New Collar Jobs Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.4389 | Sponsor: Rep. Lieu, Ted (D-CA)
Policy area: Education

Summary:
New Collar Jobs Act of 2021
This bill provides incentives for cybersecurity education.
Specifically, the bill establishes an employee cybersecurity education tax credit for an employer who incurs costs for an employee who earns a certain cybersecurity certificate or degree. If a business claims such a credit, then federal agencies must award a score increase to each competitive proposal submitted by the business for a federal contract valued at more than $5 million.
In addition, the Department of Education must cancel eligible student loans for borrowers who have (1) made 36 consecutive monthly payments, and (2) held a cybersecurity job in an economically distressed area during at least 12 months of payments.
Finally, the bill makes cybersecurity course instructors eligible for awards under the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program.

To increase cybersecurity education and job growth, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``New Collar Jobs 
Act of 2021''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Employee cybersecurity education.
Sec. 4. Student loan repayment for certain cybersecurity employees.
Sec. 5. CyberCorps scholarship-for-service program.
Sec. 6. Increased funding for Advanced Technology Education program.
Sec. 7. Cybersecurity training incentive for Government contracts.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress find the following:
            (1) Domestic factory output has increased by 21 percent 
        since June 2009, but manufacturing employment has only 
        increased 5 percent during that time, and has been flat since 
        late 2014.
            (2) As manufacturers leverage new technologies from 
        robotics to distributed control systems to create modern 
        factories and industrial plants, different employment 
        requirements have emerged including the need for cybersecurity 
        talent.
            (3) Leading cybersecurity experts have reported spike of 
        250 percent in industrial automation and control system cyber-
        incidents occurring during the period between 2011 and 2015 and 
        as a result are seeking personnel with knowledge of their 
        industry coupled with knowledge of security technology to 
        prevent their organization from becoming victims of cyber-
        attacks.

SEC. 3. EMPLOYEE CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION.

    (a) In General.--Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section:

``SEC. 45U. EMPLOYEE CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION.

    ``(a) In General.--For purposes of section 38, the employee 
cybersecurity education credit determined under this section for the 
taxable year is an amount equal to 50 percent of the aggregate 
qualified employee cybersecurity education expenses paid or incurred by 
the employer during such taxable year.
    ``(b) Limitation.--The amount allowed as a credit under subsection 
(a) for the taxable year with respect to an employee shall not exceed 
$5,000.
    ``(c) Qualified Employee Cybersecurity Education Expenses.--For 
purposes of this section, the term `qualified employee cybersecurity 
education expenses' means amounts paid or incurred for each employee 
who earns a certificate or degree at the undergraduate or graduate 
level or industry-recognized certification relating to those specialty 
areas and work roles that are listed in NCWF Work Roles in the document 
entitled, `NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF)', published by 
the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) of the 
National Institute of Standards and Technology.
    ``(d) Certain Rules To Apply.--Rules similar to the rules of 
subsections (i)(1) and (k) of section 51 shall apply for purposes of 
this section.''.
    (b) Credit Made Part of General Business Credit.--Subsection (b) of 
section 38 of such Code is amended by striking ``plus'' at the end of 
paragraph (32), by striking the period at the end of paragraph (33) and 
inserting ``, plus'', and by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(34) the employee cybersecurity education credit 
        determined under section 45U(a).''.
    (c) Denial of Double Benefit.--Subsection (a) of section 280C of 
such Code is amended by inserting ``45U(a),'' after ``45S(a),''.
    (d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart D of 
part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by adding 
at the end the following new item:

``Sec. 45U. Employee cybersecurity education.''.
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to individuals commencing apprenticeship programs after the date 
of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT FOR CERTAIN CYBERSECURITY EMPLOYEES.

