hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
U.S.-Paraguay Partnership Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-780
Sponsor: Sen. Nelson, Bill [D-FL]
Introduced: 2009-04-01 in the Senate
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance
Subjects: Latin America
Paraguay
Tariffs

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-01
text: 
U.S.-Paraguay Partnership Act of 2009 - Amends the Andean Trade Preference Act, as amended and expanded by Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), to include Paraguay on the list of countries eligible for duty-free treatment and other preferential treatment for its products as a designated beneficiary country and ATPDEA beneficiary country.
 
Terminates the extension of such treatment to Paraguayan products after December 31, 2009.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-01
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2009-04-01
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4195-4196)
action_date: 2009-04-01
text: Introduced in Senate
Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-781
Sponsor: Sen. Roberts, Pat [R-KS]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Education programs funding
Educational facilities and institutions
Higher education
Housing and community development funding
Tax-exempt organizations

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2009 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow tax-exempt charitable or educational organizations to make collegiate housing and infrastructure improvement grants to certain tax-exempt social clubs (e.g., college fraternities and sororities) which apply such grants to their collegiate housing property.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism Anti-Drilling Act

Bill: 111-s-783
Sponsor: Sen. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Atlantic Ocean
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Mining
Oil and gas

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism Anti-Drilling Act or COAST Anti-Drilling Act - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing a lease for the exploration, development, or production of oil, natural gas, or any other mineral in either the Mid-Atlantic or the North Atlantic planning areas. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act

Bill: 111-s-784
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Alaska
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Indian claims
Indian lands and resources rights

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act - Amends the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to permit the Native residents of each of the Native Villages of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell, Alaska, to organize as Urban Corporations and to receive certain settlement lands and other compensation pursuant to this Act. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4315)
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
Southeast Alaska Timber Industry Retooling and Restructuring Act

Bill: 111-s-785
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Alaska
Forests, forestry, trees
Industrial policy and productivity
Minority and disadvantaged businesses
Roads and highways
Small business

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Southeast Alaska Timber Industry Retooling and Restructuring Act - Establishes a two-year grant program for retooling projects that are designed to facilitate the economic adjustment of specified timber entities by allowing them to: (1) improve or alter their business and practices to become more competitive within the timber industry; or (2) shift to a type of business that is not related to the timber industry. 
 
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to provide grants under such program to any entity that operated in the timber industry in Alaska on January 1, 2009, that, prior to such date, operated in Alaska for not less than 10 years.
 
Sets forth provisions concerning eligible uses of grant funding. 
 
Treats a grant recipient as a small business concern owned or controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (as that term is defined in the Small Business Act) for three years after the grant was approved. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4315-4316)
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
Improving Access to Mainstream Financial Institutions Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-786
Sponsor: Sen. Akaka, Daniel K. [D-HI]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Bank accounts, deposits, capital
Consumer credit
Credit and credit markets
Financial literacy
Indian social and development programs
Labor-management relations
Tax-exempt organizations

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Improving Access to Mainstream Financial Institutions Act of 2009 - Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to award grants, including multi-year grants, to specified eligible entities to establish an account in a federally insured depository institution for low- and moderate-income individuals who currently do not have such an account. Includes among such eligible entities: (1) Alaska Native Corporations; (2) Native Hawaiian organizations; and (3) labor organizations.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to award demonstration project grants to eligible entities to provide low-cost, small loans to consumers that will provide alternatives to more costly, predatory payday loans. Requires such entities to be: (1) tax-exempt charitable organizations; (2) federally insured depository institutions; (3) community development financial institutions; or (4) partnerships comprised of one or more of such entities. Requires grant recipients to offer financial literacy and education opportunities to each consumer provided with a loan pursuant to this Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S4317)
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4316-4317)
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
m-SPAM Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-788
Sponsor: Sen. Snowe, Olympia J. [R-ME]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Marketing and advertising
Telephone and wireless communication

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
m-SPAM Act of 2009 - Amends the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 to exclude a message from the definition of &quot;mobile service commercial message&quot; (MSCM) if the message's purpose is to: (1) facilitate or confirm a commercial transaction; (2) provide warranty, recall, safety, or security information about a product or service used by the recipient; (3) provide certain information to message recipients who have an ongoing commercial relationship with the sender; (4) provide information relating to the recipient's benefit plan or employment; or (5) deliver goods or services to which the recipient is entitled.
 
