I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2794 

To strengthen and unite communities through English literacy and civics 

education, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 16, 2015 

Mr. HONDA (for himself, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. 

CA ́RDENAS, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Ms. LEE, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. TAKAI, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Ms. LOFGREN, and Mr. TAKANO) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to 

the Committee on Ways and Means, 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 strengthen and unite communities through English 

literacy and civics education, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Strengthen and Unite Communities with Civics Edu6 cation and English Development Act of 2015’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

TITLE I—EXPANDING ENGLISH LITERACY, U.S. HISTORY, AND 

CIVICS EDUCATION 

Sec. 101. Increased investment in English literacy, U.S. history, and civics education under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. 

Sec. 102. Definitions of English language learner. 

TITLE II—BUILDING STRONGER COMMUNITIES THROUGH 

INTEGRATION 

Sec. 201. Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration. 

Sec. 202. Grants to States. 

Sec. 203. Authorized activities. 

Sec. 204. Reporting and evaluation. 

Sec. 205. Authorization of appropriations. 

TITLE III—SUPPORTING ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND 

ADULT EDUCATION IN THE WORKFORCE 

Sec. 301. Credit for employer provided adult English literacy and basic education programs. 

Sec. 302. Presidential Award for Business Leadership in Promoting United 

States Citizenship. 

TITLE IV—CELEBRATING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF IMMIGRANTS 

AND NEW AMERICANS 

Sec. 401. New citizens award program. 

3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) According to the U.S. Census, there are 

6 presently more than 41.3 million foreign-born resi7 dents living in the United States, including 3 million 

8 refugees. 

9 (2) Over half, or 50.8 percent, of the total for10 eign-born population reports speaking English ‘‘less 

11 than very well’’. 


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1 (3) Limited English proficiency limits the em2 ployment prospects of these individuals and makes it 

3 more difficult to civically engage new immigrants. 

4 (4) Moreover, according to a study by the Mi5 gration Policy Institute, in 2008, there were more 

6 than 1.3 million college-educated immigrants unem7 ployed or working in unskilled jobs. 

8 (5) This results in a loss in worker productivity, 

9 loss of income tax revenue, added cost of greater de10 pendence on social services, and undermines the Na11 tion’s ability to attract skilled immigrants. 

12 (6) A proactive integration policy for new immi13 grants and refugees at the State and local levels will 

14 maximize the benefits immigrants bring to our Na15 tion. 

16 TITLE I—EXPANDING ENGLISH 

17 LITERACY, U.S. HISTORY, AND 

18 CIVICS EDUCATION 

19 SEC. 101. INCREASED INVESTMENT IN ENGLISH LITERACY, 

20 U.S. HISTORY, AND CIVICS EDUCATION 

21 UNDER THE ADULT EDUCATION AND FAMILY 

22 LITERACY ACT. 

23 (a) INTEGRATED ENGLISH LITERACY AND CIVICS

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1 cation and Family Literacy Act (29 U.S.C. 3272) is 

2 amended— 

3 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (13) through 

4 (17) as paragraphs (14) through (18), respectively; 

5 and 

6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (12), the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(13) INTEGRATED ENGLISH LITERACY, U.S. 

9 HISTORY, AND CIVICS EDUCATION PROGRAM.—The 

10 term ‘integrated English literacy, U.S. history, and 

11 civics education program’ means a program of in12 struction designed to help an English language 

13 learner achieve competence in English through 

14 contextualized instruction on the rights and respon15 sibilities of citizenship, naturalization procedures, 

16 civic participation, and United States history and 

17 government to help such learner acquire the skills 

18 and knowledge to become an active and informed 

19 parent, worker, and community member.’’. 

20 (b) STATE LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES.—Section 

21 223(a)(1) of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act 

22 (29 U.S.C. 3303(a)(1)) is amended by inserting after sub23 paragraph (D) the following: 


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1 ‘‘(E) Technical assistance for grant appli2 cations of faith- and community-based organiza3 tions.’’. 

4 (c) NATIONAL LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES.—Section 

5 242(c) of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act 

6 (29 U.S.C. 3332(c)) is amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘and inte8 grated English literacy, U.S. history, and civics edu9 cation programs’’ before ‘‘, based on scientific evi10 dence’’; and 

11 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

12 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘ac13 tivities,’’ in the matter preceding clause (i) and 

14 inserting ‘‘and integrated English literacy, U.S. 

