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Committee advances bills to implement federal scholarship contributions and cap transfer to Hope fund
Summary
Leader Lambert told the committee HB 2106/2187 would let Tennessee take advantage of a federal tax code change allowing qualified contributions to scholarship-granting organizations for public and private K–12 expenses; sponsors said estimates show as much as $120 million annually could flow to local schools once implemented.
Leader Lambert (speaker 4) described the bills as implementing a federal Internal Revenue Code change (26 USC subsection 25f) that allows taxpayers to allocate a portion of federal tax liability to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs). He said the bill would treat public and private schools equally for purposes of qualified contributions and that, "this could mean as much as $120,000,000 a year once fully implemented" to local schools (Leader Lambert).
Members asked practical questions about how funds are directed and whether SGOs must route funds through LEAs or to specific schools; Leader Lambert answered that contributions go to SGOs and donors can designate recipients within limits, and that the fiscal note indicated the measure would be "not significant" to state finances while creating local opportunities. The committee voted to move the bills to the next referenced committees (votes recorded at 18–0 on the motions shown in committee).
