MIR20A39 S.L.C. 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. ll To provide a temporary moratorium on eviction filings, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES Ms. WARREN llllllllll introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on llllllllll A BILL To provide a temporary moratorium on eviction filings, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 4 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Renters 5 from Evictions and Fees Act of 2020’’. 6 7 SEC. 2. EVICTION MORATORIUM. Section 4024 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9058) 8 is amended to read as follows: SDJ S2 66Z MIR20A39 S.L.C. 2 1 ‘‘SEC. 4024. TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON EVICTION FIL- 2 3 INGS. ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 4 ‘‘(1) according to the 2018 American Commu- 5 nity Survey, 36 percent of households in the United 6 States, or more than 43,000,000 people, are renters; 7 ‘‘(2) in 2019, renters in the United States paid 8 $512,000,000,000 in rent; 9 ‘‘(3) according to the Joint Center for Housing 10 Studies of Harvard University, 20,800,000 renters 11 in the United States spent more than 30 percent of 12 their incomes on housing in 2018 and 10,900,000 13 renters spent more than 50 percent of their incomes 14 on housing in the same year; 15 ‘‘(4) according to data from the Department of 16 Labor, more than 40,000,000 people in the United 17 States have filed for unemployment since the 18 COVID–19 pandemic began; 19 ‘‘(5) the impacts of the spread of COVID–19, 20 which is now considered a global pandemic, are ex- 21 pected to negatively impact the incomes of poten- 22 tially millions of renter households, making it dif- 23 ficult for them to pay their rent on time; and 24 ‘‘(6) evictions in the current environment would 25 increase homelessness and housing instability, which 26 would be counterproductive to the public health SDJ S2 66Z MIR20A39 S.L.C. 3 1 goals of keeping individuals in their homes to the 2 greatest extent possible. 3 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 4 ‘‘(1) COVERED DWELLING.—The term ‘covered 5 dwelling’ means a dwelling that is occupied by a ten- 6 ant— 7 ‘‘(A) pursuant to a residential lease; or 8 ‘‘(B) without a lease or with a lease ter- 9 10 minable at will under State law. ‘‘(2) DWELLING.—The term ‘dwelling’— 11 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 12 section 802 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 13 3602); and 14 ‘‘(B) includes a house or dwelling de- 15 scribed in section 803(b) of such Act (42 16 U.S.C. 3603(b)). 17 ‘‘(c) MORATORIUM.—During the 1-year period begin- 18 ning on March 27, 2020, the lessor of a covered dwelling 19 may not— 20 ‘‘(1) make, or cause to be made, any filing with 21 the court of jurisdiction to initiate a legal action to 22 recover possession of the covered dwelling from the 23 tenant for nonpayment of rent or other fees or 24 charges, or for reasons motivated wholly or in part SDJ S2 66Z MIR20A39 S.L.C. 4 1 by the nonpayment of rent or other fees or charges 2 by the tenant; or 3 ‘‘(2) charge fees, penalties, or other charges to 4 the tenant related to such nonpayment of rent. 5 ‘‘(d) NOTICE TO VACATE AFTER MORATORIUM EXPI- 6 RATION DATE.—After the expiration of the period de- 7 scribed in subsection (c), the lessor of a covered dwelling 8 may not require the tenant to vacate the covered dwelling 9 by reason of nonpayment of rent or other fees or charges 10 before the expiration of the 30-day period that begins 11 upon the provision by the lessor to the tenant, after the 12 expiration of the period described in subsection (c), of a 13 notice to vacate the covered dwelling.’’. SDJ S2 66Z