hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Tank Car Safety and Security Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1789
Sponsor: Rep. Payne, Donald M., Jr. [D-NJ-10]
Introduced: 2015-04-14 in the House
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Transportation
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Oil and gas
Railroads
Transportation safety and security

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: 

Tank Car Safety and Security Act of 2015 

 
 Directs the Secretary of Transportation (DOT) to revise federal regulations regarding DOT-111 tank cars used to move flammable liquids to: (1) improve tank car design standards for new cars to include an outer steel jacket around it and thermal protection, full-height head shields, and high-flow capacity pressure relief valves; and (2) require additional safety upgrades to tank cars built after October 2011 by including installation of such valves and design modifications to prevent bottom outlets from opening in case of accident.
 
Directs the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to issue regulations to require that all rail safety coordinators ensure that no tank car containing crude oil is left unattended during any period that it is being transferred between railroad carriers or between a railroad carrier and a shipper.
 
Directs the Secretary to submit to Congress a plan to phase out older-model DOT-111 tank cars that are not retrofitted to meet the new federal requirements.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-27
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Transportation Security.
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act

Bill: 114-hr-1790
Sponsor: Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [D-IL-9]
Introduced: 2015-04-14 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Corporate finance and management
Foreign and international corporations
Income tax credits
Income tax deductions
Interest, dividends, interest rates
Oil and gas
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
Taxation of foreign income

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: 

Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act 

 
 Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the taxation of the foreign-source income of domestic corporations, to:
 
 
 eliminate the deferral of tax on the foreign-source income of U.S. corporations for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2015; 
 
 deny the foreign tax credit to large integrated oil companies that are dual capacity taxpayers; 
 
 limit the offset of the foreign tax credit to income that is subject to U.S. tax;
 
 treat foreign corporations managed and controlled in the United States as domestic corporations for U.S. tax purposes;
 
limit the tax deduction of the interest expense of a U.S. corporation that is a member of a financial reporting group (i.e., a group that prepares consolidated financial statements according to generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards); and 
 
 revise rules for the taxation of inverted corporations (i.e., U.S. corporations that acquire foreign companies to reincorporate in a foreign jurisdiction with income tax rates lower than the United States) to provide that a foreign corporation that acquires the properties of a U.S. corporation or partnership after May 8, 2014, shall be treated as an inverted corporation and thus subject to U.S. taxation if, after such acquisition it holds more than 50% of the stock of the new entity (expanded affiliated group).
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
Grace Period Restoration Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1791
Sponsor: Rep. Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [R-WI-5]
Introduced: 2015-04-14 in the House
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Intellectual property

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: 

Grace Period Restoration Act of 2015

 
Amends federal patent law to revise the one-year grace period under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) that prohibits certain pre-filing disclosures made during the year preceding the effective filing date of a claimed invention from being considered prior art that would make the claim ineligible for a patent based on lack of novelty or obvious subject matter grounds. (A disclosure that is prior art generally means that a patent cannot be issued for a claimed invention because the invention was already patented, described in a printed publication, in public use, on sale, available to the public, or described in an issued patent or a previously filed application.)
 
Prohibits an inventor's or any other person's pre-filing disclosure from barring the patentability of certain claims based on lack of novelty or obvious subject matter grounds if, before such disclosure and within the one-year period before the filing date, the claimed invention was already publicly disclosed in a printed publication by the inventor, a joint inventor, or another who obtained the claimed invention from the inventor or a joint inventor. Allows an inventor who discloses an invention in a printed publication in such a manner in the year before filing a patent claim for the invention to remain entitled to the patent, regardless of any subsequent disclosures by third parties.
 
Excludes certain disclosures from being considered prior art under the revised grace period.
 
Requires the amendments made by this Act to take effect as if enacted as part of the AIA. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-05-15
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
State Grazing Management Authority Act

Bill: 114-hr-1792
Sponsor: Rep. Stewart, Chris [R-UT-2]
Introduced: 2015-04-14 in the House
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Forests, forestry, trees
Intergovernmental relations
Land use and conservation
Licensing and registrations
Livestock
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: 

State Grazing Management Authority Act

 
Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to require the Bureau of Land Management, upon the request of a state governor, to enter into 20-year cooperative agreements providing for a state to manage grazing allotments on eligible federal land in that state. Defines "eligible federal land" as public land that is subject to a grazing permit or lease issued by the Bureau, excluding a unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System or an area of critical environmental concern.
 
