hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
United States Olympic Committee Paralympic Program Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3376
Sponsor: Sen. Salazar, Ken [D-CO]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Department of Veterans Affairs
Disabled
Economics and Public Finance
Executive reorganization
Government Operations and Politics
Government publicity
Grants-in-aid
Health
Iraq compilation
Olympic games
Paralysis
Physical education and training
Physical therapy
Recreation
Sports and Recreation
Veterans' benefits
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
United States Olympic Committee Paralympic Program Act of 2008 - Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make grants to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) to plan, develop, manage, and implement the Paralympic Program for disabled veterans and disabled members of the Armed Forces.

Directs the USOC to use a grant to recruit, support, encourage, schedule, facilitate, supervise, and implement paralympic instruction, participation, and competition activities, training and technical assistance, and coordination, program development, and other specified activities for veterans and members of the Armed Forces with physical disabilities.

Sets forth outreach, coordination, application, and memorandum of understanding requirements.

Establishes in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) an Office of National Veterans Sports Programs and Special Events to establish, carry out, and provide for VA sponsorship of and participation by disabled veterans in qualifying programs and events. Authorizes the Office Director to provide a monthly assistance allowance to a disabled veteran invited by the USOC to compete for, or selected for, the Paralympic Team.

Requires the Secretary to direct the Under Secretary for Health of the VA to: (1) make available recreational and physical therapists and other medical staff to facilitate veteran participation in sporting events conducted under the auspices of the USOC; (2) allow such personnel to participate in the USOC Paralympic Program without requiring the use of personal leave; and (3) support other similar activities or events.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
Small Marine Business and Fishing Guide Relief Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3377
Sponsor: Sen. Coleman, Norm [R-MN]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Commerce
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Identification devices
Labor and Employment
Law
Licenses
Marine safety
Marine transportation
Merchant seamen
Security measures
Small business
Tugboats

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
Small Marine Business and Fishing Guide Relief Act of 2008 - Waives biometric transportation security card requirements for certain small business merchant mariners. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced in Senate: CR S7916)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7915-7916)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
Safety for Our Schoolchildren Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3378
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Bus drivers
Child safety
Child sexual abuse
Crime and Law Enforcement
Criminal justice information
Drunk driving
Economics and Public Finance
Elementary and secondary education
Elementary education
Employee selection
Ex-offenders
Families
Federal aid to education
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Identification of criminals
Labor and Employment
Recruiting of employees
School buses
School personnel
School security
Secondary education
Sex offenders
Student transportation
Teacher supply and demand
Teachers
Traffic accidents and safety
Transportation and Public Works
Violence

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
Safety for Our Schoolchildren Act of 2008 - Requires states and local educational agencies (LEAs) to: (1) obtain an FBI background check on individuals prior to offering them employment as school employees; and (2) if the check identifies them as sexual predators, report their application to local law enforcement. 
 
Prohibits states or LEAs from hiring individuals as: (1) school employees if they have been convicted of a crime of violence or other felony; or (2) school bus drivers if they have been convicted of, or pled guilty to, drunk driving or a serious moving violation.
 
Withholds funds available to states for planning and administration and to LEAs as subgrants under part A of title II (Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers and Principals) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, if they violate such prohibitions or fail to take such actions.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
Services, Education, and Rehabilitation for Veterans Act

Bill: 110-s-3379
Sponsor: Sen. Kerry, John F. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Armed Forces and National Security
Drug abuse
Drug abuse treatment
Drug courts
Drug testing
Economics and Public Finance
Families
Family courts
Federal aid to law enforcement
Health
Juvenile delinquency
Law
Legal education
Mental health services
Parole
Probation
Veterans' medical care
Veterans' rehabilitation

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
Services, Education, and Rehabilitation for Veterans Act or the SERV Act - Requires the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to delegate to the Department of Justice (DOJ) the authority to administer the veteran's treatment courts program established by this Act.

Authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to states and other entities: (1) to develop, implement, or enhance veteran's treatment courts or to expand operational drug courts to serve veterans; and (2) for programs that involve continuing judicial supervision over nonviolent offenders with substance abuse or mental health problems who have served in the U.S. military. Requires such programs to include mandatory periodic testing for the use of drugs, substance abuse and mental health treatment, opportunities for diversion, probation, or supervised release, and programmatic, offender management, and aftercare services. 

