College savings plan legislation likely to be sidelined by health care push

A bill that would continue to allow investors in Section 529 college savings plans to make two changes each year to their investment allocations appears unlikely to pass the House anytime soon, industry and Washington insiders say.
“Everybody is so focused on health care legislation that everything else has to wait,” said Jackie Williams, director of the College Saving Initiative for the New America Foundation.
The Savings Enhancement for Education in College Act of 2009, which was co-sponsored by Reps. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Patrick Tiberi, R-Ohio, is being considered by the House Ways and Means Committee.
In addition to making permanent a temporary rule, passed this year, that allows two annual investment changes to 529 plans instead of just one, the bill would also provide a savings tax credit for college tuition to low-income families and allow 529 distributions to be used for purchasing computers for schoolwork.
Mr. Tiberi is hopeful that the bill will come before a vote in the committee when Congress returns for its fall session next week, said spokeswoman Breann Gonzalez.
She noted, however, that such a vote would be at the discretion of committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D.-N.Y., who is a key administration point person on health care reform.
“All attention is on health care now and will be for the foreseeable future,” said Sandra Salstrom, a spokeswoman for Mr. Pomeroy. “It is not likely there will be any movement on the bill in the next month.”
The bill is unlikely to come up for a vote before the end of the year, said Peter Mazareas, vice chairman of the College Savings Foundation and chief executive of Strategic Advancement Group Inc.
“It has broad bipartisan support, but the issue is what the appropriate vehicle is,” he said. “They have to find a larger bill to which [it] can be attached as an amendment, but what that would be is not clear yet.”