15 history, and civics education programs,’’; 

16 (B) in subparagraph (C)(vii)(III), by in17 serting ‘‘integrated English literacy, U.S. his18 tory, and civics education programs and’’ before 

19 ‘‘workplace’’; and 

20 (C) in subparagraph (D)— 

21 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and in22 tegrated English literacy, U.S. history, and 

23 civics education programs’’ before the 

24 semicolon at the end; 


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1 (ii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

2 after the semicolon; 

3 (iii) in clause (iv), by inserting ‘‘and’’ 

4 after the semicolon; and 

5 (iv) by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(v) the extent to which integrated 

8 English literacy, U.S. history, and civics 

9 education programs carried out under sec10 tion 244 lead participants in such pro11 grams to increase their civic participation 

12 and, if applicable, lead such participants to 

13 become United States citizens;’’. 

14 (d) INTEGRATED ENGLISH LITERACY, U.S. HIS15 TORY, AND CIVICS EDUCATION.—Subtitle D of the Adult 

16 Education and Family Literacy Act (29 U.S.C. 3331 et 

17 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 244. INTEGRATED ENGLISH LITERACY, U.S. HISTORY, 

19 AND CIVICS EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 

20 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From funds appro21 priated to carry out this section, the Secretary shall award 

22 grants to States, from allocations under subsection (b), 

23 for integrated English literacy, U.S. history, and civics 

24 education programs. 

25 ‘‘(b) ALLOCATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

2 from the amount appropriated under subsection (c) 

3 for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall allocate— 

4 ‘‘(A) 65 percent of such amount to States 

5 on the basis of a State’s need for integrated 

6 English, U.S. history, and civics education pro7 grams, as determined by calculating each 

8 State’s share of a 10-year average of the data 

9 compiled by the Office of Immigration Statistics 

10 of the Department of Homeland Security, for 

11 immigrants admitted for lawful permanent resi12 dence for the 10 most recent years; and 

13 ‘‘(B) 35 percent of such amount to the 

14 States on the basis of whether the State experi15 enced growth, as measured by the average of 

16 the 3 most recent years for which data compiled 

17 by the Office of Immigration Statistics of the 

18 Department of Homeland Security are avail19 able, for immigrants admitted for lawful perma20 nent residence. 

21 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM.—No State shall receive an allo22 cation under paragraph (1) in an amount that is less 

23 than $60,000. 

24 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—The term ‘State’ means each of 

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1 wealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the 

2 Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the 

3 United States Virgin Islands. 

4 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—For the 

5 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

6 to be appropriated $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2016, 

7 $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2017, and $300,000,000 for 

8 fiscal year 2018.’’. 

9 SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER. 

10 (a) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT

11 OF 1965.—Section 9101(25) of the Elementary and Sec12 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(25)) is 

13 amended by striking the matter preceding subparagraph 

14 (A) and inserting the following: 

15 ‘‘(25) ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER.—The 

16 term ‘English language learner’ means an indi17 vidual—’’. 

18 (b) REFERENCES.—Any reference in the Elementary 

19 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 

20 et seq.) to an individual who is limited English proficient 

21 shall be construed to refer to an English language learner. 


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1 TITLE II—BUILDING STRONGER 

2 COMMUNITIES THROUGH IN3 TEGRATION 

4 SEC. 201. OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRANT INTE5 GRATION. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF CITIZEN7 SHIP AND IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

9 Executive Office of the President an Office of Citi10 zenship and Immigrant Integration. There shall be 

11 a Chief of the Office of Citizenship and Immigrant 

12 Integration who shall head the office. 

13 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 451(f) 

14 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 

15 271(f)) is repealed. 

16 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Office of Citizenship and Im17 migrant Integration shall be responsible for— 

18 (1) establishing national goals for introducing 

19 new Americans into the United States and meas20 uring the degree to which such goals are met; 

21 (2) assessing and coordinating Federal policies, 

22 regulations, task forces, and commissions related to 

23 introducing immigrants into the United States; 

24 (3) continuing with the efforts of the Task 

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1 tive Order No. 13404 to facilitate a dialogue among 

2 Federal agencies, make recommendations to the 

3 President of the United States, and follow through 

4 with initiatives administered by the Task Force 

5 under the authority of such Executive order; 

6 (4) serving as a liaison and intermediary with 

7 State and local governments and other entities to as8 sist in establishing local goals, task forces, and coun9 cils to assist in introducing immigrants to the 

10 United States; 

11 (5) coordinating with other Federal agencies to 

12 provide information to State and local governments 

13 on the demand for English acquisition programs and 

14 best practices in place on the Federal and State level 

15 for aliens who have recently arrived in the United 

16 States; 

17 (6) assisting States in coordinating activities 

18 with the grant program carried out under title III 

19 of the Strengthen and Unite Communities with 

20 Civics Education and English Development Act of 

21 2015; and 

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1 cluding the development of educational materials for 

2 such aliens. 

3 (c) DONATIONS.— 

4 (1) ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS.—The Chief of 

5 the Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration 

6 may accept monetary and in-kind donations to sup7 port the activities described in subsection (b). 

8 (2) DEDICATION OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding 

9 any other provision of law— 

10 (A) any funds donated to the Office of 

11 Citizenship and Immigrant Integration to sup12 port the activities described in subsection (b) 

13 shall be deposited entirely into an account es14 tablished for such purpose; 

15 (B) the funds contained in such account 

16 shall be used solely to support such activities; 

17 and 

18 (C) funds that were not donated for the 

19 exclusive purpose of supporting such activities 

20 may not be deposited into such account. 

21 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Chief of the Office 

22 of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration shall submit a 

23 biennial report to the authorizing Committees in Congress 

24 that describes the activities of the office. 


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1 SEC. 202. GRANTS TO STATES. 

2 (a) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE GRANTS.—Subject to 

3 subsections (c) and (d), the Chief of the Office of Citizen4 ship and Immigrant Integration is authorized to provide 

5 competitive grants to States to form State New American 

6 Councils as described in subsection (b) to carry out activi7 ties described in section 203. 

8 (b) STATE NEW AMERICAN COUNCILS.—A State 

9 New American Council shall consist of not less than 15 

10 and not more than 19 individuals from the State and shall 

11 include, to the extent practicable, representatives from the 

12 following sectors: 

13 (1) Business. 

14 (2) Faith-based organizations. 

15 (3) Civic organizations. 

16 (4) Philanthropic leaders. 

17 (5) Nonprofit organizations, including those 

18 with experience working with immigrant commu19 nities. 

20 (6) Representatives from key education stake21 holders, such as State educational agencies, local 

22 educational agencies, community colleges, teachers, 

23 or organizations representing teachers and other em24 ployees. 

25 (7) Representatives of State adult education of26 fices. 


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1 (8) Representatives of State or local public li2 braries. 

3 (9) Representatives of statewide or local govern4 ment officials. 

5 (c) WAIVER OF REQUIREMENT.— 

6 (1) AUTHORITY TO GRANT.—The Chief of the 

7 Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration 

8 may award a grant under subsection (a) to a State 

9 without requiring the State to form a State New 

10 American Council if the Chief determines that the 

11 State is carrying out similar statewide initiatives to 

12 introduce immigrants into the State and into the 

13 United States. 

14 (2) GUIDELINES.—The Chief shall establish 

15 guidelines for awarding grants to States described in 

16 paragraph (1). 

17 (d) GRANTS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—The Chief 

18 of the Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration 

19 may provide a grant under subsection (a) to a local gov20 ernment at the discretion of the Chief. 

21 (e) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

22 under this section, an applicant shall submit an applica23 tion to the Chief of the Office of Citizenship and Immi24 grant Integration at such time, in such manner, and conVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:50 Jun 19, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794

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1 taining such information as the Chief may reasonably re2 quire. Such application shall include— 

3 (1) if the applicant is a State seeking to form 

4 a State New American Council, an assurance that 

5 such State New American Council will meet the re6 quirements of subsection (b); 

7 (2) the number of immigrants in the State in 

8 which the applicant is located; 

9 (3) a description of the challenges in intro10 ducing new Americans in the State and local com11 munity; and 

12 (4) any other information that the Chief may 

13 reasonably require. 

14 (f) DURATION.—A grant awarded under subsection 

15 (a) shall be for a period of 5 years. 

16 (g) PRIORITY.—Priority shall be given to grant appli17 cations that— 

18 (1) use matching funds, from non-Federal 

19 sources, which may include in-kind contributions; 

20 and 

21 (2) demonstrate collaboration with private enti22 ties to achieve the goals of their comprehensive plan. 

23 (h) ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATION.—Additional con24 sideration shall be given to grant applications submitted 

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1 grants over the previous 10 years relative to past migra2 tion patterns, based on data compiled by the Office of Im3 migration Statistics of the Department of Homeland Secu4 rity. 

