A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit amounts paid for programs to obtain a recognized postsecondary credential or a license to be treated as qualified higher education expenses for purposes of a 529 account.

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 379 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit amounts paid for programs to obtain a recognized postsecondary credential or a license to be treated as qualified higher education expenses for purposes of a 529 account. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 7, 2019 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mrs. FEIN- STEIN, and Mr. MANCHIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit amounts paid for programs to obtain a recognized post- secondary credential or a license to be treated as quali- fied higher education expenses for purposes of a 529 account. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S379.IS S379 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 379 IS SECTION 1. CERTAIN CAREER TRAINING EXPENSES TREAT- 1 ED AS QUALIFIED HIGHER EDUCATION EX- 2 PENSES. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (3) of section 529(e) 4 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add- 5 ing at the end the following new subparagraph: 6 ‘‘(C) CERTAIN CAREER TRAINING EX- 7 PENSES.— 8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an 9 individual who is enrolled in or attending a 10 program to obtain a recognized postsec- 11 ondary credential or occupational license, 12 the term ‘qualified higher education ex- 13 penses’ includes expenses similar to the ex- 14 penses described in subparagraph (A) 15 which are required for such program. 16 ‘‘(ii) PROGRAM TO OBTAIN A RECOG- 17 NIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDENTIAL.— 18 For purposes of this subparagraph— 19 ‘‘(I) the term ‘recognized postsec- 20 ondary credential’ has the meaning 21 given the term in section 3(52) of the 22 Workforce Innovation and Oppor- 23 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102(52)), and 24 ‘‘(II) when used with respect to 25 obtaining such a credential, the term 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S379.IS S379 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 379 IS ‘program’ means only a program 1 which is included, and is offered by a 2 provider which is included, on the list 3 described in section 122(d) of the 4 Workforce Innovation and Oppor- 5 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3152(d)).’’. 6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 7 this section shall apply to expenses paid or incurred in 8 taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment 9 of this Act. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S379.IS S379 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS