I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1151
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat certain postsecondary
credentialing expenses as qualified higher education expenses for purposes
of 529 accounts.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY7, 2025
Mr. W
ITTMAN(for himself, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. HERNof Oklahoma, Mr.
L
ARSONof Connecticut, Mr. FINSTAD, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Mr. COLLINS,
Mr. P
ANETTA, Mr. CAREY, and Mr. SUBRAMANYAM) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat cer-
tain postsecondary credentialing expenses as qualified
higher education expenses for purposes of 529 accounts.
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 ‘‘Freedom to Invest in 4
Tomorrow’s Workforce Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. 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
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•HR 1151 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
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•HR 1151 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
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(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
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(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 1
this section shall apply to distributions made after the 2
date of the enactment of this Act. 3
Æ
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