hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Employee Misclassification Prevention Act

Bill: 110-s-3648
Sponsor: Sen. Kennedy, Edward M. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2008-09-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Business records
Commerce
Contractors
Damages
Electronic government information
Employee rights
Employers' liability
Fines (Penalties)
Fraud
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Hours of labor
Income tax
Law
Minimum wages
Science, Technology, Communications
State laws
Tax evasion
Tax returns
Taxation
Unemployment insurance

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: 
Employee Misclassification Prevention Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require every employer to: (1) keep records of non-employees (contractors) who perform labor or services (except substitute work) for remuneration; and (2) provide certain notice to each employee and non-employee, including their classification as an employee or non-employee and information concerning their rights under the law. 
 
Makes it unlawful for any person to fail to accurately classify an employee or non-employee.
 
Doubles the amount of liquidated damages for maximum hours, minimum wage, and notice of classification violations by an employer. Subjects a person who repeatedly or willfully violates such notice requirements to a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each violation.
 
Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish a web page on the Department of Labor website that summarizes the rights of employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal laws.
 
Requires, as a condition for a federal grant for the administration of state unemployment compensation, for the state's unemployment compensation law to include a provision for: (1) auditing programs that identify employers that have not registered under the state law or that are paying unreported compensation where the effect is to exclude employees from unemployment compensation coverage; and (2) establishing administrative penalties for misclassifying employees or paying unreported unemployment compensation to employees. 
 
Requires any office, administration, or division of the Department of Labor to report any misclassification of an employee by an employer that it discovers to the Department's Employment Standards Administration (ESA). Authorizes the ESA to report such information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3649
Sponsor: Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Introduced: 2008-09-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Arts, Culture, Religion
Copyright
Intellectual property
Internet
Science, Technology, Communications
Sound recording and reproducing
Web sites

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: 
Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 - Allows a receiving agent (designated by the Librarian of Congress to collect royalties that ultimately are disbursed to sound recording copyright owners and performers) to enter into agreements with webcasters that establish royalty terms for the performance of sound recordings over the Internet. Provides that such agreements, which may be effective for a period of up to 11 years following January 1, 2005, are to be binding on all copyright owners of sound recordings and other persons entitled to payment, in lieu of any determination of compulsory license rates by the Copyright Royalty Judges.

Terminates the authority to negotiate settlement agreements under this Act on February 15, 2009.

Declares that nothing in this Act (or any agreement entered into under this Act) shall be taken into account by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in its review of the May 1, 2007, determination of royalty rates by the Copyright Royalty Judges.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Salmon Lake Land Selection Resolution Act

Bill: 110-s-3650
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2008-09-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Alaska
Indian claims
Indian lands
Indigenous peoples
Lakes
Land transfers
Minorities
Water Resources Development

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: 
Salmon Lake Land Selection Resolution Act - Ratifies the Salmon Lake Area Land Ownership and Consolidation Agreement, which was executed by the Department of the Interior, the state of Alaska, and the Bering Straits Native Corporation on July 18, 2007. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to carry out all actions permitted or required under the Agreement.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization Act

Bill: 110-s-3651
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2008-09-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Alaska
Arts, Culture, Religion
Cultural property
Easements
Economics and Public Finance
Housing and Community Development
Indian claims
Indian economic development
Indian lands
Indigenous peoples
Land transfers
Law
Minorities
National parks
Social life and customs

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: 
Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization Act - Authorizes Sealaska Corporation, the Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska, to select and receive conveyance of its remaining land entitlement under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) from specified: (1) economic development land; (2) sites with sacred, cultural, traditional, or historical significance (with certain restrictions on sites located within a unit of the National Park System); and (3) Alaska Native futures sites with traditional and recreational use value.

Authorizes the Director of the National Park Service to enter into a cooperative management agreement with Sealaska, other village corporations and urban corporations, and federally recognized Indian tribes with cultural and historical ties to Glacier Bay National Park to recognize and perpetuate values associated with the Tlingit homeland and culture, wilderness, and ecological preservation. 

Requires the Secretary of the Interior to complete the conveyance of lands to Sealaska within one year of selection.

Prohibits Sealaska from selecting or receiving any conveyance of lands from within any conservation system unit, federally designated wilderness area, or certain land use designation areas.

Sets forth provisions relating to: (1) covenants and conditions on land conveyances to Sealaska, including covenants prohibiting commercial timber harvesting or mineral development; (2) authorized uses for the sacred, cultural, traditional, and historic sites; and (3) nonexclusive access and use rights that are required to be included in conveyances to Sealaska of native enterprise sites.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (text of measure as introduced: CR S10070-10073)
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S10069-10070, S10074)
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Financial Market Investigation, Oversight, and Reform Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3652
Sponsor: Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA]
Introduced: 2008-09-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Bank fraud
Business ethics
Commerce
Commodity exchanges
Conflict of interests
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional joint committees
Congressional reorganization
Crime and Law Enforcement
Derivative securities
Economic conditions
Economics and Public Finance
Executive reorganization
Federal advisory bodies
Financial services
Fines (Penalties)
Fraud
Futures trading
Government Operations and Politics
Government ethics
Governmental investigations
Housing and Community Development
Inspectors general
Insurance companies
Law
Mortgage banks
Mortgages
Secondary mortgage market
Securities regulation
Stock exchanges

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: 
Financial Market Investigation, Oversight, and Reform Act of 2008 - Establishes the Commission on Financial Regulatory Reform to review the nation's existing financial regulatory structure and its contribution to the stability or instability of financial markets.
 
