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PRINTER'S NO. 4479
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
2908
Session of
2020
INTRODUCED BY MALAGARI, HILL-EVANS, WEBSTER, STEPHENS, BURGOS,
SNYDER, CALTAGIRONE, KULIK, KINSEY, LONGIETTI, McCARTER,
READSHAW, McNEILL, HANBIDGE, MIHALEK, GALLOWAY, FREEMAN,
WILLIAMS, ROZZI, DRISCOLL, HOWARD, SHUSTERMAN, MURT, DEASY,
ZABEL, GREEN, SANCHEZ, SIMS, MADDEN, SCHLOSSBERG AND KRUEGER,
OCTOBER 6, 2020
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS, OCTOBER 6, 2020
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), entitled
"An act relating to the finances of the State government;
providing for cancer control, prevention and research, for
ambulatory surgical center data collection, for the Joint
Underwriting Association, for entertainment business
financial management firms, for private dam financial
assurance and for reinstatement of item vetoes; providing for
the settlement, assessment, collection, and lien of taxes,
bonus, and all other accounts due the Commonwealth, the
collection and recovery of fees and other money or property
due or belonging to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
including escheated property and the proceeds of its sale,
the custody and disbursement or other disposition of funds
and securities belonging to or in the possession of the
Commonwealth, and the settlement of claims against the
Commonwealth, the resettlement of accounts and appeals to the
courts, refunds of moneys erroneously paid to the
Commonwealth, auditing the accounts of the Commonwealth and
all agencies thereof, of all public officers collecting
moneys payable to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
and all receipts of appropriations from the Commonwealth,
authorizing the Commonwealth to issue tax anticipation notes
to defray current expenses, implementing the provisions of
section 7(a) of Article VIII of the Constitution of
Pennsylvania authorizing and restricting the incurring of
certain debt and imposing penalties; affecting every
department, board, commission, and officer of the State
government, every political subdivision of the State, and
certain officers of such subdivisions, every person,
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association, and corporation required to pay, assess, or
collect taxes, or to make returns or reports under the laws
imposing taxes for State purposes, or to pay license fees or
other moneys to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
every State depository and every debtor or creditor of the
Commonwealth," in emergency COVID-19 response, establishing
the COVID-19 Emergency Services Hazard Pay Grant Program.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), known
as The Fiscal Code, is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 134-C. COVID-19 Emergency Services Hazard Pay Grant
Program.
(a) Use of funds.--From money appropriated for COVID Relief
- Hazard Pay, $100,000,000, in addition to any other funds made
available to the Commonwealth for COVID-19 relief, shall be
transferred by the State Treasurer to the department for the
purpose of making grants under this section.
(b) Establishment of program.--The COVID-19 Emergency
Services Hazard Pay Grant Program is established within the
department to provide hazard pay to employees of emergency
services.
(c) Eligibility.--
(1) The following shall be eligible to apply for grants
under the program:
(i) Emergency services.
(ii) A police department.
(iii) A fire department.
(iv) Emergency medical services.
(v) An individual whose eligible employer has not
applied for a grant under the program on behalf of the
employee.
(2) In order to be eligible to receive a grant under the
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program, a health care provider shall be located within this
Commonwealth and operate or conduct any of the following:
(i) Emergency services.
(ii) A police department.
(iii) A fire department.
(iv) Emergency medical services.
(d) Application process.--
(1) In order to apply for a grant under the program, an
employer shall submit the department's electronic single
application for assistance and provide all of the following
in the application:
(i) A project narrative, including all of the
following:
(A) Industry category.
(B) A brief description of the life-sustaining
services the employer provides to the public.
(C) The employer's location in this
Commonwealth.
(ii) Changes to the operations and hours of the
employer due to the COVID-19 disaster emergency.
(iii) How the employer has adjusted operations to
meet the safety requirements of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and the Department of Health
regarding COVID-19 and limited contact with the public
when possible.
(iv) The number of employees not working due to
testing positive for COVID-19, caring for a family member
with COVID-19 or lack of childcare.
(v) Whether the employer is currently providing
hazard pay for the employer's employees.
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(vi) The amount of the grant request.
(vii) A brief description of how the grant funds
will be used to increase hazard pay, including the
following information:
(A) The number of the employer's full-time
equivalent frontline employees eligible for hazard
pay.
(B) The job types of the employer's full-time
equivalent frontline employees eligible for hazard
pay and the reason why the employees must remain
frontline during the COVID-19 disaster emergency.
(C) The hourly rate of the employer's employees,
excluding fringe benefits.
(2) The department shall evaluate an application for a
grant under the program using the following criteria:
(i) Risk of exposure by industry.
(ii) The location and prevalence of COVID-19.
(iii) The average hourly wage paid by the employer.
(3) The department shall prioritize applications for
grants under the program in accordance with the Worker
Exposure Risk to COVID-19 released by the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration and based on the following:
(i) Employees with a high potential for exposure to
known or suspected sources of COVID-19 during specific
medical, postmortem or laboratory procedures, including
employees performing aerosol-generating procedures or
collecting or handling specimens from potentially
infectious COVID-19 individuals.
(ii) Employees with a high potential for exposure to
known or suspected sources of COVID-19, including
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employees that provide health care delivery and support
or medical transport to potentially infectious COVID-19
individuals.
(iii) Employees that are in frequent close contact
with individuals who may be infected with COVID-19, but
who are not known or suspected individuals with COVID-19.
Employees under this subparagraph shall include employees
who may have been in contact with the general public,
employees returning from locations with widespread COVID-
19 transmission and employees who do not have the ability
to socially distance at their place of employment.
