Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2014-03-04 00:00:00

Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2014 - Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008, (SSA, 2008) to extend emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) payments for eligible individuals to weeks of employment ending on or before July 1, 2014.

 Amends the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act to extend until June 30, 2014, requirements that federal payments to states cover 100% of EUC.

 Amends the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008 to exempt weeks of unemployment between enactment of this Act and December 31, 2014, from the prohibition in the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (FSEUCA of 1970) against federal matching payments to a state for the first week in an individual's eligibility period for which extended compensation or sharable regular compensation is paid if the state law provides for payment of regular compensation to an individual for his or her first week of otherwise compensable unemployment. (Thus allows temporary federal matching for the first week of extended benefits for states with no waiting period.)

 Amends the FSEUCA of 1970 to postpone similarly from December 31, 2013, to June 30, 2014, termination of the period during which a state may determine its "on" and "off" indicators according to specified temporary substitutions in its formula.

 Amends the SSA, 2008 to appropriate funds out of the employment security administration account through the first half of FY2015 to assist states in providing reemployment and eligibility assessment activities.

 Amends the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act to extend through June 30, 2014, the temporary increase in extended unemployment benefits.

Makes a change in application of a certain requirement (nonreduction rule) to a state that has entered a federal-state EUC agreement, under which the federal government would reimburse the state's unemployment compensation agency making EUC payments to individuals who have exhausted all rights to regular unemployment compensation under state or federal law and meet specified other criteria.

 (Under the nonreduction rule such an agreement does not apply with respect to a state whose method for computing regular unemployment compensation under state law has been modified to make the average weekly unemployment compensation benefit paid on or after June 2, 2010, less than what would have been paid before June 2, 2010.)

 Declares that the nonreduction rule shall not apply to a state which has enacted a law before December 1, 2013, that, upon taking effect, would violate the nonreduction rule. Allows a state whose agreement was terminated, however, to enter into a subsequent federal-state EUC agreement on or after enactment of this Act if, taking into account this inapplicability of the nonreduction rule, it would otherwise meet the requirements for an EUC agreement. (Thus allows such a subsequent EUC agreement to permit payment of less than the average weekly unemployment compensation benefit paid on or after June 2, 2010.)

Requires in order to offset costs of the EUC extension:

 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to remove the amount of the farm bill savings from the PAYGO scorecards maintained pursuant to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, and the Senate Committee on the Budget to remove that amount also from the PAYGO scorecards maintained for purposes of S.Con.Res. 21 (110th Congress). Declares that the amount thus removed from any PAYGO scorecard shall not be available to offset the cost of other legislation under such Act or Resolution.