hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Law Enforcement Officers Retirement Equity Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-985
Sponsor: Sen. Mikulski, Barbara A. [D-MD]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Department of the Treasury
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Law enforcement officers
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
Law Enforcement Officers Retirement Equity Act of 2011 - Amends the definition of the term "law enforcement officer" under provisions of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to include: (1) federal employees not otherwise covered by such term whose duties include the investigation or apprehension of suspected or convicted individuals and who are authorized to carry a firearm; and (2) such employees of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whose duties are primarily the collection of delinquent taxes and the securing of delinquent returns.
 
Requires such service that is performed by an incumbent law enforcement officer: (1) on or after enactment of this Act to be treated for all purposes other than retirement as service performed as a law enforcement officer; and (2) before, on, or after enactment of this Act to be treated for federal retirement purposes as service performed as such an officer if an appropriate written election is submitted to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) not later than the earlier of five years after the date of enactment of this Act and the day before the incumbent separates from government service. 
Provides that nothing under current law respecting mandatory separation from government service under CSRS or FERS shall cause the involuntary separation of an officer before the end of the three-year period following enactment.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Investing in U.S. Territories, Not Corporations Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-986
Sponsor: Sen. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Alcoholic beverages
Food industry and services
Puerto Rico
Sales and excise taxes
Virgin Islands

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
Investing in U.S. Territories, Not Corporations Act of 2011 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to shipments of rum to the United States from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, to: (1) limit during a two-year period the amount of direct and indirect government assistance by the governments of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to rum producers from rum excise taxes covered-over into the treasuries of such governments to 15% of the amounts covered-over, (2) impose limitations on the allocation of rum excise taxes between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and (3) deny any payment of rum excise taxes covered over into the treasuries of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for rum redistilled into cane neutral spirits after being brought into the United States.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-987
Sponsor: Sen. Franken, Al [D-MN]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Law
Subjects: Alternative dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration
Consumer affairs
Contracts and agency
Labor-management relations

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 - Declares that no predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable if it requires arbitration of an employment, consumer, or civil rights dispute.
 
Declares, further, that the validity and enforceability of an agreement to arbitrate shall be determined by a court, under federal law, rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunction with other terms of the contract containing such agreement.
 
Exempts from this Act arbitration provisions in a contract between an employer and a labor organization or between labor organizations. Denies to any such arbitration provision, however, the effect of waiving the right of an employee to seek judicial enforcement of a right arising under the U.S. Constitution, a state constitution, a federal or state statute, or related public policy.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-13
text: Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 112-177.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Land-In-Trust Schools and Local Governments Equitable Compensation Act

Bill: 112-s-988
Sponsor: Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Education programs funding
Elementary and secondary education
Indian lands and resources rights
Intergovernmental relations
State and local finance
State and local taxation

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
Land-In-Trust Schools and Local Governments Equitable Compensation Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to attempt to negotiate an agreement among a local educational agency (LEA) or local government, the Secretary, the state, and, if appropriate, a federally recognized Indian tribe or individual Indian under which the parties agree that payments representing property tax revenues lost as a result of the Secretary's taking land into trust for such tribe or Indian shall be: (1) waived in whole or in part; (2) limited for an agreed upon number of years; or (3) otherwise adjusted, including the timing of such payments.
 
Directs the Secretary to pay each LEA or local government for each fiscal year for which such an agreement is not in effect amounts necessary to ensure that the LEA or local government receives full payment for the amount of property tax revenues lost as a result of lands being held in trust by the Secretary for the benefit of a federally recognized Indian tribe or an individual Indian.
 
Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer the amounts necessary for such payments directly to the Secretary from the Treasury's general fund without further appropriation.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Flint Hills Preservation Act

Bill: 112-s-989
Sponsor: Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Air quality
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Environmental regulatory procedures
Fires
Kansas
Licensing and registrations
Oklahoma

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
Flint Hills Preservation Act - Amends the Clean Air Act to require states and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in determining whether an exceedance or violation of a national ambient air quality standard has occurred with respect to a specific air pollutant, to exclude data from a particular air quality monitoring location if emissions from prescribed fires in the Flint Hills Region cause a concentration of the air pollutant at the location to be in excess of the standard.
 
Prohibits, if such emission data is excluded: (1) the Administrator from finding that a state has failed to enforce, or that a person has violated, a state implementation plan (SIP) for national primary or secondary ambient air quality standards as a result of such emissions; or (2) a state from finding that a person has violated, or from bringing an enforcement action for violation of, a SIP for such standards as a result of such emissions.
 
