07/09/2024

Ways & Means Committee Approval is Official for H.R. 8915

This is the Education & Workforce Freedom Act

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 8915, the Education and Workforce Freedom Act, by a vote of 23-13. H.R. 8915 has now been reported to the House floor, for consideration at a time yet to be determined.

As a quick refresher, Section 3 of H.R. 8915 encompasses a revised version the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act (H.R. 1477/S. 722), which would permit beneficiaries of 529 savings accounts to use the funds in those accounts to cover costs associated with obtaining and maintaining post-secondary credentials, including professional certifications and occupational licenses.

There are two primary differences between H.R. 1477 (the American Society of Association Executives' original House bill) and Section 3 of H.R. 8915. First, H.R. 8915 has language that expressly covers programs connected with obtaining a postsecondary credential, including those required to obtain a state or federal license. This change would effectively cover training programs for pilots and airplane mechanics required to obtain Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification for those professions—it opens up a whole new group of supporters for our bill who had previously sponsored different legislation (H.R. 1818) that would have expanded 529s specifically for the purpose of covering these aviation training programs.

Second, H.R. 8915 includes more examples of qualified recognized post-secondary credentials and credential programs, such as accreditation by the National Commission of Certifying Agencies, the American National Standards Institute or the Institute for Credentialing Excellence; inclusion in the Department of Defense’s “Credentialing Opportunities Online” database; inclusion in the database of training programs maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs; or meeting other criteria established by the IRS in consultation with the Department of Labor (a catch-all category that should capture reputable certification programs that don’t fall in the categories listed in the above examples).

As such, ASAE said it believes the post-secondary credential provisions in H.R. 8915 represent an improvement to the introduced version of the Freedom to Invest to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act; the organization is thrilled to see them advance.

Of course, with Congress, nothing is ever straightforward. As mentioned in a previous note by ASAE's Jeff Evans, who spoke at the recent OSAP annual conference on this very bill, H.R. 8915 also contains provisions in other sections of the bill that would expand 529 savings plans to cover costs related to private school education and homeschooling, without a cap. These provisions are generally opposed by Democrats, which led to a party-line vote, even though one Democratic Ways and Means member (Rep. John Larson from Connecticut) has co-sponsored ASAE's bill and another committee Democrat, Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), spoke out in favor of expanding 529 plans to cover certifications/post-secondary credentials and explicitly praised the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act during the hearing.

Please select this link to learn more.