By: Barrientos S.C.R. No. 16 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-1 WHEREAS, The earned income credit was enacted by Congress to 1-2 assist families who work full-time, part-time, or during part of 1-3 the year and who have children; and 1-4 WHEREAS, A family must have had income of less than $22,370 1-5 in 1992 and must have at least one child living with them to 1-6 qualify for this credit; and 1-7 WHEREAS, The maximum earned income credit for 1992 is $2,211; 1-8 and 1-9 WHEREAS, In 1992, nearly 14 million families nationwide 1-10 claimed the earned income credit, making it one of the nation's 1-11 most important antipoverty programs; and 1-12 WHEREAS, In 1992, more than 1.3 million Texas families 1-13 claimed the earned income credit, bringing more than $1.1 billion 1-14 in revenue into the state; and 1-15 WHEREAS, The 1990 U.S. Census figures indicated that 1.3 1-16 million Texas families may qualify for the earned income credit in 1-17 1993; and 1-18 WHEREAS, In order to claim earned income credit, qualifying 1-19 families must file an income tax form, even if they owe no taxes, 1-20 and must attach an EIC Schedule to it; now, therefore, be it 1-21 RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the 1-22 Office of the Comptroller of Public Accounts is hereby directed to 1-23 conduct a statewide public awareness drive designed to inform 2-1 working Texas families about the availability of the earned income 2-2 credit; and, be it further 2-3 RESOLVED, That the Texas Employment Commission and other 2-4 state agencies are directed to assist the comptroller's office in 2-5 promoting public awareness of EIC by informing recipients of 2-6 unemployment compensation through their regular mailings and by 2-7 referring callers to volunteer income tax assistance sites set up 2-8 by the Internal Revenue Service to answer basic 2-9 earned-income-credit-related questions; and, be it further 2-10 RESOLVED, That the Texas Department of Human Services is also 2-11 directed to assist the comptroller's office in the outreach effort 2-12 through its income assistance field offices by referring callers to 2-13 volunteer income tax assistance sites set up by the Internal 2-14 Revenue Service to answer basic earned-income-credit-related 2-15 questions; and be it further 2-16 RESOLVED, That the Public Utility Commission of Texas is also 2-17 directed to assist the comptroller's office by urging Texas utility 2-18 companies to help inform their customers about the importance of 2-19 the earned income credit refund for working Texas families and 2-20 generally promote earned income credit awareness as a public 2-21 service to their customers.