hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Bridge Life Extension Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-1701
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2009-09-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Roads and highways
Transportation programs funding
Transportation safety and security

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: 
Bridge Life Extension Act of 2009 - Requires a state, as a condition of receiving federal-aid highway funding, to develop and implement a highway bridge management system that meets certain requirements.
 
Requires a state, in developing and implementing such a system, to: (1) identify corrosion mitigation and prevention methods to preserve its highway bridges; (2) establish a project maintenance program to extend the life of such bridges; and (3) ensure that maintenance individuals are qualified and all highway bridge engineers and inspectors implementing the system are trained, and certified by the state, in corrosion mitigation and prevention techniques.
 
Directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a minimum federal standard for corrosion mitigation and prevention training and certification for such individuals. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act

Bill: 111-s-1702
Sponsor: Sen. Udall, Mark [D-CO]
Introduced: 2009-09-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Firearms and explosives
Forests, forestry, trees
Government liability
Land transfers
Land use and conservation
Outdoor recreation
Solid waste and recycling
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: 
Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act - Amends the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to: (1) authorize a state to pay up to 90% of the costs of acquiring land for, expanding, or constructing a public target range; (2) authorize a state to elect to allocate 10% of a specified amount apportioned to it from the federal aid to wildlife restoration fund for such costs; (3) limit the federal share of such costs under such Act to 90%; and (4) require amounts provided for such costs under such Act to remain available for expenditure and obligation for five fiscal years.
 
Shields the United States from any civil action or claim for money damages for injury to or loss of property, personal injury, or death caused by an activity occurring at a public target range that is funded by the federal government pursuant to such Act or located on federal land, except to the extent provided under the Federal Tort Claims Act with respect to the exercise or performance of a discretionary function.
 
 
Urges the Chief of the Forest Service and the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to cooperate with state and local authorities and other entities to carry out waste removal and other activities on any federal land used as a public target range in order to encourage its continued use for target practice or marksmanship training.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. (text of measure as introduced: CR S9748)
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S9747-9748)
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Act of June 18, 1934, to reaffirm the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian tribes.

Bill: 111-s-1703
Sponsor: Sen. Dorgan, Byron L. [D-ND]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Federal-Indian relations
Indian lands and resources rights

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: 
Amends the Act commonly known as the Indian Reorganization Act to apply the Act to all federally recognized Indian tribes, regardless of when any tribe became recognized. (This effectively overrules the Supreme Court's decision in 
Carcieri v. Salazar, 
which held that the Secretary of the Interior could not take land into trust for a specified tribe because that tribe had not been under federal jurisdiction when the Act was enacted.)

action_date: 2010-08-05
text: 
Amends the Act commonly known as the Indian Reorganization Act to apply the Act to all federally recognized Indian tribes, regardless of when any tribe became recognized. (This effectively overrules the Supreme Court's decision in 
Carcieri v. Salazar, 
which held that the Secretary of the Interior could not take land into trust for a specified tribe because that tribe had not been under federal jurisdiction when the Act was enacted.)
 
Makes such amendments retroactive as if included in the Indian Reorganization Act as of the date of its enactment on June 18, 1934. 
 
Provides that this Act does not affect any law other than the Indian Reorganization Act or limit the Secretary of the Interior's authority under any federal law or regulation other than the Indian Reorganization Act. 
 
Requires the Secretary to conduct and submit to Congress a study that: (1) describes the 
Carcieri
 decision's effect on Indian tribes and tribal land; and (2) includes a list of each affected Indian tribe and parcel of tribal land.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-08-05
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 515.
action_date: 2010-08-05
text: Committee on Indian Affairs. Reported by Senator Dorgan with amendments. With written report No. 111-247.
action_date: 2010-08-05
text: Committee on Indian Affairs. Reported by Senator Dorgan with amendments. With written report No. 111-247.
action_date: 2009-12-17
text: Committee on Indian Affairs. Ordered to be reported with amendments favorably.
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S9842)
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
World War II War Crimes Accountability Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-1704
Sponsor: Sen. Nelson, Bill [D-FL]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Conflicts and wars
Congressional tributes
Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
Department of Justice
International organizations and cooperation
Political movements and philosophies
Visas and passports
War crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: 
World War II War Crimes Accountability Act of 2009 - Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the United States should encourage extradition and prosecution of the remaining Nazi war criminals; (2) the Simon Wiesenthal Center should be commended for its historic work in bringing to light the atrocities of the Holocaust and in advancing justice for Nazi war criminals through Operation: Last Chance; and (3) the Office of Special Investigation of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is advancing U.S. foreign policy by bringing wanted World War II criminals to justice and should be commended for its actions.
 
