I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2219 
To ensure that individuals who are in an authorized job training program 
or completing work for a degree or certificate remain eligible for regular 
unemployment compensation. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 1, 2015 
Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois (for himself and Mr. BERA) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To ensure that individuals who are in an authorized job 
training program or completing work for a degree or 
certificate remain eligible for regular unemployment com-
pensation. 
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 ‘‘Opportunity Kindling 
New Options for Career and Knowledge Seekers Act’’ or 
the ‘‘Opportunity KNOCKS Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to allow people to seek 
the training needed in order to find a full time job that 
allows them to go off of unemployment compensation. 
SEC. 3. APPROVED TRAINING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3304 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 3304) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(g) APPROVED TRAINING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 
(a)(8)— 
‘‘(A) the term ‘training’ includes any of 
the educational or job training programs de-
scribed in paragraph (2), and 
‘‘(B) such programs shall be treated as ap-
proved by the State agency. 
‘‘(2) EDUCATIONAL
OR
JOB
TRAINING
PRO-
GRAMS.—The programs described in this paragraph 
are— 
‘‘(A) any program on the State’s eligible 
training provider list developed under section 
122 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998; 
or 
‘‘(B) for purposes of an individual who has 
been identified as likely to exhaust regular com-
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pensation, any coursework necessary to attain a 
recognized postsecondary credential. 
‘‘(3) RECOGNIZED
POSTSECONDARY
CREDEN-
TIAL.—For purposes of this subsection, the term 
‘recognized postsecondary credential’ means a cre-
dential consisting of an industry-recognized certifi-
cate, a certificate of completion of an apprenticeship, 
or an associate or baccalaureate degree.’’. 
(b) EXTENDED COMPENSATION.—Section 202(a) of 
the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation 
Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended by insert-
ing at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(8) Notwithstanding the provisions of para-
graph (2), a State agency may elect to approve pro-
grams described in subsection (g)(2) of section 3304 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for purposes 
of training included under subsection (a)(8) of such 
section.’’. 
(c) EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.— 
Section 4001(d)(2) of the Supplemental Appropriations 
Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) 
is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; and 
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(2) by inserting at the end the following new 
subparagraph: 
‘‘(C) that a State agency may elect to ap-
prove programs described in subsection (g)(2) 
of section 3304 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 for purposes of training included under 
subsection (a)(8) of such section; and’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall take effect 2 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 4. NOTIFICATION TO UNEMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—To the extent feasible and prac-
ticable, the State agency shall provide that applications 
for regular compensation include information regarding 
the availability of such compensation during periods in 
which an individual is engaged in training that has been 
approved by the State agency, as described in section 
3304(a)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 
U.S.C. 3304(a)(8)). 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 
terms ‘‘regular compensation’’ and ‘‘State agency’’ have 
the same meanings as in section 205 of the Federal-State 
Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970. 
Æ 
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