I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2120 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include individuals who 

have exhausted all rights to emergency unemployment compensation 

under title IV of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 as a targeted group for purposes of the work opportunity tax credit. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 3, 2011 

Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include 

individuals who have exhausted all rights to emergency 

unemployment compensation under title IV of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 as a targeted group 

for purposes of the work opportunity tax credit. 

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

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) 99ers are a group of people whose numbers 

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1 prise nearly 10 percent of the unemployment in the 

2 third quarter of 2010 (Department of Labor). 

3 (2) From December 2007 to October 2010, the 

4 unemployment rate for persons unemployed for more 

5 than 99 weeks rose from 0.1 percent to 1.0 percent 

6 with an estimate taken in October of 2010 of 1.4 

7 million very long-term unemployed (CRS – R41559). 

8 (3) Before extended benefits expired on Novem9 ber 30, 2010, 24 States and Washington, District of 

10 Columbia, offered the full 99 weeks of unemploy11 ment benefits, 6 States offered unemployment bene12 fits for 93 weeks, 5 States had unemployment bene13 fits for 86 weeks, 9 States allowed 73 weeks, and 5 

14 States were at 60 weeks, with only Mississippi offer15 ing 79 weeks of unemployment benefits (The Center 

16 on Budget and Policy Priorities). 

17 (4) The number of unemployed persons in De18 cember 2010 dropped to 14.5 million with an unem19 ployment rate of 9.4 percent (Department of Labor). 

20 SEC. 2. WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT FOR 99ERS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 51(d) of 

22 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

23 ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph (H), by striking the pe24 riod at the end of subparagraph (I) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, 

25 and by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(J) a 99er.’’. 

2 (b) 99ER DEFINED.—Subsection (d) of section 51 of 

3 such Code is amended by redesignating paragraphs (11) 

4 through (14) as paragraphs (12) through (15), respec5 tively, and by inserting after paragraph (10) the following: 

6 ‘‘(11) 99ER.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘99er’ 

8 means an individual who, before the end of the 

9 2-year period beginning on the date of the en10 actment of this paragraph, is certified by the 

11 designated local agency as having exhausted all 

12 rights to emergency unemployment compensa13 tion under title IV of the Supplemental Appro14 priations Act, 2008 during the period beginning 

15 on December 1, 2007, and ending on the hiring 

16 date. 

17 ‘‘(B) EXHAUSTION OF RIGHTS.—An indi18 vidual shall be considered to satisfy subpara19 graph (A) only if— 

20 ‘‘(i) no payments of emergency unem21 ployment compensation under title IV of 

22 the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 

23 2008 can be made because— 

24 ‘‘(I) such individual has received 

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1 pensation, extended compensation, 

2 and emergency unemployment com3 pensation within their State, or 

4 ‘‘(II) such individual’s rights to 

5 such compensation have been termi6 nated by reason of section 4007(b)(3) 

7 of such Act, and 

8 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual to 

9 whom an election described in section 

10 4001(e) of such Act applies, no payments 

11 of extended compensation can be made 

12 under the applicable State law because— 

13 ‘‘(I) such individual has ex14 hausted the maximum level of regular 

15 compensation, extended compensation, 

16 and emergency unemployment com17 pensation applicable within their 

18 State, or 

19 ‘‘(II) such individual’s rights to 

20 such compensation have been termi21 nated by reason of such individual has 

22 exhausted the maximum level of such 

23 compensation applicable within their 

24 State. 


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1 ‘‘(C) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 

2 paragraph— 

3 ‘‘(i) the terms ‘regular compensation’, 

4 ‘extended compensation’, and ‘State law’ 

5 have the respective meanings given them 

6 under section 205 of the Federal-State Ex7 tended Unemployment Compensation Act 

8 of 1970, and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘employment’ has the 

10 meaning given such term under the appli11 cable State law. 

12 ‘‘(D) SPECIAL RULES.— 

13 ‘‘(i) FIRST-YEAR CREDIT AMOUNT FOR

14 INDIVIDUALS PERFORMING BETWEEN 120

15 AND 400 HOURS OF SERVICE.—Notwith16 standing subsection (i)(3)(B), in the case 

17 of qualified first year wages paid to a 99er 

18 who has performed at least 120 hours, but 

19 less than 400 hours, of service for the em20 ployer, subsection (a) shall be applied by 

21 substituting ‘25 percent’ for ‘40 percent’. 

22 ‘‘(ii) SECOND-YEAR CREDIT

23 AMOUNT.—With respect to the employment 

24 of a 99er, the amount of the work oppor25 tunity credit determined under this section 


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1 for the taxable year shall include 25 per2 cent of the qualified second-year wages for 

3 such year. 

4 ‘‘(E) QUALIFIED SECOND-YEAR WAGES.— 

5 The term ‘qualified second-year wages’ means 

6 qualified wages— 

7 ‘‘(i) which are paid to a 99er, and 

8 ‘‘(ii) which are attributable to service 

9 rendered during the 1-year period begin10 ning on the day after the last day of the 

11 1-year period with respect to such recipient 

12 determined under subsection (b)(2). 

13 ‘‘(F) LIMITATION ON WAGES PER YEAR

14 TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—For purposes of this 

15 paragraph, the amount of the qualified first16 year wages and qualified second-year wages 

17 which may be taken into account with respect 

18 to any individual shall not exceed $10,000 per 

19 year. 

20 ‘‘(G) CREDIT MADE REFUNDABLE.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an 

22 eligible employer of an employee, the ag23 gregate credits allowed to a taxpayer under 

24 subpart C shall be increased by the credit 

25 which would be allowed under this section 


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1 by reason of subsection (d)(1)(J), without 

2 regard to this subparagraph and sections 

3 38(c) and 52(c). 

4 The amount of the credit allowed under 

5 this subparagraph shall not be treated as 

6 a credit allowed under section 38. 

7 ‘‘(ii) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYER.—For pur8 poses of this subsection, the term ‘eligible 

9 employer’ means an employer which is— 

10 ‘‘(I) a State or political subdivi11 sion thereof, the District of Columbia, 

12 a possession of the United States, or 

13 an agency or instrumentality of any of 

14 the foregoing, or 

15 ‘‘(II) any organization described 

16 in section 501(c) and exempt from 

17 taxation under section 501(a).’’. 

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

19 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 

20 the employer after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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