I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3104 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a charitable deduc- tion for the service of volunteer firefighters and emergency medical and rescue personnel. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 5, 2023 Mr. MOLINARO (for himself and Ms. KUSTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a charitable deduction for the service of volunteer fire- fighters and emergency medical and rescue personnel. 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 Our Heroes 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3104.IH H3104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3104 IH SEC. 2. ALLOWANCE OF CHARITABLE DEDUCTION FOR THE 1 SERVICE OF VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS AND 2 EMERGENCY MEDICAL AND RESCUE PER- 3 SONNEL. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 170 of the Internal Rev- 5 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking subsection (p) 6 and inserting the following new subsection: 7 ‘‘(p) SERVICE OF VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS AND 8 EMERGENCY MEDICAL PERSONNEL TREATED AS CHARI- 9 TABLE CONTRIBUTION.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each hour of qualified 11 services rendered by an individual as a bona fide vol- 12 unteer shall be treated for purposes of this section 13 as a contribution of $20 to the organization to which 14 such services are rendered. 15 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Not more than 300 hours 16 of qualified services shall be taken into account 17 under paragraph (1) with respect to any individual 18 for any taxable year. 19 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub- 20 section— 21 ‘‘(A) BONA FIDE VOLUNTEER.—An indi- 22 vidual shall be treated as a bona fide volunteer 23 if the only compensation received by such indi- 24 vidual for performing qualified services is in the 25 form of— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3104.IH H3104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3104 IH ‘‘(i) reimbursement for (or a reason- 1 able allowance for) reasonable expenses in- 2 curred in the performance of such services, 3 or 4 ‘‘(ii) reasonable benefits (including 5 length of service awards), and fees for such 6 services, customarily paid by eligible em- 7 ployers in connection with the performance 8 of such services by volunteers. 9 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED SERVICES.—The term 10 ‘qualified services’ means fire fighting and pre- 11 vention services, emergency medical and rescue 12 services, ambulance services, civil air patrol, 13 and search and rescue services. Such term shall 14 include all training and training-related activi- 15 ties related to the services described in the pre- 16 ceding sentence which are required or author- 17 ized by the organization referred to in para- 18 graph (1). 19 ‘‘(4) VERIFICATION.—A contribution to which 20 this subsection applies shall be verified in such man- 21 ner as the Secretary may provide. 22 ‘‘(5) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—In the case of 23 any taxable year beginning in a calendar year after 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3104.IH H3104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3104 IH 2024, the $20 amount contained in paragraph (1) 1 shall be increased by an amount equal to— 2 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 3 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter- 4 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 5 year in which the taxable year begins deter- 6 mined by substituting ‘calendar year 2023’ for 7 ‘calendar year 2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) 8 thereof. 9 Any increase determined under the preceding sen- 10 tence which is not a multiple of $1 shall be rounded 11 to the nearest multiple of $1. 12 ‘‘(6) EXCLUSION FOR MEMBERS OF CON- 13 GRESS.—Services rendered during any period with 14 respect to which such individual is a Member of 15 Congress (as defined in section 2106 of title 5, 16 United States Code) shall not be treated as qualified 17 services for purposes of this subsection.’’. 18 (b) ALLOWANCE OF DEDUCTION TO INDIVIDUALS 19 WHO DO NOT ELECT TO ITEMIZE DEDUCTIONS.—Sec- 20 tion 63(b) of such Code is amended by striking paragraph 21 (4) and inserting the following new paragraph: 22 ‘‘(4) so much of the deduction allowed under 23 section 170 for the taxable year as does not exceed 24 the amount of such deduction which would be deter- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3104.IH H3104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3104 IH mined if only contributions treated as made under 1 section 170(p) by reason of services rendered during 2 such taxable year were taken into account.’’. 3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 4 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 5 December 31, 2023. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3104.IH H3104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS