Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act
Latest action · May 11, 2023 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMay 11, 2023
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act
This bill addresses overpayments of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, including by providing incentives for states to investigate and recover these funds.
Specifically, the bill allows a state to retain 25% of any funds recovered from fraudulent overpayments of certain UI benefits that were provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. These retained funds must be used for specified program integrity measures, such as modernizing UI systems and information technology and hiring fraud investigators.
The bill allows a state to retain up to 5% of (1) any UI overpayment it recovers, except where the overpayment is due to state agency error; and (2) any unpaid employer contributions that the state recovers, if the state certifies that it has enacted certain fraud detection measures. A state must use the retained funds for specified purposes, such as deterring, detecting, and preventing improper payments.
Additionally, the bill extends from 3 to 10 years the time during which states must recover overpayments of pandemic UI benefits through benefit offsets. The bill also extends from 5 to 10 years the statute of limitations for federal criminal charges or civil enforcement actions related to UI fraud.
Further, the bill extends an exception to the federal requirement that state UI personnel be hired on a merit basis. The bill allows a state to hire temporary staff on a noncompetitive basis through December 31, 2030.
Finally, the bill repeals a provision that provided funding to the Department of Labor for UI program integrity activities.
Cosponsors 16
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 11, 2023 to Sep 12, 2023; 14 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-LA | Bill Cassidy | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-ID | James E. Risch | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-WY | John Barrasso | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-LA | John Kennedy | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-SD | John Thune | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-TN | Marsha Blackburn | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-IN | Mike Braun | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-UT | Mitt Romney | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-FL | Rick Scott | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-KS | Roger Marshall | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-WV | Shelley Moore Capito | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-ME | Susan M. Collins | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-NC | Ted Budd | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-IN | Todd Young | Original | May 11, 2023 |
| R-ND | Kevin Cramer | May 15, 2023 | |
| R-OK | James Lankford | Sep 12, 2023 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Finance Committee | Referred May 11, 2023 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- May 11, 2023Introduced in Senate
- May 11, 2023Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
CRS reports 2
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 2
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| R47575 | Unemployment Insurance: Legislative Issues in the 118th Congress | Report | Feb 27, 2025 |
| R47593 | Pandemic Oversight: The Biden Administration’s New Anti-Fraud Proposal | Report | Jun 15, 2023 |
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 1163 | Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act | Related bill | May 11, 2023 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to provide incentives for States to recover fraudulently paid Federal and State unemployment compensation, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Labor and Employment.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- May 11, 2023Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
