NO BOSS Act

Key Points

• The bill rewrites federal tax code rules that govern state self-employment assistance programs, which let unemployed workers use benefits to start a business instead of a traditional job search.
• It removes the current requirement that a person must be likely to run out of regular unemployment benefits before they can join a self-employment assistance program.
• To keep qualifying, participants must do state-approved activities such as entrepreneurial training and business counseling, or follow a business plan and market feasibility study approved by the state.
• The Department of Labor must give states a model list of qualifying activities and best practices for checking that participants are actually completing them.
• States get two years after the law is enacted before the new rules apply, giving them time to change their own laws, though they can update sooner if they want.