II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 574 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2015 

Mr. SCOTT (for himself and Mr. BOOKER) 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 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. 45S. 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 apprentice of the employer that exceeds the appli14 cable apprenticeship level (as determined under subsection 

15 (e)) during such taxable year. 

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

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

18 apprentice for each taxable year is equal to— 

19 ‘‘(1) in the case of an apprentice who has not 

20 attained 25 years of age at the close of the taxable 

21 year, $1,500, or 

22 ‘‘(2) in the case of an apprentice who has at23 tained 25 years of age at the close of the taxable 

24 year, $1,000. 

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

26 CREDIT MAY BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—The apprenVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Mar 06, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S574.IS S574

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1 ticeship credit shall not be allowed for more than 2 taxable 

2 years with respect to any apprentice. 

3 ‘‘(d) APPRENTICE.—For purposes of this section, the 

4 term ‘apprentice’ means any employee who is employed by 

5 the employer— 

6 ‘‘(1) in an officially recognized apprenticeable 

7 occupation, as determined by the Office of Appren8 ticeship of the Employment and Training Adminis9 tration of the Department of Labor, and 

10 ‘‘(2) pursuant to an apprentice agreement reg11 istered with— 

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

13 Employment and Training Administration of 

14 the Department of Labor, or 

15 ‘‘(B) a recognized State apprenticeship 

16 agency, as determined by the Office of Appren17 ticeship of the Employment and Training Ad18 ministration of the Department of Labor. 

19 ‘‘(e) APPLICABLE APPRENTICESHIP LEVEL.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec21 tion, the applicable apprenticeship level shall be 

22 equal to— 

23 ‘‘(A) in the case of any apprentice de24 scribed in subsection (b)(1), the amount equal 

25 to 80 percent of the average number of such 


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1 apprentices of the employer for the 3 taxable 

2 years preceding the taxable year for which the 

3 credit is being determined, rounded to the next 

4 lower whole number; and 

5 ‘‘(B) in the case of any apprentices de6 scribed in subsection (b)(2), the amount equal 

7 to 80 percent of the average number of such 

8 apprentices of the employer for the 3 taxable 

9 years preceding the taxable year for which the 

10 credit is being determined, rounded to the next 

11 lower whole number. 

12 ‘‘(2) FIRST YEAR OF NEW APPRENTICESHIP

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

14 not have any apprentices during any taxable year in 

15 the 3 taxable years preceding the taxable year for 

16 which the credit is being determined, the applicable 

17 apprenticeship level shall be equal to zero. 

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

19 amount of credit otherwise allowable under sections 45A, 

20 51(a), and 1396(a) with respect to any employee shall be 

21 reduced by the credit allowed by this section with respect 

22 to such employee. 

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

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

25 apply for purposes of this section.’’. 


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1 (b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

2 CREDIT.—Subsection (b) of section 38 of the Internal 

3 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at 

4 the end of paragraph (35), by striking the period at the 

5 end of paragraph (36) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by add6 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(37) the apprenticeship credit determined 

8 under section 45S(a).’’. 

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

10 of section 280C of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

11 amended by inserting ‘‘45S(a),’’ after ‘‘45P(a),’’. 

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

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

14 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add15 ing at the end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45S. Employees participating in qualified apprenticeship programs.’’. 

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

17 this section shall apply to individuals commencing appren18 ticeship programs after the date of the enactment of this 

19 Act. 

20 SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON GOVERNMENT PRINTING COSTS. 

21 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

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

23 Budget shall coordinate with the heads of Federal depart24 ments and independent agencies to— 


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1 (1) determine which Government publications 

2 could be available on Government websites and no 

3 longer printed and to devise a strategy to reduce 

4 overall Government printing costs over the 10-year 

5 period beginning with fiscal year 2015, except that 

6 the Director shall ensure that essential printed docu7 ments prepared for social security recipients, medi8 care beneficiaries, and other populations in areas 

9 with limited Internet access or use continue to re10 main available; 

11 (2) establish government wide Federal guide12 lines on employee printing; and 

13 (3) issue guidelines requiring every department, 

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

15 place near the beginning of each publication distrib16 uted to the public and issued or paid for by the Fed17 eral Government— 

18 (A) the name of the issuing agency, de19 partment, commission, or office; 

20 (B) the total number of copies of the docu21 ment printed; 

22 (C) the collective cost of producing and 

23 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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