I
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 8915
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the expenses treated
as qualified higher education expenses for purposes of 529 accounts
to include additional elementary and secondary school expenses and cer-
tain postsecondary credentialing expenses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY2, 2024
Mr. H
ERN(for himself, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. COLLINS, and Mr. FINSTAD) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand
the expenses treated as qualified higher education ex-
penses for purposes of 529 accounts to include additional
elementary and secondary school expenses and certain
postsecondary credentialing expenses.
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 ‘‘Education and Work-4
force Freedom Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jul 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8915.IH H8915
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 8915 IH
SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY, AND 1
HOME SCHOOL EXPENSES TREATED AS 2
QUALIFIED HIGHER EDUCATION EXPENSES 3
FOR PURPOSES OF 529 ACCOUNTS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 529(c)(7) of the Internal 5
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 6
‘‘(7) T
REATMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SEC -7
ONDARY TUITION.—Any reference in this section to 8
the term ‘qualified higher education expense’ shall 9
include a reference to the following expenses in con-10
nection with enrollment or attendance at, or for stu-11
dents enrolled at or attending, an elementary or sec-12
ondary public, private, or religious school: 13
‘‘(A) Tuition. 14
‘‘(B) Curriculum and curricular materials. 15
‘‘(C) Books or other instructional mate-16
rials. 17
‘‘(D) Online educational materials. 18
‘‘(E) Tuition for tutoring or educational 19
classes outside of the home, including at a tu-20
toring facility, but only if the tutor or instruc-21
tor is not related to the student and— 22
‘‘(i) is licensed as a teacher in any 23
State, 24
‘‘(ii) has taught at an eligible edu-25
cational institution, or 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jul 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8915.IH H8915
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 8915 IH
‘‘(iii) is a subject matter expert in the 1
relevant subject. 2
‘‘(F) Fees for a nationally standardized 3
norm-referenced achievement test, an advanced 4
placement examination, or any examinations re-5
lated to college or university admission. 6
‘‘(G) Fees for dual enrollment in an insti-7
tution of higher education. 8
‘‘(H) Educational therapies for students 9
with disabilities provided by a licensed or ac-10
credited practitioner or provider, including oc-11
cupational, behavioral, physical, and speech-lan-12
guage therapies. 13
Such term shall include expenses for the purposes 14
described in subparagraphs (A) through (H) in con-15
nection with a homeschool (whether treated as a 16
homeschool or a private school for purposes of appli-17
cable State law).’’. 18
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 19
this section shall apply to distributions made after the 20
date of the enactment of this Act. 21
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jul 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8915.IH H8915
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 8915 IH
SEC. 3. CERTAIN POSTSECONDARY CREDENTIALING EX-1
PENSES TREATED AS QUALIFIED HIGHER 2
EDUCATION EXPENSES FOR PURPOSES OF 3
529 ACCOUNTS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 529(e)(3) of the Internal 5
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 6
the following new subparagraph: 7
‘‘(C) C
ERTAIN POSTSECONDARY 8
CREDENTIALING EXPENSES .—The term ‘quali-9
fied higher education expenses’ includes quali-10
fied postsecondary credentialing expenses (as 11
defined in subsection (f)).’’. 12
(b) Q
UALIFIEDPOSTSECONDARY CREDENTIALING 13
E
XPENSES.—Section 529 is amended by redesignating 14
subsection (f) as subsection (g) and by inserting after sub-15
section (e) the following new subsection: 16
‘‘(f) Q
UALIFIEDPOSTSECONDARY CREDENTIALING 17
E
XPENSES.—For purposes of this section— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified post-19
secondary credentialing expenses’ means— 20
‘‘(A) tuition, fees, books, supplies, and 21
equipment required for the enrollment or at-22
tendance of a designated beneficiary in a recog-23
nized postsecondary credential program, or any 24
other expense incurred in connection with en-25
rollment in or attendance at a recognized post-26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jul 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8915.IH H8915
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 8915 IH
secondary credential program if such expense 1
would, if incurred in connection with enrollment 2
or attendance at an eligible educational institu-3
tion, be covered under subsection (e)(3)(A), 4
‘‘(B) fees for testing if such testing is re-5
quired to obtain or maintain a recognized post-6
secondary credential, and 7
‘‘(C) fees for continuing education if such 8
education is required to maintain a recognized 9
postsecondary credential. 10
‘‘(2) R
ECOGNIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDEN -11
TIAL PROGRAM.—For purposes of this subpara-12
graph, the term ‘recognized postsecondary credential 13
program’ means any program to obtain a recognized 14
postsecondary credential if— 15
‘‘(A) such program is included on a State 16
list prepared under section 122(d) of the Work-17
force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 18
U.S.C. 3152(d)), 19
‘‘(B) such program is listed in the 20
WEAMS Public directory (or successor direc-21
tory) maintained by the Department of Vet-22
erans Affairs, 23
‘‘(C) an examination (developed or admin-24
istered by an organization widely recognized as 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jul 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8915.IH H8915
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 8915 IH
providing reputable credentials in the occupa-1
tion) is required to obtain or maintain such cre-2
dential and such organization recognizes such 3
program as providing training or education 4
which prepares individuals to take such exam-5
ination, or 6
‘‘(D) such program is identified by the 7
Secretary, after consultation with the Secretary 8
of Labor, as being a reputable program for ob-9
taining a recognized postsecondary credential 10
for purposes of this subparagraph. 11
‘‘(3) R
ECOGNIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDEN -12
TIAL.—The term ‘recognized postsecondary creden-13
tial’ means— 14
‘‘(A) any postsecondary employment cre-15
dential that is industry recognized, including— 16
‘‘(i) any postsecondary employment 17
credential issued by a program that is ac-18
credited by the Institute for Credentialing 19
Excellence, the National Commission on 20
Certifying Agencies, or the American Na-21
tional Standards Institute, 22
‘‘(ii) any postsecondary employment 23
credential that is included in the 24
Credentialing Opportunities On-Line 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jul 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8915.IH H8915
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 8915 IH
(COOL) directory of credentialing pro-1
grams (or successor directory) maintained 2
by the Department of Defense or by any 3
branch of the Armed Services, and 4
‘‘(iii) any postsecondary employment 5
credential identified for purposes of this 6
clause by the Secretary, after consultation 7
with the Secretary of Labor, as being in-8
dustry recognized, 9
‘‘(B) any certificate of completion of an 10
apprenticeship that is registered and certified 11
with the Secretary of Labor under the National 12
Apprenticeship Act (29 U.S.C. 50), 13
‘‘(C) any occupational or professional li-14
cense issued or recognized by a State or the 15
Federal Government (and any certification that 16
satisfies a condition for obtaining such a li-17
cense), and 18
‘‘(D) any recognized postsecondary creden-19
tial as defined in section 3(52) of the Workforce 20
Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 21
3102).’’. 22
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jul 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8915.IH H8915
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 8915 IH
(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 1
this subsection shall apply to distributions made after the 2
date of the enactment of this Act. 3
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jul 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8915.IH H8915
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS