Senate Proposes the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act

***This legal development is still in progress. We will update this Alert as the Act makes its way through the legislative process.***

On July 27, 2020, the Senate Republicans proposed the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act (HEALS Act) in response to the House passing the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act). The HEALS Act is a combination of eight individually proposed bills from the Senate. Both the HEALS Act and the HEROES Act are commonly referred to as Phase 4 of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.

• Complete bills and language for the HEALS Act can be found here. S4318, S4317, S4319, S4320, S4321, S4322, S4323, S4324.

As the Senate Republicans had done with the HEROES Act, the House Democrats have declared this proposal “dead on arrival.”

Nonetheless, below are (i) tax highlights of the notable tax-related provisions of the HEALS Act and the HEROES Act, as they may be negotiated further; (ii) how they compare to each other; and (iii) how they compare to the CARES Act (also known as Phase 3 of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak). Hyperlinks to the Ropes & Gray Alerts on both the HEROES Act and the CARES Act can be found in the respective headings of the table below.

The cost of the HEALS Act is projected to be approximately $1 trillion. The cost of the HEROES Act is projected to be approximately $3 trillion.

Click here to read the full Alert.