(iv) Employees that do not require contact with
individuals who may be infected with COVID-19, including
employees who have minimal occupational contact with the
public or other coworkers.
(4) The department shall only consider complete
applications for grants under the program. An incomplete
application shall not be considered by the department and
shall be withdrawn.
(5) The department shall designate a time for receipt of
applications for grants under the program. After the approval
of an application by the department, the department shall
electronically issue a grant agreement to the applicant
explaining the terms and conditions of the grant along with
the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of
2006 (Public Law 109-282, 120 Stat. 1186) form. The applicant
shall electronically sign and return the grant agreement to
the department within 30 days. If the applicant fails to
electronically sign and return the grant agreement to the
department within 30 days, the grant agreement may be
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withdrawn by the department. The applicant shall return the
Federal form under this paragraph with the signed grant
agreement to the department. If the applicant fails to return
the Federal form under this paragraph, the department may not
process the grant agreement. The department shall return a
fully executed copy of the grant agreement to the applicant
with a grant payment request form and instructions for
requesting a grant payment. An applicant may submit a grant
payment request with support documentation at the end of the
eligible period seeking reimbursement for actual hazard pay
expenditures by a date established by the department. The
support documentation under this paragraph shall include a
signed hazard pay report with the names of the employees, pay
date, pay period covered, regular pay, hazard pay, proof of
payment and a description of duties of the employees.
(6) The department shall submit the guidelines detailing
the application process for the program to the Legislative
Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin
and post the guidelines on the department's publicly
accessible Internet website.
(e) Certification.--
(1) An employer that receives a grant under the program
shall certify compliance with all of the following
requirements to the department:
(i) The employer pays the employer's employees at
least the minimum wage under the act of January 17, 1968
(P.L.11, No.5), known as The Minimum Wage Act of 1968.
(ii) The employer pays the employer's share of the
Federal FICA tax obligations for the hazard pay.
(iii) The employer adheres to the Centers for
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Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and Department
of Health regulations and guidelines for reopening under
the Governor's phased reopening plan to protect frontline
employees from contracting COVID-19.
(iv) The employer complies with all relevant laws,
regulations and orders of this Commonwealth during the
period of the COVID-19 disaster emergency, including, but
not limited to, orders by the Governor, Secretary of
Health or other public officials authorized to take
actions to mitigate the COVID-19 disaster emergency.
(2) An employer that fails to comply with the
requirements under paragraph (1) shall be ineligible for
grants under the program and may be required to return all,
or a portion, of the grants awarded to the employer under the
program.
(f) System requirements.--In order to be eligible for a
grant under the program, an employer shall have a data universal
numbering system number and be registered with the Federal
Government's system for award management.
(g) Administration of hazard pay.--
(1) An employer that receives a grant under the program
shall use the grant money to provide hazard pay to an
employee for a 10-week period as designated by the department
at a rate of an additional $3 per hour of the employee's
regular pay rate.
(2) Hazard pay provided to an employee shall be in
addition to any eligible overtime and other benefits,
including employer-paid hazard pay. Hazard pay may not
supplant the current compensation of an employee or supplant
any scheduled increase to the current compensation of an
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employee.
(3) An employer shall provide hazard pay to an employee
according to the employee's regular pay schedule. An employer
may not withhold hazard pay from an employee and provide the
hazard pay to the employee in a later lump sum.
(4) In order to determine the maximum grant request
under the program, an employer shall calculate the number of
the employer's full-time equivalent employees during a 10-
week period who are eligible to receive hazard pay.
(5) An employer may apply for a grant under the program
to provide hazard pay for no more than 500 eligible full-time
equivalent employees per location with a maximum of a
$600,000 grant per location.
(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
receipt of a grant under the program shall not affect an
employer's eligibility for a grant or the amount of a grant
provided under any other laws of this Commonwealth.
(7) Grant funds under the program may be used for hazard
pay for full-time equivalent frontline employees, excluding
fringe benefits and overtime, during the 10-week period
determined by the department.
(8) Hazard pay shall only be used for frontline
employees facing the hazards of COVID-19 and who have
continued working through the Governor's 20200319 TWW COVID-
19 Business Closure Order for a life-sustaining business or a
business that received a waiver from the Governor's 20200319
TWW COVID-19 Business Closure Order by the department.
(h) Limitations.--
(1) An employer that submits an application directly to
the department for a grant under the program shall not be
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eligible for reimbursement for the administrative costs to
submit and complete the application.
(2) An employer may not provide hazard pay for any hours
worked by an employee in excess of 40 hours in a week.
(3) The department may not award a grant under the
program in excess of $1,200 per eligible full-time equivalent
employee.
(i) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"COVID-19." The novel coronavirus disease of 2019. An
infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 that was first identified during December 2019 in
Wuhan, China.
"COVID-19 disaster emergency." The disaster emergency as
described in the proclamation of disaster emergency issued by
the Governor on March 6, 2020, published at 50 Pa.B. 1644 (March
21, 2020), and any renewal of the state of disaster emergency.
"Department." The Department of Community and Economic
Development of the Commonwealth.
"Employee." An employee actively engaged in a task at the
direction of an employer designated as a life-sustaining
business during the COVID-19 disaster emergency. The term does
not include an employee on leave for the entire duration of the
COVID-19 emergency.
"Frontline employee." An employee deemed necessary by the
employer to report to work during the COVID-19 disaster
emergency for a life-sustaining business.
"Hazard pay." Additional pay for performing hazardous duties
or work involving physical hardship related to COVID-19.
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Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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