Disaster Income Assistance Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1944
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Nelson, Bill [D-FL]
Introduced: 2017-10-05
Policy area: Social Welfare
Latest action: action_date: 2017-10-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-10-05
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Disaster Income Assistance Act of 2017</strong></p> <p>This bill amends title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) of the Social Security Act to waive the 30-day residency requirement with respect to SSI benefits for an&nbsp;individual who evacuates from an emergency area in&nbsp;Puerto Rico,&nbsp;American Samoa, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Under current law, an&nbsp;individual who has been outside of the United States for 30 consecutive days is generally ineligible to receive SSI benefits until the individual has returned to the United States and resided there for 30 consecutive days.</p>

tv_txt: II 115th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1944 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES October 5, 2017 Mr. Nelson introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title XVI of the Social Security Act to allow the Commissioner of Social Security to waive the 30-day residency requirement for receipt of supplemental security income benefits for individuals who evacuate from certain territories of the United States as a result of an emergency or natural disaster.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Disaster Income Assistance Act of 2017 . 2. Authority to waive 30-day residency requirement Section 1611(f) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1382(f) ) is amended— (1) in paragraph (1), by striking Notwithstanding and inserting (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), notwithstanding ; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: (B) The Commissioner of Social Security may waive the requirement in subparagraph (A) that an eligible individual who has been outside the United States for any period of 30 consecutive days shall be treated as remaining outside the United States until such individual has been in the United States for a period of 30 consecutive days in the case of any eligible individual or categories of eligible individuals who evacuate from an emergency area located in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa during an emergency period to one of the 50 States or the District of Columbia. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the terms emergency area and emergency period shall have the meaning given such terms in section 1135(g)(1). .