Directs the Attorney General, in evaluating the effect on U.S. law enforcement and security interests for purposes of a country's eligibility for visa waiver program designation, to consider the extent to which such country is: (1) cooperating in extraditing or prosecuting Nazi war criminals; and (2) admitting into its territory aliens ordered removed from the United States because of participation in Nazi persecution, genocide, torture, or extrajudicial killing.
 
Authorizes the President, after congressional notification, to not terminate a country's designation based upon such evaluation if in the national interest.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S9842-9843)
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on certain acrylic fiber tow containing a minimum of 92 percent acrylonitrile.

Bill: 111-s-1705
Sponsor: Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance
Subjects: Tariffs

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to suspend temporarily the duty on certain acrylic fiber tow containing a minimum of 92 percent acrylonitrile.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on certain acrylic fiber tow.

Bill: 111-s-1706
Sponsor: Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance
Subjects: Tariffs

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to suspend temporarily the duty on certain acrylic fiber tow.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Student Attendance Success Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-1708
Sponsor: Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Academic performance and assessments
Child care and development
Education of the disadvantaged
Education programs funding
Elementary and secondary education
Government information and archives
Social work, volunteer service, charitable organizations
Teaching, teachers, curricula

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: 
Student Attendance Success Act of 2009 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award grants to states and, through them, competitive, renewable, three-year grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for programmatic initiatives aimed at improving academic achievement by keeping students in school.
 
Requires subgrant applicants to demonstrate that their schools have a history of significant truancy in grades five through nine.
 
Requires subgrantees to use their subgrant, to the extent practicable, to partner with a community-based organization to create such programmatic initiatives.
 
Directs the Secretary to award a grant to an nonprofit organization to establish and operate a National Resource Center on Positive Youth Development and School Success to serve as a font of information, training, and research aimed at thwarting students' risky behavior and enhancing their academic performance.
 
Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to define truancy, for purposes of this Act and the requirement that states collect truancy data under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program, as the unexcused absence: (1) for three consecutive school days of a child required to attend elementary school; and (2) for three or more class periods on each of three consecutive school days of a child required to attend middle or secondary school.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (consideration: CR S9812-9817; text: CR S9812-9817)
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Veterinary Services Investment Act

Bill: 111-s-1709
Sponsor: Sen. Stabenow, Debbie [D-MI]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Animals
Subjects: Animal and plant health
Education programs funding
Food supply, safety, and labeling
Health personnel
Health programs administration and funding
Medical education
Student aid and college costs
Teaching, teachers, curricula
Veterinary medicine and animal diseases

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: 
Veterinary Services Investment Act - Amends The National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture carry out a grant program to develop, implement, and sustain veterinary services and relieve veterinary shortage situations.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to prohibit recipients of TARP assistance from funding ACORN, and for other purposes.

Bill: 111-s-1710
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Community life and organization
Financial crises and stabilization
Public contracts and procurement
Social work, volunteer service, charitable organizations

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: 
Amends the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) to prohibit any entity in receipt of financial assistance under the Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP) (or any other program enacted by the Secretary under EESA authorities) from providing any direct or indirect assistance to, funding, promoting, or in any way contributing to the activities of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or an ACORN-related affiliate.
 
Exempts from this prohibition any entity that has repaid all outstanding amounts of TARP or related financial assistance.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Water Efficiency and Conservation Investment Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-1711
Sponsor: Sen. Reid, Harry [D-NV]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Building construction
Electric power generation and transmission
Energy efficiency and conservation
Housing industry and standards
Income tax credits
Income tax exclusion
Residential rehabilitation and home repair
Securities
Water use and supply

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: 
Water Efficiency and Conservation Investment Act of 2009 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow, through 2014, individual taxpayers a tax credit for 50% of the cost, up to $750 per year, of installing qualified water efficiency property in a residence; (2) allow building contractors, through 2014, a $1,500 tax credit for each qualified, new, water efficient home constructed and sold to a homeowner; (3) allow the issuance of tax-exempt water conservation bonds; and (4) exempt prepayments under a qualified electricity supply contract from tax-exempt bond arbitrage rules.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S9844-9845)
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S9843-9844)
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Water Efficiency, Conservation, and Adaptation Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-1712
Sponsor: Sen. Reid, Harry [D-NV]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Climate change and greenhouse gases
Consumer affairs
Energy efficiency and conservation
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Environmental technology
Housing industry and standards
Residential rehabilitation and home repair
Solid waste and recycling
Water quality
Water resources funding
Water use and supply

