II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 210 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the credit for 

employers establishing workplace child care facilities, to increase the 

child care credit to encourage greater use of quality child care services, 

to provide incentives for students to earn child care-related degrees 

and to work in child care facilities, and to increase the exclusion for 

employer-provided dependent care assistance. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 12, 2009 

Mrs. BOXER 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 increase 

the credit for employers establishing workplace child care 

facilities, to increase the child care credit to encourage 

greater use of quality child care services, to provide 

incentives for students to earn child care-related degrees 

and to work in child care facilities, and to increase 

the exclusion for employer-provided dependent care assistance. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Right Start Child Care 

3 and Education Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. INCREASE IN EMPLOYER-PROVIDED CHILD CARE 

5 CREDIT. 

6 (a) INCREASE IN CREDITABLE PERCENTAGE OF

7 CHILD CARE EXPENDITURES.—Paragraph (1) of section 

8 45F(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

9 by striking ‘‘25 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘35 percent’’. 

10 (b) INCREASE IN CREDITABLE PERCENTAGE OF RE11 SOURCE AND REFERRAL EXPENDITURES.—Paragraph (2) 

12 of section 45F(a) of such Code is amended by striking 

13 ‘‘10 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘20 percent’’. 

14 (c) INCREASE IN MAXIMUM CREDIT.—Subsection (b) 

15 of section 45F of such Code is amended by striking 

16 ‘‘$150,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$225,000’’. 

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

18 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

19 December 31, 2008. 

20 SEC. 3. INCREASE IN DEPENDENT CARE CREDIT. 

21 (a) INCREASE IN INCOMES ELIGIBLE FOR FULL

22 CREDIT.—Paragraph (2) of section 21(a) of the Internal 

23 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘$30,000’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘$20,000’’. 


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1 (b) INCREASE IN PERCENTAGE OF EXPENSES AL2 LOWABLE.—Paragraph (2) of section 21(a) of such Code 

3 is amended— 

4 (1) by striking ‘‘35 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘50 

5 percent’’, and 

6 (2) by striking ‘‘20 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘35 

7 percent’’. 

8 (c) INCREASE IN DOLLAR LIMIT ON AMOUNT CRED9 ITABLE.—Subsection (c) of section 21 of such Code is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘$3,000’’ in paragraph (1) and 

12 inserting ‘‘$6,000’’, and 

13 (2) by striking ‘‘$6,000’’ in paragraph (2) and 

14 inserting ‘‘$12,000’’. 

15 (d) CREDIT TO BE REFUNDABLE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 21 of such Code is 

17 hereby moved to subpart C of part IV of subchapter 

18 A of chapter 1 of such Code (relating to refundable 

19 credits) and inserted after section 36. 

20 (2) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.— 

21 (A) Section 21 of such Code, as so moved, 

22 is redesignated as section 36A. 

23 (B) Paragraph (1) of section 36A(a) of 

24 such Code (as redesignated by paragraph (2)) 


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1 is amended by striking ‘‘this chapter’’ and in2 serting ‘‘this subtitle’’. 

3 (C) Paragraph (1) of section 23(f) of such 

4 Code is amended by striking ‘‘21(e)’’ and in5 serting ‘‘36A(e)’’. 

6 (D) Paragraph (6) of section 35(g) of such 

7 Code is amended by striking ‘‘21(e)’’ and in8 serting ‘‘36A(e)’’. 

9 (E) Subparagraph (C) of section 129(a)(2) 

10 of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘section 

11 21(e)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 36A(e)’’. 

12 (F) Paragraph (2) of section 129(b) of 

13 such Code is amended by striking ‘‘section 

14 21(d)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 36A(d)(2)’’. 

15 (G) Paragraph (1) of section 129(e) of 

16 such Code is amended by striking ‘‘section 

17 21(b)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 36A(b)(2)’’. 

18 (H) Subsection (e) of section 213 of such 

19 Code is amended by striking ‘‘section 21’’ and 

20 inserting ‘‘section 36A’’. 

21 (I) Subparagraph (H) of section 

22 6213(g)(2) of such Code is amended by striking 

23 ‘‘section 21’’ and inserting ‘‘section 36A’’. 


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1 (J) Subparagraph (L) of section 

2 6213(g)(2) of such Code is amended by striking 

3 ‘‘section 21,’’ and inserting ‘‘section 36A,’’. 

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

5 title 31, United States Code, is amended by in6 serting ‘‘36A,’’ after ‘‘36,’’. 

7 (L) The table of sections for subpart C of 

8 part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the In9 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by in10 serting after the item relating to section 36 and 

11 inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 36A. Expenses for household and dependent care services necessary for 

gainful employment.’’ 

12 (M) The table of sections for subpart A of 

13 such part IV is amended by striking the item 

14 relating to section 21. 

15 (e) CERTAIN PRIOR AMENDMENTS TO CREDIT MADE

16 PERMANENT.—Section 901 of the Economic Growth and 

17 Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 shall not apply to 

18 the amendments made by section 204 of such Act. 

19 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

20 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

21 December 31, 2008. 


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1 SEC. 4. 3-YEAR CREDIT FOR INDIVIDUALS HOLDING CHILD 

2 CARE-RELATED DEGREES WHO WORK IN LI3 CENSED CHILD CARE FACILITIES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub5 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

6 1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal credits) is 

7 amended by inserting after section 25D the following new 

8 section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 25E. RIGHT START CHILD CARE AND EDUCATION 

10 CREDIT. 

11 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an in12 dividual who is an eligible child care provider for the tax13 able year, there shall be allowed as a credit against the 

14 tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable year the 

15 amount of $2,000. 

16 ‘‘(b) 3-YEAR CREDIT.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The credit allowable by 

18 subsection (a) for any taxable year to an individual 

19 shall be allowed for such year only if the individual 

20 elects the application of this section for such year. 

21 ‘‘(2) ELECTION.—An election to have this sec22 tion apply may not be made by an individual for any 

23 taxable year if such an election by such individual is 

24 in effect for any 3 prior taxable years. 

25 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE CHILD CARE PROVIDER.—For pur26 poses of this section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible child 

2 care provider’ means, for any taxable year, any indi3 vidual if— 

4 ‘‘(A) as of the close of such taxable year, 

5 such individual holds a bachelor’s degree in 

6 early childhood education, child care, or a re7 lated degree and such degree was awarded by 

8 an eligible educational institution (as defined in 

9 section 25A(f)(2)), and 

10 ‘‘(B) during such taxable year, such indi11 vidual performs at least 1,200 hours of child 

12 care services at a facility if— 

13 ‘‘(i) the principal use of the facility is 

14 to provide child care services, 

15 ‘‘(ii) no more than 25 percent of the 

16 children receiving child care services at the 

17 facility are children (as defined in section 

18 152(f)) of the individual or such individ19 ual’s spouse, and 

20 ‘‘(iii) the facility meets the require21 ments of all applicable laws and regula22 tions of the State or local government in 

23 which it is located, including the licensing 

24 of the facility as a child care facility. 


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1 Subparagraph (B)(i) shall not apply to a facil2 ity which is the principal residence (within the 

3 meaning of section 121) of the operator of the 

4 facility. 

5 ‘‘(2) CHILD CARE SERVICES.—The term ‘child 

6 care services’ means child care and early childhood 

7 education.’’. 

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

9 for such subpart A is amended by inserting after the item 

10 relating to section 25D the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 25E. Right Start Child Care and Education Credit.’’. 

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

12 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

13 December 31, 2008. 

14 SEC. 5. INCREASE IN EXCLUSION FOR EMPLOYER-PRO15 VIDED DEPENDENT CARE ASSISTANCE. 

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

17 129(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating 

18 to dependent care assistance programs) is amended by 

19 striking ‘‘$5,000 ($2,500’’ and inserting ‘‘$7,500 

20 ($3,750’’. 

21 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

22 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

23 December 31, 2008. 

Æ 


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