5 (i) GRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant award6 ed under subsection (a) shall be not less than $500,000 

7 and not more than $5,000,000 for each fiscal year. 

8 (j) RESERVATIONS.— 

9 (1) NATIONAL.—The Chief of the Office of Citi10 zenship and Immigrant Integration shall reserve not 

11 more than 1 percent of the amount appropriated to 

12 carry out this section for such Office, including the 

13 evaluation of funds distributed. 

14 (2) STATES.—A State awarded a grant under 

15 subsection (a) may reserve not more than 10 percent 

16 of such grant amount for the creation and operation 

17 of the State New American Council. 

18 SEC. 203. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES. 

19 (a) MANDATORY ACTIVITIES.—A grant awarded 

20 under section 202(a) shall be used— 

21 (1) to develop, implement, expand, or enhance 

22 a comprehensive plan to introduce new immigrants 

23 into the State, including the increase in English lit24 eracy, U.S. history, and civics education; 


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1 (2) to provide subgrants to local communities 

2 as described in subsection (c); 

3 (3) if the grant is awarded to a State to form 

4 a State New American Council, to convene meetings 

5 of the State New American Council not less fre6 quently than once each quarter; 

7 (4) to disseminate best practices and other in8 formation compiled by the Office of Citizenship and 

9 Immigrant Integration that pertains to effective pro10 grams for English acquisition and civics education; 

11 and 

12 (5) to convene public hearings not less fre13 quently than once each year to report on the activi14 ties carried out by such grant. 

15 (b) PERMISSIBLE ACTIVITIES.—A grant awarded 

16 under section 202(a) may be used— 

17 (1) to solicit and disseminate solutions and 

18 remedies to the challenges of introducing new Amer19 icans in the State or municipality in which the grant 

20 is awarded; 

21 (2) to provide technical assistance, training, or 

22 coordination for State or local agencies to improve 

23 programs to introduce new Americans into the 

24 United States, such as English literacy, U.S. his25 tory, and civics education; 


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1 (3) to review and develop strategies to expand 

2 distance learning as a method of instruction for 

3 English literacy, U.S. history, and civics education 

4 and available technological programs that may sup5 plement or supplant quality classroom instruction; 

6 (4) to coordinate with entities of other States 

7 engaged in activities under this title or other activi8 ties to introduce new Americans into the State or 

9 community; and 

10 (5) to develop materials focused on preparation 

11 for the naturalization test, engage in outreach and 

12 educational activities on the naturalization process, 

13 and provide assistance to immigrants with the natu14 ralization application, where appropriate. 

15 (c) SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES.— 

16 (1) REQUIREMENT TO AWARD.—A grant under 

17 section 202(a) shall be used to award competitive 

18 subgrants— 

19 (A) to entities of local governments and 

20 faith-based community organizations to assist 

21 communities with local efforts to introduce new 

22 Americans into the community; and 

23 (B) to support the work of community or24 ganizations and academic institutions assist25 ing— 


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1 (i) immigrants who were educated 

2 abroad gain the necessary credentials to 

3 practice their profession in the United 

4 States; and 

5 (ii) skilled immigrants through— 

6 (I) capacity and identification 

7 and assessment; 

8 (II) educational case manage9 ment; 

10 (III) educational interventions; 

11 and 

12 (IV) discharge and job place13 ment. 

14 (2) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Subgrants shall 

15 be awarded under paragraph (1) to entities of local 

16 governments for use to carry out activities in accord17 ance with— 

18 (A) a comprehensive plan described in sub19 section (a)(1); and 

20 (B) any guidance provided by the Chief of 

21 the Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Inte22 gration. 

23 (3) SUBGRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a 

24 subgrant awarded under this subsection shall be not 


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1 less than $100,000 and not more than $600,000 for 

2 a fiscal year. 

3 SEC. 204. REPORTING AND EVALUATION. 

4 (a) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each entity awarded a grant 

6 under section 202(a) shall submit a report annually 

7 to the Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integra8 tion that— 

9 (A) describes the activities of the State 

10 New American Council and subgrant recipients 

11 and how these activities meet the goals of— 

12 (i) the Chief of the Office of Citizen13 ship and Immigrant Integration; and 

14 (ii) the comprehensive plan described 

15 in section 203(a)(1); and 

16 (B) describes the geographic areas being 

17 served, the number of immigrants in such 

18 areas, and the primary languages spoken there. 

