 
(b) SPECIAL RULE.—Notwithstanding any provision 
of subsection (a), in the case of a State entering into an 
agreement under this subtitle— 
(1) the term ‘‘State law’’ shall be considered to 
refer to the State law of such State, applied in con-
formance with the modification described in section 
322(b), subject to section 322(c); and 
(2) the term ‘‘regular compensation’’ shall be 
considered to refer to such compensation, deter-
mined under its State law (applied in the manner 
described in paragraph (1)), 
except as otherwise provided or where the context clearly 
indicates otherwise. 
SEC. 327. APPLICABILITY. 
An agreement entered into under this subtitle shall 
apply to weeks of unemployment—
(1) beginning on or after the first day of the 
week that includes August 28, 2005; and 
(2) ending before September 1, 2006. 
Subtitle D—Health Insurance 
Coverage 
SEC. 331. TEMPORARY EMERGENCY HEALTH COVERAGE 
ASSISTANCE FOR BUSINESSES AND INDIVID-
UALS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’), in consultation with the insurance commissioners 
of those States contained in whole or in part in the Hurri-
cane Katrina disaster area, shall establish a program to 
provide emergency health coverage continuation relief 
through the provision of direct payments of health insur-
ance premiums or continuation assistance on behalf of eli-
gible businesses and their employees and purchasers of in-
dividual health insurance coverage. 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.—The term ‘‘eligi-
ble individual’’ means an individual (and the family 
dependents of such individual as may be covered 
under the health insurance coverage in which such 
individual is enrolled)—
(A) who is a citizen, national, or qualified 
alien as defined in section 431(b) of the Per-
sonal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 
Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641(b)); 
(B) whose permanent residence as of Au-
gust 28, 2005 was located in a Hurricane 
Katrina disaster area; 
(C) who was covered under individual 
(nongroup) health insurance coverage, including 
a policy operated pursuant to a qualified high 
risk pool (as defined in section 2744 of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg– 
44)), on August 28, 2005; and 
(D) whose ability to continue such cov-
erage was severely impaired as a result of hur-
ricane-related 
disruption 
in 
a 
Hurricane 
Katrina disaster area. 
(2) ELIGIBLE BUSINESSES.—The term ‘‘eligible 
business’’ means a corporation, sole proprietorship, 
or partnership that employs not more than 50 em-
ployees and that— 
(A) operated as of August 28, 2005 in a 
Hurricane Katrina disaster area; 
(B) offered coverage under a group health 
plan (as defined in section 733(a)(1) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
1974 (29 U.S.C. 1191b(a)(1))) on August 28, 
2005 to employees in a Hurricane Katrina dis-
aster area; and 
(C) had its ability to continue coverage 
under such plan severely impaired as a result of 
disruption of the sponsor’s business activity in 
the Hurricane Katrina disaster area. 
(3) CONTINUATION
ASSISTANCE.—The term 
‘‘continuation assistance’’ means, in the case of an 
eligible business that offers health insurance cov-
erage under a self-insured arrangement, assistance 
in paying administrative services fees, claims costs, 
stop-loss premiums, and any amounts required to be 
paid by employees to participate in the arrangement. 
(4) HURRICANE
KATRINA
DISASTER
AREA.— 
The term ‘‘Hurricane Katrina disaster area’’ means 
a parish in the State of Louisiana, a county in the 
State of Mississippi, or a county in the State of Ala-
bama, for which a major disaster has been declared 
in accordance with section 401 of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) as a result of Hurricane 
Katrina and which the President has determined, 
before September 11, 2005, warrants both individual
and public assistance from the Federal Government 
under such Act. 
(c) HEALTH COVERAGE CONTINUATION RELIEF.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall design 
and implement the program under subsection (a) in 
a manner that enables eligible individuals and eligi-
ble businesses to be eligible for direct premium reim-
bursement or continuation assistance to be paid by 
the Secretary on behalf of such individual or busi-
ness directly to the health insurance issuer or ad-
ministrative services provider involved. In the case of 
an eligible business, premium reimbursement shall 
include the premium shares of both the employer 
and employees, as applicable. 
(2) LIMITATION.—Subject to paragraph (3), in 
no case shall the value of the assistance provided 
under the program under this section, with respect 
to an individual or business, exceed 100 percent of 
the applicable premium for coverage or continuation 
assistance for the period of coverage involved, in-
cluding, with respect to employer coverage, the em-
ployer and employees’ share of premiums, if applica-
ble. 
(3) ENROLLMENT.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish an expedited process for the enrollment 
of eligible individuals and eligible businesses in 
the program under this section. 
(B) DUTY OF SECRETARY UPON RECEIPT 
OF NOTICE.—The Secretary, upon receipt of a 
notice under subsection (f)(2), shall enroll the 
eligible individual or eligible business involved 
in the program under this section. 
(C) DUTY
OF
ISSUER.—A group health 
plan, or health insurance insurer with respect 
to such a plan, shall make a reasonable effort 
to notify an eligible individual or eligible busi-
ness— 
(i) of the automatic enrollment of 
such individual or business in the program 
under subparagraph (B); 
(ii) that, if it is later determined that 
the means of support of such individual, or 
the ability of such business to continue 
health insurance coverage, was not severely 
disrupted (as determined subject to a ran-
domized retrospective audit process), such 
individual or business may be required at 
a later date to repay the program for the
amount of premiums or continuation as-
sistance paid on its behalf; and 
(iii) that such individual or business 
may elect to decline enrollment, or cancel 
enrollment, in the program by notifying 
the health insurance issuer or administra-
tive service provider involved. 
(d) RETROSPECTIVE AUDIT AUTHORITY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 
for the application of a randomized retrospective au-
diting process to the program under this section by 
a date that is not earlier than December 1, 2005. 
(2) REPAYMENT OF FUNDS.—If the Secretary 
determines, pursuant to the audit process under 
paragraph (1), that an individual or business that 
was enrolled in the program under this section did 
not meet the disruption or other eligibility require-
ments provided for in paragraph (1) or (2) of sub-
section (b), the Secretary shall seek the repayment 
of funds paid on behalf of such individual or busi-
ness. Such repayments shall be made with no inter-
est or late penalty to accrue prior to the commence-
ment of a repayment period which shall begin not 
earlier than the date that is 3 months after the date