hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2012

Bill: 112-s-3409
Sponsor: Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]
Introduced: 2012-07-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Department of Agriculture
Department of the Interior
Endangered and threatened species
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Fires
Forests, forestry, trees
Watersheds
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: 
Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2012 - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA), with respect to National Forest System lands and the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to public lands, (the Secretaries) to implement authorized wildfire prevention projects in at-risk forests and on threatened and endangered species habitat in a manner that focuses on surface, ladder, and canopy fuels reduction activities. 
 
Requires projects carried out on threatened and endangered species habitat to: (1) provide enhanced protection from wildfire, including catastrophic wildfire, for the endangered species, threatened species, or their habitat; and (2) comply with applicable recovery plan guidelines. 
 
Requires projects carried out in at-risk forests to move the federal land from condition class II or III toward condition class I, as those classes were developed by the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in a specified general technical report. 
 
Permits use in a project of: (1) domestic livestock grazing to reduce surface fuel loads and to recover burned areas; and (2) timber harvesting and thinning to reduce ladder and canopy fuel loads for the prevention of wildfire, including catastrophic wildfires. 
 
Directs the Secretaries to review public petitions for, and make determinations with respect to, the designation of federal lands as at-risk forests or as threatened and endangered species habitats. 
 
Requires notice in the Federal Register of proposed projects and final designated projects and permits public comment on projects as specified. 
 
Instructs the Secretaries to prepare an environmental assessment for projects that include timber harvesting or grazing. 
 
Instructs the Secretaries to research what impact any listing of a species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 would have on both forage and timber forest fuel loads. Requires endangered species recovery plans and critical habitat determinations to include a wildfire risk assessment analysis. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to extend the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers beyond Borders Act of 2006, and for other purposes.

Bill: 112-s-3410
Sponsor: Sen. Pryor, Mark L. [D-AR]
Introduced: 2012-07-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Consumer affairs
Crime prevention
Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Fraud offenses and financial crimes
Government studies and investigations
International organizations and cooperation

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: 
Extends, until September 30, 2020, the repeal date of the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers beyond Borders Act of 2006 (U.S. SAFE WEB Act of 2006).

action_date: 2012-07-31
text: 

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

 
Extends, until September 30, 2020, the repeal date of the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers beyond Borders Act of 2006 (U.S. SAFE WEB Act of 2006).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-12-05
text: By Senator Rockefeller from Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation filed written report. Report No. 112-248.
action_date: 2012-12-05
text: By Senator Rockefeller from Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation filed written report. Report No. 112-248.
action_date: 2012-07-31
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 479.
action_date: 2012-07-31
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Rockefeller without amendment. Without written report.
action_date: 2012-07-31
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Rockefeller without amendment. Without written report.
action_date: 2012-07-31
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to provide that the individual mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act shall not be construed as a tax.

Bill: 112-s-3411
Sponsor: Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]
Introduced: 2012-07-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Constitution and constitutional amendments
Health care costs and insurance
Health care coverage and access
Income tax rates

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: 
Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to provide that provisions of such Act imposing a penalty for failure to purchase minimum essential health care coverage shall not be construed as imposing any tax or as an exercise of any power of Congress under the Constitution to impose a tax. Makes the effective date of the amendment made by this Act retroactive to the enactment date of PPACA.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Tax Hike Prevention Act of 2012

Bill: 112-s-3413
Sponsor: Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT]
Introduced: 2012-07-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Business investment and capital
Economic performance and conditions
Income tax credits
Income tax deductions
Income tax rates
Tax reform and tax simplification
U.S. territories and protectorates

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: 
Tax Hike Prevention Act of 2012 - Extends through 2013: (1) the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, and (2) the reduction in the tax rates for dividend and capital gain income enacted by the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. 
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend for an additional two years: (1) the increased exemption amount for the alternative minimum tax (AMT); (2) the offset against the AMT for certain nonrefundable personal tax credits; and (3) the increased expensing allowance for depreciable business assets, including computer software.
 
Directs the Senate Committee on Finance to report tax reform legislation not later than 12 months after the enactment of this Act. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Introduced in the Senate. Read twice. Ordered Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 468.
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Government Transparency and Recordkeeping Act of 2012

Bill: 112-s-3415
Sponsor: Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]
Introduced: 2012-07-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Government information and archives
Government liability
Legal fees and court costs

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: 
Government Transparency and Recordkeeping Act of 2012 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make available to Congress and the public all records of individual payments made since January 1, 2003, from a permanent appropriation of funds (commonly referred to as the Judgment Fund) available to the federal government to pay certain final judgments, awards, and compromise settlements (including appropriate attorney's fees, interest, and costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act [EAJA]) resulting from claims against the United States.
 
Requires the publicly available records to be updated annually to include payments made during the previous year.
 
Requires such records, including a payment breakdowns showing the specific amount of the damages, interest, and attorneys' fees, to be maintained on a publicly accessible Internet website.
 
Prohibits records from being made available under this Act if: (1) the payment was not the result of any executive branch, federal agency, or instrumentality statutory or regulatory approval or permit related case, court order, consent decree, or settlement; or (2) the disclosure of the information is otherwise prohibited by law or court order, or is not in the best interest of national security.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5218)
action_date: 2012-07-19
text: Introduced in Senate
Stronger Enforcement of Civil Penalties Act of 2012

Bill: 112-s-3416
Sponsor: Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI]
Introduced: 2012-07-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Civil actions and liability
Financial services and investments
Fraud offenses and financial crimes
Securities

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: 
Stronger Enforcement of Civil Penalties Act of 2012 - Amends the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to increase the money penalties in administrative and civil actions involving securities laws violations.
 
Prescribes a fourth tier penalty of triple monetary penalties for noncompliance with certain enforcement actions if the violator, within the five-year period preceding the prohibited act, was criminally convicted for securities fraud or became subject to a judgment or order imposing monetary, equitable, or administrative relief in any Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) action alleging fraud by such violator.
 
Applies the treatment as a separate offense each day that a violation of an SEC cease-and-desist order is committed through continuing noncompliance to violation of any action to enforce a federal court injunction or certain SEC orders that bar, suspend, place limitations on the activities or functions of, or prohibit the activities of, a person.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S5260-5262)
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5259-5260)
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Tax Hike Prevention Act of 2012

Bill: 112-s-3417
Sponsor: Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT]
Introduced: 2012-07-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Business investment and capital
Economic performance and conditions
Income tax credits
Income tax deductions
Income tax rates
Tax reform and tax simplification
U.S. territories and protectorates

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: 
Tax Hike Prevention Act of 2012 - Extends through 2013: (1) the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, and (2) the reduction in the tax rates for dividend and capital gain income enacted by the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. 
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend for an additional year: (1) the increased exemption amount for the alternative minimum tax (AMT); (2) the offset against the AMT for certain nonrefundable personal tax credits; and (3) the increased expensing allowance for depreciable business assets, including computer software.
 
Directs the Senate Committee on Finance to report tax reform legislation not later than 12 months after the enactment of this Act. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Introduced in Senate
BEST Practices Act

Bill: 112-s-3418
Sponsor: Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Introduced: 2012-07-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Animal protection and human-animal relationships
Congressional oversight
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Medical education
Military education and training
Military medicine

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: 
Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training Practices Act or BEST Practices Act - Requires the Secretary of Defense (DOD), no later than: (1) October 1, 2014, to develop, test, and validate human-based training methods for training members of the Armed Forces in the treatment of combat injuries, with the goal of replacing live animal-based training methods; and (2) October 1, 2016, to use only use human-based training methods for such purposes. Prohibits the use of animals in such training after the latter date. Provides an exception when the Secretary determines that human-based training methods will not provide an educationally equivalent or superior substitute for live animal-based training methods.
 
Requires an annual report from the Secretary to the congressional defense committees on the development and implementation of the human-based training methods, as well as any exceptions implemented.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5262)
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Introduced in Senate
United States Employee Ownership Bank Act

Bill: 112-s-3419
Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
Introduced: 2012-07-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Bank accounts, deposits, capital
Banking and financial institutions regulation
Corporate finance and management
Department of the Treasury
Employee benefits and pensions
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Executive agency funding and structure
Government lending and loan guarantees
Labor-management relations
Unemployment

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: 
United States Employee Ownership Bank Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish the United States Employee Ownership Bank to foster increased employee ownership and greater employee participation in company decisionmaking throughout the United States.
 
Authorizes the Bank to make loans to employees, on a direct or guaranteed basis (which may be subordinated to the interests of all other creditors), to purchase a company through an employee stock ownership plan or eligible worker-owned cooperative which is at least 51% employee owned, or will become so as a result of Bank assistance.
 
Authorizes the Bank also to allow: (1) a company that is less than 51% employee owned to become at least 51% employee owned; and (2) allow a company that is already at least 51% employee owned to increase the level of employee ownership, expand operations, and increase or preserve employment. 
 
Amends the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to require the employer, if it orders a plant or facility closing in connection with the termination of its operations there, to offer its employees an opportunity to purchase that plant or facility through an employee stock ownership plan or an eligible worker-owned cooperative that is at least 51% employee owned. 
 
Exempts from such requirement an employer that orders a plant closing if the employer: (1) will retain the plant assets to continue or begin a business within the United States; or (2) intends to continue the business conducted at such plant at another plant within the United States.
 
Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to authorize the appropriate federal financial supervisory agency, in assessing and taking into account the record of a financial institution during an examination, to consider capital investments, loans, loan participation, technical assistance, financial advice, grants, and other ventures undertaken by the institution to support or enable employees to establish employee stock ownership plans or eligible worker-owned cooperatives that are at least 51% employee-owned.
 