Prohibits: (1) the Administrator from requiring, or a state from adopting, a smoke management plan under such Act in connection with any prescribed fire in such region; and (2) a building, structure, facility, or installation from being treated as a stationary source under new stationary source performance standards as a result of such prescribed fires.

 
Provides that no person shall be required to obtain or modify an operating permit under Title V of the Clean Air Act in connection with such a prescribed fire. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
CLEAN-UP Act

Bill: 112-s-991
Sponsor: Sen. Mikulski, Barbara A. [D-MD]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Congressional oversight
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government studies and investigations
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Performance measurement
Public contracts and procurement

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
Correction of Long-Standing Errors in Agencies' Unsustainable Procurements Act of 2011 or the CLEAN-UP Act - Requires executive agencies to ensure that: (1) inherently governmental functions, functions closely related to such functions, and mission-essential functions are performed by federal employees; (2) other functions are performed by the more efficient form of personnel, whether federal employees, contractors, or military personnel; and (3) consideration is given to using federal employees to perform new functions on a regular basis. 
 
Requires each agency head to submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB): (1) an annual report on service contracts for new work, (2) a Functions At Risk Report that describes those functions required to be performed by federal employees that are actually performed by contractors (requires agencies to reduce the total number of contractor employees described in that Report by 70% within six years), and (3) a strategic human capital plan to ensure the capability of the agency's federal employee workforce to perform agency functions. Prohibits an agency from conducting a public-private competition for any function that such plan identifies as experiencing a gap in its federal employee workforce.
 
 
Requires agencies subject to the Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act of 1998 (other than the Department of Defense [DOD]) to: (1) submit an annual inventory of activities performed pursuant to contracts for services, (2) review those contracts and identify activities that should be considered for conversion to performance by civilian employees, and (3) develop a plan for such conversion by June 30 of the following year. 
 
Authorizes agency heads to expedite the hiring of certain professionals in shortage category positions. 
 
Requires the OMB Director to: (1) develop guidelines for the establishment of business process re-engineering projects, and (2) conduct annual performance reviews of such projects that are ongoing. 
 
Sets forth revisions, requirements, and restrictions applicable to studies and public-private competitions for the conversion of agency functions to contractor performance pursuant to OMB Circular A-76.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act

Bill: 112-s-992
Sponsor: Sen. Boxer, Barbara [D-CA]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Civil actions and liability
Department of Health and Human Services
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Health care quality
Health facilities and institutions
Health personnel
Health programs administration and funding
Health technology, devices, supplies
Hospital care
Medicaid
Medical education
Medicare
Nursing
Student aid and college costs

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require hospitals to implement a staffing plan that includes a minimum direct care registered nurse-to-patient ratio by unit, adjustments above the minimum ratio under appropriate circumstances, and compliance with minimum licensed practical nurse staffing requirements. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a national acuity tool to establish nurse staffing requirements above minimum ratios.
 
Directs the Secretary to adjust Medicare payments to hospitals to cover additional costs incurred in providing services to Medicare beneficiaries that are attributable to compliance with such ratios.
 
Gives a nurse the right to act as the patient's advocate, including by initiating action to improve health care or to change decisions or activities that are against the interests and wishes of the patient and by giving the patient an opportunity to make informed decision about health care before it is provided. 
 
Authorizes a nurse to refuse to accept an assignment if it would violate minimum ratios under this Act or if the nurse is not prepared by education, training, or experience to fulfill the assignment without compromising the safety of any patient or jeopardizing the license of the nurse. Prohibits a hospital from: (1) taking specified actions against a nurse based on the nurse's refusal to accept an assignment for such a reason; or (2) discriminating against any patient, employee, or any other individual for good faith complaints or grievances relating to the care, services, or conditions of the hospital or of any affiliated or related facilities. Prohibits actions by hospitals to restrain such rights. 
 
Includes stipends in the nurse workforce loan repayment and scholarship program. Expands the nurse retention grant program to authorize programs to implement nurse preceptorship and mentorship projects.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2954)
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Wounded Warrior Tax Equity Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-993
Sponsor: Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Military medicine
Military operations and strategy
Military personnel and dependents
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
Wounded Warrior Tax Equity Act of 2011 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prevent any extension of the tax collection period after assessment for taxpayers who are members of the Armed Forces due to a hospitalization for combat zone injuries. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
State Ethics Law Protection Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-994
Sponsor: Sen. Kirk, Mark Steven [R-IL]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
Government ethics and transparency, public corruption
Public contracts and procurement
Roads and highways
State and local government operations
Transportation programs funding