    Section 455 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(r) Loan Repayment for Cybersecurity Workers in Economically 
Distressed Area.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall cancel the amount 
        described in paragraph (2) of the balance of interest and 
        principal due, in accordance with such paragraph, on any 
        eligible Federal Direct Loan not in default for a borrower 
        who--
                    ``(A) makes 36 consecutive monthly payments on the 
                eligible Federal Direct Loan after the date of the 
                enactment of this section pursuant to any one or a 
                combination of the following--
                            ``(i) payments under an income-based 
                        repayment plan under section 493C;
                            ``(ii) payments under a standard repayment 
                        plan under subsection (d)(1)(A), based on a 10-
                        year repayment period;
                            ``(iii) monthly payments under a repayment 
                        plan under subsection (d)(1) or (g) of not less 
                        than the monthly amount calculated under 
                        subsection (d)(1)(A), based on a 10-year 
                        repayment period; or
                            ``(iv) payments under an income contingent 
                        repayment plan under subsection (d)(1)(D); and
                    ``(B) during the period in which the borrower makes 
                each of the 36 consecutive monthly payments described 
                in subparagraph (A), has been employed in a 
                cybersecurity job--
                            ``(i) located in an area that, for at least 
                        12 of such consecutive monthly payments is an 
                        economically distressed area; and
                            ``(ii) that requires that the borrower work 
                        in the economically distressed area no less 
                        than 60 percent of total work hours.
            ``(2) Cancellation amount.--After the conclusion of the 
        employment period described in paragraph (1), the Secretary 
        shall cancel the lesser of the following:
                    ``(A) The obligation to repay the balance of 
                principal and interest due as of the time of such 
                cancellation, on the eligible Federal Direct Loans made 
                to the borrower under this part.
                    ``(B) $25,000.
            ``(3) Ineligibility of double benefits.--No borrower may, 
        for the same service, receive a reduction of loan obligations 
        under both this subsection and--
                    ``(A) subsection (m); or
                    ``(B) section 428J, 428K, 428L, or 460.
            ``(4) Definitions.--In this section:
                    ``(A) Cybersecurity job.--The term `cybersecurity 
                job' means--
                            ``(i) a skill role as defined in the NCWF 
                        Work Roles by the National Initiative for 
                        Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity 
                        Workforce Framework (NCWF) of the National 
                        Institute of Standards and Technology, Special 
                        Publication 800-181, or any successor document; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) teaching a cybersecurity course for 
                        a skill role described in clause (i).
                    ``(B) Economically distressed area.--The term 
                `economically distressed area' means an area that meets 
                one or more criteria under section 301(a) of the Public 
                Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 
                3161(a)).''.

SEC. 5. CYBERCORPS SCHOLARSHIP-FOR-SERVICE PROGRAM.

    (a) Funding Increase.--It is the sense of the Congress that the 
number of scholarships awarded by the National Science Foundation for 
scholarships awarded under the Federal cyber scholarship-for-service 
program established by section 302 of the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act 
of 2014 for fiscal year 2019 and each succeeding fiscal year should be 
not less than double the number of such scholarships awarded for fiscal 
year 2018.
    (b) Cybersecurity Course Instruction.--Section 302 of the 
Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2014 (15 U.S.C. 7442) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``and security 
        managers'' and inserting ``security managers, and cybersecurity 
        course instructors,''; and
            (2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the following: 
        ``Such work may include teaching a cybersecurity course for a 
        skill role as defined in the NCWF Work Roles by the National 
        Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity 
        Workforce Framework (NCWF) of the National Institute of 
        Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-181, or any 
        successor document.''.
    (c) Elimination of Priority for Federal Government Employment 
Placements.--Section 302(b) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 7442(b)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2), by adding ``and'' at the end;
            (2) by striking paragraph (3); and
            (3) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (3).

SEC. 6. INCREASED FUNDING FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION PROGRAM.

    It is the sense of the Congress that the amount expended for the 
Information Technology and Cybersecurity Division of the Advanced 
Technological Education program of the National Science Foundation 
established by section 3(a) of the Scientific and Advanced-Technology 
Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-476) for fiscal year 2019 should be an 
amount equal to not less than 110 percent of the amount expended for 
such division for fiscal year 2018.

SEC. 7. CYBERSECURITY TRAINING INCENTIVE FOR GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.

    (a) In General.--Subpart 15.3 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation 
shall be revised to require, in the evaluation of a competitive 
proposal received in response to a solicitation for a contract valued 
in excess of $5,000,000, that the head of an executive agency award a 
five percent score increase to each competitive proposal submitted by a 
qualified offeror.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' has 
        the meaning given that term in section 102 of title 40, United 
        States Code.
            (2) Qualified offeror.--The term ``qualified offeror'' 
        means a business that has claimed the employee cybersecurity 
        education credit under section 45U of the Internal Revenue Code 
        of 1986, as added by section 3, at least once within the three-
        year period preceding the date on which the business submits a 
        competitive proposal for a contract valued in excess of 
        $5,000,000.
                                 <all>