hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
A bill to require manufacturers to increase the percentage of automobiles manufactured for sale within the United States that are capable of operating on higher-level blends of renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, in combination with gasoline or diesel fuel.

Bill: 110-s-3485
Sponsor: Sen. Harkin, Tom [D-IA]
Introduced: 2008-09-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Alternative energy sources
Automobile industry
Automobiles
Biomass energy
Commerce
Diesel motor
Energy
Fuel consumption

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-12
text: 
Requires each automobile manufacturer to ensure that at least 50% of 2011 and 2012 model year automobiles manufactured for sale in the United States are dual fueled automobiles. Increases the minimum to 90% for later model years. (Excludes automobiles that operate only on electricity.)



Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8481)
action_date: 2008-09-12
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8481)
action_date: 2008-09-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Commission on Measures of Household Economic Security Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3486
Sponsor: Sen. Feingold, Russell D. [D-WI]
Introduced: 2008-09-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Economic security
Economic statistics
Federal advisory bodies
Government Operations and Politics
Government statistics
Governmental investigations
Households

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-12
text: 
Commission on Measures of Household Economic Security Act of 2008 - Establishes a Commission on Measures of Household Economic Security to study and report to Congress on: (1) existing economic statistics and data collected and reported by federal agencies about the economic well-being of American households; and (2) ways to improve and modernize these statistical measures to provide a more accurate, transparent, coherent, and comprehensive assessment of that economic well-being.
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2008-09-12
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8482)
action_date: 2008-09-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Incentive to Serve Tax Act

Bill: 110-s-3488
Sponsor: Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT]
Introduced: 2008-09-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Charities
Commerce
Income tax
Labor and Employment
National service
Social Welfare
Tax credits
Wages

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-15
text: 
Incentive to Serve Tax Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employers a business tax credit for 25% of wages paid to employees while such employees are performing certain services (e.g., services advancing the improvement of education, health care access, energy conservation, economic opportunities for economically disadvantaged individuals, and disaster preparedness and response) for charitable organizations and community agencies. Limits the amount of wages eligible for such credit to $100,000 per employee. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2008-09-15
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8530-8531)
action_date: 2008-09-15
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act to reauthorize the Act.

Bill: 110-s-3490
Sponsor: Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. [D-MD]
Introduced: 2008-09-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Animals
Subjects: Authorization
Economics and Public Finance
Environmental Protection
Migratory bird conservation

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-15
text: 
Amends the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act to increase the amount authorized to be appropriated for FY2010 and to authorize appropriations for FY2011-FY2015.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2008-09-15
text: Introduced in Senate
Telehealth for America Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3491
Sponsor: Sen. Stevens, Ted [R-AK]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Health
Health facilities
Housing and Community Development
Internet
Rural health
Telemedicine

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
Telehealth for America Act of 2008 - Amends provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 relating to universal service to require a telecommunications carrier, on request, to provide telecommunications services, advanced telecommunications services and information services, and network management services (currently, only telecommunications services) to any public or nonprofit health care provider serving rural areas at rates that are up to 60% less than (currently, reasonably comparable to) urban areas in that state. 
 
Includes 14 specific types of providers, facilities, agencies, and organizations under the terms &quot;rural health clinics and rural health care providers&quot; (as part of the definition of &quot;health care provider&quot;).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
Resource Family Recruitment and Retention Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3492
Sponsor: Sen. Lincoln, Blanche L. [D-AR]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Families
Subjects: Adoption
Caregivers
Case management
Child health
Child welfare
Economics and Public Finance
Family services
Foster home care
Grants-in-aid
Health
Medical records
Parent and child
Social Welfare
Standards

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
Resource Family Recruitment and Retention Act of 2008 - Amends part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) with respect to the requirement that state foster care and adoption assistance plans require development of standards to ensure that children in foster care placements in public or private agencies receive quality services that protect their safety and health.
 
Requires such standards to require each public and private placement agency, subject to renewal of its license or other state approval, to certify annually to the state that it provides foster parents with specified services and information.
 
Numbers among such services and information: (1) notifications of scheduled meetings to allow foster parents the opportunity to participate actively in the case planning and decision-making regarding placement of a child in their home; (2) support services to assist with care of the child; (3) information about the child's medical history, educational history, general behaviors, life experiences, the placement circumstances of the child, and the relationship between the child and his or her parents; (4) timely and complete information about all permanency options available to the child; and (5) assistance with the coordination of services for dealing with family loss and separation when a child leaves the foster home.
 
Amends SSA title IV part B (Child and Family Services) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to eligible states for innovative programs to empower, provide leadership for, and improve the recruitment, support, training, and retention of foster care, kinship care, and adoptive parents.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to require rail carriers to develop positive rail control system plans for improving railroad safety and to increase the civil penalties for railroad safety violations.