 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Permanent Tax Relief Act

Bill: 112-s-3420
Sponsor: Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]
Introduced: 2012-07-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Income tax credits
Income tax rates
Inflation and prices
Interest, dividends, interest rates
Transfer and inheritance taxes

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: 
Permanent Tax Relief Act - Makes permanent: (1) the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, and (2) provisions of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 that reduce tax rates on dividend and capital gain income. 
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent: (1) the increased alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption amount for individual taxpayers, and (2) the offset against the AMT for certain nonrefundable personal tax credits.
 
Repeals the estate tax and the tax on generation-skipping transfers. Reduces the maximum gift tax rate to 35%. Allows a lifetime gift tax exemption of $5 million.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-24
text: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 472.
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Introduced in Senate
WORK Act

Bill: 112-s-3421
Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
Introduced: 2012-07-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Corporate finance and management
Department of Labor
Employee benefits and pensions
Executive agency funding and structure
Labor-management relations

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: 
Worker Ownership, Readiness, and Knowledge Act or WORK Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, to establish within the Employment and Training Administration an Employee Ownership and Participation Initiative to promote employee ownership and employee participation in business decisionmaking.
 
Requires the Secretary to establish a program, which may include grants for outreach, technical assistance, and training, to encourage new and existing state programs designed to foster employee ownership and employee participation in business decisionmaking throughout the United States.
 
Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on progress related to employee ownership and participation in U.S. businesses.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Billfish Conservation Act of 2012

Bill: 112-s-3422
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2012-07-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Fishes
Hawaii
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Trade restrictions
U.S. territories and protectorates

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: 
Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 - Prohibits any person from offering billfish or billfish products for sale, selling them, or having custody, control, or possession of them for purposes of offering them for sale or selling them.
 
Treats a violation of this Act as an act prohibited by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Subjects a person to a maximum civil penalty of $100,000 for each violation, with each day of a continuing violation constituting a separate offense. Exempts the state of Hawaii and the Pacific Insular Area, except that billfish may be sold under such exemption only in the United States and the Pacific Insular Area.
 
Defines "billfish" as any of the following: (1) blue marlin, (2) striped marlin, (3) black marlin, (4) sailfish, (5) shortbill spearfish, (6) white marlin, (7) roundscale spearfish, (8) Mediterranean spearfish, or (9) longbill spearfish. Excludes swordfish from such definition.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Protection Act

Bill: 112-s-3423
Sponsor: Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI]
Introduced: 2012-07-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Connecticut
Government studies and investigations
Rhode Island
Wilderness and natural areas, wildlife refuges, wild rivers, habitats

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: 
Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Protection Act - Amends the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate for study for potential addition to the national wild and scenic rivers system specified segments of the Beaver, Chipuxet, Queen, Wood, and Pawcatuck Rivers in Rhode Island and Connecticut. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5262-5263)
action_date: 2012-07-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Billfish Conservation Act of 2012

Bill: 112-s-3424
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2012-07-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Fishes
Hawaii
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Trade restrictions
U.S. territories and protectorates

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-24
text: 
Billfish Conservation Act of 2012- Prohibits any person from offering billfish or billfish products for sale, selling them, or having custody, control, or possession of them for purposes of offering them for sale or selling them.
 
Treats a violation of this Act as an act prohibited by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Subjects a person to a maximum civil penalty of $100,000 for each violation, with each day of a continuing violation constituting a separate offense. 
 
Exempts from such prohibition billfish: (1) caught by U.S. vessels and landed in the state of Hawaii or the Pacific Insular Area (PIA), or (2) landed by foreign vessels in the PIA if the foreign caught billfish is exported to markets outside the United States or retained within the PIA for local consumption.
 
Defines "billfish" as any of the following: (1) blue marlin, (2) striped marlin, (3) black marlin, (4) sailfish, (5) shortbill spearfish, (6) white marlin, (7) roundscale spearfish, (8) Mediterranean spearfish, or (9) longbill spearfish. Excludes swordfish from such definition.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2012-07-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Offshoring Notification Act

Bill: 112-s-3425
Sponsor: Sen. McCaskill, Claire [D-MO]
Introduced: 2012-07-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Employment and training programs
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Labor-management relations
Marshall Islands
Micronesia
Palau
U.S. territories and protectorates
Unemployment

Summary:
action_date: 2012-07-24
text: 
Offshoring Notification Act - Amends the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to extend its coverage not only to each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia but also to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau, and each U.S. territory or possession.
 
Revises the requirement that an employer give 60-day written notice to employees, state dislocated worker units, and local governments before ordering a plant closing or mass layoff. 
 
Requires such notice to include information stating whether: (1) the employer plans to continue producing goods or providing services that affected employees have been producing or providing, and (2) the production or provision will be performed for the employer by employees or contractors outside the United States (offshoring).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2012-07-24
text: Introduced in Senate