II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4558 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a temporary 

refundable tax credit for law enforcement officers and an above-theline deduction for first responders. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 

Mr. GRAHAM introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish 

a temporary refundable tax credit for law enforcement 

officers and an above-the-line deduction for first responders. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Thank You Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY REFUNDABLE CREDIT FOR LAW EN6 FORCEMENT OFFICERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub8 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 


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1 1986 is amended by inserting after section 36B the fol2 lowing new section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 36C. CREDIT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual who 

5 is employed or who volunteers as an eligible law enforce6 ment officer during the first taxable year beginning in 

7 2020, there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax 

8 imposed by this subtitle for such taxable year an amount 

9 equal to— 

10 ‘‘(1) in the case of an individual who has been 

11 employed or who has volunteered as an eligible law 

12 enforcement officer for a cumulative period of not 

13 less than 10 years, $1,000, and 

14 ‘‘(2) in the case of an individual who is not de15 scribed in paragraph (1), $500. 

16 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec18 tion, the term ‘eligible law enforcement officer’ 

19 means— 

20 ‘‘(A) any sworn officer, agent, or employee 

21 of a State, unit of local government, or an In22 dian tribe authorized by law or by a govern23 ment agency to engage in or supervise the pre24 vention, detection, or investigation of any viola25 tion of criminal law, and 


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1 ‘‘(B) any Federal law enforcement officer, 

2 as defined in section 115(c)(1) of title 18, 

3 United States Code. 

4 ‘‘(2) PART-TIME AND VOLUNTEERS.—For pur5 poses of this section, the term ‘eligible law enforce6 ment officer’ shall include any individual described 

7 in paragraph (1) who is employed or who volunteers 

8 on a full-time, part-time, or auxiliary basis during 

9 the taxable year.’’. 

10 (b) W–2 REPORTING OF YEARS OF SERVICE AS LAW

11 ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—Section 6051(a) of the Inter12 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ 

13 at the end of paragraph (16), by striking the period at 

14 the end of paragraph (17) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by 

15 inserting after paragraph (17) the following new para16 graph: 

17 ‘‘(18) in the case of an individual who was em18 ployed or who volunteered as an eligible law enforce19 ment officer (as defined in section 36C(b)) during 

20 the first taxable year beginning in 2020, the total 

21 number of years for which such individual has been 

22 employed or volunteered as an eligible law enforce23 ment officer.’’. 

24 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (1) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of the Internal Rev2 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ‘‘36C,’’ 

3 after ‘‘36B,’’. 

4 (2) Paragraph (2) of section 1324(b) of title 

5 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting 

6 ‘‘36C,’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 

7 (3) The table of sections for subpart C of part 

8 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev9 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the 

10 item relating to section 36B the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 36C. Credit for law enforcement officers.’’. 

11 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

12 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

13 December 31, 2019. 

14 SEC. 3. ABOVE-THE-LINE DEDUCTION FOR FIRST RESPOND15 ERS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part VII of subchapter B of chap17 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

18 by redesignating section 224 as section 225 and by insert19 ing after section 223 the following new section: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 224. FIRST RESPONDERS. 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual who 

22 is employed as an eligible first responder during any tax23 able year, there shall be allowed as a deduction for such 

24 taxable year an amount equal to $1,500. 


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1 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE FIRST RESPONDER.—For purposes of 

2 this section, the term ‘eligible first responder’ has the 

3 same meaning given the term ‘emergency response pro4 viders’ under section 2(6) of the Homeland Security Act 

5 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101(6)). 

6 ‘‘(c) EXCLUSION FOR 2020.—For the first taxable 

7 year beginning in 2020, the deduction under subsection 

8 (a) shall not be allowed to any individual for whom the 

9 credit under section 36C is allowed for such taxable 

10 year.’’. 

11 (b) ABOVE-THE-LINE DEDUCTION.—Section 62(a) of 

12 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by insert13 ing after paragraph (22) the following new paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(23) FIRST RESPONDERS.—The deduction al15 lowed under section 224.’’. 

16 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

17 for part VII of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the Internal 

18 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating the 

19 item relating to section 224 as an item relating to section 

20 225 and by inserting after the item relating to section 223 

21 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 224. First responders.’’. 

22 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

23 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

24 December 31, 2019. 

Æ 


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