Amends that Act and the Communications Act of 1934 to exempt from a prohibition on sending unwanted MSCMs: (1) the sending of short messaging service (SMS) messages from one wireless device to another or from a mobile service provider to its subscribers at no charge; and (2) the sending of MSCMs by a mobile service provider to its subscribers at no charge (unless a subscriber has opted out).
 
Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to revise the do-not-call registry provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rule to: (1) consider commercial mobile service messaging practices that are costly or a nuisance to consumers; and (2) explicitly prohibit, as an abusive telemarketing act or practice, the sending of any MSCM to a telephone number that is both assigned to a commercial mobile service and listed on the do-not-call registry. Exempts such messages sent by a commercial mobile service provider to its subscribers at no charge.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4319-4320)
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
Tule River Tribe Water Development Act

Bill: 111-s-789
Sponsor: Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Water Resources Development
Subjects: California
Government studies and investigations
Indian lands and resources rights
Water use and supply

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Tule River Tribe Water Development Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation, to complete a feasibility study to evaluate alternatives for a domestic, commercial, municipal, industrial, and irrigation water supply for the Tule River Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, California.
 
Prohibits any project constructed relating to that study from providing water supply for the casino of the Tule River Tribe or any other tribal casino or any lodging, dining, entertainment, meeting space, parking, or other similar facility in support of a gaming activity.
 
Provides that a water supply provided by a project constructed relating to the feasibility study shall be available to serve: (1) the domestic, municipal, and governmental (including firefighting) needs of the Tribe; and (2) other commercial, agricultural, and industrial needs not related to gaming.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-07-23
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 111-91.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
HAHPSA 2009

Bill: 111-s-790
Sponsor: Sen. Bingaman, Jeff [D-NM]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Advisory bodies
Dental care
Education programs funding
Elementary and secondary education
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Health care coverage and access
Health facilities and institutions
Health personnel
Health programs administration and funding
Home and outpatient care
Medical education
Medicare
Mental health
Nursing
Student aid and college costs

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Health Access and Health Professions Supply Act of 2009 or HAHPSA 2009 &#151; Establishes the Permanent National Health Workforce Commission. Requires the Commission to: (1) review federal policies related to the health professional workforce; (2) identify programs to reduce health professional isolation and build community health professional training infrastructure in rural, frontier, and urban underserved areas; and (3) develop guiding principles and accountability standards for the education of health professionals.
 
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to makes matching grants to states for the operation of State Health Workforce Centers to improve the training, deployment, and retention of critical health professionals in underserved areas and for underserved populations.
 
Revises provisions related to payments for direct graduate medical education costs and for the indirect costs of medical education, including to: (1) support the implementation of community-based training and innovative training models; and (2) require the Secretary to revise policies that constrain the Secretary's ability to respond to emergency situations and situations involving institutional and program closure.
 
Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary to use excess amounts appropriated to address shortages of health professionals in rural, frontier, and urban underserved areas.
 
Provides for the expansion of existing loan repayment programs to emphasize the provision of health professions services to facilities that have health professional shortages. 
 
Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program for Medical, Dental, Physician Assistant, Pharmacy, Behavioral and Mental Health, Public Health, and Nursing Students in the United States Public Health Sciences Track in Affiliated Schools; and (2) award grants to increase health professions training in high-needs specialties.
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S4321-4331)
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4320-4321)
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
Surface Transportation Safety Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-791
Sponsor: Sen. Baucus, Max [D-MT]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Department of Transportation
Fires
Government information and archives
Railroads
Roads and highways
Transportation employees
Transportation programs funding
Transportation safety and security
Worker safety and health

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Surface Transportation Safety Act of 2009 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to modify certain federal regulations to: (1) allow fire services personnel to wear high visibility apparel meeting certain requirements; and (2) ensure that positive protective measures (including temporary longitudinal traffic barriers) are used to separate workers on highway construction projects from motorized traffic.
 
Directs the Secretary to approve the use of federal-aid highway funds for patented or proprietary items that further the goals of state strategic highway safety plans.
 
Directs the Secretary of Transportation to revise the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices to include a standard for a minimum level of retroreflectivity that must be maintained for pavement markings, which shall apply to all roads open to public travel.
 
Revises requirements for the highway safety improvement program to count installation, replacement, and upgrade of highway signs and pavement markings as a highway safety improvement project. Authorizes: (1) states to obligate highway safety improvement program funds apportioned to them for projects to maintain minimum levels of retroreflectivity in highway signs or pavement markings on public roads, whether or not such projects are included in state plans; and (2) a federal share of costs of 100% for such projects.
 
