Title: Corporate Accountability Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Corporate Accountability Act
This bill requires corporations that receive federal aid related to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) to (1) provide at least 14 days of fully paid leave to all workers, (2) pay each employee a wage of not less than $15 an hour, and (3) limit CEO and executive pay.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6827 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6827

 To amend the Coronavirus Economic Stabilization Act of 2020 to place 
 certain requirements on corporations receiving Federal aid related to 
                               COVID-19.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 2020

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez (for herself and Ms. Waters) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Coronavirus Economic Stabilization Act of 2020 to place 
 certain requirements on corporations receiving Federal aid related to 
                               COVID-19.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Corporate Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS ON ALL CORPORATIONS RECEIVING FEDERAL AID RELATED 
              TO COVID-19.

    (a) In General.--The CARES Act (Public Law 116-136) is amended by 
inserting after section 4029 the following:

``SEC. 4030. REQUIREMENTS ON ALL CORPORATIONS RECEIVING FEDERAL AID 
              RELATED TO COVID-19.

    ``(a) In General.--Any corporation that receives Federal aid 
related to COVID-19 shall, during the covered period, comply with the 
following:
            ``(1) Paid leave for workers.--The corporation shall 
        provide at least 14 days of fully-paid leave to all workers.
            ``(2) Minimum wage.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The corporation shall pay each 
                employee (including full-time, part-time, and tipped 
                employees) of the corporation a wage of not less than 
                $15 an hour, beginning not later than January 1, 2021.
                    ``(B) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of the 
                Congress that each corporation described under 
                subparagraph (A)--
                            ``(i) should meet the minimum wage 
                        requirements described under subparagraph (A) 
                        before January 1, 2021, if the corporation is 
                        able; and
                            ``(ii) should ensure that other companies 
                        with respect to which the corporation contracts 
                        also pay their employees the minimum wage 
                        described under subparagraph (A).
            ``(3) Limitation on ceo and executive pay.--The corporation 
        may not have a CEO to median worker pay ratio of greater than 
        50 to 1 and no officer or employee of the corporation may 
        received higher compensation than the chief executive officer 
        (or any equivalent position).
    ``(b) Enforcement; Rulemaking.--The Securities and Exchange 
Commission shall have the authority to enforce this section and may 
issue such rules as may be necessary to carry out this section.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) CEO to median worker pay ratio.--With respect to an 
        corporation, the term `CEO to median worker pay ratio' means 
        the ratio of--
                    ``(A) the annual total compensation, including 
                salary, equity, and any other form of compensation of 
                the chief executive officer (or any equivalent 
                position) of the corporation; and
                    ``(B) the median of the annual total compensation 
                of all employees of the corporation, except the chief 
                executive officer (or any equivalent position) of the 
                corporation.
            ``(2) Covered period.--With respect to a receipt of Federal 
        aid related to COVID-19, the term `covered period' means the 
        period--
                    ``(A) beginning on the date such Federal aid is 
                first received; and
                    ``(B) ending after the 1-year period beginning on 
                the later of--
                            ``(i) the termination date of the emergency 
                        declared by the President on March 13, 2020, 
                        under section 501(b) of the Robert T. Stafford 
                        Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 
                        (42 U.S.C. 5191(b)) with respect to the 
                        coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); or
                            ``(ii) the date on which all such Federal 
                        aid has been repaid.
            ``(3) Federal aid.--The term `Federal aid' means any 
        emergency lending provided under section 13(3) of the Federal 
        Reserve Act or any Federal financial support in the form of a 
        grant, loan, or loan guarantee.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 2 of the 
CARES Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
4029 the following:

``Sec. 4030. Requirements on all corporations receiving Federal aid 
                            related to COVID-19.''.
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