hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Community Agriculture Development and Jobs Act

Bill: 112-hr-3225
Sponsor: Rep. Kaptur, Marcy [D-OH-9]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Aging
Agricultural education
Agricultural marketing and promotion
Agricultural practices and innovations
Agricultural prices, subsidies, credit
Agricultural research
Community life and organization
Department of Agriculture
Economic development
Elementary and secondary education
Executive agency funding and structure
Food assistance and relief
Food supply, safety, and labeling
Fruit and vegetables
Government lending and loan guarantees
Land transfers
Nutrition and diet
Poverty and welfare assistance
Public contracts and procurement

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Community Agriculture Development and Jobs Act - Amends the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to establish the Office of Community Agriculture to: (1) promote agriculture in nontraditional communities (communities or areas with limited or no traditional agricultural production), and (2) improve nutrition in such communities.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for initiatives in nontraditional communities to: (1) strengthen local food production, processing, and distribution; (2) create sustainable food systems; (3) encourage food assistance recipients to purchase locally grown or produced foods; (4) convert vacant land to agricultural production; and (5) support education and training.
 
Amends the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976 to direct the Secretary to provide loans, loan guarantees, and grants to expand farmers markets. Gives assistance priority to nontraditional communities.
 
Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to extend the seniors farmers market nutrition program. Gives assistance priority to: (1) nontraditional communities, and (2) farmers markets with an operational seniors farmers market program.
 
Amends the Census of Agriculture Act of 1997 to require as part of each agriculture census an evaluation of the state of farmers markets in the United States.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
To restore the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund to further support our Nation's jobless workers.

Bill: 112-hr-3226
Sponsor: Rep. Lee, Barbara [D-CA-9]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Employment and training programs
Government trust funds
Intergovernmental relations
Poverty and welfare assistance
State and local finance

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Amends title IV (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of the Social Security Act to reestablish for FY2012-FY2013 the Emergency Contingency Fund for State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Programs for the purpose of grants to states by the Secretary of the Treasury related to: (1) increases in TANF caseloads, (2) increased expenditures for non-recurrent short term benefits, and (3) increased expenditures for subsidized employment. 
Modifies for FY2011-FY2012 the formula for the pro rata reduction credit in the calculation of the minimum participation rate of all families of a state receiving TANF assistance for any reduction in such rate owing to caseload reductions not required by federal law and not resulting from changes in state eligibility criteria.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-17
text: Referred for a period ending not later than October 17, 2011, (or for a later time if the Chairman so designates) to the Subcommittee on Human Resources, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the subcommittee concerned.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing oil and gas leases on portions of the Outer Continental Shelf located off the coast of New Jersey.

Bill: 112-hr-3227
Sponsor: Rep. LoBiondo, Frank A. [R-NJ-2]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Land transfers
Licensing and registrations
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
New Jersey
Oil and gas

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Prohibits the Secretary of the Interior from issuing a lease, permit, or license for oil exploration or extraction from specified submerged Outer Continental Shelf lands located within 125 miles of the coast of New Jersey, including areas with respect to which a moratorium on oil and gas leasing activities existed before enactment of this Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
Confidential Informant Accountability Act of 2011

Bill: 112-hr-3228
Sponsor: Rep. Lynch, Stephen F. [D-MA-9]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Crime victims
Crimes against children
Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
Criminal justice information and records
Drug trafficking and controlled substances
Evidence and witnesses
Government ethics and transparency, public corruption
Government liability
Judicial procedure and administration
Organized crime
Pornography

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Confidential Informant Accountability Act of 2011 - Directs the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of the Treasury to report biannually to Congress on all serious crimes, authorized and unauthorized, committed by informants maintained by the respective law enforcement agencies of such Departments (the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], the Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA], the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives [ATF]).
 
Defines a &quot;serious crime&quot; as any serious violent felony or drug offense (as such terms are defined in the federal criminal code) or any offense of racketeering, bribery, child pornography, obstruction of justice, or perjury that an agent or employee of the relevant law enforcement agency has reasonable grounds to believe an informant has committed.
 
Amends the federal judicial code to extend to three years the period within which a tort claim against the United States must be presented in writing to a federal agency when the claim arises out of a government employee's conduct with respect to the criminal misconduct of a government informant. (Current law bars all tort claims against the United States that are not presented within two years after the claim accrues.)
 
Applies the amendment retroactively to any such claim that: (1) accrued on or after May 1, 1982; and (2) is presented within one year after enactment of this Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-24
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
FLARE Act

Bill: 112-hr-3229
Sponsor: Rep. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA-7]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Department of the Interior
Energy efficiency and conservation
Energy revenues and royalties
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Oil and gas
Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Fuel Loss Abatement and Royalty Enhancement Act or the FLARE Act - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the the Mineral Leasing Act to require the Secretary of the Interior to issue regulations to prevent or minimize the venting and flaring of gas in oil and gas production operations in the United States and to promote the capture and beneficial use or reinjection of gas in such operations. Requires such regulations to treat gas that is flared or vented in operations under a lease under such Act as production for which a royalty is required to be paid to the United States. 
 
Prohibits such regulations from applying with respect to the production under a lease in effect on this Act's enactment to the extent such application would constitute a breach of the terms of the lease by the United States.
 
Directs the Secretary to assess and report on such venting and flaring, including estimating the volume of gas that is vented or flared in such operations each year.
 
Makes any finding or permit issued by an agency that will authorize such flaring or venting a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment for purposes of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-20
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
Keeping America Competitive Through Harmonization Act of 2011

Bill: 112-hr-3230
Sponsor: Rep. McMorris Rodgers, Cathy [R-WA-5]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Africa
Asia
Australia
Canada
Drug safety, medical device, and laboratory regulation
Europe
European Union
Health technology, devices, supplies
Israel
Japan
Middle East
New Zealand
Oceania
South Africa
Switzerland
Trade agreements and negotiations

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Keeping America Competitive Through Harmonization Act of 2011 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enter into agreements with listed countries (countries eligible for exports of drugs or biological products that have not been approved under certain circumstances) regarding methods and approaches to harmonizing regulatory requirements for premarket review, inspections, and common international labeling symbols.
 
Requires the Secretary to report on the agreements entered under this Act and to itemize the methods and approaches that have been harmonized pursuant to this Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the amount allowed as a deduction for start-up expenditures.

Bill: 112-hr-3231
Sponsor: Rep. Meehan, Patrick [R-PA-7]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Business investment and capital
Income tax deductions
Small business

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the tax deduction for the start-up expenditures of an active trade or business from $5,000 to $20,000 in taxable years beginning in 2011 through 2014.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
H-2A Improvement Act

Bill: 112-hr-3232
Sponsor: Rep. Owens, William L. [D-NY-23]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Foreign labor
Immigration status and procedures
Livestock
Migrant, seasonal, agricultural labor
Visas and passports

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
H-2A Improvement Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to include within the H-2A nonimmigrant visa category (temporary agricultural workers) an alien coming temporarily to the United States to work as a sheepherder, goat herder, or dairy worker. Exempts an employer filing a petition to employ such a worker from the requirement to show that the position is of a seasonal or temporary nature.
 
Provides for a three-year initial period of admission with additional three-year extensions.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-24
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
Eliminate Auto Test (EAT) Act of 2011

Bill: 112-hr-3233
Sponsor: Rep. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI-9]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Food assistance and relief
Motor vehicles
Poverty and welfare assistance
Transportation costs

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Eliminate Auto Test (EAT) Act of 2011 - Amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to exclude the value of vehicles used for household transportation, or to obtain or continue employment, from the resource limitation for purposes of supplemental nutrition assistance (SNAP, formerly food stamps) eligibility.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-08
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture .
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
Unemployed Worker Assistance Act of 2011

Bill: 112-hr-3234
Sponsor: Rep. Platts, Todd Russell [R-PA-19]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Employee benefits and pensions
Income tax exclusion
Unemployment

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Unemployed Worker Assistance Act of 2011 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow unemployed individuals who have exhausted all rights to unemployment compensation under federal or state law to make penalty-free withdrawals from tax-exempt pension and retirement plans.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
Education and Energy Act of 2011

Bill: 112-hr-3235
Sponsor: Rep. Tipton, Scott  R. [R-CO-3]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Education programs funding
Elementary and secondary education
Energy revenues and royalties
Higher education
Mining

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Education and Energy Act of 2011 - Amends the Mineral Leasing Act to require a portion of the revenue deposited into the general fund of the Treasury from new mineral and geothermal leases to be provided to the states for elementary, secondary, and higher education.
 
Restricts the revenue from which that portion is to be derived to the revenue from new leases that is in excess of the Secretary of the Treasury's previous estimate of the revenue that those leases would yield in a fiscal year.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
action_date: 2011-11-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
action_date: 2011-10-20
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
Incentivizing Offshore Wind Power Act

Bill: 112-hr-3238
Sponsor: Rep. Pascrell, Bill, Jr. [D-NJ-8]
Introduced: 2011-10-18 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Alternative and renewable resources
Business investment and capital
Great Lakes
Income tax credits
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-18
text: 
Incentivizing Offshore Wind Power Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow a 30% tax credit for investment in a qualifying offshore wind facility (an offshore facility using wind to produce electricity), and (2) direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a qualifying credit for offshore wind facilities program to consider and award certifications for investments eligible for such a credit to qualifying offshore wind facility sponsors.
 
Requires the Secretary to review credits allocated under this Act and authorizes the Secretary to reallocate such credits upon determining that: (1) there is an insufficient quantity of qualifying applications for certification pending at the time of the review, or (2) scheduled placed-in-service dates of previously certified facilities have been significantly delayed and the applicant will not meet the required timeline. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-18
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2011-10-18
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-18
text: Introduced in House
Safeguarding Access For Every Medicare Patient Act

Bill: 112-hr-3239
Sponsor: Rep. Marino, Tom [R-PA-10]
Introduced: 2011-10-21 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Civil actions and liability
Computers and information technology
Health care costs and insurance
Health care quality
Health facilities and institutions
Health information and medical records
Health personnel
Health technology, devices, supplies
Judicial procedure and administration
Medicaid
Medicare

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: 
Safeguarding Access for Every Medicare Patient Act - Authorizes a covered entity to submit to a Patient Safety Organization information on electronic health record (EHR)-related adverse events with respect to certified EHR technology the entity has used or provided.
 
Specifies covered entities as certain EHR users, health information exchange entities, and health care professionals who use EHR technology.
 
Defines an EHR-related adverse event as a defect, malfunction, or error in the certified health information technology or electronic health record used by a provider, or in the input or output of data maintained through such technology or record, that results or could reasonably result in harm to a patient.
 
Limits electronic discovery (e-discovery) in any health care lawsuit against a covered entity relating to an EHR-related adverse event involving certified EHR technology to information: (1) related to that event, and (2) from the period in which the event occurred.
 
Prohibits a claimant from commencing a lawsuit more than three years after the manifestation of injury or one year after the claimant discovers, or should have discovered, the injury, whichever occurs first. Requires tolling of this limitation, however, to the extent that the claimant is able to prove: (1) fraud; (2) intentional concealment; or (3) the presence of a foreign body, with no therapeutic or diagnostic purpose or effect, in the injured person.
 
Subjects each party to such a lawsuit which is not a covered entity to proportionate liability only. 
 
Allows punitive damages against a covered entity only upon proof by clear and convincing evidence that the entity acted with reckless disregard for the claimant's health or safety.
 
Shields covered entities, employees, agents, and representatives from civil liability for libel or slander arising from information or entries made in certified EHR technology, or transferred to another eligible provider, if the information, entries, or transfer were made in good faith and without malice.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: Introduced in House
Christopher's Law

Bill: 112-hr-3240
Sponsor: Rep. Pascrell, Bill, Jr. [D-NJ-8]
Introduced: 2011-10-21 in the House
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Consumer credit
Disability and paralysis
Government information and archives
Government lending and loan guarantees
Higher education
Student aid and college costs

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: 
Christopher Bryski Student Loan Protection Act or Christopher's Law - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require lenders of private educational loans for which cosigners are held jointly liable to describe clearly and conspicuously, in writing, the cosigners' obligations regarding such loans, including the effect a borrower's or cosigner's death, disability, or inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity would have on such obligations.
 
Directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to publish a model form for describing those obligations.
 
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education to provide borrowers of federal educational loans information at their entrance counseling on the effect their death, disability, or inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity would have on their federal and private educational loans.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-01-12
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-21
text: Introduced in House