I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5004

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow credit against income

tax for information technology training expenses, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 27, 2000

Mr. WELLER (for himself, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. COX, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr.

DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. SALMON, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mrs.

TAUSCHER, and Mr. DREIER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the

Committee on Science, for a period to be subsequently determined by the

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow credit

against income tax for information technology training

expenses, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Technology Education

5 and Training Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAIN2 ING PROGRAM EXPENSES.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub4 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of

5 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘SEC. 30B. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PRO7 GRAM EXPENSES.

8 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—There shall be allowed as a

9 credit against the tax imposed by this chapter an amount

10 equal to 100 percent of information technology training

11 program expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer during

12 the taxable year.

13 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of information

15 technology training program expenses with respect

16 to an individual which may be taken into account

17 under subsection (a) for the taxable year shall not

18 exceed $1,500.

19 ‘‘(2) LARGER CREDIT FOR PARTICIPATION IN

20 CERTAIN PROGRAMS.—The dollar amount in para21 graph (1) shall be increased (but not above $2,000)

22 by the amount information technology training pro23 gram expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer with

24 respect to a program operated—
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1 ‘‘(A) in an empowerment zone or enter2 prise community designated under part I of

3 subchapter U,

4 ‘‘(B) in a school district in which at least

5 50 percent of the students attending schools in

6 such district are eligible for free or reduced-cost

7 lunches under the school lunch program estab8 lished under the National School Lunch Act,

9 ‘‘(C) in an area designated as a disaster

10 area by the Secretary of Agriculture or by the

11 President under the Disaster Relief and Emer12 gency Assistance Act in the taxable year or the

13 4 preceding taxable years,

14 ‘‘(D) in a rural enterprise community des15 ignated under section 766 of the Agriculture,

16 Rural Development, Food and Drug Adminis17 tration, and Related Agencies Appropriations

18 Act, 1999,

19 ‘‘(E) in an area designated by the Sec20 retary of Agriculture as a Rural Economic Area

21 Partnership Zone, or

22 ‘‘(F) by an employer who has 200 or fewer

23 employees for each working day in each of 20

24 or more calendar weeks in the current or pre25 ceding calendar year.
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1 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON EMPLOYEES.—In the case

2 of an employee, the limitation under this subsection

3 for any taxable year shall be reduced by the credit

4 determined under this section for expenses with re5 spect to such employee paid or incurred by such em6 ployee’s employer during the taxable year of the em7 ployer ending with or within the employee’s taxable

8 year.

9 ‘‘(c) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PRO10 GRAM EXPENSES.—For purposes of this section—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘information

12 technology training program expenses’ means ex13 penses incurred by reason of the participation of the

14 taxpayer (or any employee of the taxpayer) in any

15 information technology training program if such ex16 penses lead to an industry-accepted IT Training

17 Certification for the participant. Such term includes

18 expenses paid for certification testing which is essen19 tial to assessing skill acquisition.

20 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING

21 PROGRAM.—The term ‘information technology train22 ing program’ means a program for recognized infor23 mation technology certifications—

24 ‘‘(A) by any information technology trade

25 association or corporation, and
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1 ‘‘(B) involving—

2 ‘‘(i) employers, and

3 ‘‘(ii) State training programs, school

4 districts, university systems, higher edu5 cation institutions (as defined in section

6 101(b) of the Higher Education Act of

7 1965), or approved commercial information

8 technology training providers.

9 ‘‘(3) APPROVED COMMERCIAL INFORMATION

10 TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROVIDERS.—The term ‘ap11 proved commercial information technology training

12 providers’ means a private sector provider of edu13 cational products and services utilized for training in

14 information technology which is approved with re15 spect to—

16 ‘‘(A) the curriculum that is used for the

17 training, or

18 ‘‘(B) the technical knowledge of the in19 structors of such provider,

20 by the information technology association sponsoring

21 such certifications or by 1 or more software pub22 lishers or hardware manufacturers the products of

23 which are a subject of the training.

24 ‘‘(e) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduction

25 or credit under any other provision of this chapter shall
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1 be allowed with respect to information technology training

2 program expenses (determined without regard to the limi3 tation under subsection (c)).

4 ‘‘(f) ALLOCATIONS.—For purposes of this section,

5 rules similar to the rules of section 41(f)(2) shall apply.’’

6 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

7 for subpart B of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1

8 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add9 ing at the end the following:

‘‘Sec. 30B. Information technology training program expenses.’’

10 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

11 this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred after

12 the date of enactment of this Act in taxable years ending

13 after such date.

14 (d) CERTIFICATIONS.—The National Science Foun15 dation shall establish an advisory group (to be known as

16 the ‘‘Information Technology Training Certification

17 Board’’) composed of information technology certification

18 and training associations and companies to develop a list

19 of the latest industry certifications that will qualify for

20 the credit under section 30B of the Internal Revenue Code

21 of 1986. The Information Technology Training Certifi22 cation Board shall be chaired by an information tech23 nology industry trade association and composed of not

24 more than 15 members. Such Board shall meet at least

25 annually and shall submit its annual recommended list of
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1 such certifications to the National Science Foundation not

2 later than October 1 of each calendar year.

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