Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Opportunity Kindling New Options for Career and Knowledge Seekers Act” or the “Opportunity KNOCKS Act”.
Opportunity Kindling New Options for Career and Knowledge Seekers Act
A BILL
To ensure that individuals who are in an authorized job training program or completing work for a degree or certificate remain eligible for regular unemployment compensation.
Sec. 2 Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to allow people to seek the training needed in order to find a full time job that allows them to go off of unemployment compensation.
Sec. 3 Approved training
In general— Section 3304 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 3304) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
“(g) Approved training
“(1) In general—For purposes of subsection (a)(8)—
“(A) the term training includes any of the educational or job training programs described in paragraph (2), and
“(B) such programs shall be treated as approved by the State agency.
“(2) Educational or job training programs—The programs described in this paragraph are—
“(A) any program on the State's eligible training provider list developed under section 122 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998; or
“(B) for purposes of an individual who has been identified as likely to exhaust regular compensation, any coursework necessary to attain a recognized postsecondary credential.
“(3) Recognized postsecondary credential—For purposes of this subsection, the term “recognized postsecondary credential” means a credential consisting of an industry-recognized certificate, a certificate of completion of an apprenticeship, or an associate or baccalaureate degree.”
Extended compensation— Section 202(a) of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended by inserting at the end the following new paragraph:
“(8) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2), a State agency may elect to approve programs described in subsection (g)(2) of section 3304 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for purposes of training included under subsection (a)(8) of such section.”
Emergency unemployment compensation— Section 4001(d)(2) of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended—
in subparagraph (A), by striking “and” at the end; and
by inserting at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(C) that a State agency may elect to approve programs described in subsection (g)(2) of section 3304 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for purposes of training included under subsection (a)(8) of such section; and”
Effective date— The amendments made by this section shall take effect 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Sec. 4 Notification to unemployed individuals
In general— To the extent feasible and practicable, the State agency shall provide that applications for regular compensation include information regarding the availability of such compensation during periods in which an individual is engaged in training that has been approved by the State agency, as described in section 3304(a)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 3304(a)(8)).
Definitions— For purposes of this section, the terms regular compensation and State agency have the same meanings as in section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970.