I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1774 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a credit 

against income tax for employees who participate in qualified apprenticeship programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2019 

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, and Mr. 

KRISHNAMOORTHI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee 

on Oversight and Reform, 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 employers a credit against income tax for employees who 

participate in qualified apprenticeship programs. 

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 ‘‘Leveraging and Ener5 gizing America’s Apprenticeship Programs Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘LEAP Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN QUALI2 FIED APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D 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 new 

6 section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 45T. EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN QUALIFIED AP8 PRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS. 

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

10 apprenticeship credit determined under this section for the 

11 taxable year is an amount equal to the sum of the applica12 ble credit amounts (as determined under subsection (b)) 

13 for each of the apprenticeship employees of the employer 

14 that exceeds the applicable apprenticeship level (as deter15 mined under subsection (e)) during such taxable year. 

16 ‘‘(b) APPLICABLE CREDIT AMOUNT.—For purposes 

17 of subsection (a), the applicable credit amount for each 

18 apprenticeship employee for each taxable year is equal 

19 to— 

20 ‘‘(1) in the case of an apprenticeship employee 

21 who has not attained 25 years of age at the close 

22 of the taxable year, $1,500, or 

23 ‘‘(2) in the case of an apprenticeship employee 

24 who has attained 25 years of age at the close of the 

25 taxable year, $1,000. 


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1 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF YEARS WHICH

2 CREDIT MAY BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—The appren3 ticeship credit shall not be allowed for more than 2 taxable 

4 years with respect to any apprenticeship employee. 

5 ‘‘(d) APPRENTICESHIP EMPLOYEE.—For purposes of 

6 this section, the term ‘apprenticeship employee’ means any 

7 employee who is employed by the employer— 

8 ‘‘(1) in an officially recognized apprenticeable 

9 occupation, as determined by the Office of Appren10 ticeship of the Employment and Training Adminis11 tration of the Department of Labor, and 

12 ‘‘(2) pursuant to an apprentice agreement reg13 istered with— 

14 ‘‘(A) the Office of Apprenticeship of the 

15 Employment and Training Administration of 

16 the Department of Labor, or 

17 ‘‘(B) a State apprenticeship agency. 

18 ‘‘(e) APPLICABLE APPRENTICESHIP LEVEL.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec20 tion, the applicable apprenticeship level shall be 

21 equal to— 

22 ‘‘(A) in the case of any apprenticeship em23 ployees described in subsection (b)(1), the 

24 amount equal to 80 percent of the average 

25 number of such apprenticeship employees of the 


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1 employer for the 3 taxable years preceding the 

2 taxable year for which the credit is being deter3 mined, rounded to the next lower whole num4 ber; and 

5 ‘‘(B) in the case of any apprenticeship em6 ployees described in subsection (b)(2), the 

7 amount equal to 80 percent of the average 

8 number of such apprenticeship employees of the 

9 employer for the 3 taxable years preceding the 

10 taxable year for which the credit is being deter11 mined, rounded to the next lower whole num12 ber. 

13 ‘‘(2) FIRST YEAR OF NEW APPRENTICESHIP

14 PROGRAMS.—In the case of an employer which did 

15 not have any apprenticeship employees during any 

16 taxable year in the 3 taxable years preceding the 

17 taxable year for which the credit is being deter18 mined, the applicable apprenticeship level shall be 

19 equal to zero. 

20 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.—The 

21 amount of credit otherwise allowable under sections 45A, 

22 51(a), and 1396(a) with respect to any employee shall be 

23 reduced by the credit allowed by this section with respect 

24 to such employee. 


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1 ‘‘(g) CERTAIN RULES TO APPLY.—Rules similar to 

2 the rules of subsections (i)(1) and (k) of section 51 shall 

3 apply for purposes of this section.’’. 

4 (b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

5 CREDIT.—Subsection (b) of section 38 of such Code is 

6 amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (31), 

7 by striking the period at the end of paragraph (32) and 

8 inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end the following 

9 new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(33) the apprenticeship credit determined 

11 under section 45T(a).’’. 

12 (c) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—Subsection (a) 

13 of section 280C of such Code is amended by inserting 

14 ‘‘45T(a),’’ after ‘‘45S(a),’’. 

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

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

17 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45T. Employees participating in qualified apprenticeship programs.’’. 

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

20 this section shall apply to individuals commencing appren21 ticeship programs after the date of the enactment of this 

22 Act. 

23 SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON GOVERNMENT PRINTING COSTS. 

24 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

25 of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and 


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1 Budget shall coordinate with the heads of Federal depart2 ments and independent agencies to— 

3 (1) determine which Government publications 

4 could be available on Government websites and no 

5 longer printed and to devise a strategy to reduce 

6 overall Government printing costs over the 10-year 

7 period beginning with fiscal year 2019, except that 

8 the Director shall ensure that essential printed docu9 ments prepared for social security recipients, Medi10 care beneficiaries, and other populations in areas 

11 with limited Internet access or use continue to re12 main available; 

13 (2) establish Government-wide Federal guide14 lines on employee printing; and 

15 (3) issue guidelines requiring every department, 

16 agency, commission, or office to list at a prominent 

17 place near the beginning of each publication distrib18 uted to the public and issued or paid for by the Fed19 eral Government— 

20 (A) the name of the issuing agency, de21 partment, commission, or office; 

22 (B) the total number of copies of the docu23 ment printed; 

24 (C) the collective cost of producing and 

25 printing all of the copies of the document; and 


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1 (D) the name of the entity publishing the 

2 document. 

Æ 


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