Directs the National Drug Court Institute to conduct national training programs for state and local communities to improve the professional skills of drug court practitioners and provide comprehensive technical assistance to adult, juvenile, and family dependency drug courts.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill for the relief of Guy Privat Tape and Lou Nazie Raymonde Toto.

Bill: 110-s-3382
Sponsor: Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Private Legislation
Subjects: Immigration

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Provides for the relief of Guy Privat Tape and Lou Nazie Raymonde Toto.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7925-7926)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7925)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park Act

Bill: 110-s-3383
Sponsor: Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. [D-MD]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Commemorations
Economics and Public Finance
Grants-in-aid
Historic sites
History
National parks
New York State
Slavery

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park Act - Establishes in the City of Auburn, New York, the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park as a unit of the National Park System.
 
Establishes in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, Maryland, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park as a unit of the National Park System.
 
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide grant funding and enter into cooperative agreements with certain entities for the historic preservation, rehabilitation, interpretation, and maintenance of such historical parks. Requires the Secretary to complete a general management plan for them.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7927-7929)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7926-7927)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

Bill: 110-s-3385
Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Administrative fees
Administrative procedure
Agriculture in foreign trade
Allergies
Commerce
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Data banks
Day care
Defective products
Department of Health and Human Services
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Elementary and secondary education
Emergency Management
Emergency medicine
Exports
Families
Federal aid to education
Federal-local relations
Federal-state relations
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Food industry
Food safety
Food service
Foodborne diseases
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Fruit
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Grants-in-aid
Health
Health surveys
Import restrictions
Imports
International Affairs
International cooperation
Laboratories
Law
Poultry
Preschool education
Restaurants
Risk
Salmonella
School health programs
Science, Technology, Communications
Test facilities
Transportation and Public Works
Vegetables

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
FDA Food Safety Modernization Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to expand the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) to regulate food, including by authorizing the Secretary to: (1) suspend the registration of a food facility; and (2) order a cessation on distribution or recall of food.

Directs the Secretary to allocate resources based on the risk profile of food facilities or food.

Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare a National Agriculture and Food Defense Strategy.

Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist state, local, and tribal governments in preparing for, assessing, decontaminating, and recovering from an agriculture or food emergency. 

Requires the Secretary to: (1) assess fees on domestic food facilities and food importers; (2) promulgate regulations on sanitary transportation practices for food; and (3) develop a policy to manage the risk of food allergy and anaphylaxis in schools and early childhood education programs.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) recognize accreditation bodies that accredit food testing laboratories; and (2) improve the capabilities to track and trace raw agricultural commodities.

Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to enhance foodborne illness surveillance systems.

Provides for: (1) foreign supplier verification programs; (2) a voluntary qualified importer program; and (3) the inspection of foreign facilities registered to import food.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7934-7941)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7933-7934)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
Limitations on Interrogation Techniques Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3386
Sponsor: Sen. Bond, Christopher S. [R-MO]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Agriculture and Food
Animals
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Crime and Law Enforcement
Criminal investigation
Detention of persons
Dogs
Government Operations and Politics
Government contractors
Health
Human rights
Hypothermia
International Affairs
Pain
Prisoners' rights
Sex
Torture

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
Limitations on Interrogation Techniques Act of 2008 - Prohibits any individual in the custody or control of personnel of an element of the intelligence community or contractor or subcontractor thereof, regardless of nationality or physical location, from being subject to the following interrogation techniques: (1) forcing the individual to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner; (2) placing hoods or sacks over the head of the individual or using duct tape over the eyes; (3) applying beatings, electrical shock, burns, or similar forms of physical pain; (4) using the technique known as waterboarding; (5) using military working dogs; (6) inducing hypothermia or heat injury; (7) conducting mock executions; or (8) depriving the individual of adequate food, water, or medical care.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Select Committee on Intelligence.
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
National Pain Care Policy Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3387
Sponsor: Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Communication in medicine
Conferences
Department of Health and Human Services
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Executive reorganization
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to health facilities
Government Operations and Politics
Health education
Higher education
Medical education
Medical research
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Pain
Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
National Pain Care Policy Act of 2008 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter an agreement with the Institute of Medicine to convene a Conference on Pain to: (1) increase the recognition of pain as a significant public health problem; (2) evaluate the adequacy of assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and management of acute and chronic pain; (3) identify barriers to appropriate pain care; and (4) establish an agenda for action that will reduce such barriers and improve pain care research, education, and clinical care.
 
Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish the Pain Consortium to: (1) establish a national agenda for research on the causes and effective treatments for pain; and (2) convene an annual conference of experts in pain research, treatment, and management to assess and make recommendations on NIH pain research activities and programs. Requires the Director of NIH to establish the National Pain Care Research Advisory Committee.

Requires the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to: (1) collect protocols and evidence-based practices regarding pain care at all stages of life; and (2) disseminate such information to regulatory and enforcement agencies, health care programs, payor and providers, health professions schools, hospices, and the general public.

Allows the Secretary to provide for the development and implementation of programs to educate and train health care professionals in pain care.

Requires the Secretary to establish a national pain care education outreach and awareness campaign.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7946)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the assignment of pre-stabilization disability ratings to certain veterans for purposes of the payment of disability compensation, and for other purposes.

Bill: 110-s-3388
Sponsor: Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Disability evaluation
Disabled
Labor and Employment
Veterans' disability compensation
Veterans' employment
War casualties

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, with respect to veterans who have been discharged from active-duty service for 365 days or less and for whom a permanent disability rating is not immediately assignable, to assign a pre-stabilization disability rating of: (1) 100%, for a veteran with a severe disability for whom substantially gainful employment is not feasible or advisable; and (2) 50%, for a veteran with a wound or injury for whom material impairment of employability is likely.
 
Terminates the pre-stabilization rating: (1) when a veteran receives a permanent disability rating based on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) schedule for rating disabilities; or (2) 365 days after the veteran's last separation or release from active duty. Allows the Secretary, when appropriate, to extend the pre-stabilization rating beyond such date.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act

Bill: 110-s-3389
Sponsor: Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Coal
Commerce
Energy
Energy development
Gas industry
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Information disclosure (Securities law)
Metals
Mines and mineral resources
Natural gas
Oil well drilling
Petroleum
Petroleum industry
Prospecting
Public Lands and Natural Resources
Securities regulation

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to instruct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require specified annual reports of an issuer to disclose the total payments made to an agency or instrumentality of a foreign government: (1) for natural resources in a foreign country; or (2) in connection with the extraction of natural resources from a foreign country.

Requires compilation of such information so that it is accessible by the public directly from the SEC website without separately accessing the annual reports of each issuer filing the information on the EDGAR system.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
Student Voter Opportunity To Encourage Registration Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3390
Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Congress
Congressional elections
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Federal aid to education
Higher education
Presidential elections
Student enrollment
Voter registration

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
Student Voter Opportunity To Encourage Registration Act of 2008 or the Student VOTER Act of 2008 - Amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require states to designate federally-funded institutions of higher education as agencies for the registration of voters in federal elections.
 
 Requires such schools to provide mail voter registration application forms to students registering to enroll in their courses.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7947)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7947)
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate
United States Capitol Police Administrative Technical Corrections Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3391
Sponsor: Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]
Introduced: 2008-07-31 in the Senate
Policy area: Congress
Subjects: Capitol (Washington, D.C.)
Congressional agencies
Congressional employees
Congressional reorganization
Disciplining of employees
Dismissal of employees
Federal law enforcement officers
Government Operations and Politics
Government attorneys
Hours of labor
Law
Leave of absence
Police
Wages

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: 
United States Capitol Police Administrative Technical Corrections Act of 2008 - Makes technical amendments to the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2001 with respect to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the Capitol Police. Requires the CAO to report to and serve at the pleasure of the Chief of the Capitol Police. Repeals the CAO's authority over the personnel of the Capitol Police Office of Administration.

Amends the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2003 to authorize the Chief of Police to discipline and suspend Capitol Police employees with or without pay.

Establishes a General Counsel to the Chief of Police and the U.S. Capitol Police.

Prohibits lump sum payments to terminated U.S. Capitol Police officers or employees for unused compensatory time.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
action_date: 2008-07-31
text: Introduced in Senate