Bill > HR8873

This bill, titled the "Recover COVID Unemployment Fraud in Banks Act," establishes a National Recovery Coordinator and a Task Force to identify and recover unclaimed federal pandemic unemployment compensation funds that were improperly distributed and are now held by financial institutions or have been turned over to state unclaimed property administrators. The Task Force, comprised of representatives from various federal agencies including the Department of Labor, Treasury, Justice, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), will develop model processes and issue guidance to states and financial institutions on how to identify these "improper payments" (defined as any amount of pandemic unemployment payment to which an individual was not entitled) and recover them cost-effectively, with a focus on fraud. The bill also extends the statute of limitations for prosecuting or taking civil action related to fraud in pandemic unemployment programs, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC), and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), from the standard period to 10 years after the violation or conspiracy, with an exception for cases where the statute of limitations had already expired before the bill's enactment. The Secretary of Labor will reimburse states for administrative costs incurred due to their coordination with the Task Force.