UNITE Act of 2020

Undertaking National Initiatives to Tackle Epidemic Act of 2020 or the UNITE Act of 2020

This bill responds to the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public health emergency by increasing volunteer opportunities within AmeriCorps and employment opportunities at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and requiring the re-enrollment of Peace Corps volunteers whose service ended involuntarily on March 15, 2020, or earlier for volunteers who were serving in China and Mongolia.

Among other things, the bill

• reauthorizes through FY2022 AmeriCorps programs;
• increases recruitment levels of its volunteers to 500,000 in FY2020-FY2022;
• sets the minimum compensation for AmeriCorps volunteers, beginning in FY2020, at 200% of the poverty line applicable to a family of one;
• increases the ceiling on grant amounts to such volunteers from $18,000 to $25,000 and the grant maximum amount limit to meet program needs;
• requires FEMA to appoint, administer, and expedite the training of an additional 62,000 Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees in FY2020-FY2022 above the level of such employees in FY2019 to address the COVID-19 health emergency; and
• authorizes the President to pay a state, tribal, or local government in which a major disaster has been declared stipends for temporary workers conducting nonpartisan official election poll worker services.