hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
FAST Voting Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-85
Sponsor: Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Disability and paralysis
Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
Emergency planning and evacuation
Military personnel and dependents
Natural disasters
Performance measurement
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
 Louis L. Redding Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely Voting Act of 2013 or FAST Voting Act of 2013 - Directs the Attorney General to award grants, on a competitive basis, to enable states to: (1) invest in practices and technology designed to expedite voting at the polls, and (2) simplify voter registration. 
 
Requires the grant application to include a comprehensive and coherent plan for using funds to improve the applicant's performance on specified measures with respect to: (1) flexible registration opportunities, (2) early voting, (3) assistance to non-English speaking voters, and (4) other related matters. 
Requires each grantee to establish performance measures and targets, approved by the Attorney General, that track its progress in implementing its plan and expediting voting at the polls or simplifying voter registration, as applicable.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-03-12
text: Committee on Rules and Administration. Hearings held.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration. (text of measure as introduced: CR S218-219)
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S217-218)
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the Coverdell education savings accounts to allow home school education expenses, and for other purposes.

Bill: 113-s-86
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Elementary and secondary education
Income tax exclusion
Inflation and prices

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow: (1) payment of home school expenses from Coverdell education savings accounts, and (2) an annual inflation adjustment after 2012 to the contribution limit amount for such accounts.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Home School Opportunities Make Education Sound Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-87
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Elementary and secondary education
Income tax deductions
Teaching, teachers, curricula

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Home School Opportunities Make Education Sound Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow all taxpayers, including taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions, a tax deduction for expenses relating to the home schooling of their children at the elementary or secondary school level.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
21st Century Charter School Act

Bill: 113-s-88
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Academic performance and assessments
Credit and credit markets
Education programs funding
Educational facilities and institutions
Elementary and secondary education
Licensing and registrations
School administration
Special education
State and local finance
Teaching, teachers, curricula

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
21st Century Charter School Act - Amends the Charter School program of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 
 
Makes public and private nonprofit entities eligible for program grants. (Currently, state educational entities are eligible for such grants.) 
 
Allows grantees to award subgrants to charter school developers or nonprofit charter support organizations and award them multiple grants to support multiple campuses of a public charter school.
 
Sets forth additional factors that are to work in favor of grant applicants, including that their state gives public charter schools funding commensurate with that provided to other public schools, has no cap on such schools, and gives the schools a high degree of autonomy.
 
Authorizes the use of subgrants to plan and implement, or expand existing, public charter schools.
 
Authorizes grantees to use a portion of the grant funds reserved for administrative expenses to improve public charter school authorizing policies and practices in their area.
 
Expands the portion of funds grantees may use in establishing revolving loan funds for loans to subgrantees for planning and operating a public charter school.
 
Requires each public charter school participating in the program to have an independent governing board that enters into a performance-based agreement with an authorized public chartering agency that describes: (1) how student performance will be measured pursuant to the state assessments required of other schools, and (2) the criteria for renewal or revocation of their charter. Prohibits such schools from giving admissions preference to any student on the basis of prior academic achievement.
 
Establishes two new grant programs awarding grants to: (1) public charter schools, public and private nonprofit entities, charter school developers, and nonprofit charter support organizations to disseminate charter school innovations to other schools and states; and (2) public and private nonprofit entities to demonstrate innovative credit enhancement initiatives that assist public charter schools in covering the cost of acquiring, constructing, and renovating facilities.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Migratory Bird Treaty Amendment Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-89
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Animals
Subjects: Birds
Disaster relief and insurance
Farmland
Hunting and fishing
Outdoor recreation
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Migratory Bird Treaty Amendment Act of 2013 - Amends the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to allow an agricultural producer, or a hunter with the producer's permission, to take migratory game birds by the aid of baiting, if: (1) the manipulation occurs on the producer's land on which a crop was not harvestable during the current or immediately preceding crop year due to a natural disaster, and (2) a local representative of the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) confirms that the crop has been destroyed and that it would not be economically practicable to harvest the crop.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Notch Fairness Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-90
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Inflation and prices
Social security and elderly assistance

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Notch Fairness Act of 2013 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to revise the formula for the computation of minimum Old Age Insurance benefits for individuals who reached age 65 in or after 1979, and to whom applies the 15-year transition period for the changes in benefit computation rules enacted in the Social Security Amendments of 1977.
 
