[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3629 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3629

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a credit 
 against income tax for wages paid to employees while participating in 
    mentoring programs for elementary and secondary school students.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 24, 2002

Mr. Keller (for himself, Mr. Barr of Georgia, Mr. Putnam, Mr. Osborne, 
  Mr. Crenshaw, Mr. Fattah, and Mr. Ehrlich) 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 allow employers a credit 
 against income tax for wages paid to employees while participating in 
    mentoring programs for elementary and secondary school students.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; ETC.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Making Education, 
Nurturing, and Teaching Our Responsibility Act'' or the ``MENTOR Act''.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to make assistance 
available to promote quality mentoring programs for children with 
greatest need--
            (1) to assist such children by providing support and 
        guidance from a caring adult;
            (2) to improve the academic performance of such children;
            (3) to improve interpersonal relationships between such 
        children and their peers, teachers, other adults, and family 
        members;
            (4) to reduce the dropout rate of such children;
            (5) to improve school attendance and to promote positive 
        attitudes about school; and
            (6) to reduce juvenile delinquency and involvement in gangs 
        by such children.
That these outcomes are achievable has been demonstrated through 
research in quality mentoring programs.

SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR WAGES PAID TO EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN STUDENT 
              MENTORING PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to business related 
credits) is amended by inserting after section 45F the following new 
section:

``SEC. 45G. WAGES PAID TO EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN STUDENT MENTORING 
              PROGRAMS.

    ``(a) In General.--For purposes of section 38, the student 
mentoring credit determined under this section is an amount equal to 
the wages paid by the taxpayer to any employee of the taxpayer for the 
period that such employee is mentoring a student in grades K-12 through 
a quality mentoring program.
    ``(b) Limitation on Amount of Credit.--
            ``(1) Maximum hourly rate.--The amount of wages taken into 
        account under subsection (a) for each hour of mentoring shall 
        not exceed $20.
            ``(2) Maximum credit per employee.--The credit determined 
        under subsection (a) for any taxable year with respect to an 
        employee shall not exceed $1,040.
    ``(c) Mentoring Program.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) In general.--The term `mentoring program' means a 
        program--
                    ``(A) sponsored by a local educational agency or a 
                community-based organization described in section 
                501(c)(3) and exempt from tax under section 501(a), and
                    ``(B) under which a mentor normally meets with a 
                student regularly for at least 1 hour a week for 
                mentoring purposes.
            ``(2) Mentor.--The term `mentor' means an individual who 
        works with a child to provide a positive role model for the 
        child, to establish a supportive relationship with the child, 
        and to provide the child with academic assistance and exposure 
        to new experiences and examples of opportunity that enhance the 
        ability of the child to become a responsible adult.
            ``(3) Mentoring purposes.--The term `mentoring purposes' 
        means--
                    ``(A) to provide support in achieving success in 
                school;
                    ``(B) to provide support and guidance from a caring 
                adult;
                    ``(C) to improve the academic performance of the 
                student;
                    ``(D) to improve interpersonal relationships 
                between the student and the student's peers, teachers, 
                other adults, and family members;
                    ``(E) to reduce the dropout rate;
                    ``(F) to improve school attendance and to promote 
                positive attitudes about school; and
                    ``(G) to reduce juvenile delinquency and 
                involvement in gangs.''
    (c) Credit Made Part of General Business Credit.--Subsection (b) of 
section 38 of such Code (relating to current year business credit) is 
amended by striking ``plus'' at the end of paragraph (14), by striking 
the period at the end of paragraph (15) and inserting ``, plus'', and 
by adding at the end thereof the following new paragraph:
            ``(16) the student mentoring credit determined under 
        section 45G(a).''.
    (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 
inserting after the item relating to section 45F the following new 
item:

                              ``Sec. 45G. Wages paid to employees 
                                        participating in student 
                                        mentoring programs.''.
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to amounts paid or incurred after December 31, 2001, in taxable 
years ending after such date.
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