I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2845
To encourage the use of technology in the classroom.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 13, 1999
Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky 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 deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To encourage the use of technology in the classroom.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘21st Century Teacher
Training Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR CLASSROOM-RELATED COMPUTER
TRAINING FOR TEACHERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education,
through the Office of Educational Technology established
under section 216 of the Department of Education Orga-
nization Act (20 U.S.C. 3425), may award grants on a
competitive basis to local educational agencies (as defined
in section 14101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801)) to assist such agen-
cies in providing intensive classroom-related computer
training for teachers.
(b) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant awarded
pursuant to subsection (a) shall be for not less than
$10,000,000.
(c) REQUIREMENTS OF GRANT.—A grant awarded
pursuant to subsection (a) shall provide that—
(1) the grantee will enter into a contract with
an institution of higher education or another non-
profit educational provider (hereafter in this section
referred to as the ‘‘contractor’’) under which the
contractor will agree to establish, operate, and pro-
vide the non-Federal share of the cost of a teacher
training program described in such subsection;
(2) funds made available by the Secretary to
the grantee pursuant to any contract entered into
under this section will be used to pay the Federal
share of the cost of establishing and operating a
teacher training program as provided in paragraph
(1); and
(3) the grantee will meet such other conditions
and standards as the Secretary determines to be
necessary to assure compliance with the provisions
of this section and will provide such technical assist-
ance as may be necessary to carry out the provisions
of this section.
(d) TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMS.—The teacher
training programs authorized in subsection (a)—
(1) shall be conducted during the school year
and during the summer months;
(2) shall train teachers who teach grades kin-
dergarten through college;
(3) shall select teachers to become members of
a teacher network whose members will conduct
workshops for other teachers employed by the local
educational agency; and
(4) shall encourage teachers from all disciplines
to participate in such teacher training programs.
(e) SUPPLEMENT
AND
NOT
SUPPLANT.—Grants
awarded pursuant to this section shall be used to supple-
ment and not supplant State and local funds available for
the purpose set forth in subsection (a).
SEC. 3. INCOME TAX CREDIT FOR TECHNOLOGY-RELATED
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACH-
ERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal credits) is
amended by inserting after section 25A the following new
section:
‘‘SEC. 25B. TECHNOLOGY-RELATED PROFESSIONAL DEVEL-
OPMENT EXPENSES OF TEACHERS.
‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an eli-
gible teacher, there shall be allowed as a credit against
the tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable year an
amount equal to the qualified technology-related expenses
paid or incurred by the taxpayer during such taxable year.
‘‘(b) MAXIMUM CREDIT.—The credit allowed by sub-
section (a) for any taxable year shall not exceed $1,000
with respect to each eligible teacher.
‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE TEACHER.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘eligible teacher’ means any individual—
‘‘(1) who, at the time the expense is paid or in-
curred, is a full-time teacher for any of grades K-
12 in the United States, or
‘‘(2) who reasonably expects to be such a full-
time teacher for the academic year beginning in the
taxable year in which such expense is paid or in-
curred.
‘‘(d) 
QUALIFIED
TECHNOLOGY-RELATED
EX-
PENSES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘qualified technology-related expenses’
means expenses—
‘‘(A) which would (but for subsection (e))
be allowed as a deduction under this chapter by
reason of being related to teaching activities re-
ferred to in subsection (c), and
‘‘(B) which are for training in the use of
technology (including computers) in the class-
room.
‘‘(2) COMPUTERS
INCLUDED.—Such term in-
cludes the cost of any computer or technology equip-
ment (as defined in section 170(e)(6)(F)) if at least
50 percent of the use of which (whether or not in
the classroom) is related to teaching activities as an
eligible teacher.
‘‘(e) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduction
shall be allowed under this chapter for any expense for
which a credit is allowed under this section.
‘‘(f) ELECTION TO HAVE CREDIT NOT APPLY.—A
taxpayer may elect to have this section not apply to any
taxable year.’’
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
for such subpart A is amended by inserting after the item
relating to section 25A the following new item:
‘‘Sec. 25B. Technology-related professional development expenses
of teachers.’’
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after
the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF DEDUCTION FOR COMPUTER DONA-
TIONS TO SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
(a) EXPANSION OF COMPUTER DONATIONS TO PUB-
LIC LIBRARIES.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Paragraph (6) of section
170(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relat-
ing to special rule for contributions of computer
technology and equipment for elementary or sec-
ondary school purposes) is amended by striking
‘‘qualified elementary or secondary educational con-
tribution’’ each place it occurs in the headings and
text and inserting ‘‘qualified computer contribution’’.
