H. B. 2215
(By Delegates Frederick, Stalnaker,
Walters, Rowan and Cann)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §11-13W-1 and
§11-13W-2; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new
section, designated §18B-10-7c, all relating generally to
incentives for the GED.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §11-13W-1 and
§11-13W-2; and that said code be amended by adding thereto a new
section, designated §18B-10-7c, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 11. TAXATION.
ARTICLE 13W. GENERAL EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE INCENTIVE
TAX CREDIT.
§11-13W-1. Credit allowed; amount and duration of credit;
recapture of credit and effective date.
(a) There shall be allowed to eligible taxpayers a credit
against the taxes imposed in articles twenty-one, twenty-three and
twenty-four of this chapter. For the purposes of this article,
"eligible taxpayer" means a person, firm, partnership, corporation
or other entity who enters a learning contract with an employee as
required for the tuition discount provided in section seven-c,
article ten, chapter eighteen-b of this code and allows an employee
a minimum of five hours per week paid release time to prepare for
the general education development certificate (GED). The credit
shall be in an amount equal to half of the employee's hourly salary
for release time, up to a maximum of one thousand two hundred fifty
dollars. In the event an eligible taxpayer enters into a learning
contract and allows more than one employee a minimum of five hours
per week paid release time to prepare for the GED, the credit
allowed shall be multiplied by the number of those employees.
(b) The credit set forth in this article shall apply to
personal income tax liabilities, corporation net income tax
liabilities and business franchise tax liabilities arising after
the thirty-first day of December, two thousand six.
§11-13W-2. Application of credit; limitation of credit; tax
commissioner to promulgate forms and legislative
rule; notice of credit.
(a) The credit allowed in this article shall be first applied
to a taxpayer's business franchise tax liability, and then to either the taxpayer's personal income tax liability or corporation
net income tax liability, as the case may be.
(b) The credit allowed in this article shall not be
refundable, not carried forward nor backward to other tax years.
© The State Tax Commissioner shall promulgate legislative
rules pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a of this code regarding the
applicability, method of claiming of the credit, recapture of the
credit and documentation necessary to claim the credit herein
allowed.
(d) The State Tax Commissioner shall develop a written notice
setting forth the availability of this credit and shall transmit
this notice to employers in the state.
CHAPTER 18B. HIGHER EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 10. FEES AND OTHER MONEY COLLECTED AT INSTITUTIONS OF
HIGHER EDUCATION.
§18B-10-7c. Tuition waivers for full-time employees who have
earned a general education development
certificate.
(a) The governing boards shall make provision for institutions
under their respective jurisdictions to award a tuition discount
for undergraduate courses at state institutions of higher education
for eligible students, beginning with incoming freshmen in the
fall, two thousand seven, semester or term. For purposes of this
section an eligible student is a person who: (1) Has been out of secondary school for at least three years; (2) has entered into a
learning contract with an adult education program and their
employer and has completed such learning contract; and (3) has
earned a general education development certificate (GED) within the
preceding one-year period.
(b) The discount provided in this section shall be in the
amount of two hundred fifty dollars per semester for a maximum of
four semesters.
© Any award under this section is in addition to the number of
fee waivers permitted in sections five and six of this article for
undergraduate, graduate and professional schools.
(d) No student who is enrolled in an institution of higher
education as of the effective date of this section is eligible for
a tuition discount under the provisions of this section.
(e) Documentation of the learning contract required by this
section shall be maintained by the adult education program. The
adult education program shall submit a copy of the learning
contract within ten days of its execution to the employee, the
employer and the West Virginia Department of Education. The adult
education program shall retain the original contract for three
years following the employee's completion of the program. The
adult education program shall submit monthly attendance records to
the West Virginia Department of Education and the employer.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create incentives to encourage West Virginia workers to obtain the GED and incentives to
encourage West Virginia employers to allow their employees to
prepare for and obtain a GED.
§11-13W-1, §11-13W-2 and §18B-10-7c are new; therefore,
strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.