hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1131
Sponsor: Sen. Franken, Al [D-MN]
Introduced: 2015-04-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Digestive and metabolic diseases
Health facilities and institutions
Health information and medical records
Health promotion and preventive care
Medicaid
Medicare
Nursing

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: 

Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act of 2015

 
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to provide coverage of diabetes prevention program services to an eligible diabetes prevention program individual.
 
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the criteria for a diabetes prevention program in accordance with the standards under the National Diabetes Prevention Program established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 
Excludes items and services under a diabetes prevention program from the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system.
 
Includes: (1) items and services under a diabetes prevention programs among federally qualified health center services, (2) rates of referrals of eligible individuals to diabetes prevention programs in Medicare quality reporting requirements, and (3) an individual's diabetes risk assessment in the individual's Medicare personalized prevention plan.
 
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the National Diabetes Prevention Program presents an opportunity for states to reduce the incidence of diabetes among individuals enrolled in their Medicaid programs under SSAct title XIX.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1132
Sponsor: Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR]
Introduced: 2015-04-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Employment discrimination and employee rights
Health care quality
Health information and medical records
Health personnel
Hospital care
Medicare
Nursing

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: 

Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015

 
 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require each Medicare participating hospital to implement a hospital-wide staffing plan for nursing services furnished in the hospital.
 
Requires the plan to require that an appropriate number of registered nurses provide direct patient care in each unit and on each shift of the hospital to ensure staffing levels that: (1) address the unique characteristics of the patients and hospital units; and (2) result in the delivery of safe, quality patient care consistent with specified requirements.
 
Requires each participating hospital to establish a hospital nurse staffing committee which shall implement such plan.
 
Specifies civil monetary and other penalties for violation of the requirements of this Act.
 
Sets forth whistleblower protections against discrimination and retaliation involving patients or employees of the hospital for their grievances, complaints, or involvement in investigations relating to such plan.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Arbitration Fairness Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1133
Sponsor: Sen. Franken, Al [D-MN]
Introduced: 2015-04-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Law
Subjects: Alternative dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration
Competition and antitrust
Consumer affairs
Contracts and agency
Labor-management relations

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: 

Arbitration Fairness Act of 2015

 
Declares that no predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable if it requires arbitration of an employment, consumer, antitrust, or civil rights dispute.
 
Declares, further, that the validity and enforceability of an agreement to arbitrate shall be determined by a court, under federal law, rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunction with other terms of the contract containing such agreement.
 
Exempts from this Act arbitration provisions in a contract between an employer and a labor organization or between labor organizations. Denies to any such arbitration provision, however, the effect of waiving the right of an employee to seek judicial enforcement of a right arising under the U.S. Constitution, a state constitution, a federal or state statute, or related public policy.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Prevention, Education, and Enforcement Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1134
Sponsor: Sen. Ayotte, Kelly [R-NH]
Introduced: 2015-04-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Advisory bodies
Civil actions and liability
Congressional oversight
Crime prevention
Drug therapy
Drug trafficking and controlled substances
Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
Emergency medical services and trauma care
First responders and emergency personnel
Government information and archives
Health programs administration and funding
Health promotion and preventive care
Law enforcement administration and funding
Medical research
Prescription drugs

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: 

Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Prevention, Education, and Enforcement Act of 2015

 
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in cooperation with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, to convene a Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force to develop and study best practices for pain management and prescription of pain medication.
 
The Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program is extended through FY2020. The Government Accountability Office must evaluate the effectiveness of this program in reducing prescription drug abuse and any corresponding increase or decrease in the use of heroin.
 
This bill amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to extend the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program through FY2020.
 
HHS must advance education and awareness of the risk of abuse of prescription opioids (drugs with effects similar to opium).
 
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in coordination with HHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ), must establish a national drug awareness campaign that emphasizes the similarities between heroin and prescription opioids and increases awareness of the dangerous effects of mixing fentanyl (a prescription opioid painkiller) with heroin.
 DOJ, in coordination with HHS and ONDCP, may make grants to state, local, or tribal governments to create demonstration programs to allow first responders to prevent opioid overdose death by administering an opioid overdose reversal drug (e.g., naloxone). Priority must be given to entities in states that provide civil liability protection for first responders administering a drug to counteract opioid overdoses.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Hospital Payment Fairness Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1135
Sponsor: Sen. McCaskill, Claire [D-MO]
Introduced: 2015-04-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Health personnel
Hospital care
Medicare
Rural conditions and development
Wages and earnings

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: 

Hospital Payment Fairness Act of 2015

 
 Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to sunset on October 1, 2015, the application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor. 
 
