[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1071 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1071

  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for 
 employers for certain costs incurred to combat violence against women.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 13, 1997

  Mrs. Lowey introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for 
 employers for certain costs incurred to combat violence against women.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Workplace Violence Prevention Tax 
Credit Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) there is an increasing awareness by the business 
        community and the country as a whole regarding the serious 
        problem of workplace violence against women;
            (2) there is an increased recognition that workplace 
        violence against women has severe implications for the health, 
        safety, and economic well-being of women, as well as the 
        efficiency and profitability of American companies;
            (3) recent crime statistics clearly show the serious threat 
        of workplace violence against women;
            (4) homicide is the leading cause of death for women on the 
        job, and husbands, boyfriends, and ex-partners commit 15 
        percent of all workplace homicides against women;
            (5) an estimated 8 percent of all rapes occur while victims 
        are working or on duty, at an average annual number of 13,000 
        workplace rapes each year;
            (6) husbands and boyfriends commit 13,000 acts of violence 
        against women in the workplace every year;
            (7) women are more likely than men to be attacked at work 
        by someone known to them, and 5 percent of women victimized at 
        work are attacked by a husband, boyfriend, or ex-partner;
            (8) surveys of business executives and corporate security 
        directors also underscore the heavy toll that workplace 
        violence takes on American women and American businesses;
            (9) 49 percent of senior executives recently surveyed said 
        domestic violence has a harmful effect on their company's 
        productivity, 47 percent said spousal abuse negatively impacts 
        attendance, and 44 percent said domestic violence increases 
        health care costs;
            (10) 94 percent of corporate security and safety directors 
        at companies nationwide rank domestic violence as a high-risk 
        security problem;
            (11) the public and private sectors--including the legal, 
        medical, social services, business, and religious communities--
        must come together to combat violence against women in the 
        workplace; and
            (12) the Congress, too, must play a role in encouraging 
        companies to promulgate workplace education and safety programs 
        to combat violence against women.

SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR COSTS TO EMPLOYERS OF IMPLEMENTING WORKPLACE SAFETY 
              PROGRAMS TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.

    (a) In General.--Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section:

``SEC. 45D. WORKPLACE SAFETY PROGRAM CREDIT.