Bill: 110-s-3493
Sponsor: Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Accident prevention
Emergency Management
Fines (Penalties)
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Hours of labor
Labor and Employment
Law
Railroad commuting traffic
Railroad employees
Railroad engineering
Railroad equipment
Railroad freight operations
Railroad passenger traffic
Railroad safety
Transportation planning

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
Requires each rail carrier that is a Class I railroad, that has inadequate safety performance, or that provides intercity passenger or commuter rail passenger transportation to develop and submit for Secretary of Transportation approval by December 31, 2014, a plan to implement a positive train control system that prevents rail collisions.
 
Requires implementation of such systems by December 31, 2012, in areas that have the highest safety risk due to shared track between commuter and freight rail.
 
Prohibits installation of a positive train control system or component unless the Secretary has certified that it has not experienced a safety-critical failure during prior testing and evaluation.
 
Increases penalties for violations of rail safety regulations or orders issued by the Secretary, including violations related to rail accident reporting and hours-of-service.



Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8858-8859)
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
Restoring the Value of Every American in Environmental Decisions Act

Bill: 110-s-3494
Sponsor: Sen. Boxer, Barbara [D-CA]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Decision making
Economics and Public Finance
Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental health
Finance and Financial Sector
Government Operations and Politics
Government publicity
Government statistics
Health
Income
Labor statistics
Law
Pollution
Risk
Valuation

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
Restoring the Value of Every American in Environmental Decisions Act - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), when using any value of statistical life in decisionmaking, to: (1) not reduce that value below the highest value of statistical life used in a decisionmaking before the enactment of this Act; and (2) increase that value at least once each year, by adjusting the value to reflect the average annual total compensation of individuals, the average capital that may be liquidated upon the death of an individual, and the value of nonpaid activities, including the relevant activities described in the American Time Survey Results published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor.

Prohibits the Administrator from decreasing the value of statistical life based on age, income, race, illness, disability, date of death, or any other personal attribute or relativistic analysis of the value of life.

Requires the Administrator to: (1) ensure that the process for establishing a value of statistical life is open to the public; and (2) provide to specified congressional committees, concurrently with public notice, any proposed revision of a value of a statistical life.

Declares that nothing in this Act: (1) expresses on behalf of Congress an endorsement of any use of value of statistical life analysis as a decisionmaking criterion, cost-benefit analysis, regulatory decisionmaking threshold, or single process of agency decisionmaking; (2) creates a duty to make or revise any standard under any other law; or (3) affects any substantive standard for promulgating regulations under any other law. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
Protect Pregnant Women and Children from Dangerous Lead Exposures Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3495
Sponsor: Sen. Boxer, Barbara [D-CA]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Child health
Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental health
Epidemiology
Families
Federal advisory bodies
Government Operations and Politics
Health
Law
Lead
Lead poisoning
Paints and varnishes
Pregnant women
Standards
Women
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
Protect Pregnant Women and Children from Dangerous Lead Exposures Act of 2008 - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), no later than April 30, 2009, to use the best available science to: (1) promulgate a final rule revising EPA's lead-based paint hazard standard promulgated under the Toxic Substances Control Act to a more protective level that safeguards the health of pregnant women and children; and (2) require the use of a lead dust cleaning clearance methodology that ensures lead dust levels meet such revised standard. Requires the Administrator to ensure that EPA's Clean Air Science Advisory Committee peer reviews the analyses that the Administrator uses to revise such standard and to require the use of such methodology.

Requires the Administrator, no later than April 22, 2010, to integrate into EPA's revised rules on renovation and remolding activities that create lead-based paint hazards such revised standard and methodology. 

Requires the Administrator to review and reevaluate the health protectiveness of the rule revising EPA's lead-based paint hazard standard to determine whether to increase protections for the health of pregnant women and children: (1) every five years; or (2) more frequently if significant scientific findings indicate that the standard should be so revised.

Declares that this Act does not modify or affect any effective date described in the final rule of the Environmental Protection Agency entitled &quot;Lead: Renovation, Repair, and Repainting Program&quot; published on April 22, 2008.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
Air and Health Quality Empowerment Zone Designation Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3496
Sponsor: Sen. Boxer, Barbara [D-CA]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Agricultural machinery
Agricultural pollution
Agriculture and Food
Air pollution control
Asthma
California
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Elementary and secondary education
Environmental health
Federal aid to air pollution control
Health
Labor and Employment
Nitrogen oxides
Ozone
Public-private partnerships
Standards
Strategic planning
Students
Unemployment

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
Air and Health Quality Empowerment Zone Designation Act of 2008 - Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate areas nominated by local air pollution control districts as air and health quality empowerment zones, which shall be eligible for grants for replacing or retrofitting polluting vehicles and/or engines in order to improve the health of the population living in the zones.

