1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Rental Eviction Moratorium Act of 2020 . 2. Temporary moratorium on eviction filings (a) Congressional findings The Congress finds that— (1) according to the 2018 American Community Survey, 36 percent of households in the United States—more than 43 million households—are renters; (2) in 2019 alone, renters in the United States paid $512 billion in rent; (3) according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 20.8 million renters in the United States spent more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing in 2018 and 10.9 million renters spent more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing in the same year; (4) Moody’s Analytics estimates that 27 million jobs in the U.S. economy are at high risk because of COVID-19; (5) the impacts of the spread of COVID-19, which is now considered a global pandemic, are expected to negatively impact the incomes of potentially millions of renter households, making it difficult for them to pay their rent on time; and (6) evictions in the current environment would increase homelessness and housing instability which would be counterproductive towards the public health goals of keeping individuals in their homes to the greatest extent possible. (b) Moratorium During the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the date described in paragraph (1) of subsection (d), the lessor of a covered dwelling may not make, or cause to be made, any filing with the court of jurisdiction to initiate a legal action to recover possession of the covered dwelling from the tenant regardless of cause, except when a tenant perpetrates a serious criminal act that threatens the health, life, or safety of other tenants or staff of the property in which the covered dwelling is located. (c) Definitions For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply: (1) Covered dwelling The term covered dwelling means a dwelling that is occupied by a tenant— (A) pursuant to a residential lease