I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7744 
To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid leave programs, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 23, 2020 
Mr. GOMEZ (for himself, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 
CARSON of Indiana, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. 
GOTTHEIMER, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KHANNA, 
Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. MOORE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PA-
NETTA, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. PORTER, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, 
Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. SPEIER, and Mr. SUOZZI) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid 
leave programs, 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 ‘‘State Paid Leave for 
America Now (PLAN) Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT OF QUALIFIED STATE 
PAID LEAVE PROGRAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are appropriated to the 
Secretary of the Treasury such sums as necessary to make 
payments to States to reimburse eligible State expendi-
tures in accordance with this section. 
(b) ELIGIBLE STATE EXPENDITURE.—For purposes 
of this section, the term ‘‘eligible State expenditure’’ 
means any expenditure by a State— 
(1) made during the period beginning on Janu-
ary 27, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2021, 
with respect to any qualified paid leave program; 
and 
(2) consisting of any of the following: 
(A) The payment of benefits by the State 
under such program. 
(B) Subject to subsection (d), the reim-
bursement of benefits paid by a private em-
ployer or insurer— 
(i) required to maintain such program 
under the law of the State; or 
(ii) offering such a program on the 
basis of reimbursement of tax relief pro-
vided by the State. 
(C) The administrative costs to the State 
of operating a qualified paid leave program 
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maintained by the State or issuing reimburse-
ments described in subparagraph (B). 
(c) QUALIFIED PAID LEAVE PROGRAM.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, 
the term ‘‘qualified paid leave program’’ means any 
program maintained by a State, or by a private em-
ployer or insurer required to maintain such program 
under the law of the State, that provides paid leave 
benefits described in paragraph (2), but only to the 
extent that such benefits are paid for circumstances 
related to COVID-19 (as determined pursuant to 
paragraph (3)). 
(2) APPLICABLE PAID LEAVE BENEFITS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
subparagraph (B), a paid leave benefit de-
scribed in this paragraph is a benefit which pro-
vides full or partial wage replacement to em-
ployees on the basis of specifically defined 
qualifying events defined under the law or pro-
gram policy of a State and which ends either 
when the qualifying event is no longer applica-
ble or a set period of benefits is exhausted. 
(B) EXCEPTIONS.—A paid leave benefit 
described in this paragraph does not include— 
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(i) any form of accrued paid leave or 
any form of paid leave for which accrued 
paid leave is required to be substituted; 
(ii) any form of compensation paid in 
remedy for a workplace injury, illness, or 
death or in exchange for forfeiting any 
right of action against the employer for a 
workplace injury, illness, or death; or 
(iii) any paid leave with respect to 
which any taxpayer is eligible for a credit 
under division G of the Families First 
Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 
116–127). 
(3) CIRCUMSTANCES RELATED TO COVID-19.— 
For purposes of this section, a benefit is paid for 
circumstances related to COVID-19 if, in order to be 
eligible for such benefit, the recipient must be an in-
dividual who (as determined by the qualified paid 
leave program under the law of the State)— 
(A) has a current or presumptive diagnosis 
of COVID-19 from a health care provider; 
(B) is under quarantine (including self-im-
posed quarantine or self-isolation) at the in-
struction of a health care provider, employer, or 
a local, State, or Federal official— 
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(i) in order to prevent the spread of 
COVID-19; or 
(ii) due to underlying health condi-
tions that put the individual at high risk if 
they contract COVID-19; 
(C) is engaged in caregiving for an indi-
vidual who has a current or presumptive diag-
nosis of COVID-19 from a health care provider 
or is under quarantine as described in subpara-
graph (B); or 
(D) meets such other circumstances re-
lated to COVID-19 as the law of the State or 
the Secretary of the Treasury (in consultation 
with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices and the Secretary of Labor) may provide. 
