hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3215
Sponsor: Sen. Bingaman, Jeff [D-NM]
Introduced: 2010-04-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Accounting and auditing
Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Bank accounts, deposits, capital
Consumer affairs
Department of the Treasury
Financial services and investments
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Insurance industry and regulation
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: 
Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act of 2010 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the National Taxpayer Advocate, to publish a summary statement of taxpayer rights and obligations.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to develop, expand, or continue volunteer income tax assistance programs to assist low-income taxpayers.
 
Increases the grant funding for low-income taxpayer clinics.
 
Requires the Secretary to: (1) prescribe regulations for the regulation of tax return preparers; (2) require the annual registration of refund delivery product facilitators; and (3) furnish to the public the identity of any person who is an enrolled agent, attorney, or certified public accountant on file with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), who is a tax return preparer, or who is registered as a refund delivery product facilitator.
 
 Applies the penalty for understatements of taxpayer liability by tax return preparers to tax submissions other than tax returns or claims for refunds.
 
Requires the Secretary to make an individualized lien determination before filing a notice of lien and to consider specified factors in making such determination, including the amount due, the value of the taxpayer's equity in property, the taxpayer's compliance history, and extenuating circumstances, if any, that explain the tax delinquency.
 
Prohibits persons licensed to practice before the Department of the Treasury from directly or indirectly offering or providing audit insurance.
 
Authorizes the National Taxpayer Advocate to issue Taxpayer Advocate directives for granting relief to taxpayers.
 
Expresses the sense of Congress that the IRS should take specified steps within two years to improve service to taxpayers.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to award demonstration project grants to provide access to accounts at financial institutions for taxpayers who do not currently have such access.
 
Requires studies to: (1) enable the IRS to receive and process information reporting documents before it processes tax returns; and (2) assess the effectiveness of collection alternatives, especially offers in compromise, on long-term tax compliance. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S2382-2387)
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2381-2382)
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Introduced in Senate
Medicare Rural Health Care Equity Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3216
Sponsor: Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA]
Introduced: 2010-04-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Health care costs and insurance
Health personnel
Home and outpatient care
Hospital care
Medicare
Rural conditions and development
Wages and earnings

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: 
Medicare Rural Health Care Equity Act of 2010 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), to revise the practice expense portion of the geographic adjustment applied in a fee schedule area for physicians' services furnished in 2010 and subsequent years. Reduces the employee wage and rent portions of the index for 2010 from 3/4 to 1/2 of the difference between the relative costs of employee wages and rents in each of the different fee schedule areas and the national average of such employee wages and rents. Reduces the same portions of the index for 2011 from 1/2 to 1/4 of such differences.
 
Amends PPACA to repeal specified floors for frontier states: (1) on the area wage index for hospitals; (2) on the area wage adjustment factor for hospital outpatient department services; and (3) for the practice expense index for services furnished in such states.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2387-2388)
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Introduced in Senate
Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3218
Sponsor: Sen. Conrad, Kent [D-ND]
Introduced: 2010-04-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
Drug trafficking and controlled substances
Jurisdiction and venue

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: 
Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2010 - Amends the Controlled Substances Act to provide that anyone who enters into a conspiracy within the United States to possess or traffic in controlled substances outside the United States, or aids or abets such offenses, shall be subject to the same penalties for conspiracy as if the criminal acts resulting from such conspiracy took place within the United States. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2388)
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Introduced in Senate
Fairness for Struggling Students Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3219
Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Introduced: 2010-04-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Bankruptcy
Higher education
Student aid and college costs

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: 
Fairness for Struggling Students Act of 2010 - Revises federal bankruptcy law with respect to the exemption from the exception to discharge in bankruptcy for certain educational loans if excepting such debt from discharge would impose an undue hardship on the debtor and debtor's dependents.
 
Limits such exemption to the existing ones for: (1) an educational benefit overpayment or loan made, insured, or guaranteed by a governmental unit or made under any program funded in whole or in part by a governmental unit; and (2) an obligation to repay funds received from a governmental unit as an educational benefit, scholarship, or stipend.
 
Repeals the current exemption for: (1) any loan made under any program funded in whole or in part by a governmental unit or nonprofit institution; and (2) any other qualified education loan incurred by an individual debtor on behalf of the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, or any dependent, including indebtedness used to refinance a qualified education loan. (Thus makes both kinds of loans nondischargeable in bankruptcy.)


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S2388-2389)
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2388)
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Introduced in Senate
Prosthetics and Custom Orthotics Parity Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3220
Sponsor: Sen. Snowe, Olympia J. [R-ME]
Introduced: 2010-04-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Employee benefits and pensions
Government studies and investigations
Health care costs and insurance
Health care coverage and access
Health technology, devices, supplies

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: 
Prosthetics and Custom Orthotics Parity Act of 2010 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Public Health Service Act to require a group health plan that provides medical and surgical benefits and also provides benefits for prosthetics and custom orthotics to offer such prosthetics and custom orthotics in the same manner as applicable to medical and surgical benefits. Prohibits separate financial requirements or more restrictive treatment limitations. Requires a health plan that does not provide coverage for benefits outside of a network to ensure that such provider network is adequate to ensure enrollee access to prosthetic and custom orthotic devices and related services provided by appropriately credentialed practitioners and accredited suppliers.
 