(PPACA requires application of the budget neutrality requirement associated with the effect of the imputed rural floor on the area wage index under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 through a uniform national, instead of state-by-state, adjustment to the area hospital wage index floor.)


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill relating to the modernization of C-130 aircraft to meet applicable regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration, and for other purposes.

Bill: 114-s-1136
Sponsor: Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]
Introduced: 2015-04-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Aviation and airports
Department of Transportation
Military procurement, research, weapons development
Transportation safety and security

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: 
Congress affirms that, for the purposes of modernizing the C-130 aircraft fleet, the Air Force has authority to undertake safety and compliance upgrades in lieu of the C-130 aircraft avionics modernization program of record to meet applicable Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations by 2020. 
 
The Carl Levin and Howard P. &quot;Buck&quot; McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 is amended to declare that, if the Secretary of the Air Force implements the alternative communication, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management program, that implementation shall be coordinated with the FAA in order to satisfy applicable safety and compliance airspace regulations.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Same Day Registration Act

Bill: 114-s-1139
Sponsor: Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
Introduced: 2015-04-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Congressional elections
Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: 

Same Day Registration Act

 
 Amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require states with a voter registration requirement to make same-day voter registration available at the polling place on the date of election itself (or on the day of voting under early voting).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Introduced in Senate
Small Business Tax Certainty and Growth Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1141
Sponsor: Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME]
Introduced: 2015-04-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Accounting and auditing
Business investment and capital
Contracts and agency
Corporate finance and management
Disaster relief and insurance
Economic performance and conditions
Food industry and services
Income tax deductions
Inflation and prices
Public contracts and procurement
Retail and wholesale trades
Small business
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
Tax reform and tax simplification

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: 

Small Business Tax Certainty and Growth Act of 2015 

 
Expresses the sense of the Senate that Congress should undertake comprehensive tax reform to make the tax system fairer and simpler and to promote economic growth.
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) make permanent the increased tax deductions for business start-up expenditures, organizational expenditures, and organization and syndication fees; (2) allow the cash accounting method for businesses whose gross receipts do not exceed $10 million (currently, $5 million); (3) exempt businesses whose gross receipts do not exceed $10 million from the requirement to use inventories; (4) make permanent a $500,000 allowance for expensing business assets, including computer software; (5) extend for one year the additional depreciation allowance for business assets (bonus depreciation); and (6) make permanent the 15-year straight-line depreciation allowance for qualified leasehold improvement, restaurant, and retail improvement property.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S2571-2572)
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Introduced in Senate
Native Species Protection Act

Bill: 114-s-1142
Sponsor: Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]
Introduced: 2015-04-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Endangered and threatened species

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: 

Native Species Protection Act

 
This bill prohibits an intrastate species from being: (1) considered to be in interstate commerce; and (2) subject to regulation under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, or any other provision of law under which regulatory authority is based on the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce under the Commerce Clause.
 
An intrastate species is any species of plant or fish or wildlife that is: (1) found entirely within the borders of a single state, and (2) not part of a national market for any commodity.
 
 
 
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Introduced in Senate
West Coast Dungeness Crab Management Act

Bill: 114-s-1143
Sponsor: Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA]
Introduced: 2015-04-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: California
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Oregon
State and local government operations
Washington State

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: 

West Coast Dungeness Crab Management Act

 
This bill makes permanent the authority of Washington, Oregon, and California to adopt and enforce state laws governing fishing and processing in the exclusive economic zone adjacent to their state in any Dungeness crab fishery for which there is no fishery management plan in effect under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

action_date: 2016-05-23
text: 
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
 

West Coast Dungeness Crab Management Act

 
(Sec. 2)This bill makes permanent the authority of Washington, Oregon, and California to adopt and enforce state laws governing fishing and processing in the exclusive economic zone adjacent to their state in any Dungeness crab fishery for which there is no fishery management plan in effect under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2016-05-23
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 477.
action_date: 2016-05-23
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Thune without amendment. With written report No. 114-260.
action_date: 2016-05-23
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Thune without amendment. With written report No. 114-260.
action_date: 2015-11-18
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Introduced in Senate
Federal Employees Sustainable Investment Act