19 (2) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—The Chief of the 

20 Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration 

21 may set out other requirements as the Chief sees fit 

22 in order to— 

23 (A) impose accountability; and 


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1 (B) measure the outcomes of the activities 

2 carried out with grants awarded under section 

3 202(a). 

4 (b) ANNUAL EVALUATION.—The Chief of the Office 

5 of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration shall conduct an 

6 annual evaluation of the grant program established under 

7 this title and use such evaluation— 

8 (1) to improve the effectiveness of programs 

9 carried out by the Chief; 

10 (2) to assess future needs of immigrants and of 

11 State and local governments related to immigrants; 

12 (3) to determine the effectiveness of such grant 

13 program; and 

14 (4) to ensure that the grantees and subgrantees 

15 are acting within the scope and purpose of this title. 

16 SEC. 205. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

17 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

18 this title $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2016 

19 through 2021. 


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1 TITLE III—SUPPORTING 

2 ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUI3 SITION AND ADULT EDU4 CATION IN THE WORKFORCE 

5 SEC. 301. CREDIT FOR EMPLOYER PROVIDED ADULT 

6 ENGLISH LITERACY AND BASIC EDUCATION 

7 PROGRAMS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub9 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

10 1986 (relating to business related credits) is amended by 

11 adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 45S. EMPLOYER-PROVIDED ADULT ENGLISH LIT13 ERACY AND BASIC EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of section 38, 

15 the credit determined under this section with respect to 

16 any employer for the taxable year is an amount equal to 

17 20 percent of qualified education program expenses, or no 

18 more than $1,000 per full-time employee participating in 

19 the qualified education program. 

20 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED EDUCATION PROGRAM EX21 PENSES.—For purposes of this section: 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified edu23 cation program expenses’ means expenses paid or in24 curred by an employer to make available qualified 

25 education to employees of the employer, who are 


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1 English language learners or have not received a 

2 secondary school diploma, or its recognized equiva3 lent, or who lack sufficient mastery of basic edu4 cational skills to enable the individuals to function 

5 effectively in society. 

6 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED EDUCATION.—The term ‘quali7 fied education’ means adult education and literacy 

8 activities provided— 

9 ‘‘(A) by an eligible provider which for the 

10 fiscal year ending during the employer’s taxable 

11 year receives Federal funds under section 231 

12 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy 

13 Act (29 U.S.C. 3321) for adult education and 

14 literacy activities, or 

15 ‘‘(B) in curriculum approved by the De16 partment of Education, the Employment and 

17 Training Administration of the Department of 

18 Labor, or in current use by a Federal agency. 

19 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE PROVIDER; ADULT EDUCATION

20 AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES.—The terms ‘eligible pro21 vider’, and ‘adult education and literacy activities’ 

22 shall have the respective meanings given to such 

23 terms in section 203 of the Adult Education and 

24 Family Literacy Act (29 U.S.C. 3272). 


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1 ‘‘(4) ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER.—The term 

2 ‘English language learner’ shall have the same 

3 meaning given to such term in section 9101(25) of 

4 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

5 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(25)), as amended by section 

6 102(b)(1) of the Strengthen and Unite Communities 

7 with Civics Education and English Development Act 

8 of 2015. 

9 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULES.—For purposes of this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT.—An employee 

11 shall be considered full-time if such employee is em12 ployed at least 30 hours per week for 25 or more 

13 calendar weeks in the taxable year. 

14 ‘‘(2) AGGREGATION RULE.—All persons treated 

15 as a single employer under subsection (a) or (b) or 

16 section 52, or subsection (m) or (o) of section 414, 

17 shall be treated as one person. 

18 ‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduction 

19 or credit shall be allowed under any other provision of this 

20 chapter for any amount taken into account in determining 

21 the credit under this section. 

22 ‘‘(e) ELECTION TO HAVE CREDIT NOT APPLY.—A 

23 taxpayer may elect (at such time and in such manner as 

24 the Secretary may by regulations prescribe) to have this 

25 section not apply for any taxable year.’’. 


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1 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

2 CREDIT.—Subsection (b) of section 38 of such Code (re3 lating to current year business credit) is amended by strik4 ing ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (35), by striking the 

5 period at the end of paragraph (36) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, 

6 and by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(37) the adult English literacy and basic edu8 cation programs credit determined under section 

9 45Q.’’. 