(&quot;Notch&quot; refers to birth in the United States between 1917 and 1921, as a result of which a retiree born between those years received lower cost-of-living increases in Social Security than others after Congress readjusted Social Security benefits in 1977.)
 
Sets forth a schedule of additional benefit increases for such beneficiaries (and related beneficiaries), with percentages declining from 55% to 5% and keyed to the year an individual became eligible for such benefits between 1979 and 1988. 
 
Allows such beneficiaries, in the alternative, to receive lump sum payments over four years totaling $5,000. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Child Tax Credit Integrity Preservation Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-91
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Income tax credits
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
Tax treatment of families

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Child Tax Credit Integrity Preservation Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the identification requirements for the child tax credit to require taxpayers to provide valid identification numbers on their tax returns in addition to the names and identification numbers of each qualifying child.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to require that the Government give priority to payment of all obligations on the debt held by the public and payment of Social Security benefits in the event that the debt limit is reached.

Bill: 113-s-92
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Budget deficits and national debt
Securities
Social security and elderly assistance

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Declares that, in the event the debt of the federal government reaches the statutory limit, the authority of the Department of the Treasury to pay with legal tender the principal and interest on debt held by the public, and the authority of the Commissioner of Social Security to pay monthly Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance benefits under title II of the Social Security Act, shall take priority over all other obligations incurred by the government.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Investment Savings Access After Catastrophes Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-93
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Budget deficits and national debt
Employee benefits and pensions
Income tax deductions
Income tax exclusion
Louisiana
Mississippi
Natural disasters

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Investment Savings Access After Catastrophes Act of 2013 - Defines "Hurricane Isaac disaster area" for purposes of this Act as any parish or county of Louisiana or Mississippi in an area in which a major disaster has been declared before September 10, 2012, under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act by reason of Hurricane Isaac.
 
Provides for tax preferences in the Hurricane Isaac disaster area, including: (1) suspension of limitations on the tax deduction for personal casualty losses, (2) an extension of the carryback period for net operating losses, and (3) tax-free distributions from a retirement plan made on or after August 26, 2012, and before September 11, 2014, to an individual whose principal place of abode on August 26, 2012, was located in the Hurricane Isaac disaster area and who sustained an economic loss due to Hurricane Isaac.
 
Rescinds unobligated funds in an amount equal to the reduction in revenues resulting from the enactment of this Act. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to terminate the $1 presidential coin program.

Bill: 113-s-94
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Currency
Presidents and presidential powers, Vice Presidents

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Terminates the program for redesign and issuance of circulating $1 coins honoring each of the Presidents of the United States (Presidential $1 Coin Program).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to withhold United States contributions to the United Nations until the United Nations formally retracts the final report of the "United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict".

Bill: 113-s-95
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Arab-Israeli relations
Budget deficits and national debt
Conflicts and wars
Gaza Strip
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
International organizations and cooperation
Israel
Middle East
Military operations and strategy
Palestinians
United Nations
War crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Expresses the sense of Congress that now that evidence is available that nullifies the most controversial aspects of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the Goldstone Report) the United Nations (U.N.) should formally retract the Report.
 
Directs the Secretary of State to withhold U.S. contributions to the regularly assessed U.N. biennial budget until the U.N. formally retracts the Report. 
 
Defines &quot;formally retracts&quot; as a U.N.-adopted resolution stating that insufficient information relating to the Report's subject matter was available before its release and that the Report is annulled.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Rigs to Reefs Habitat Protection Act

Bill: 113-s-96
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Aquatic ecology
Endangered and threatened species
Government trust funds
Gulf of Mexico
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Oil and gas

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Rigs to Reefs Habitat Protection Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to assess each offshore oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico that is no longer useful for operations, and has become critical for a marine fisheries habitat, to: (1) determine whether there are coral populations or other protected species in the platform's vicinity, and (2) identify any species in the vicinity that have recreational or commercial value.
 