Requires the Commission to review: (1) bank holding companies, financial holding companies, commercial banks, investment banks, thrifts, credit unions, and industrial loan companies; (2) payment and settlement systems; (3) hedge funds, private equity funds, and markets for alternative investments; (4) special purpose vehicles and off-balance sheet financing for financial companies; (5) securitization of mortgages and other assets; (6) exchange-based, electronic, and over-the-counter markets for financial derivative products; (7) the mortgage finance industry, including mortgage brokers and mortgage lending institutions; (8) equity markets, including short-selling practices, and commodity futures markets; and (8) the insurance industry and its role in the financial markets.

Requires the Commission to report to the President and Congress on its findings and recommendations for corrective measures.
 
Establishes a multidisciplinary Joint Select Committee on Financial Market Oversight Reform and Investigations to investigate the causes of the financial turmoil and propose corrective actions to the appropriate committees of jurisdiction. 
 
Establishes the Office of the Inspector General for Financial Markets Oversight to: (1) conduct, supervise, and coordinate investigations into whether ethics violations or conflicts of interest between regulators and their regulated entities or markets may have affected agency decision-making between January 2002 and August 2008; and (2) use the forum of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency to share findings and best practices with regards to ethics, conflicts of interest, oversight, and accountability.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Dairy COOL Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3653
Sponsor: Sen. Clinton, Hillary Rodham [D-NY]
Introduced: 2008-09-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Agriculture in foreign trade
Commerce
Consumer education
Dairy products
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Imports
Labeling
Milk

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: 
Dairy COOL Act of 2008 - Amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to include dairy products as a covered commodity. Defines &quot;dairy product&quot; as: (1) fluid milk; (2) cheese, including cottage cheese and cream cheese; (3) yogurt; (4) ice cream; (5) butter; and (6) any other dairy product.
 
Requires the retailer of a covered commodity that is a dairy product to designate such commodity's country of origin as each country in which: (1) one or more of the commodity's components or ingredients were produced, originated, or sourced; and (2) the commodity was processed.
 
Provides that with respect to a covered commodity that is a dairy product produced exclusively in the United States, retailer designation of the U.S. state, region, or locality of the commodity's production shall be sufficient to identify the United States as the country of origin.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2008-09-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Affordable Tutoring of Our Children Act

Bill: 110-s-3655
Sponsor: Sen. Snowe, Olympia J. [R-ME]
Introduced: 2008-09-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Academic performance
Day care
Education
Elementary and secondary education
Employee benefit plans
Families
Income tax
Labor and Employment
Tax exclusion
Teaching

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: 
Affordable Tutoring of Our Children Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the tax exclusion for employer-provided dependent care assistance to allow employees an additional exclusion for payments of supplemental instructional services assistance to their dependents between the ages of 5 and 19 who have not obtained a high school diploma or been awarded a general education degree. Defines &quot;supplemental instructional services assistance&quot; to include instructional or other academic enrichment services that are: (1) in addition to instruction provided during the school day; (2) specifically designed to increase academic achievement; (3) in the core academic studies of English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, social studies, and geography; and (4) provided by a state certified instructor or accredited organization.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S10177-10178)
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S10177)
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Introduced in Senate
Preserving Access to Healthcare (PATH) Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3656
Sponsor: Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY]
Introduced: 2008-09-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Ambulatory care
Appropriations
California
Clinics
Department of Health and Human Services
Economics and Public Finance
Family planning and birth control
Federal aid to education
Government Operations and Politics
Higher education
Hospital care
Housing and Community Development
Identification devices
Law
Medicaid
Medical education
Medical personnel
Medicare
Rural health
Social Welfare
State laws
Terminal care

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: 
Preserving Access to Healthcare (PATH) Act of 2008 - Declares that between October 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, specified regulations regarding the formula for determining the federal rate for inpatient hospital capital-related costs under the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) shall apply without the mandatory phase out of the indirect medical education adjustment factor.
 
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to delay for six months following enactment of this Act any implementation of the Medicaid outpatient hospital services regulation proposed on September 28, 2007.
 
Prohibits the Secretary from phasing out or eliminating the Medicare hospice wage index budget neutrality adjustment factor before April 1, 2009. 
 
Directs the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and upon the request of the state of California, to extend approval, and full federal financial participation, of the state's Medicaid family planning demonstration project until June 30, 2009, under the eligibility requirements and processes that were in place before the project's first extension period.
 