Limits coverage for required benefits for prosthetics and custom orthotics to the most appropriate device or component that adequately meets the medical requirements of the patient. Requires benefits to include repair and replacement due to normal wear and tear, irreparable damage, a change in the condition of the patient, or as otherwise determined appropriate by the treating physician.
 
Prohibits any annual or lifetime dollar limitation on benefits for prosthetics and custom orthotics unless such limitation applies in the aggregate to all benefits.
 
Directs the Comptroller General to study the effects of the implementation of this Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2010-04-15
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to extend the suspension of limitation on the period for which  certain borrowers are eligible for guaranteed assistance.

Bill: 111-s-3221
Sponsor: Sen. Kohl, Herb [D-WI]
Introduced: 2010-04-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Agricultural prices, subsidies, credit

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: 
Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to extend, until December 31, 2012, the suspension of the 15-year limitation on the period for which borrowers of agricultural operating loans are eligible for guaranteed assistance.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks Study Act

Bill: 111-s-3222
Sponsor: Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]
Introduced: 2010-04-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: California
Government studies and investigations
Historic sites and heritage areas
Military history
Military personnel and dependents
Parks, recreation areas, trails
Racial and ethnic relations
U.S. history

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: 
Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks Study Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to study alternatives for the commemoration and interpretation of the role of the Buffalo Soldiers (African-American troops who, in the late 19th century and early 20th century, came to be known as the Buffalo Soldiers) in the early years of the National Parks, which shall include an evaluation of the suitability and feasibility of establishing a national historic trail commemorating the route traveled by the Buffalo Soldiers from their post in the Presidio in San Francisco to the Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks and to any other National Parks where they may have served. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (text of measure as introduced: CR S2425)
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2425)
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Prosthetics and Custom Orthotics Parity Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3223
Sponsor: Sen. Snowe, Olympia J. [R-ME]
Introduced: 2010-04-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Employee benefits and pensions
Government studies and investigations
Health care costs and insurance
Health care coverage and access
Health technology, devices, supplies

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: 
Prosthetics and Custom Orthotics Parity Act of 2010 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Public Health Service Act to require a group health plan that provides medical and surgical benefits and also provides benefits for prosthetics and custom orthotics to offer such prosthetics and custom orthotics in the same manner as applicable to medical and surgical benefits. Prohibits separate financial requirements or more restrictive treatment limitations. Requires a health plan that does not provide coverage for benefits outside of a network to ensure that such provider network is adequate to ensure enrollee access to prosthetic and custom orthotic devices and related services provided by appropriately credentialed practitioners and accredited suppliers.
 
Limits coverage for required benefits for prosthetics and custom orthotics to the most appropriate device or component that adequately meets the medical requirements of the patient. Requires benefits to include repair and replacement due to normal wear and tear, irreparable damage, a change in the condition of the patient, or as otherwise determined appropriate by the treating physician.
 
Prohibits any annual or lifetime dollar limitation on benefits for prosthetics and custom orthotics unless such limitation applies in the aggregate to all benefits.
 
Directs the Comptroller General to study the effects of the implementation of this Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3224
Sponsor: Sen. Udall, Tom [D-NM]
Introduced: 2010-04-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Arizona
Cancer
Civil actions and liability
Colorado
Department of Justice
Digestive and metabolic diseases
Education programs funding
Environmental health
Government information and archives
Government liability
Government trust funds
Guam
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Health care costs and insurance
Higher education
Idaho
Legal fees and court costs
Medical research
Military history
Mining
Montana
Nevada
New Mexico
Nuclear weapons
Personnel records
Radiation
Research administration and funding
Utah
Worker safety and health

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: 
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2010 - Amends the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund until 19 years after enactment of this Act.
 
Prescribes additional periods of required presence in an affected area during atmospheric nuclear testing for individuals filing leukemia or specified disease claims. Increases the amount of compensation an individual filing a claim may receive to $150,000.
 
Expands &quot;affected area&quot; to include Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico, as well as any county in Arizona, Nevada, or Utah.
 
Extends to December 31, 1990, the period during which an individual employed at any time in a uranium mine or uranium mill is made eligible to receive compensation for a disease claim due to radiation exposure. Makes a core driller eligible to receive compensation upon filing of a disease claim.
 
Makes miners, core drillers, and ore transporters who suffer renal cancer or any other chronic renal disease, including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue injury, eligible for compensation due to exposure to radiation while on the job.
 