Prohibits any state from managing more than two allotments at any one time unless waived by the Bureau. 
 
Requires such a cooperative agreement to assign to the state the Bureau's responsibilities with respect to the grazing allotments managed under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, including the responsibility for determining whether the following actions for those allotments qualify for a categorical exclusion under such Act:
 
 
the conduct of vegetation projects; 
 
the conduct of pinyon or juniper treatments; and 
 
determinations with respect to the number of permitted animal unit months. 
 
 
Requires a cooperative agreement to provide for the state to develop a process to resolve disputes relating to a decision by the state with respect to management of an allotment. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-05
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
Sage-Grouse and Mule Deer Habitat Conservation and Restoration Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1793
Sponsor: Rep. Stewart, Chris [R-UT-2]
Introduced: 2015-04-14 in the House
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Birds
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Forests, forestry, trees
Mammals
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: 

Sage-Grouse and Mule Deer Habitat Conservation and Restoration Act of 2015

 
This bill provides a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for a vegetation management project by the Bureau of Land Management or the Forest Service involving removal or treatment of any Pinyon or Juniper tree to conserve or restore the habitat of the greater sage-grouse or mule deer.
 
Under NEPA a categorical exclusion is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations. Therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
General of the Army Omar Bradley Property Transfer Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1794
Sponsor: Rep. Barletta, Lou [R-PA-11]
Introduced: 2015-04-14 in the House
Subjects: Private Legislation

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: 

General of the Army Omar Bradley Property Transfer Act of 2015

 
Authorizes the Omar Bradley Foundation, Pennsylvania, to transfer, without consideration, to the child of General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley and his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Quayle Bradley, such items of the Omar Bradley estate under the control of the Foundation as the Secretary of the Army determines to be without historic value to the Army, provided a claim for such a transfer is submitted within 180 days after enactment of this Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-08-13
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Readiness.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-14
text: Introduced in House
Promoting Opportunity through Informed Choice Act

Bill: 114-hr-1795
Sponsor: Rep. Johnson, Sam [R-TX-3]
Introduced: 2015-04-15 in the House
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Disability assistance
Government information and archives
Social security and elderly assistance
Wages and earnings

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: 

Promoting Opportunity through Informed Choice Act

 
Directs the Commissioner of Social Security to make on-line tools publicly available through the Social Security Administration website to allow all individuals eligible for disability and Supplemental Security Income benefits under titles II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) and XVI of the Social Security Act to assess the impact of earnings on their eligibility for, and amount of, benefits received through federal and state benefit programs.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
National Park and Wilderness Waters Protection Act

Bill: 114-hr-1796
Sponsor: Rep. McCollum, Betty [D-MN-4]
Introduced: 2015-04-15 in the House
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Lakes and rivers
Licensing and registrations
Metals
Mining
Minnesota
Parks, recreation areas, trails
Water quality
Wilderness and natural areas, wildlife refuges, wild rivers, habitats

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: 

National Park and Wilderness Waters Protection Act
 
 
Withdraws federal lands within the Rainy River Drainage Basin in Minnesota from all forms of: (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation under the mineral leasing and mineral material laws. 
 
Deems the approval of any lease or permit in the Basin involving activities related to mineral production to be a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. Requires an environmental impact statement conducted for such an action to include consideration of any potential impacts to units of the National Park System (NPS) or land in the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) located in the Basin. Conditions the issuance or renewal of any such lease or permit on a requirement that the permittee or lessee seasonally monitor water quality throughout the Basin. Requires all mining activities to be suspended if any mining related contamination is detected in any NPS unit or NWPS land in the Basin until all contamination has been remediated. 
 
Bars a federal agency from approving any mining related activities in the Basin until the entity holding a lease or permit for that activity has submitted: (1) an acceptable contamination remediation plan, and (2) a full reclamation and performance bond sufficient to return the affected area to its original condition and treat any potential contamination for 50 years following the conclusion of any mining activities. 
 
