By Naishtat                                     H.B. No. 3426

      75R7354 CLG-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to requiring the Texas Workforce Commission, local

 1-3     workforce development boards and centers, and certain employers to

 1-4     provide tax assistance to certain working individuals and families.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter G, Chapter 2308, Government Code, is

 1-7     amended by adding Section 2308.314 to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 2308.314.  TAX ASSISTANCE.  (a)  A workforce development

 1-9     center shall provide to individuals who participate in a workforce

1-10     development program information on the federal earned income tax

1-11     credit for working families.  The center shall assist participants

1-12     in preparing and filing federal income tax forms to ensure that a

1-13     participant who is eligible to receive the tax credit obtains the

1-14     tax credit.

1-15           (b)  A workforce development center shall work in conjunction

1-16     with the Internal Revenue Service to make the center a volunteer

1-17     income tax assistance site during the two months preceding the date

1-18     federal income taxes are due.

1-19           (c)  An employer who hires a welfare recipient under a wage

1-20     supplementation program shall provide information on the federal

1-21     earned income tax credit to that employee and assist the employee

1-22     in preparing and filing federal income tax forms to ensure the

1-23     employee receives the tax credit if the employee is eligible to

1-24     receive the tax credit.

 2-1           (d)  In this section:

 2-2                 (1)  "Welfare recipient" means a person who receives

 2-3     financial assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, or

 2-4     food stamps under the food stamp program administered under Chapter

 2-5     33, Human  Resources Code.

 2-6                 (2)  "Work supplementation program" means a program

 2-7     under which the state reserves all or part of the amounts that

 2-8     would be payable as benefits to welfare recipients and uses those

 2-9     amounts to provide and subsidize jobs for the recipients.

2-10           SECTION 2.  Subchapter D, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is amended

2-11     by adding Section 301.067 to read as follows:

2-12           Sec. 301.067.  TAX ASSISTANCE; INFORMATION ON EARNED INCOME

2-13     TAX CREDIT.  (a)  The commission shall work in conjunction with the

2-14     Internal Revenue Service to make certain offices of the commission

2-15     volunteer income tax assistance sites during the two months

2-16     preceding the date federal income taxes are due.

2-17           (b)  In conjunction with the comptroller's office, the

2-18     commission shall use existing resources to distribute information

2-19     and educational materials on the federal earned income tax credit

2-20     provided by the comptroller under Section 403.024, Government Code,

2-21     as added by Chapter 655, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular

2-22     Session, 1995, to local workforce development boards and  workforce

2-23     development centers for use in providing federal income tax

2-24     assistance to persons who participate in workforce development

2-25     programs.

2-26           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 3-4     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 3-5     passage, and it is so enacted.