15 U.S.C. § 9023 (COMMERCE AND TRADE)
§ 9023. Emergency increase in unemployment compensation benefits
(a) Federal-State agreements
Any State which desires to do so may enter into and participate in an agreement under this section with the Secretary of Labor (in this section referred to as the “Secretary”). Any State which is a party to an agreement under this section may, upon providing 30 days’ written notice to the Secretary, terminate such agreement.
(b) Provisions of agreement
(1) Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
Any agreement under this section 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 the State were applied, with respect to any week for which the individual is (disregarding this section) otherwise entitled under the State law to receive regular compensation, as if such State law had been modified in a manner such that the amount of regular compensation (including dependents’ allowances) payable for any week shall be equal to—
(A) the amount determined under the State law (before the application of this paragraph), plus
(B) an additional amount of $600 (in this section referred to as “Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation”).
(2) Allowable methods of payment
Any Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation provided for in accordance with paragraph (1) shall be payable either—
(A) as an amount which is paid at the same time and in the same manner as any regular compensation otherwise payable for the week involved; or
(B) at the option of the State, by payments which are made separately from, but on the same weekly basis as, any regular compensation otherwise payable.
(c) Nonreduction rule
(1) In general
An agreement under this section 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 that State has been modified in a manner such that the number of weeks (the maximum benefit entitlement), or the average weekly benefit amount, of regular compensation which will be payable during the period of the agreement (determined disregarding any Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation) will be less than the number of weeks, or the average weekly benefit amount, of the average weekly benefit amount of regular compensation which would otherwise have been payable during such period under the State law, as in effect on January 1, 2020.
(2) Maximum benefit entitlement
In paragraph (1), the term “maximum benefit entitlement” means the amount of regular unemployment compensation payable to an individual with respect to the individual’s benefit year.
(d) Payments to States
(1) In general
(A) Full reimbursement
There shall be paid to each State which has entered into an agreement under this section an amount equal to 100 percent of—
(i) the total amount of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation paid to individuals by the State pursuant to such agreement; and
(ii) any additional administrative expenses incurred by the State by reason of such agreement (as determined by the Secretary).
(B) Terms of payments
Sums payable to any State by reason of such State’s having an agreement under this section shall be payable, either in advance or by way of reimbursement (as determined by the Secretary), in such amounts as the Secretary estimates the State will be entitled to receive under this section for each calendar month, reduced or increased, as the case may be, by any amount by which the Secretary finds that his 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.
(2) Certifications
The Secretary shall from time to time certify to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment to each State the sums payable to such State under this section.
(3) Appropriation
There are appropriated from the general fund of the Treasury, without fiscal year limitation, such sums as may be necessary for purposes of this subsection.
(e) Applicability
An agreement entered into under this section shall apply to weeks of unemployment—
(1) beginning after the date on which such agreement is entered into; and
(2) ending on or before July 31, 2020.
(f) Fraud and overpayments
(1) 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 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to which such individual was not entitled, such individual—
(A) shall be ineligible for further Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation in accordance with the provisions of the applicable State unemployment compensation law relating to fraud in connection with a claim for unemployment compensation; and
(B) shall be subject to prosecution under section 1001 of title 18.
(2) Repayment
In the case of individuals who have received amounts of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to which they were not entitled, the State shall require such individuals to repay the amounts of such Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to the State agency, except that the State agency may waive such repayment if it determines that—
(A) the payment of such Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation was without fault on the part of any such individual; and
(B) such repayment would be contrary to equity and good conscience.
(3) Recovery by State agency
(A) In general
The State agency shall recover the amount to be repaid, or any part thereof, by deductions from any Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payable to such individual or from any unemployment compensation payable to such individual under any State or Federal unemployment compensation law administered by the State agency or under any other State or Federal law administered by the State agency which provides for the payment of any assistance or allowance with respect to any week of unemployment, during the 3-year period after the date such individuals received the payment of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to which they were not entitled, in accordance with the same procedures as apply to the recovery of overpayments of regular unemployment benefits paid by the State.
(B) Opportunity for hearing
No repayment 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.
(4) 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.
(g) Application to other unemployment benefits
Each agreement under this section shall include provisions to provide that the purposes of the preceding provisions of this section shall be applied with respect to unemployment benefits described in subsection (i)(2) to the same extent and in the same manner as if those benefits were regular compensation.
(h) Disregard of additional compensation for purposes of Medicaid and CHIP
The monthly equivalent of any Federal pandemic unemployment compensation paid to an individual under this section shall be disregarded when determining income for any purpose under the programs established under titles XIX and title XXI 1 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq., 1397aa et seq.).
(i) Definitions
For purposes of this section—
(1) the terms “compensation”, “regular compensation”, “benefit year”, “State”, “State agency”, “State law”, and “week” have the respective meanings given such terms under section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note); and
(2) any reference to unemployment benefits described in this paragraph shall be considered to refer to—
(A) extended compensation (as defined by section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970);
(B) regular compensation (as defined by section 85(b) of title 26) provided under any program administered by a State under an agreement with the Secretary;
(C) pandemic unemployment assistance under section 9021 of this title; and
(D) pandemic emergency unemployment compensation under section 9025 of this title.
(Pub. L. 116–136, div. A, title II, § 2104, Mar. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 318.)
heading: References in Text
text: The Social Security Act, referred to in subsec. (h), is act Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, 49 Stat. 620. Titles XIX and XXI of the Act are classified generally to subchapters XIX (§ 1396 et seq.) and XXI (§ 1397aa et seq.), respectively, of chapter 7 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1305 of Title 42 and Tables.
Section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970, referred to in subsec. (i)(1), (2)(A), is section 205 of Pub. L. 91–373, which is set out in a note under section 3304 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.