Exempts existing sand, gravel, and granite operations in the Basin. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
To prohibit the Department of the Treasury from assigning tax statuses to organizations based on their political beliefs and activities.

Bill: 114-hr-1798
Sponsor: Rep. Neugebauer, Randy [R-TX-19]
Introduced: 2015-04-15 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
Political movements and philosophies
Public participation and lobbying
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
Tax-exempt organizations

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax exemption of political organizations, to revise the definition of "political organization" to mean a party, committee, association, fund, or other organization (whether or not incorporated) that: (1) is registered as a political committee with the Federal Election Commission (FEC); (2) has been determined to be a political committee in administrative or judicial proceedings; or (3) is organized and operated primarily to accept contributions or make expenditures to influence, or attempt to influence, the selection, nomination, election, or appointment of any individual to state or local public office, is not required to register with the FEC, and is required to register with the appropriate state agency as a political committee. 
 
Defines "promotion of social welfare," for purposes of the tax-exemption for social welfare organizations, to include: (1) any political activity in furtherance of American democracy, provided that such activities do not exceed 50% of the organization's total activities; (2) any activities for educating individuals on issues of public importance and on the behavior of public officials, including participation in ballot initiatives and referenda; and (3) certain activities described in the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 as not being expenditures for political purposes. 
 

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
Ensure Fair Prices in Title Insurance Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1799
Sponsor: Rep. Ellison, Keith [D-MN-5]
Introduced: 2015-04-15 in the House
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Civil actions and liability
Real estate business

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: 

Ensure Fair Prices in Title Insurance Act of 2015

 
This bill amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to exempt affiliated business arrangements from the prohibitions against kickbacks and unearned fees so long as no fee, kickback, or thing of value (including any return on ownership based on referrals paid for or received from an affiliated business arrangement) is paid or received pursuant to any agreement or understanding for referrals of business incident to or a part of a real estate settlement service involving a federally related mortgage loan.
 
Persons who violate such Act shall be jointly and severally liable, upon a finding from a court of competent jurisdiction that such a violation occurred, to any party providing services substantially similar to settlement services in the same state where the violation occurred, and in an amount equal to attorneys' fees and court costs incurred in initiating an action.
 
A court may grant, in addition to the principal remedies, either injunctive relief, restitution, or other appropriate equitable relief.
 
The statute of limitations is extended from one year to three years for violation of the prohibitions against: (1) kickbacks and unearned fees, and (2) any requirement by a property seller involving a purchase assisted by a federally related mortgage loan that the buyer also purchase title insurance from any particular title company.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
GRIDD Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1800
Sponsor: Rep. Johnson, Sam [R-TX-3]
Introduced: 2015-04-15 in the House
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Adult education and literacy
Disability and paralysis
Disability assistance
Employment and training programs
Social Security Administration
Social security and elderly assistance

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: 

Guiding Responsible and Improved Disability Decisions Act of 2015 or the GRIDD Act of 2015 

 
The Commissioner of Social Security shall prescribe rules and regulations that update medical-vocational guidelines used in disability determinations.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-21
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Social Security.
action_date: 2015-04-21
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
Promoting Financial Literacy and Economic Opportunity Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1801
Sponsor: Rep. Kelly, Robin L. [D-IL-2]
Introduced: 2015-04-15 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Elementary and secondary education
Financial literacy
Income tax credits
Minority and disadvantaged businesses
Rural conditions and development
Small business
Urban and suburban affairs and development
Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
Women in business

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: 

Promoting Financial Literacy and Economic Opportunity Act of 2015

 
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow up to 20 for-profit organizations in any taxable year a business-related tax credit for 50% of the amount paid or incurred to carry out activities to improve the quality of student understanding of personal finance and economics. The Department of the Treasury shall determine which for-profit organizations are eligible for the credit, ensuring that a majority of credit recipients are: (1) either a socially and economically disadvantaged small business concern, a small business concern owned and controlled by women, or a small business concern that is at least 51% owned by veterans, or (2) do not have more than $60 billion in assets. In determining the eligibility of a for-profit organization, Treasury shall give priority to organizations that have programs serving either urban or rural underserved areas. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-15
text: Introduced in House