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.