Prohibits the removal of any such platforms until the Secretary has completed each assessment.
 
Requires suspension of the decommissioning of a platform if a substantial reef ecosystem is in the vicinity until the Secretary determines that decommissioning would not harm the ecosystem.
 
Exempts from certain platform removal deadlines any lessees who: (1) commit to entering a particular platform in the artificial reef program under the National Fishing Enhancement Act of 1984, and (2) initiate discussions with applicable states regarding potential artificial reef sites.
 
Allows a lessee to provide for reefing in place under the artificial reef program.
 
Permits states with a state rig-to-reef program to enter agreements with any appropriate entities to assume liability in federal water for a structure covered by the state program.
 
Establishes a Reef Maintenance Fund. Requires the owner of a rig enrolled in the artificial reef program to: (1) maintain a rig anode system; and (2) pay into the Fund 50% of the estimated platform removal costs for which the owner would have been responsible if it had not participated in the program.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-97
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Civil actions and liability
Debt collection
Government information and archives
Small business
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2013 - Amends the Paperwork Reduction Act to direct agency heads not to impose civil fines for first-time paperwork violations by small business concerns unless there is potential for serious harm to the public interest, the detection of criminal activity would be impaired, the violation is not corrected within six months, the violation is a violation of internal revenue law or a law concerning the assessment or collection of any tax, debt, revenue, or receipt, or the violation presents a danger to the public health or safety. Permits an agency to determine that a fine should not be imposed for a violation that presents a danger to public health or safety if the violation is corrected within 24 hours after receipt by the small business owner of notification of the violation. 
 
Makes this Act inapplicable to any violation by a small business of a requirement regarding the collection of information by an agency if the small business previously violated any requirement concerning the collection of information by that agency.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Local Disaster Contracting Fairness Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-98
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Emergency Management
Subjects: Disaster relief and insurance
Natural disasters
Public contracts and procurement
Solid waste and recycling

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Local Disaster Contracting Fairness Act of 2013 - Prohibits the head of an executive agency from entering into an agreement for debris removal or demolition services in connection with natural disaster reconstruction efforts unless the agreement specifies that: (1) all of the work under the contract will be performed by the prime contractor or one or more subcontractors at one tier under the contract; (2) any work performed under the contract by subcontractors will be performed by local subcontractors, except to the extent that local subcontractors are not available to perform any such work; (3) the prime contractor will act as the project manager or construction manager for the contract; and (4) the prime contractor has primary responsibility for managing all work under the contract and will be paid a certain percentage of the overall value of the contract as sole compensation for assuming the risk associated with such responsibility. 
 
Requires the agency head, in entering into an agreement for debris removal or demolition services in connection with natural disaster reconstruction efforts, to give preference in the source selection process to each offeror who certifies that any work that is to be performed under the contract by subcontractors will be performed by local subcontractors. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Natural Disaster Fairness in Contracting Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-99
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2013-01-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Emergency Management
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Disaster relief and insurance
Government information and archives
Public contracts and procurement

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: 
Natural Disaster Fairness in Contracting Act of 2013 - Requires agencies, in entering into a contract to procure property or services in connection with natural disaster reconstruction efforts, to use specified competitive procedures.
 
Allows agencies to enter into a contract to procure property or services in connection with such reconstruction efforts using other than full and open competition only upon the written approval of the President or the President's designee. Requires congressional notification when procedures other than full and open competitive procedures are to be used.
 
Instructs agencies that enter into a contract for the procurement of property or services in connection with such reconstruction efforts through the use of other than full and open competitive procedures to publish in the Federal Register or Federal Business Opportunities and otherwise make available to the public specified information concerning the contract seven days before it is finalized.
 
Permits the use of noncompetitive procedures by agencies when: (1) a contract will be performed within a six-month period, and (2) the need for the property or services is of such an unusual and compelling urgency that the government would otherwise be seriously injured.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2013-01-23
text: Introduced in Senate