Amend CSSB 8 (house committee printing) as follows:

(1)  In SECTION 1 of the bill, in the appropriation to the comptroller of public accounts for the purpose of depositing money in the unemployment compensation fund (page 1, line 6), strike "$7,245,419,946" and substitute "$6,645,419,946".

(2)  Add the following appropriately numbered SECTION to the bill and renumber the SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:

SECTION ____.  COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS: HERO PAY. (a) The amount of $600,000,000 is appropriated to the comptroller of public accounts from money received by this state from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund (42 U.S.C. Section 802) established under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Pub. L. No. 117-2) and deposited to the credit of the Coronavirus Relief Fund No. 325 to be used during the two-year period beginning on the effective date of this Act for the purpose of distributing that money to state agencies to make one-time payments to certain agency employees who have an annual salary of $75,000 or less and who were employed by the agency and considered essential critical infrastructure workers under 42 U.S.C. Section 802 at any time during the period beginning March 13, 2020, and ending September 13, 2021.

(b)  The comptroller of public accounts shall consult with the Legislative Budget Board and the State Auditor's Office to determine which state employees are eligible to receive one-time payments under Subsection (a) of this section and the amount of the payment to which each employee is entitled. To the extent authorized by other law, the amount of the payment to which a state employee is entitled is determined by multiplying $2 and the number of hours the employee worked while considered to be a essential critical infrastructure worker under 42 U.S.C. Section 802 during the period beginning March 13, 2020, and ending September 13, 2021, but may not exceed $8,000.