II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 146 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the work opportunity 

credit to certain recently discharged veterans. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25 (legislative day, JANUARY 5), 2011 

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. TESTER, Mr. GRASSLEY, and Mr. BURR) 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 extend 

the work opportunity credit to certain recently discharged 

veterans. 

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 ‘‘Veteran Employment 

5 Transition Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT FOR CERTAIN RE7 CENTLY DISCHARGED VETERANS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

9 51(d)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 


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1 by striking ‘‘means any veteran’’ and all that follows and 

2 inserting ‘‘means any recently discharged veteran and any 

3 veteran receiving specified benefits.’’ 

4 (b) RECENTLY DISCHARGED VETERAN; VETERAN

5 RECEIVING SPECIFIED BENEFITS.—Paragraph (3) of sec6 tion 51(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amend7 ed— 

8 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) and 

9 (C) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively, and 

10 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol11 lowing new subparagraphs: 

12 ‘‘(B) RECENTLY DISCHARGED VETERAN.— 

13 For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term 

14 ‘recently discharged veteran’ means— 

15 ‘‘(i) any individual who has served on 

16 active duty (other than active duty for 

17 training) in the Armed Forces of the 

18 United States for more than 180 consecu19 tive days, 

20 ‘‘(ii) any individual who has been dis21 charged or released from active duty in the 

22 Armed Forces of the United States for a 

23 service-connected disability, and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) any member of the National 

2 Guard who has served for more than 180 

3 consecutive days of— 

4 ‘‘(I) active duty (within the 

5 meaning of title 32, United States 

6 Code) other than for training, 

7 ‘‘(II) full-time National Guard 

8 duty (within the meaning of such title 

9 32) other than for training, 

10 ‘‘(III) duty, other than inactive 

11 duty or duty for training, in State 

12 status (within the meaning of such 

13 title 32), or 

14 ‘‘(IV) any combination of duty 

15 described in subclause (I), (II), or 

16 (III), 

17 who has been discharged or released from such 

18 duty at any time during the 5-year period end19 ing on the hiring date. Such term shall not in20 clude any veteran who begins work for the em21 ployer before the date of the enactment of the 

22 Veteran Employment Transition Act of 2011. 

23 ‘‘(C) VETERAN RECEIVING SPECIFIED

24 BENEFITS.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), 

25 the term ‘veteran receiving specified benefits’ 


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1 means any veteran who is certified by the des2 ignated local agency as— 

3 ‘‘(i) being a member of a family re4 ceiving assistance under a supplemental 

5 nutrition assistance program under the 

6 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 for at 

7 least a 3-month period ending during the 

8 12-month period ending on the hiring date, 

9 or 

10 ‘‘(ii) entitled to compensation for a 

11 service-connected disability, and— 

12 ‘‘(I) having a hiring date which is 

13 not more that 1 year after having 

14 been discharged or released from ac15 tive duty in the Armed Forces of the 

16 United States, or 

17 ‘‘(II) having aggregate periods of 

18 unemployment during the 1-year pe19 riod ending on the hiring date which 

20 equal or exceed 6 months.’’. 

21 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 51 of the 

22 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 

23 (1) by striking ‘‘(d)(3)(A)(ii)’’ in paragraph (3) 

24 of subsection (b) and inserting ‘‘(d)(3)(C)(ii)’’, 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘For purposes of subparagraph 

2 (A)’’ each place it appears in subparagraphs (D) 

3 and (E) of subsection (d)(3), as redesignated by 

4 subsection (b), and inserting ‘‘For purposes of sub5 paragraph (C)’’, and 

6 (3) by adding at the end of paragraph (13) of 

7 subsection (d) the following new subparagraph: 

8 ‘‘(D) PRE-SCREENING OF RECENTLY DIS9 CHARGED VETERANS.— 

10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 

11 subparagraph (A), the term ‘pre-screening 

12 notice’ shall include any documentation 

13 provided to an individual by the Depart14 ment of Defense or the National Guard 

15 upon release or discharge from the Armed 

16 Forces or from service in the National 

17 Guard which includes information suffi18 cient to establish that such individual is a 

19 recently discharged veteran. 

20 ‘‘(ii) ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATION NOT

21 REQUIRED.—Subparagraph (A) shall be 

22 applied without regard to clause (ii)(II) 

23 thereof in the case of a recently discharged 

24 veteran who provides to the employer docu25 mentation described in clause (i).’’. 


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

2 subsections (a), (b), and (c) shall apply to individuals 

3 whose hiring date (as defined in section 51(d)(11) of the 

4 Internal Revenue Code of 1986) is on or after the date 

5 of the enactment of this Act. 

6 (e) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DOCUMENTATION.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Department of Defense 

8 and the National Guard, as applicable, shall pro9 vide— 

10 (A) to each individual who is discharged or 

11 released from active duty in the Armed Forces 

12 of the United States on or after the date of the 

13 enactment of this Act; and 

14 (B) to each member of the National Guard 

15 who is released from duty described in section 

16 51(d)(3)(B)(iii) of the Internal Revenue Code 

17 of 1986 (as added by this Act) on or after the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act; 

19 in addition to the documentation which, without re20 gard to this subsection, is provided at the time of 

21 such discharge or release, documentation described 

22 in paragraph (4). If the documentation which is pro23 vided without regard to this subsection at the time 

24 of the discharge or release described in the pre25 ceding sentence does not include information suffiVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:55 Jan 29, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S146.IS S146

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1 cient to satisfy the requirements of section 

2 51(d)(13)(D)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

3 1986 (as added by this Act), the Department of De4 fense or the National Guard, whichever is applicable, 

5 shall provide additional documentation which in6 cludes such information. 

7 (2) INFORMATIONAL BRIEFING AS PART OF

8 PRESEPARATION COUNSELING.—In the case of an 

9 individual who is discharged or released from duty 

10 described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph 

11 (1) after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

12 Department of Defense or the National Guard, 

13 whichever is applicable, shall inform such individual, 

14 as a part of the individual preseparation counseling 

15 required by section 1142 of title 10, United States 

16 Code, of the credit for employment of recently dis17 charged veterans under section 51 of the Internal 

18 Revenue Code of 1986. 

19 (3) REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTATION.—The De20 partment of Defense or the National Guard, which21 ever is applicable, shall provide upon request the 

22 documentation required by paragraph (1) to any in23 dividual who is discharged or released from duty de24 scribed in subparagraph (A) or (B) of such paraVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:55 Jan 29, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S146.IS S146

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1 graph during the 5-year period preceding and in2 cluding the date of the enactment of this Act. 

3 (4) INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE OF WORK OPPOR4 TUNITY CREDIT.—The documentation described in 

5 this paragraph is a document which includes— 

6 (A) instructions for an individual to ensure 

7 treatment as a recently discharged veteran for 

8 purposes of section 51(d)(3)(B) of the Internal 

9 Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by this Act), 

10 (B) instructions for employers detailing the 

11 use of the credit under such section 51 with re12 spect to such individual, and 

13 (C) the dates during which the credit 

14 under such section 51 is available. 

15 Such instructions shall be developed in collaboration 

16 with the Internal Revenue Service. 

Æ 


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