hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Medicare Ambulance Access, Fraud Prevention, and Reform Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-377
Sponsor: Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY]
Introduced: 2015-02-04 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Digestive and metabolic diseases
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Government studies and investigations
Health care costs and insurance
Health information and medical records
Medicare
Motor vehicles
Transportation costs

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-04
text: 

Medicare Ambulance Access, Fraud Prevention, and Reform Act of 2015

 
 Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to the ambulance fee schedule to: (1) increase the conversion factor for ground ambulance services in the formula for determining the appropriate fee, and (2) increase the mileage rate for such services.
 
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study how the conversion factor should be modified, if at all, to take into account the cost of providing ambulance services in urban, rural, and super-rural areas.
 
Directs the Secretary to establish a process to determine, in advance of furnishing end stage renal disease ambulance services, whether payment for them may not be made because they are not covered or because they are excluded from coverage. Prohibits any payment unless the Secretary determines, pursuant to this process, that the service meets coverage requirements.
 
Directs the Secretary to develop a data collection system for ambulance providers to collect cost, revenue, utilization, and other appropriate information.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-04
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-02-04
text: Introduced in Senate
Small Business Tax Credit Accessibility Act

Bill: 114-s-379
Sponsor: Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Employee benefits and pensions
Health care costs and insurance
Income tax credits
Small business
Wages and earnings

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Small Business Tax Credit Accessibility Act 

 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the small employer health care insurance tax credit, to: (1) revise the definition of "eligible small employer" to mean an employer with not more than 50 (currently, 25) full-time employees; (2) modify the phaseout formula for such credit to base such phaseout on number of employees and average annual wages; (3) extend from two to three consecutive taxable years the period during which an employer may claim such credit; and (4) eliminate the requirement that employers contribute the same percentage of cost of each employee's health insurance and the cap limiting eligible employer contributions to average premiums paid to a state health insurance exchange.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2016-05-18
text: Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Correctional Officer Fairness Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-380
Sponsor: Sen. Toomey, Patrick [R-PA]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Correctional facilities and imprisonment
Department of Justice
Employee benefits and pensions
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Income tax exclusion
Law enforcement officers
Sales and excise taxes

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Correctional Officer Fairness Act of 2015

 
 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the 10% additional tax on early distributions from tax-exempt retirement plans distributions from a thrift savings fund to a qualified federal correctional officer who has reached age 50 or has completed 25 years of credible service, whichever is earlier. Defines "qualified federal correctional officer" as an individual who is employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons as a correctional officer and has completed 20 years of creditable service. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Bringing Missing Children Home Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-381
Sponsor: Sen. Portman, Rob [R-OH]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Child safety and welfare
Crime victims
Crimes against children
Criminal justice information and records
Human trafficking
Law enforcement administration and funding
Sex offenses

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Bringing Missing Children Home Act of 2015

 
Amends the Missing Children's Assistance Act to require the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's annual grant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to be used (among other things) to operate a cyber tipline to provide online users and electronic service providers an effective means of reporting Internet-related child sexual exploitation in the area of child sex trafficking (currently, child prostitution).
 
Amends the Crime Control Act of 1990 to require each state reporting on missing children to: (1) provide, with respect to each missing child report, a recent photograph of the child, if available; (2) direct the law enforcement agency that entered the report into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) to verify and update such record with any additional information no later than 30 days after the original entry of the record into the state law enforcement system and NCIC computer networks and to maintain close liaison with state and local child welfare systems for the exchange of information and technical assistance; and (3) grant permission to the NCIC Terminal Contractor for the state to update the missing person record in the NCIC computer networks with additional information learned during the investigation relating to the missing person.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Baseline Reform Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-382
Sponsor: Sen. Ayotte, Kelly [R-NH]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Appropriations
Budget deficits and national debt
Budget process
Health care costs and insurance
Health programs administration and funding
Inflation and prices

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Baseline Reform Act of 2015 

 
This bill amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to change the assumptions used in calculating the baseline for discretionary spending and to require budget estimates to be compared with the levels from the prior year. 
 
The baseline is a projection of federal spending and receipts during the fiscal year under current law. This bill changes the assumptions used for the discretionary spending baseline to eliminate adjustments required under current law for inflation, expiring housing contracts, social insurance administrative expenses, pay adjustments, and changes to other personnel benefits. The bill prohibits adjustments for inflation or any other factor. 
 