(2) QUALIFIED COMPUTER CONTRIBUTION DE-
FINED.—Subclause (II) of section 170(e)(6)(B)(i) of
such Code (relating to qualified elementary or sec-
ondary educational contribution) is amended by
striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subclause (I), by insert-
ing ‘‘or’’ at the end of subclause (II), and by insert-
ing after subclause (II) the following new subclause:
‘‘(III) a public library (within the
meaning of section 213(2)(A) of the
Library Services and Technology Act
(20 U.S.C. 9122(2)(A)), as in effect
on the date of the enactment of the
New Millennium Classrooms Act, es-
tablished and maintained by an entity
described in subsection (c)(1).’’.
(3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading
of paragraph (6) of section 170(e) of such Code is
amended by striking ‘‘ELEMENTARY OR SECONDARY
SCHOOL PURPOSES’’ and inserting ‘‘SCHOOL AND LI-
BRARY PURPOSES’’.
(b) EXTENSION
OF
AGE
OF
ELIGIBLE
COM-
PUTERS.—Clause (ii) of section 170(e)(6)(B) of such Code
(defining qualified elementary or secondary educational
contribution) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and inserting ‘‘3
years’’, and
(2) by striking ‘‘date’’ the first place it appears
and all that follows and inserting the following:
SEC. 5. CREDIT FOR COMPUTER DONATIONS TO SCHOOLS
AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (relating to business related credits) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 
45D. 
CREDIT 
FOR 
COMPUTER 
DONATIONS 
TO
SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—For purposes of section 38,
the school and public library computer donation credit de-
termined under this section is an amount equal to 30 per-
cent of the qualified computer contributions made by the
taxpayer during the taxable year.
‘‘(b) INCREASED PERCENTAGE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
TO SCHOOLS OR PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN EMPOWERMENT
ZONES, ENTERPRISE COMMUNITIES, AND INDIAN RES-
ERVATIONS.—In the case of a qualified computer con-
tribution to an educational organization, public library, or
entity located in an empowerment zone or enterprise com-
munity designated under section 1391 or an Indian res-
ervation (as defined in section 168(j)(6)), subsection (a)
shall be applied by substituting ‘50 percent’ for ‘30 per-
cent’.
‘‘(c) LIMITATION.—No credit shall be allowed under
subsection (a) for the contribution of a computer (as de-
fined in section 168(i)(2)(B)(ii)) if the computer software
(as defined in section 197(e)(3)(B)) that serves as the op-
erating system of such computer has not been lawfully in-
stalled.
‘‘(d) QUALIFIED COMPUTER CONTRIBUTION.—For
purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified computer con-
tribution’ has the meaning given such term by section
170(e)(6)(B).
‘‘(e) CERTAIN RULES MADE APPLICABLE.—For pur-
poses of this section, rules similar to the rules of para-
graphs (1) and (2) of section 41(f) shall apply.
‘‘(f) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply to
taxable years beginning on or after the date which is 3
years after the date of the enactment of the ll Act of
1999.’’
(b) CURRENT YEAR BUSINESS CREDIT CALCULA-
TION.—Section 38(b) of such Code (relating to current
year business credit) is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the
end of paragraph (11), by striking the period at the end
of paragraph (12) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding
at the end the following:
‘‘(13) the school and public library computer
donation credit determined under section 45D(a).’’.
(c) DISALLOWANCE OF DEDUCTION BY AMOUNT OF
CREDIT.—Section 280C of such Code (relating to certain
expenses for which credits are allowable) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
‘‘(d) CREDIT FOR SCHOOL AND PUBLIC LIBRARY
COMPUTER DONATIONS.—No deduction shall be allowed
for that portion of the qualified computer contributions
(as defined in section 170(e)(6)(B)) made during the tax-
able year that is equal to the amount of credit determined
for the taxable year under section 45D(a). In the case of
a corporation which is a member of a controlled group of
corporations (within the meaning of section 52(a)) or a
trade or business which is treated as being under common
control with other trades or businesses (within the mean-
ing of section 52(b)), this subsection shall be applied
under rules prescribed by the Secretary similar to the
rules applicable under subsections (a) and (b) of section
52.’’
(d) LIMITATION ON CARRYBACK.—Subsection (d) of
section 39 of such Code (relating to carryback and
carryforward of unused credits) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
‘‘(9) NO CARRYBACK OF SCHOOL AND PUBLIC
LIBRARY COMPUTER DONATION CREDIT BEFORE EF-
FECTIVE
DATE.—No amount of unused business
credit available under section 45D may be carried
back to a taxable year beginning on or before the
date of the enactment of this paragraph.’’.
(e) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1
of such Code is amended by inserting after the item relat-
ing to section 45C the following:
‘‘Sec. 45D. Credit for computer donations to schools and public
libraries.’’
(f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply to contributions made in taxable
years beginning after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
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