Helping to Encourage Real Opportunities (HERO) for At-Risk Youth Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1550 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the work opportunity credit for certain youth employees, and to extend empowerment zones. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 20, 2019 Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Ms. DUCKWORTH) 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 modify the work opportunity credit for certain youth employees, and to extend empowerment zones. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping to Encourage 4 Real Opportunities (HERO) for At-Risk Youth Act of 5 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION AND EXTENSION OF WORK OPPOR- 7 TUNITY CREDIT FOR CERTAIN YOUTH EM- 8 PLOYEES. 9 (a) EXPANSION OF CREDIT FOR SUMMER YOUTH.— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1550.IS S1550 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1550 IS (1) CREDIT ALLOWED FOR YEAR-ROUND EM- 1 PLOYMENT.—Section 51(d)(7)(A) of the Internal 2 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 3 (A) by striking clauses (i) and (iii) and re- 4 designating clauses (ii) and (iv) as clauses (i) 5 and (ii), respectively; 6 (B) in clause (i) (as so redesignated), by 7 striking ‘‘(or if later, on May 1 of the calendar 8 year involved),’’; 9 (C) by striking the period at the end of 10 clause (ii) (as so redesignated) and inserting ‘‘, 11 and’’; and 12 (D) adding at the end the following new 13 clause: 14 ‘‘(iii) who will be employed for not 15 more than 20 hours per week during any 16 period between September 16 and April 30 17 in which such individual is regularly at- 18 tending any secondary school.’’. 19 (2) INCREASE IN CREDIT AMOUNT.—Section 20 51(d)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 21 amended by striking subparagraph (B) and by re- 22 designating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (B). 23 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1550.IS S1550 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1550 IS (A) Subparagraph (F) of section 51(d)(1) 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 2 amended by striking ‘‘summer’’. 3 (B) Paragraph (7) of section 51(d) of such 4 Code is amended— 5 (i) by striking ‘‘summer’’ each place it 6 appears in subparagraphs (A); 7 (ii) in subparagraph (B), as redesig- 8 nated by paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘sub- 9 paragraph (A)(iv)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 10 paragraph (A)(ii)’’; and 11 (iii) by striking ‘‘SUMMER’’ in the 12 heading thereof. 13 (b) CREDIT FOR AT-RISK YOUTH.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 15 51(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 16 amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara- 17 graph (I), by striking the period at the end of sub- 18 paragraph (J) and inserting ‘‘, or’’ , and by adding 19 at the end the following new subparagraph: 20 ‘‘(K) an at-risk youth.’’. 21 (2) AT-RISK YOUTH.—Paragraph (14) of sec- 22 tion 51(d) of such Code is amended to read as fol- 23 lows: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1550.IS S1550 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1550 IS ‘‘(14) AT-RISK YOUTH.—The term ‘at-risk 1 youth’ means any individual who is certified by the 2 designated local agency— 3 ‘‘(A) as— 4 ‘‘(i) having attained age 16 but not 5 age 25 on the hiring date, 6 ‘‘(ii) as not regularly attending any 7 secondary, technical, or post-secondary 8 school during the 6-month period pre- 9 ceding the hiring date, 10 ‘‘(iii) as not regularly employed dur- 11 ing such 6-month period, and 12 ‘‘(iv) as not readily employable by rea- 13 son of lacking a sufficient number of basic 14 skills, or 15 ‘‘(B) as— 16 ‘‘(i) having attained age 16 but not 17 age 21 on the hiring date, and 18 ‘‘(ii) an eligible foster child (as de- 19 fined in section 152(f)(1)(C)) who was in 20 foster care during the 12-month period 21 ending on the hiring date.’’. 22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 23 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 24 the employer after the date of the enactment of this Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1550.IS S1550 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1550 IS SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF EMPOWERMENT ZONES. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1391(d)(1)(A)(i) of the 2 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 3 ‘‘December 31, 2017’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 4 2020’’. 5 (b) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TERMINATION DATES 6 SPECIFIED IN NOMINATIONS.—In the case of a designa- 7 tion of an empowerment zone the nomination for which 8 included a termination date which is contemporaneous 9 with the date specified in subparagraph (A)(i) of section 10 1391(d)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as in 11 effect before the enactment of this Act), subparagraph (B) 12 of such section shall not apply with respect to such des- 13 ignation if, after the date of the enactment of this section, 14 the entity which made such nomination amends the nomi- 15 nation to provide for a new termination date in such man- 16 ner as the Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s 17 designee) may provide. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1550.IS S1550 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS