hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Empowering States' Rights To Protect Consumers Act

Bill: 112-s-1829
Sponsor: Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
Introduced: 2011-11-08 in the Senate
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Consumer credit
Interest, dividends, interest rates

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-08
text: 
Empowering States' Rights To Protect Consumers Act - Amends the Truth In Lending Act to limit the annual percentage rate (APR) applicable to any consumer credit transaction (other than a residential mortgage transaction), including any associated fees, to the maximum rate permitted by the laws of the state in which the consumer resides.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-08
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2011-11-08
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7193-7194)
action_date: 2011-11-08
text: Introduced in Senate
Access to Capital for Job Creators Act

Bill: 112-s-1831
Sponsor: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD]
Introduced: 2011-11-09 in the Senate
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Financial services and investments
Marketing and advertising
Securities
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: 
Access to Capital for Job Creators Act -Amends the Securities Act of 1933 to exempt from proscriptions governing interstate commerce and the mails those transactions by an issuer that do not involve a public offering, whether or not such transactions involve general solicitation or general advertising. 
 
 Directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revise rules governing an exemption from public offering requirements for limited offers and sales without regard to the dollar amount of the offering (Regulation D), so as to provide that a specified prohibition against general solicitation or general advertising does not apply to offers and sales of securities made pursuant to Regulation D if all purchasers of the securities are accredited investors. Amends such revised rules to require that the issuer take reasonable steps to verify that purchasers of the securities are accredited investors, using such methods as are determined by the SEC.
 
 

 
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-12-14
text: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 112-465.
action_date: 2011-12-01
text: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 112-444.
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Introduced in Senate
Marketplace Fairness Act

Bill: 112-s-1832
Sponsor: Sen. Enzi, Michael B. [R-WY]
Introduced: 2011-11-09 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Internet and video services
Internet, web applications, social media
Retail and wholesale trades
Sales and excise taxes
State and local government operations
State and local taxation
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: 
Marketplace Fairness Act - Expresses the sense of Congress that states should be able to enforce their existing sales and use tax laws and to treat similar sales transactions equally, without regard to the manner in which the sale is transacted, and to collect, or decide not to collect, taxes that are owed under state law. 
 
Authorizes each member state under the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (the multistate agreement for the administration and collection of sales and use taxes adopted on November 12, 2002) to require all sellers not qualifying for a small-seller exception (sellers with annual gross receipts in total U.S. remote sales of less than $500,000) to collect and remit sales and use taxes with respect to remote sales under provisions of the Agreement. Defines &quot;remote sale&quot; as a sale of goods or services attributed to a state with respect to which a seller does not have adequate physical presence to establish a nexus with the state.
 
Allows a state that is not a member state under the Agreement to require sellers to collect and remit sales and use taxes with respect to remote sales sourced to such state if the state adopts and implements certain minimum simplification requirements, including: (1) providing a single state agency to administer all sales and use taxes, (2) establishing a uniform sales and use tax base, (3) relieving remote sellers from liability to the state or a locality for collection of the incorrect amount of sales or use tax based on information provided by the state, and (4) providing remote sellers 30 days' notice of a tax rate change by any locality in the state.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7296-7297)
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7233-7236)
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Introduced in Senate
Fair Compliance Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-1833
Sponsor: Sen. Manchin, Joe, III [D-WV]
Introduced: 2011-11-09 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Air quality
Electric power generation and transmission
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental regulatory procedures
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Public utilities and utility rates

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: 
Fair Compliance Act of 2011 - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide an extension of at least two years of the deadline to comply with any emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants from electric utility steam generating units that the Administrator may promulgate based on the proposed rule entitled &quot;National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-Commercial-Institutional, and Small Industrial-Commercial-Institutional Steam Generating Units.&quot;
 
Requires the Administrator to: (1) provide adequate time for each state to adopt and submit state implementation plan revisions for the implementation of the emissions reductions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from electric utility steam generating units required by the final rule entitled &quot;Federal Implementation Plans: Interstate Transport of Fine Particulate Matter and Ozone and Correction of SIP Approvals&quot;; and (2) extend the date by which each state shall implement such reductions until no earlier than January 1, 2015, for first phase of the emissions reductions and January 1, 2017, for the second phase.
 
Requires each owner or operator of such unit that is subject to any emissions standard for hazardous air pollutants to submit: (1) a draft implementation plan for the expeditious implementation of the applicable emissions reduction requirements to the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) by July 1, 2012 for review, (2) a revised plan to the Administrator and the Secretary of Energy (DOE) by December 1, 2012, and (3) a report describing the progress made in implementing the plan to the Administrator and the Secretary by December 1, 2014, and annually thereafter.
 
Requires the Secretary to submit to the Administrator: (1) a final implementation plan no later than 60 days after submission of a draft plan to ERO, and (2) a report on progress on implementing emissions control measures in a manner that ensures the reliability of the local and regional electricity systems by March 31, 2015, and annually thereafter through 2018.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Introduced in Senate
Foreign Oil Pollution Act

Bill: 112-s-1836
Sponsor: Sen. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ]
Introduced: 2011-11-09 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Government trust funds
Jurisdiction and venue
Marine pollution
Oil and gas
Pollution liability

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: 
Foreign Oil Pollution Act - Amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to make each responsible party for a foreign offshore unit from which oil is discharged outside the navigable waters or the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) before entering or posing a substantial threat to enter the navigable waters or EEZ liable for specified removal costs and damages that result from such incident.
 
Redefines &quot;foreign offshore unit&quot; to include a facility which is located within the EEZ.
 
Prohibits a limit on liability under such Act for any incident involving a foreign offshore unit in which oil is discharged and enters or poses a substantial threat to enter such waters or EEZ.
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the $1 billion per incident limitation on expenditures from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for incidents involving a foreign offshore unit in which oil is discharged and enters or poses a substantial threat to enter such waters or the EEZ. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Introduced in Senate
Rebuilding America Act

Bill: 112-s-1837
Sponsor: Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]
Introduced: 2011-11-09 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Corporate finance and management
Income tax rates
Taxation of foreign income
U.S. and foreign investments

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: 
Rebuilding America Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the tax rate on current and accumulated foreign earnings of U.S. corporations reinvested in the United States from 35% to 5% and make such lower rate permanent.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program on service dog training therapy, and for other purposes.

Bill: 112-s-1838
Sponsor: Sen. Baucus, Max [D-MT]
Introduced: 2011-11-09 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Animal protection and human-animal relationships
Health care coverage and access
Mental health
Rural conditions and development
Service animals
Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: 
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to commence a three-year pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of using service dog training activities as components of integrated post-deployment mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rehabilitation programs at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers to positively affect veterans with such symptoms and to produce specially trained service dogs for veterans. Requires the pilot program to be carried out at one VA medical center selected by the Secretary other than the VA health care system in Palo Alto, California. Makes veteran participation voluntary. Requires the Secretary to: (1) collect program data to determine its effectiveness, as well as the advisability of expanding the program to additional VA medical centers; and (2) report annually to Congress for the duration of the pilot program.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-06-27
text: Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 112-668.
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7302)
action_date: 2011-11-09
text: Introduced in Senate
National Guard and Reserve Soft Landing Reintegration Act

Bill: 112-s-1839
Sponsor: Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Introduced: 2011-11-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Employee leave
Military personnel and dependents
National Guard and reserves

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: 
National Guard and Reserve Soft Landing Reintegration Act - Requires that a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces who was deployed for more than 269 days for a contingency operation or a homeland defense mission be: (1) retained on active duty in the Armed Forces for 45 days after the end of the member's demobilization from a deployment, (2) allowed to use accrued leave, and (3) paid specified pay and allowances.
 
 Requires a member requesting an early release from such active duty to be released within 14 days after such request. Allows such request to be denied only for medical or personal safety reasons.
 
 Allows the Secretary of the military department concerned to provide each member so retained (and, as practicable, appropriate family members) reintegration counseling and services.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7370)
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7369-7370)
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Introduced in Senate
Trisomy 21 Research Centers of Excellence Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-1840
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2011-11-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Health programs administration and funding
Hereditary and development disorders
Medical research
Neurological disorders
Research administration and funding

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: 
 Trisomy 21 Research Centers of Excellence of 2011- Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), acting through the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, to expand and intensify NIH programs with respect to research and related activities concerning Down syndrome. Requires the Director of NIH to publish a research plan on Down syndrome and update it every five years or as appropriate.
 
Requires the Director of NIH to award grants and contracts to public or nonprofit private entities to pay all or part of the cost of planning, establishing, improving, and providing basic operating support for centers of excellence regarding translational research on Down syndrome. Sets forth requirements for such centers, which shall include: (1) contributing to a comprehensive research portfolio for Down syndrome, (2) having a primary focus on Down syndrome, (3) providing an optimal venue and infrastructure for patient-oriented research, and (4) conducting basic, clinical, and translational research on Down syndrome in specified areas.
 
Authorizes the Director of NIH to establish a Down Syndrome Consortium to facilitate the exchange of information and to make the research effort on Down syndrome more efficient and effective.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Introduced in Senate
Trisomy 21 Research Resource Act of 2011

Bill: 112-s-1841
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2011-11-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Government information and archives
Health information and medical records
Health programs administration and funding
Hereditary and development disorders
Medical research
Neurological disorders
Research administration and funding

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: 
 Trisomy 21 Research Resource Act of 2011 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), acting through the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, to expand and intensify NIH programs with respect to research and related activities concerning Down syndrome. Requires the Director of NIH to publish a research plan on Down syndrome and update it every five years or as appropriate.
 