10 (c) TREATMENT OF POSSESSIONS.— 

11 (1) PAYMENTS TO POSSESSIONS.— 

12 (A) MIRROR CODE POSSESSION.—The Sec13 retary of the Treasury shall pay to each posses14 sion of the United States with a mirror code 

15 tax system amounts equal to the loss to that 

16 possession by reason of the application of sec17 tion 45S of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

18 (as added by this section). Such amounts shall 

19 be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury 

20 based on information provided by the govern21 ment of the respective possession. 

22 (B) OTHER POSSESSIONS.—The Secretary 

23 of the Treasury shall pay to each possession of 

24 the United States which does not have a mirror 

25 code tax system amounts estimated by the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Jun 22, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794

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1 retary of the Treasury as being equal to the ag2 gregate benefits that would have been provided 

3 to taxpayers such possession by reason of the 

4 application of section 45S of such Code (as so 

5 added) if a mirror code tax system had been in 

6 effect in such possession. The preceding sen7 tence shall not apply with respect to any posses8 sion of the United States unless such possession 

9 has a plan, which has been approved by the 

10 Secretary of the Treasury, under which such 

11 possession will promptly distribute such pay12 ments to the taxpayers of such possession. 

13 (2) COORDINATION WITH CREDIT ALLOWED

14 AGAINST UNITED STATES INCOME TAXES.—The 

15 credit allowed against United States income taxes 

16 for any taxable year under section 38 of such Code 

17 to any taxpayer shall be reduced by the amount of 

18 any credit (or other tax benefit described in para19 graph (1)(B)) allowed to such person against income 

20 taxes imposed by the possession of the United States 

21 by reason of this subsection for such taxable year. 

22 (3) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 

23 (A) POSSESSION OF THE UNITED

24 STATES.—For purposes of this subsection, the 

25 term ‘‘possession of the United States’’ includes 


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1 American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of 

2 the Northern Mariana Islands, the Common3 wealth of Puerto Rico, and the United States 

4 Virgin Islands. 

5 (B) MIRROR CODE TAX SYSTEM.—For pur6 poses of this subsection, the term ‘‘mirror code 

7 tax system’’ means, with respect to any posses8 sion of the United States, the income tax sys9 tem of such possession if the income tax liabil10 ity of the residents of such possession under 

11 such system is determined by reference to the 

12 income tax laws of the United States as if such 

13 possession were the United States. 

14 (C) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—For pur15 poses of section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 

16 States Code, the payments under this sub17 section shall be treated in the same manner as 

18 a refund due from the credit provisions de19 scribed in such section. 

20 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

21 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

22 of the such Code is amended by adding at the end the 

23 following new item: 

‘‘45S. Employer-provided adult English literacy and basic education programs.’’. 


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

2 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

3 December 31, 2015. 

4 SEC. 302. PRESIDENTIAL AWARD FOR BUSINESS LEADER5 SHIP IN PROMOTING UNITED STATES CITI6 ZENSHIP. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Pres8 idential Award for Business Leadership in Promoting 

9 United States Citizenship (referred to in this section as 

10 the ‘‘Presidential Citizenship Award’’), which shall be 

11 awarded to companies and other organizations that make 

12 extraordinary efforts in assisting their employees and 

13 members to learn English and increase their under14 standing of United States history and civics. 

15 (b) SELECTION AND PRESENTATION OF AWARD.— 

16 (1) SELECTION.—The President shall periodi17 cally award the Presidential Citizenship Award to 

18 large and small companies and other organizations 

19 described in subsection (a) after reviewing rec20 ommendations to the President with respect to such 

21 award by the Secretary of Homeland Security and 

22 the Secretary of Commerce. 

23 (2) PRESENTATION.—The presentation of the 

24 Presidential Citizenship Award shall be made by the 


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1 President, or a designee of the President, in con2 junction with an appropriate ceremony. 

3 TITLE IV—CELEBRATING THE 

4 CONTRIBUTIONS OF IMMI5 GRANTS AND NEW AMERI6 CANS 

7 SEC. 401. NEW CITIZENS AWARD PROGRAM. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a new 

9 citizens award program to recognize citizens who— 

10 (1) have made an outstanding contribution to 

11 the United States; and 

12 (2) are naturalized during the 10-year period 

13 ending on the date of such recognition. 

14 (b) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized 

16 to present a medal, in recognition of outstanding 

17 contributions to the United States, to citizens de18 scribed in subsection (a). 

19 (2) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF AWARDS.—Not more 

20 than 10 citizens may receive a medal under this sec21 tion in any calendar year. 

Æ 


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