Directs the Secretary to delay until April 1, 2009, implementation of a proposed rule published on June 27, 2008 (or any similar rule), relating to: (1) decertification of rural health clinics under the Medicare program that are no longer in nonurbanized areas; and (2) changes in the Medicare payment methodology for rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers.
 
Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act, with regard to mechanized claims processing and information retrieval systems, to require states to incorporate compatible methodologies of the National Correct Coding Initiative for claims filed after October 1, 2009. Directs the Secretary to identify such methodologies.
 
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to increase funding for the Medicare Improvement Fund.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Introduced in Senate
Military Child Care Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3657
Sponsor: Sen. Baucus, Max [D-MT]
Introduced: 2008-09-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Caregivers
Congress
Congress and military policy
Congressional reporting requirements
Day care
Families
Military dependents
Military operations
Respite care
War casualties

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: 
Military Child Care Act of 2008 - Directs the Secretary of Defense to issue guidance to ensure access to, and affordability of, respite care with respect to children under the age of 13 for: (1) spouses of members of the Armed Forces deployed to a combat zone, and for caregivers with respect to such members; and (2) survivors of members who are killed during such deployment.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to require the accreditation of English language training programs, and for other purposes.

Bill: 110-s-3658
Sponsor: Sen. Carper, Thomas R. [D-DE]
Introduced: 2008-09-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Accreditation (Education)
Admission of nonimmigrants
Aliens
Education
Elementary and secondary education
English language
Government Operations and Politics
Higher education
Visas

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: 
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require that a nonimmigrant foreign student seeking to enter the United States to study at a language training program enroll at a language program that is accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the Secretary of Education.
 
Provides for a specified three-year exception to such requirement. 

action_date: 2008-09-30
text: 

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

 
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require that an alien seeking to enter the United States as a nonimmigrant foreign student (F visa) to study at a language training program enroll at a program that is accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the Secretary of Education.
 
Authorizes, during the three-year period after enactment of this Act, the granting of an F visa to an alien seeking to enter the United States to pursue a course of study at a language training program which has not been accredited or denied accreditation by such an accrediting entity but that has been certified by the Secretary of Homeland Security. Prohibits the granting of such visa if the language training program's sponsoring institution does not: (1) apply for program accreditation to an accrediting agency recognized by the Secretary of Education within one year after the date of the enactment of this Act; and (2) comply with the applicable accrediting requirements.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-10-02
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2008-10-02
text: Received in the House.
action_date: 2008-10-01
text: Message on Senate action sent to the House.
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S10181-10182; text as passed Senate: CR S10181-10182)
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Passed/agreed to in Senate: Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent.(consideration: CR S10181-10182; text as passed Senate: CR S10181-10182)
action_date: 2008-09-30
text: Introduced in Senate
Corporate Transparency Act of 2007

Bill: 110-s-3659
Sponsor: Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY]
Introduced: 2008-10-01 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Affiliated corporations
Business records
Commerce
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Corporations
Finance and Financial Sector
Financial statements
Fines (Penalties)
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Governmental investigations
Income tax
Law
Securities regulation
Tax penalties
Tax returns

Summary:
action_date: 2008-10-01
text: 
Corporate Transparency Act of 2007 [
sic
] - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) certain tax return information of public entities whose securities are required to be registered under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 relating to the reconciliation of financial income statements with income tax returns (i.e., Schedule M-3); and (2) post on the Internet certain identifying and financial information for such entities. Imposes penalties on entities that fail to file required information. 

Requires the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the reconciliation of differences between financial income statements of public entities with income tax returns. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-10-01
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2008-10-01
text: Introduced in Senate
Residential Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act

Bill: 110-s-3660
Sponsor: Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
Introduced: 2008-10-01 in the Senate
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Carbon monoxide
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Consumer education
Economics and Public Finance
Electric power production
Energy
Government Operations and Politics
Grants-in-aid
Health
Health warnings
Independent regulatory commissions
Labeling
Law
Product safety
Standards
State laws

Summary:
action_date: 2008-10-01
text: 
Residential Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act - Amends the Consumer Product Safety Act to require the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to publish the American National Standard for Single and Multiple Station Carbon Monoxide Alarms (American National Standard ANSI/UL 2034-2005) as a mandatory consumer product safety standard. Makes it unlawful for any manufacturer or distributor to import into or distribute any new assembled or unassembled residential carbon monoxide detector unless it complies with the standard.
 
 Requires the CPSC to promulgate consumer product safety rules requiring, at a minimum, that every portable generator sold to the public for purposes other than resale shall be equipped with an interlock safety device that: (1) detects the level of carbon monoxide in the areas surrounding such portable generator; and (2) automatically turns off the portable generator before the level of carbon monoxide reaches a level that would cause serious bodily injury or death to people.
 
Requires the CPSC to establish a grant program to provide assistance to states to carry out a carbon monoxide alarm program.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-10-01
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2008-10-01
text: Introduced in Senate