(d) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN REIMBURSEMENTS.— 
A State may not treat an expenditure described in sub-
section (b)(2) with respect to a qualified paid leave pro-
gram as an eligible State expenditure— 
(1) with respect to benefits paid by the State 
under such program as described in subparagraph 
(A) of such subsection, if the State, during the pe-
riod described in subsection (b)(1) or during the 6- 
month period immediately following such period, re-
stricts eligibility or reduces program benefits (in-
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cluding with respect to duration of leave, wage re-
placement rate, or maximum benefits or coverage) 
related to such program; and 
(2) with respect to benefits paid by a private 
employer or insurer as described in subparagraph 
(B) of such subsection, unless the private employer 
or insurer receiving reimbursement under such sub-
section provides assurances to the satisfaction of the 
State that— 
(A) the private employer or insurer has in 
effect procedures— 
(i) to determine whether a benefit is 
paid for circumstances related to COVID- 
19 that comply with the standard estab-
lished in subsection (c)(3); and 
(ii) to report such determinations to 
the State; and 
(B)(i) during the period described in sub-
section (b)(1) and during the 6-month period 
beginning on the date on which the entity re-
ceives such reimbursement from the State, the 
private employer or insurer will not— 
(I) raise any premium (if applicable) 
with respect to any plan for which the pri-
vate employer or insurer submitted expend-
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itures to the State for reimbursement, un-
less the premium increase is directly and 
proportionally tied to expanded or in-
creased paid leave program benefits man-
dated by law or to increased utilization un-
related 
to 
circumstances 
related 
to 
COVID-19 (as determined pursuant to 
paragraph (3)); or 
(II) reduce any benefit (including with 
respect to duration of leave, wage replace-
ment rate, maximum benefits or coverage) 
with respect to any such plan; and 
(ii) in any case in which the private em-
ployer or insurer violates clause (i), the private 
employer or insurer agrees to repay the State 
any such reimbursement received. 
In any case in which a private employer or insurer repays 
any amount to a State pursuant to paragraph (2)(B)(ii), 
the State shall repay to the Secretary of the Treasury such 
portion of payments received by the State under sub-
section (a) as pertain to such amount. 
(e) TIMING AND PROCEDURE FOR PAYMENTS.— 
(1) CERTIFICATIONS BY STATES.— 
(A) INITIAL
ESTIMATE.—Not later than 
September 30, 2020, each State seeking a pay-
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ment under this section shall certify to the Sec-
retary of the Treasury an initial estimate of the 
total amount of eligible State expenditures the 
State expects to make with respect to calendar 
years 2020 and 2021. 
(B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than July 
1, 2023, each such State shall certify a final re-
port of the total amount of eligible State ex-
penditures made with respect to such calendar 
years. Such report shall also include— 
(i) the number of benefit claims that 
qualified for reimbursement, by eligibility 
category and type of leave; 
(ii) the average duration of benefit re-
ceipt with respect to each such eligibility 
category and type of leave; and 
(iii) any demographic information 
about recipients, disaggregated by eligi-
bility category and type of leave, which is 
collected by the State or private insurer 
during the application process. 
Not later than December 31, 2023, the Sec-
retary of the Treasury shall submit a report to 
Congress providing aggregate data summarizing 
such final report. Such final report shall not in-
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clude any individually identifiable information 
or any information which is protected by State 
or Federal privacy law, and nothing in this sub-
paragraph shall be construed to require a State 
or private insurer to collect any information 
from applicants beyond the extent information 
described in clause (iii) is collected during the 
application process. 
(2) TIMING OF PAYMENTS.—The Secretary of 
the Treasury shall make payments under this section 
on a quarterly basis during calendar years 2020 and 
2021 beginning on December 31, 2020, based on an 
amount equal to 75 percent of the initial estimates 
received pursuant to paragraph (1)(A). 
(3) RECONCILIATION.—Not later than Sep-
tember 30, 2023, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
reconcile with each State amounts paid pursuant to 
paragraph (2) with the final report submitted by the 
State pursuant to paragraph (1)(B), and shall pay 
additional amounts to the State or collect overpay-
ments as necessary based on the amount specified in 
such final report. 
(f) DEFINITION OF STATE.—For purposes of this 
section, the term ‘‘State’’ means any of the 50 States or 
the District of Columbia. 
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SEC. 3. STUDY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General shall 
conduct a study to examine the potential impact on the 
economy had a national paid leave program been in effect 
during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2022, 
the Comptroller General shall submit a report to Congress 
on the results of the study under subsection (a). 
Æ 
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