I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4851 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to carry out a State workforce 
incentive program. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 23, 2019 
Ms. STEFANIK (for herself and Mr. KELLER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to carry out 
a State workforce incentive program. 
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 ‘‘State Workforce Incen-
tive Act’’. 
SEC. 2. STATE WORKFORCE INCENTIVE PROGRAM. 
Part G of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1088 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 493E. STATE WORKFORCE INCENTIVE PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 
support the workforce in State-determined high-need or 
public-service occupations, and to encourage individuals to 
pursue and maintain employment in such occupations 
through annual incentive payments towards their eligible 
Federal loans. 
‘‘(b) ALLOTMENT AND ALLOCATIONS OF CREDITS 
FOR REDUCING FEDERAL LOAN DEBT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amount appro-
priated under subsection (e), the Secretary shall an-
nually allot, in accordance with paragraph (2), loan 
repayment credits to each State with an approved 
State implementation plan, which may be allocated 
to eligible borrowers in such State for the purpose 
of reducing the amount owed on the eligible Federal 
loans of such borrowers. 
‘‘(2) ALLOTMENT OF LOAN REPAYMENT CRED-
ITS TO STATES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each State with an 
approved State implementation plan shall re-
ceive an allotment of loan repayment credits on 
July 1 of each year, as follows: 
‘‘(i) 0.50 of the amount appropriated 
under subsection (e) shall be allotted on 
the basis of the relative population of the 
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State, compared to the total population in 
all States with an approved State imple-
mentation plan. 
‘‘(ii) 0.25 of the amount appropriated 
under subsection (e) shall be allotted on 
the basis of the relative amount of individ-
uals in poverty in the State, compared to 
the total amount of individuals in poverty 
in all States with an approved State imple-
mentation plan. 
‘‘(iii) 0.25 of the amount appropriated 
under subsection (e) shall be allotted on 
the basis of the relative excess number of 
individuals in poverty in the State, com-
pared to total excess number of individuals 
in poverty in all States with an approved 
State implementation plan. 
‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 
paragraph: 
‘‘(i) INDIVIDUALS IN POVERTY.—The 
term ‘individuals in poverty’ means the 
number of individuals who are living below 
100 percent of the poverty line. 
‘‘(ii) EXCESS
NUMBER.—The term 
‘excess number’, when used with respect to 
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