The President's budget must include: (1) comparisons of the proposed budgetary levels with the prior year's levels, (2) the sources of growth in direct spending under current law and as proposed in the budget, and (3) estimates of discretionary spending for current programs that assume compliance with discretionary spending limits under current law. 
 
The congressional budget committees must use budgetary levels from the prior fiscal year as the basis for deliberations in developing the congressional budget resolution and include comparisons with the prior fiscal year in the report accompanying the resolution. 
 
The Congressional Budget Office
 
 must include additional details in required reports to Congress, including comparisons to the prior year and the sources of growth in spending.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Water and Agriculture Tax Reform Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-384
Sponsor: Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Business investment and capital
Corporate finance and management
Farmland
Financial services and investments
Land transfers
Securities
Tax-exempt organizations
Water use and supply

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Water and Agriculture Tax Reform Act of 2015

 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit tax-exempt mutual ditch or irrigation companies to earn income from dispositions of certain real property and stock interests without affecting their tax-exempt status. Requires that such income be used to pay the costs of operations, maintenance, and capital improvements of such a company.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Biennial Appropriations Act

Bill: 114-s-385
Sponsor: Sen. Enzi, Michael B. [R-WY]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Appropriations
Budget deficits and national debt
Budget process
Congressional oversight
Legislative rules and procedure

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Biennial Appropriations Act 

 
This bill amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to change the annual appropriations process to a biennial process for nondefense spending. Congress must consider the defense appropriations bill annually and the remaining appropriations bills in either odd-numbered or even-numbered years. In each year that the appropriations bill for an agency is not considered, Congress must conduct oversight hearings.
 
The bill requires the congressional budget resolution to be accompanied by committee allocations for biennial appropriations and the President's budget to include details that reflect the biennial process. 
 
It also creates a point of order against considering: (1) legislation authorizing appropriations for less than two years unless the program requires no further appropriations and will be completed after appropriations are expended, and (2) authorization or revenue legislation until Congress completes action on the budget resolution, appropriations bills, and reconciliation bills. 
 
The Office of Management and Budget must report to Congress on the impact and feasibility of a biennial budget process. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-386
Sponsor: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Employment taxes
Intergovernmental relations
State and local taxation

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act of 2015

 
Prohibits the wages or other remuneration earned by an employee who performs employment duties in more than one state from being subject to income tax in any state other than: (1) the state of the employee's residence, and (2) the state within which the employee is present and performing employment duties for more than 30 days during the calendar year. Exempts employers from withholding of tax and information reporting requirements for employees not subject to income tax under this Act. Allows an employer, for purposes of determining penalties related to employer withholding or reporting requirements, to rely on an employee's annual determination of the time such employee will spend working in a state in the absence of fraud or collusion by such employee. 
 
Exempts from the definition of "employee" for purposes of this Act professional athletes, professional entertainers, and public figures who are persons of prominence who perform services for wages or other remuneration on a per-event basis. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Safe Skies for Unmanned Aircraft Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-387
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Astronomy
Atmospheric science and weather
Aviation and airports
Transportation safety and security

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Safe Skies for Unmanned Aircraft Act of 2015

 
This bill requires the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, for purposes of determining whether an unmanned aircraft (drone) used for aeronautical research qualifies as a public aircraft, to use definitions under federal aviation safety law for determining whether the aircraft is used for:
 
 
a commercial purpose, and
 
aeronautical research and platform-based research.
 
 
The Administrator must also develop procedures for the safe, beyond-line-of-sight operation of aeronautical research drones in the national airspace system.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
AWARE Act

Bill: 114-s-388
Sponsor: Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Animals
Subjects: Agricultural research
Animal protection and human-animal relationships
Livestock
Museums, exhibitions, cultural centers

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Animal Welfare in Agricultural Research Endeavors Act or the AWARE Act

 
This bill amends the Animal Welfare Act to apply standards for humane treatment to farm animals at federal research or laboratory animal facilities. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
All Students Count Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-389
Sponsor: Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Academic performance and assessments
Disability and paralysis
Education of the disadvantaged
Elementary and secondary education
Government information and archives
Minority education
Racial and ethnic relations
Special education
Women's education

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

All Students Count Act of 2015

 
Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require information on the annual state report cards on student achievement at each proficiency level to be disaggregated by the same major racial groups as the decennial census of the population. (Currently, that information is to be disaggregated by race, but the racial groups are not specified.) 
 