Sets forth area eligibility requirements, including: (1) being in nonattainment of specified national ambient air quality standards for ozone or PM2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter that does not exceed 2.5 micrometers); (2) having specified emission levels from agricultural sources; (3) meeting or exceeding national averages for asthma, school days missed for ozone levels, and unemployment; and (4) being eligible for state or local matching funds.

Prohibits an area from being designated unless the relevant district provides satisfactory assurances that the strategic plan (to be contained in its application) will be implemented. Authorizes the Administrator to revoke the designation if the relevant district: (1) has been designated as being in attainment with the air quality standards; or (2) is failing to comply with, or make progress in achieving the goals of, its strategic plan.



Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
Food Insecurity Reduction Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3497
Sponsor: Sen. Clinton, Hillary Rodham [D-NY]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Agriculture and Food
Food stamps
Labor and Employment
Unemployment
Welfare eligibility

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
Food Insecurity Reduction Act of 2008 - Amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (the Food Stamp Act of 1977 as renamed by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008) to increase to 12 months the amount of time certain work capable adults can receive supplemental nutrition assistance benefits (formerly, food stamp benefits). 
 
Revises the definition of "covered individual." 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend title 46, United States Code, to extend the exemption from the fire-retardant materials construction requirement for vessels operating within the Boundary Line.

Bill: 110-s-3498
Sponsor: Sen. Voinovich, George V. [R-OH]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Emergency Management
Fire prevention
Passenger ships

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
Extends, through November 1, 2018, the exemption from the requirement that certain vessels operating within the Boundary Line be constructed of fire-retardant materials. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8859)
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
An original bill to protect innocent Americans from violent crime in national parks.

Bill: 110-s-3499
Sponsor: Sen. Bingaman, Jeff [D-NM]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Animals
Department of the Interior
Firearms control
Government Operations and Politics
Law
National parks
Public Lands and Natural Resources
State laws
State parks
Wildlife refuges

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
 Bars the promulgation or enforcement of any regulation that prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm, including an assembled or functional firearm, in any unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System if: (1) the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing the firearm; and (2) the possession of the firearm is in compliance with the law of the state relating to the possession of a firearm in a state park, state wildlife refuge, or similar unit of state land in the state in which the unit or that portion thereof is located. 

action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Bars the promulgation or enforcement of any regulation that prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm, including an assembled or functional firearm, in any unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System if: (1) the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing the firearm; and (2) the possession of the firearm is in compliance with the law of the state relating to the possession of a firearm in a state park, state wildlife refuge, or similar unit of state land in such state in which the unit or that portion thereof is located. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 1007.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Bingaman. Without written report.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Bingaman. Without written report.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
Children's Environmental Health and Safety Risk Reduction Act

Bill: 110-s-3502
Sponsor: Sen. Clinton, Hillary Rodham [D-NY]
Introduced: 2008-09-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Families
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Agriculture and Food
Child health
Child safety
Commerce
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Consumer education
Environmental Protection
Environmental health
Executive reorganization
Federal advisory bodies
Food safety
Government Operations and Politics
Health
Law
Potable water
Product safety
Risk
Soil pollution
Water Resources Development

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: 
Children's Environmental Health and Safety Risk Reduction Act - Establishes the Task Force on Environmental Health and Safety Risks to Children to: (1) recommend to the President federal strategies for children's environmental health and safety; and (2) develop a proposed plan for use in ensuring that researchers and federal research agencies have access to information on federal research that relates to adverse health risk in children resulting from exposure to environmental health and safety risks.

Directs each federal agency, for each regulatory action submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review that may concern an environmental health risk or safety risk that may disproportionately affect children, to provide: (1) an evaluation of the environmental health and safety effects of the planned regulation; and (2) an explanation of why the planned regulation is preferable to other potentially effective and reasonable feasible alternatives considered by the agency. Requires agencies to comply with such requirements to the maximum extent practicable in emergency situations.

Requires the Director of OMB to convene the Forum on Child and Family Statistics to: (1) publish an annual report that describes the most important indicators of the well-being of U.S. children; (2) provide an ongoing review of federal collection and dissemination of data on children and families; and (3) make recommendations to improve the coverage and coordination of data collection and to reduce duplication and overlap.

Applies this Act only to the executive branch.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2008-09-16
text: Introduced in Senate
Organ Transplant Authorization Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3503
Sponsor: Sen. Dorgan, Byron L. [D-ND]
Introduced: 2008-09-17 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Data banks
Donation of organs, tissues, etc.
Economics and Public Finance
Federal aid to health facilities
Health information systems
Nonprofit organizations
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc.

Summary:
action_date: 2008-09-17
text: 
Organ Transplant Authorization Act of 2008 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to increase the maximum amount of funds provided for the establishment and operation of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network for any fiscal year.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-09-17
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2008-09-17
text: Introduced in Senate