    ``(a) In General.--For purposes of section 38, the workplace safety 
program credit determined under this section for the taxable year is, 
for any employer, an amount equal to 40 percent of the violence against 
women safety and education costs paid or incurred by such employer 
during the taxable year.
    ``(b) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) Violence against women safety and education cost.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `violence against women 
                safety and education cost' means any cost certified by 
                the Attorney General to the Secretary as being for the 
                purpose of--
                            ``(i) ensuring the safety of employees from 
                        violent crimes against women,
                            ``(ii) providing counseling to employees 
                        with respect to violent crimes against women,
                            ``(iii) providing legal or medical services 
                        to employees subjected to, or at risk from, 
                        violent crimes against women,
                            ``(iv) educating employees about the issue 
                        of violent crimes against women, or
                            ``(v) implementing human resource or 
                        personnel policies initiated to protect 
                        employees from violent crimes against women.
                    ``(B) Types of costs.--Such term includes costs 
                certified by the Attorney General to the Secretary as 
                being for the purpose of--
                            ``(i) the hiring of new security personnel 
                        in order to address violent crimes against 
                        women,
                            ``(ii) the creation of buddy systems or 
                        escort systems for walking employees to parking 
                        lots, parked cars, subway stations, or bus 
                        stops, in order to address violent crimes 
                        against women,
                            ``(iii) the purchase or installation of new 
                        security equipment, including surveillance 
                        equipment, lighting fixtures, cardkey access 
                        systems, and identification systems, in order 
                        to address violent crimes against women,
                            ``(iv) the establishment of a hotline or a 
                        counseling service about violent crimes against 
                        women, for the use of individual employees,
                            ``(v) the retention of an attorney to 
                        provide legal services to employees seeking 
                        restraining orders or other legal recourse from 
                        violent crimes against women,
                            ``(vi) the establishment of medical 
                        services addressing the medical needs of 
                        employees who are victims of violent crimes 
                        against women,
                            ``(vii) the retention of a financial expert 
                        or an accountant to provide financial 
                        counseling to employees seeking to escape from 
                        violent crimes against women,
                            ``(viii) the establishment of an education 
                        program for employees, consisting of seminars 
                        or training sessions about violent crimes 
                        against women,
                            ``(ix) studies of the cost, impact, or 
                        extent of violent crimes against women at the 
                        employer's place of business, if such studies 
                        are made available to the public and protect 
                        the identity of employees included in the 
                        study,
                            ``(x) the publication of a regularly 
                        disseminated newsletter or other regularly 
                        disseminated educational materials about 
                        violent crimes against women,
                            ``(xi) the implementation of leave policies 
                        for the purpose of allowing victims of violent 
                        crimes against women to pursue legal redress 
                        against assailants, including leave from work 
                        to attend meetings with attorneys, to give 
                        evidentiary statements or depositions, and to 
                        attend hearings or trials in court,
                            ``(xii) the implementation of flexible work 
                        policies for the purpose of allowing employees 
                        who are victims of violent crimes against 
                        women, or employees at risk with respect to 
                        such crimes, to avoid assailants, or
                            ``(xiii) the implementation of transfer 
                        policies for the purpose of allowing employees 
                        subjected to violent crimes against women to 
                        change office locations within the company in 
                        order to avoid assailants, including payment of 
                        costs for the transfer and relocation of an 
                        employee to another city, county, State, or 
                        country for the purpose of maintaining the 
                        employee's safety from violent crimes against 
                        women.
                    ``(C) Notification of possible tax consequences.--
                In no event shall any cost for goods or services which 
                may be included in the income of any employee receiving 
                or benefiting from such goods or services be treated as 
                a violence against women safety and education cost 
                unless the employer notifies the employee in writing of 
                the possibility of such inclusion.
            ``(2) Violent crimes against women.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `violent crimes against 
                women' includes sexual assault and domestic violence.
                    ``(B) Domestic violence.--The term `domestic 
                violence' includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of 
                violence committed by--
                            ``(i) a current or former spouse of the 
                        victim,
                            ``(ii) a person with whom the victim shares 
                        a child in common,
                            ``(iii) a person who is cohabitating with 
                        or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse,
                            ``(iv) a person similarly situated to a 
                        spouse of the victim under the domestic 
                        violence or family laws of the jurisdiction in 
                        which the employee resides or the employer is 
                        located, or
                            ``(v) any other adult person against a 
                        victim who is protected from the person's acts 
                        under the domestic or family violence laws of 
                        the jurisdiction in which the employee resides 
                        or the employer is located.
            ``(3) Employee and employer.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `employee' includes any 
                employee of the employer or of any related person, and 
                any spouse or dependent of such an employee.
                    ``(B) Partners and partnerships.--The term 
                `employee' includes a partner and the term `employer' 
                includes a partnership.
                    ``(C) Related persons.--Persons shall be treated as 
                related to each other if such persons are treated as a 
                single employer under subsection (a) or (b) of section 
                52.
    ``(c) Coordination With Other Provisions.--No credit or deduction 
shall be allowed under any other provision of this title for any amount 
for which a credit is allowed under this section.''
    (b) Carryforward, Carryback, and Deduction for Unused Credits.--
            (1) Carryforward and carryback.--Subsection (b) of section 
        38 of such Code (relating to general business credit) is 
        amended by striking ``plus'' at the end of paragraph (11), by 
        striking the period at the end of paragraph (12) and inserting 
        ``, plus'', and by adding at the end the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(13) the workplace safety program credit determined under 
        section 45D.''
            (2) Transitional rule for carrybacks.--Subsection (d) of 
        section 39 of such Code (relating to transitional rules) is 
        amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(8) No carryback of section 45d credit before effective 
        date.--No portion of the unused business credit for any taxable 
        year which is attributable to the workplace safety program 
        credit determined under section 45D may be carried back to a 
        taxable year beginning on or before the date of the enactment 
        of section 45D.''
            (3) Deduction for unused credits.--Subsection (c) of 
        section 196 of such Code (relating to deduction for certain 
        unused business credits) is amended by striking ``and'' at the 
        end of paragraph (6), by striking the period at the end of 
        paragraph (7) and inserting ``, and'', and by adding at the end 
        the following new paragraph:
            ``(8) the workplace safety program credit determined under 
        section 45D.''
    (c) Credit Not a Defense in Legal Actions.--The allowance of a 
credit under section 45D of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added 
by this Act) shall not absolve employers of their responsibilities 
under any other law and shall not be construed as a defense to any 
legal action (other than legal action by the Secretary of the Treasury 
under such Code).
    (d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart D of 
part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by adding 
at the end the following new item:

                              ``Sec. 45D. Workplace safety program 
                                        credit.''
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
                                 <all>