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
State Ethics Law Protection Act of 2011 - Considers a state transportation department not to have violated federal contract requirements for the construction of a federal-aid highway project solely because the state in which the department is located, or a local government within that state, has in effect a law or order that limits the amount of money an individual or entity doing business with a state or local agency with respect to such a project may contribute to a political party, campaign, or elected official (pay to play).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. (text of measure as introduced in Senate: CR S2954-2955)
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2954)
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Public Officials Accountability Act

Bill: 112-s-995
Sponsor: Sen. Kirk, Mark Steven [R-IL]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Fraud offenses and financial crimes
Government ethics and transparency, public corruption

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
Public Officials Accountability Act - Amends the federal criminal code to include as a fraud offense a scheme or artifice by a public official to engage in undisclosed self-dealing. Defines &quot;undisclosed self-dealing&quot; to mean: (1) performing an official act to benefit or further a financial interest of such public official, a spouse or minor child, a general business partner, a business or organization in which the public official is serving as an employee, officer, director, trustee, or general partner, or an individual, business, or organization with whom the public official is negotiating for, or has any arrangement concerning, prospective employment or financial compensation; and (2) knowingly falsifying, concealing, covering up, or failing to disclose material information regarding a financial interest as required by law. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced in Senate: CR S2955)
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2955)
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-996
Sponsor: Sen. Rockefeller, John D., IV [D-WV]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Business investment and capital
Economic development
Financial services and investments
Income tax credits
Inflation and prices

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act of 2011 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend the new markets tax credit through 2016; (2) provide for an inflation adjustment to the limitation amount for such credit after 2012; and (3) allow an offset against the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for such credit. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Pilots Equitable Treatment Act

Bill: 112-s-998
Sponsor: Sen. Akaka, Daniel K. [D-HI]
Introduced: 2011-05-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Aviation and airports
Employee benefits and pensions
Transportation employees

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: 
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Pilots Equitable Treatment Act - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), with regard to both single-employer and multiemployer plan guaranteed benefits, to require the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) , in the case of commercial airline pilots required by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation to retire before age 65, to compute the actuarial value of monthly benefits in the form of a life annuity commencing at the required retirement age.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced in Senate: CR S2956)
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2955-2956)
action_date: 2011-05-12
text: Introduced in Senate
Small System Safe Drinking Water Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-999
Sponsor: Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]
Introduced: 2011-05-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Environmental regulatory procedures
Environmental technology
Government lending and loan guarantees
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
State and local finance
Technology transfer and commercialization
Water quality
Water use and supply

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-16
text: 
Small System Safe Drinking Water Act of 2011 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): (1) to convene a working group to study barriers to using specified treatments; (2) to develop model guidance to assist states in regulating and promoting such treatment options; and (3) when establishing affordability criteria for variance technology, to consider specified cost factors, to give extra weight to households below the poverty level and to communities that meet state affordability criteria, and to ensure that the criteria are not more costly, on a per-capita basis, to a small public water system than the per capita cost to a large water system of acquiring feasible technology.
 
 Requires the Administrator or a state, before initiating any enforcement action, to ensure that sufficient funds have been made available to assist each public water system that serves fewer than 10,000 individuals in meeting regulation requirements.

Revises provisions allowing an exemption of a system from maximum containment level and treatment technique requirements to: (1) increase the population threshold; and (2) allow state determinations of a renewal period.
 
Revises technical assistance provisions to require water systems serving fewer than 10,000 individuals to receive adequate technical assistance and training to meet requirements of final rules. Gives priority to systems not in compliance with specified rules concerning disinfectants and disinfection byproducts, arsenic and compliance and new source monitoring, or groundwater or any other final rule promulgated by the Administrator after this Act's enactment.
 
Establishes pilot programs to: (1) explore new technologies or approaches to comply with a drinking water standard; and (2) research technology transfer issues and disinfection strategies relating to drinking water.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2011-05-16
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2993-2994)
action_date: 2011-05-16
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to limit the liability of a State performing reclamation work under an approved State approved mine reclamation plan.

Bill: 112-s-1003
Sponsor: Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]
Introduced: 2011-05-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Coal
Government liability
Mining
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2011-05-16
text: 
Amends the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to extend a state's shield from federal liability (except for gross negligence or intentional misconduct) for costs or damages incurred as a result of actions taken or omitted while implementing a state abandoned mine reclamation plan to include a state's own reclamation activities conducted pursuant to an approved plan.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-05-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2011-05-16
text: Introduced in Senate