Bill: 114-s-1144
Sponsor: Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
Introduced: 2015-04-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Business ethics
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Corporate finance and management
Employee benefits and pensions
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Financial services and investments
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Human rights
Product safety and quality
Securities

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: 

Federal Employees Sustainable Investment Act 

 
 Establishes the Corporate Responsibility Stock Index Fund as an investment option under the Thrift Savings Fund. Directs the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board to select a minimum of one index for such Fund comprised of stocks that have been analyzed and selected using basic criteria, including corporate governance, environmental practices, workplace relations and benefits, product safety and impact, international operations and human rights, involvement with repressive regimes, and community relations. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Introduced in Senate
Healthy School Meals Flexibility Act

Bill: 114-s-1146
Sponsor: Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND]
Introduced: 2015-04-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Child health
Department of Agriculture
Elementary and secondary education
Food assistance and relief
Grain
Nutrition and diet

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: 

Healthy School Meals Flexibility Act

 
This bill amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to prohibit the Department of Agriculture (USDA) from implementing any regulation that would require a reduction in the quantity of sodium contained in federally reimbursed meals, foods, and snacks sold in schools below specified July 2014 maximum levels allowed in school breakfasts for school year 2014-2015.
 With respect to grain contents, USDA shall only require that half of all grains in such food items are whole grain-rich. School food authorities must comply with the applicable grain component or standard with respect to the school lunch or school breakfast program in effect before July 1, 2014.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 83 Meeting Street in Charleston, South Carolina, as the "J. Waties Waring Judicial Center".

Bill: 114-s-1147
Sponsor: Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC]
Introduced: 2015-04-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Congressional tributes
Government buildings, facilities, and property
South Carolina

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: 
Designates the federal building and U.S. courthouse located at 83 Meeting Street in Charleston, South Carolina, as the "J. Waties Waring Judicial Center."


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Introduced in Senate
Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1148
Sponsor: Sen. Nelson, Bill [D-FL]
Introduced: 2015-04-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Government studies and investigations
Health care coverage and access
Health personnel
Hospital care
Medical education
Medicare
Minority employment
Minority health
Rural conditions and development

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: 

Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2015

 
 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to distribution of additional resident positions as they affect calculation of payments for direct graduate medical education costs.
 
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for each of FY2017-FY2021 (and each succeeding fiscal year if additional residency positions are available to distribute), to increase the otherwise applicable resident limit for each qualifying hospital.
 
Requires the aggregate number of increases in the otherwise applicable resident limit to be 3,000 in each of FY2017-FY2021, of which 1,500 in each such fiscal year shall be used for full-time equivalent residents training in a shortage specialty residency program.
 
Specifies the process for distributing positions.
 
Declares that, for discharges occurring on or after July 1, 2017, the indirect teaching adjustment factor, with respect to additional payments for subsection (d) hospitals with indirect costs of medical education, insofar as those additional payments are attributable to resident positions distributed to a hospital according to such process, shall be computed in a specified manner with respect to those resident positions.
 
(Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.) 
Directs the National Health Care Workforce Commission established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to study the physician workforce.
 
Directs the Comptroller General to study strategies for increasing the diversity of the health profession workforce.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require reporting of certain data by providers and suppliers of air ambulance services for purposes of reforming reimbursements for such services under the Medicare program, and for other purposes.

Bill: 114-s-1149
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2015-04-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Aviation and airports
Business records
Congressional oversight
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Government information and archives
Health care quality
Health information and medical records
Medicare

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: 
This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, with respect to air ambulance services furnished during 2017 or any subsequent year, to reduce the mandatory percentage increase (inflation adjustment) for payments under the fee schedule by 2.0% for any supplier or provider that fails to submit to the Secretary specified data.
 
The Secretary is required to select at least two quality measures with respect to which such providers and suppliers may voluntarily submit such data.
 
The Government Accountability Office is required to report to Congress on all such data, together with a recommendation on the adequate amount of Medicare reimbursement to providers and suppliers that would reflect their operational costs and preserve access to critical air medical services.
 
The Secretary is required, in the case of air ambulance services furnished during calendar 2017 through 2021 to make a percentage increase in the base rate of the fee schedule: (1) by 20% during 2017, and (2) by 5% during 2018-2020.
 
The Secretary must also, for 2017 through 2020, adjust such percentages, by either increasing or reducing them (but in no case below zero) to ensure that the increased expenditures under this Act are equal to the reduced expenditures.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-04-30
text: Introduced in Senate