Requires the proficiency information which is disaggregated by such racial groups and by ethnicity, gender, disability status, migrant status, and status as economically disadvantaged to be cross-tabulated across all of those subgroups by gender and by disability.
 
Provides that such disaggregation and cross-tabulation shall not be required when the number of students in a subgroup is insufficient to yield statistically reliable information or the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Making Public Land Public Access Act

Bill: 114-s-390
Sponsor: Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Appropriations
Hunting and fishing
Land transfers
Land use and conservation
Outdoor recreation

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Making Public Land Public Access Act
 
 
Requires the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure that a specified portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund is allocated to secure recreational public access to existing federal public land that has significantly restricted access for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes. Requires Interior and USDA to annually develop a priority list for sites for such funds.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
National Right-to-Work Act

Bill: 114-s-391
Sponsor: Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Labor-management relations

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

National Right-to-Work Act 

 
 Amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to repeal those provisions that permit employers, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement that is a union security agreement, to require employees to join a union as a condition of employment (including provisions permitting railroad carriers to require, pursuant to such an agreement, payroll deduction of union dues or fees as a condition of employment). 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Stop Drugs at the Border Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-392
Sponsor: Sen. Donnelly, Joe [D-IN]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Border security and unlawful immigration
Congressional oversight
Customs enforcement
Department of Homeland Security
Drug trafficking and controlled substances
Executive agency funding and structure
Latin America
Mexico

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Stop Drugs at the Border Act of 2015

 
Directs the Office of National Drug Control Policy to ensure that the first update of the National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy published after enactment of this Act specifically addresses any increased heroin and methamphetamine trafficking occurring along the international border between the United States and Mexico.
 
Requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to report on any new resources needed by CBP and its law enforcement partners to respond to such increased trafficking, including any technology, equipment, personnel, or funding needed.
 
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Act

Bill: 114-s-393
Sponsor: Sen. Boxer, Barbara [D-CA]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Advisory bodies
California
Land transfers
Land use and conservation
Monuments and memorials
Parks, recreation areas, trails
Wilderness and natural areas, wildlife refuges, wild rivers, habitats
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Act

 
 Establishes the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, to consist of federal land and interests in federal land within Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Solano, Glenn, Colusa, and Yolo counties in California. 
 
Continues to provide historical and adequate access to private inholdings in the Monument. 
 
 
Requires a comprehensive plan for the protection and management of the federal land included within the Monument. Requires such plan to: (1) include a weed management component, (2) include a native fish passage and habitat quality improvement component, and (3) include a component that addresses public safety and environmental clean-up issues associated with illegal marijuana production. 
 
Permits grazing in the Conservation Area: (1) to continue, if established before this Act's enactment; (2) if not established before enactment, only to the extent that it is consistent with the purposes for which the Monument was established; or (3) through issuing annual targeted permits for the control of noxious weeds, fire suppression, or to provide other ecological benefits. 
 
Establishes the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Advisory Council to advise with respect to the preparation and implementation of the management plan. Requires the appointment of one Council member to represent Indian tribes. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Depreciation Fairness Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-394
Sponsor: Sen. Casey, Robert P., Jr. [D-PA]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Business investment and capital
Food industry and services
Income tax deductions
Retail and wholesale trades

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Depreciation Fairness Act of 2015 

 
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the 15-year recovery period for qualified leasehold improvement property, qualified restaurant property, and qualified retail improvement property for purposes of the tax deduction for depreciation. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate
Medicare Residential Care Coordination Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-395
Sponsor: Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA]
Introduced: 2015-02-05 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Business records
Department of Health and Human Services
Government studies and investigations
Health care costs and insurance
Health care quality
Health facilities and institutions
Health information and medical records
Housing for the elderly and disabled
Long-term, rehabilitative, and terminal care
Medicaid
Medicare

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: 

Medicare Residential Care Coordination Act of 2015 

 
 Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish and implement a demonstration project under titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to evaluate the use of capitated payments made to eligible continuing care retirement communities for residential care coordination programs.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-02-05
text: Introduced in Senate