Authorizes the Director of NIH to: (1) conduct basic, clinical, and translational research on Down syndrome; (2) award a grant or contract for a registry of individuals with Down syndrome; (3) establish a database including the names, contact information, and each medical condition of individuals with Down syndrome; and (4) expand one or more tissue banks maintained or supported by NIH to identify any tissue harvested from a tissue donor with Down syndrome. Requires consent before including an individual's information in the registry, the database, or the tissue bank.
 
Authorizes the Director of NIH to provide for the participation of NIH agencies in a consortium to facilitate the exchange of information and to make the research effort on Down syndrome more efficient and effective by ensuring consistent communication, minimizing duplication of effort, and integrating the varied perspectives of partner agencies, organizations, and individuals.
 
Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to: (1) award grants and cooperative agreements for the collection, analysis, and reporting of data on Down syndrome; and (2) carry out epidemiological activities regarding Down syndrome.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Introduced in Senate
Restoring the 10th Amendment Act

Bill: 112-s-1842
Sponsor: Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS]
Introduced: 2011-11-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Law
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Administrative remedies
Civil actions and liability
Constitution and constitutional amendments
Federal district courts
Intergovernmental relations
Judicial review and appeals
Jurisdiction and venue
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: 
Restoring the 10th Amendment Act - Authorizes a designated state official to file with the head of a federal agency proposing a rule, during the period when the proposed rule is required to be open for public comment, a legal brief challenging the constitutionality of the rule under the Tenth Amendment. 
 
Directs the agency head: (1) to notify the designated official of each state within 15 days after such a brief is filed; (2) to post prominently on the agency's website a link to the brief; and (3) within 15 days after posting such link, to certify in writing that such rulemaking does not violate the Tenth Amendment and post the certification prominently on the agency's website next to the briefs pertaining to the rule, unless the agency determines it will not put the proposed rule into effect.
 
Authorizes a state official who decides to challenge a federal rule on the grounds that it violates the Tenth Amendment to elect to file a legal action in U.S. district court for the district in which the official's place of business is located. Directs the relevant U.S. Court of Appeals, at the request of a designated state official, to grant expedited review of a decision by a district court in such a case.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Introduced in Senate
Representation Fairness Restoration Act

Bill: 112-s-1843
Sponsor: Sen. Isakson, Johnny [R-GA]
Introduced: 2011-11-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Labor-management relations

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: 
Representation Fairness Restoration Act - Amends the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to revise requirements for determination by the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) of an appropriate bargaining unit before an election of collective bargaining representation. (In effect reverses the NLRB's August 26, 2011, decision in 
Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation of Mobile
 and its June 22, 2011, rulemaking regarding proposed changes to procedures involving the election of collective bargaining representation.)
 
Replaces the current restriction in the meaning of collective bargaining unit to employer unit, craft unit, plant unit, or subdivision. Requires the NLRB, instead, to determine a unit as appropriate for collective bargaining if it consists of employees that share a sufficient community of interest. Specifies factors the NLRB must consider when making such determinations.
 
Prohibits exclusion of employees from the unit unless the group's interests are sufficiently distinct from those of other employees to warrant the establishment of a separate unit. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7370-7371)
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to ensure that Federal Register notices submitted to the Bureau of Land Management are reviewed in a timely manner.

Bill: 112-s-1844
Sponsor: Sen. Heller, Dean [R-NV]
Introduced: 2011-11-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Department of the Interior
Intergovernmental relations
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: 
 Declares that if, by 45 days after a state Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office has submitted a Federal Register notice to the Washington, DC, office of the BLM for review by the Department of the Interior, the review has not been completed: (1) the notice shall consider to be approved, and (2) the state BLM office shall immediately forward the notice to the Federal Register for publication. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Introduced in Senate
STORAGE 2011 Act

Bill: 112-s-1845
Sponsor: Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Introduced: 2011-11-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Alternative and renewable resources
Electric power generation and transmission
Energy efficiency and conservation
Energy storage, supplies, demand
Income tax credits
Residential rehabilitation and home repair
Securities

Summary:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: 
Storage Technology for Renewable and Green Energy Act of 2011 or the STORAGE 2011 Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow, through 2020, a 20% energy tax credit for investment in energy storage property that is directly connected to the electrical grid (i.e., a system of generators, transmission lines, and distribution facilities) and that is designed to receive. store, and convert energy to electricity, deliver it for sale, or use such energy to provide improved reliability or economic benefits to the grid; (2) make such property eligible for new clean renewable energy bond financing; (3) allow a 30% energy tax credit for investment in energy storage property used at the site of energy storage; and (4) allow a 30% nonbusiness energy property tax credit for the installation of energy storage equipment in a principal residence. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (consideration: CR S7371-7372)
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7371)
action_date: 2011-11-10
text: Introduced in Senate