Directs the Secretary to: (1) carry out a program to improve traffic signs and pavement markings for older drivers and pedestrians in all states; (2) review the safety of all highway-rail grade crossings in the United States and, based on such review, compile a list of the ten highway-rail grade crossings having the greatest need for safety improvements; (3) establish a national database of information on the safety of highway-rail grade crossings in the United States; and (4) allocate $20 million to each state with a population density of less than 20 persons per square mile for each fiscal year beginning with FY2010 for rural highway safety improvement projects.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
Improvement of the National Program of Cancer Registries Act

Bill: 111-s-792
Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Cancer
Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
Environmental health
Government information and archives
Health care costs and insurance
Health information and medical records
Infectious and parasitic diseases

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Improvement of the National Program of Cancer Registries Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to revise requirements for statewide cancer registries and require the inclusion in such registries of information on: (1) the highest level of education attained by adults with cancer; (2) sources of payment by individuals for the costs of cancer diagnosis and treatment; and (3) the history of alcohol and tobacco use by individuals with cancer. 
 
Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to: (1) develop standards for collection of data elements for state cancer registries; (2) develop inter-operability and security standards for data exchange and integration between state cancer registries and any cancer registry and another federal registry for non-cancer diseases; and (3) provide a basic electronic collection tool to facilitate standardized data collection. 
 
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to facilitate coordination of the National Program of Cancer Registries with other federally-supported registry programs, including infectious disease registries, environmental disease registries, and other non-cancer, chronic disease registries. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
Department of Veterans Affairs Vision Scholars Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-793
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Department of Veterans Affairs
Disability and paralysis
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Hearing, speech, and vision care
Student aid and college costs
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
 Department of Veterans Affairs Vision Scholars Act of 2009 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and carry out a scholarship program of financial assistance for individuals who: (1) are accepted for, or currently enrolled in, a program of study leading to a degree or certificate in visual impairment or orientation and mobility, or both; and (2) enter into an agreement to serve, after program completion, as a full-time Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employee for three years within the first six years after program completion. Sets maximum assistance amounts of $15,000 per academic year and $45,000 total. Requires prorated repayment for failure to satisfy education or service requirements, while allowing the Secretary to waive or suspend such repayment whenever noncompliance is due to circumstances beyond the control of the participant, or when waiver or suspension is in the best interests of the United States.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 111-76.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to modify certain retirement pay and grade authorities for service performed after eligibility for retirement, and for other purposes.

Bill: 111-s-794
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Military personnel and dependents
National Guard and reserves
Veterans' pensions and compensation

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Authorizes reserve personnel who serve in an active reserve status in the Selected Reserve for at least two years after becoming eligible for active-duty retirement to elect a non-regular retirement for which they are qualified.
 
 Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned to reduce the two-year service requirement in certain cases.
 
Provides for the recomputation of retired pay and, if appropriate, the adjustment of the retired grade of reserve retirees to reflect the successful completion of at least two years of post-retirement service in an active reserve status.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permanently extend existing elective tax treatment for Alaska Native Settlement Trusts.

Bill: 111-s-798
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Alaska
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Capital gains tax
Federal-Indian relations
Income tax exclusion
Income tax rates
Indian claims
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: 
Makes provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 relating to the tax treatment and information requirements of Alaska Native Settlement Trusts permanent.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate
America's Red Rock Wilderness Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-799
Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Introduced: 2009-04-02 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Land transfers
Utah
Water use and supply
Wilderness and natural areas, wildlife refuges, wild rivers, habitats

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: America's Red Rock Wilderness Act of 2009 - Designates specified lands in the following areas of Utah as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System: (1) Great Basin; (2) Zion and Mojave Desert; (3) Grand Staircase-Escalante; (4) Moab-La Sal Canyons; (5) Henry Mountains; (6) Glen Canyon; (7) San Juan-Anasazi; (8) Canyonlands Basin; (9) San Rafael Swell; and (10) Book Cliffs and Uinta Basin. 
Sets forth administrative provisions regarding: (1) filing by the Secretary of the Interior of a map and a legal description of each designated wilderness area with appropriate congressional committees; (2) the exchange of state-owned lands within such areas; (3) federal reservation of water rights; (4) measurement of setbacks for roads with wilderness; (5) authorized livestock grazing; and (6) withdrawal of such lands from disposition under certain public land laws.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (text of measure as introduced: CR S4345-4349)
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4344-4345)
action_date: 2009-04-02
text: Introduced in Senate