Requires the Attorney General to accept written affidavits meeting specified requirements regarding employment history, physical presence in an affected area, or participation at a nuclear testing site in determining the eligibility of claimants.
 
Extends until 19 years after enactment of this Act the statute of limitations for the filing of such claims.
 
Increases from 2% to 10% of the payment received by a claimant the maximum amount of attorneys fees that can be charged for the filing of an initial claim.
 
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, to establish a program of grants to institutions of higher education to study the epidemiological impacts of uranium mining and milling among non-occupationally exposed individuals, including family members of uranium miners and millers.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2425-2426)
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Travel Regional Investment Partnership Act

Bill: 111-s-3225
Sponsor: Sen. Begich, Mark [D-AK]
Introduced: 2010-04-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Industrial policy and productivity
Travel and tourism

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: 
Travel Regional Investment Partnership Act - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish a competitive grant program, administered by the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, to award grants to eligible entities (such as state tourism offices, local convention and visitors bureaus, and partnerships between a state or local government and local tourism entities) to promote domestic regional tourism growth and new domestic tourism market creation.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Program for Offshore Wind Energy Research and Development Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3226
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2010-04-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Alternative and renewable resources
Ecology
Electric power generation and transmission
Energy research
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Research administration and funding
Research and development
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: 
Program for Offshore Wind Energy Research and Development Act of 2010 or the POWERED Act of 2010 - Requires the Secretary of Energy (DOE) to initiate the development of a comprehensive roadmap to assist and coordinate offshore wind power implementation efforts. Defines &quot;offshore wind power&quot; to mean the generation of electricity from the deployment of wind turbines in the Great Lakes and other inland navigable waters or in U.S. coastal waters, including the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, and the outer continental shelf.
 
Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish the Offshore Wind Power Research and Development Program to assist and coordinate offshore wind power analysis and implementation efforts consistent with the roadmap; (2) award grants to academic institutions or industry-academic consortia to establish two or more national offshore wind centers on a competitive basis with an emphasis on technical merit; (3) ensure, in selecting academic institutions or industry-academic consortia, that at least one center focuses on transitional depth and deepwater floating offshore wind energy technologies and at least one center focuses on shallow water offshore wind energy technologies; (4) award grants to states, academic institutions, and industry-academic consortia to conduct coordinated, cohesive offshore wind power analysis, research, and development projects; and (5) request grant proposals for Program projects for implementing specified activities, plans, analysis, studies, and research related to developing offshore wind power.
 
Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, as it would be amended by the American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009 as reported to the Senate as an original measure on July 16, 2009 (S.1462), to revise the federal renewable energy credit trading program by allowing triple credits for the generation of energy from offshore wind power.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Preserving the American Historical Record Act

Bill: 111-s-3227
Sponsor: Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT]
Introduced: 2010-04-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Government information and archives
Historical and cultural resources
Internet and video services
Internet, web applications, social media
U.S. history

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: 
Preserving the American Historical Record Act - Requires the Archivist of the United States to make grants to states to: (1) protect historical records; (2) use such records in new and creative ways; (3) provide education and training to those who care for historical records; and (4) create a wide variety of access tools, including finding aids, documentary editions, indexes, and images of key records maintained on state and local organization websites.
 
Sets forth a formula for the allocation of grant funds to states. Requires the Archivist to consult with state archivists, state secretaries of state, or other appropriate state and local officials who have administrative responsibilities for archival functions.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2426-2427)
action_date: 2010-04-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Small Business Innovation to Job Creation Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3228
Sponsor: Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY]
Introduced: 2010-04-20 in the Senate
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Research administration and funding
Research and development
Small business
Technology transfer and commercialization

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-20
text: 
Small Business Innovation to Job Creation Act of 2010 - Authorizes the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to make grants to small businesses to commercialize research developed by such businesses using funds received under the second phase of the Small Business Innovation Research Program (a program under which a portion of a federal agency's research and development effort is reserved for award to small businesses). Terminates the grant program at the end of FY2011.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-20
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
action_date: 2010-04-20
text: Introduced in Senate
Sustainable Urban Development Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3229
Sponsor: Sen. Kerry, John F. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2010-04-20 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Economic development
Federal officials
Foreign aid and international relief
Infrastructure development
Land use and conservation
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Urban and suburban affairs and development

Summary:
action_date: 2010-04-20
text: 
Sustainable Urban Development Act of 2010 - Directs the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop a strategy to foster sustainable urban development in developing countries that updates the Making Cities Work Urban Strategy.
 
Requires such strategy to: (1) review U.S. foreign assistance strategy and programs; (2) assess the feasibility of establishing a USAID senior advisor for urban sustainable development; (3) evaluate options to leverage private sector partnerships; (4) support U.S. government collaboration with other donors; (5) assess the feasibility of establishing a pilot urban strategies initiative; and (6) analyze approaches to improve environmental sustainability in urban areas.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-04-20
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2010-04-20
text: Introduced in Senate