Title: EASE Act
Policy area: Social Welfare

Summary:
Encouraging Apprenticeships, Spurring Employment Act or the EASE Act
This bill requires a state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to disregard, for a 12-month period, any income earned by an individual participating in a qualified apprenticeship program. Additionally, the bill establishes a penalty on states for noncompliance with such requirement.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5828 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5828

   To require States to temporarily disregard income earned through 
participation in certain apprenticeship programs, in making eligibility 
and benefit determinations under the program of block grants to States 
              for temporary assistance for needy families.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 15, 2018

Mr. McKinley (for himself and Mr. Pocan) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require States to temporarily disregard income earned through 
participation in certain apprenticeship programs, in making eligibility 
and benefit determinations under the program of block grants to States 
              for temporary assistance for needy families.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Encouraging Apprenticeships, 
Spurring Employment Act'' or the ``EASE Act''.

SEC. 2. TEMPORARY DISREGARD OF INCOME EARNED THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN 
              CERTAIN APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS, UNDER THE TANF PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 408(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 608(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(13) Requirement to temporarily disregard income earned 
        through participation in certain apprenticeship programs.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In determining the eligibility 
                of an individual for assistance under the State program 
                funded under this part, or the amount of assistance to 
                be provided to an individual under the program, a State 
                to which a grant is made under section 403 shall 
                disregard any income earned by the individual in a 
                qualified apprenticeship program during the 12-month 
                period that begins with the later of--
                            ``(i) the date the recipient commenced the 
                        participation; or
                            ``(ii) the date of the enactment of this 
                        paragraph.
                    ``(B) Qualified apprenticeship program.--In 
                subparagraph (A), the term `qualified apprenticeship 
                program' means--
                            ``(i) a program registered under the 
                        National Apprenticeship Act; or
                            ``(ii) a pre-apprenticeship program that 
                        has a documented partnership with a program 
                        referred to in clause (i).''.
    (b) Penalty.--Section 409(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 609(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(17) Failure to temporarily disregard income earned 
        through participation in certain apprenticeship programs.--If 
        the Secretary determines that a State to which a grant is made 
        under section 403 for a fiscal year has failed to comply with 
        section 408(a)(13) for the fiscal year, the Secretary may 
        reduce the grant payable to the State under section 403(a)(1) 
        for the immediately succeeding fiscal year by an amount equal 
        to the total amount that the State would have had to expend to 
        so comply.''.
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