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: 
Water Efficiency, Conservation, and Adaptation Act of 2009 - Establishes within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a WaterSense program to identify and promote water efficient products, buildings, landscapes, facilities, processes, and services (products, facilities, and services) so as to: (1) reduce water use and the strain on water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure; (2) conserve energy used to pump, heat, transport, and treat water; and (3) preserve water resources through voluntary labeling of, or other forms of communications about, products, facilities, and services that meet the highest water efficiency and performance criteria.
 
 
Sets forth the duties of Administrator of the EPA under the program, including to: (1) establish a WaterSense label and certification procedures and to promote labeled products, facilities, and services for reducing water use and ensuring performance; (2) review and update WaterSense criteria for categories of products, facilities, and services; (3) estimate and make available the production and relative market shares of, and the savings of water, energy, and capital costs of water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure attributable to, labeled products, facilities, and services; (4) notify the public of any changes on the adoption of a new or revised WaterSense category, specification, installation criterion, or other criterion and explain such changes; (5) implement other voluntary approaches in commercial, institutional, residential, industrial, and municipal sectors to encourage recycling and reuse technologies to improve water efficiency or lower water use; and (6) apply the WaterSense label as appropriate to water-using products that are labeled by the Energy Star program.
 
 
Requires the Administrator to: (1) allocate funds to establish and implement a program of financial incentives for consumer purchase and installation of water-efficient products, facilities, and services; and (2) make grants to owners or operators of specified water systems to address any ongoing or forecasted climate-related impact on the water quality or quantity of a region of the United States for the purposes of mitigating or adapting to the impacts of climate change.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. (text of measure as introduced: CR S9846-9848)
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S9843-9844)
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Open College Textbook Act of 2009

Bill: 111-s-1714
Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Introduced: 2009-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Books and print media
Education programs funding
Educational technology and distance education
Elementary and secondary education
Higher education
Intellectual property
Internet and video services
Internet, web applications, social media
Teaching, teachers, curricula

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: 
Open College Textbook Act of 2009 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award competitive one-year grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs), professors from IHEs, and producers of open textbooks to create or update open textbooks, or adapt textbooks into open formats, for postsecondary coursework. (Open textbooks are defined as college textbooks or course materials in electronic format that are licensed under an open license, which is an irrevocable intellectual property license that grants the public the right to access, customize, and distribute copyrighted material.) 
 
Requires such textbooks to be posted on an easily accessible and interoperable website and made available to the public free of charge.
 
Directs the Secretary to develop a peer review and evaluation process to ensure that these textbooks are of the highest quality, accurate in content, and meet or exceed market quality and accessibility standards.
 
Requires all elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational materials created through federal grants to be licensed under an open license, posted on an easily accessible and interoperable website, and made available to the public free of charge. 
 
Expresses the sense of Congress that IHEs should encourage professors to consider open textbooks within the generally accepted principles of academic freedom which give faculty the right and responsibility to select pedagogically appropriate coursework.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S9850-9851)
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S9850)
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 to extend the authority of the Broadcasting Board of Governors to make grants for the purpose of operating Radio Free Asia.

Bill: 111-s-1715
Sponsor: Sen. Kerry, John F. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2009-09-25 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Asia
International exchange and broadcasting

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-25
text: 
Amends the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 to extend the authority of the Broadcasting Board of Governors to make grants to operate Radio Free Asia through September 30, 2010.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2009-09-25
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 to reauthorize the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

Bill: 111-s-1716
Sponsor: Sen. Kerry, John F. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2009-09-25 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Advisory bodies
Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-25
text: 
Amends the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 to reauthorize the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy through October 1, 2010. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2009-09-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Utah National Guard Readiness Act

Bill: 111-s-1718
Sponsor: Sen. Bennett, Robert F. [R-UT]
Introduced: 2009-09-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Land transfers
Military facilities and property
National Guard and reserves
Utah

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-25
text: 
Utah National Guard Readiness Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to convey, without consideration, to the state of Utah all interest of the United States in and to certain federal land that is located within the boundaries of the parcel of public land withdrawn by the Utah National Guard and known as &quot;Camp Williams&quot; for the purpose of permitting the Utah National Guard to use such federal land. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2009-09-25
text: Introduced in Senate