hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
SACO Act

Bill: 114-hr-1535
Sponsor: Rep. Brooks, Mo [R-AL-5]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Evidence and witnesses
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Safeguarding America's Congressional Oversight Act or the SACO Act

 
Terminates from employment any federal employee who: (1) refuses to answer questions in a congressional hearing after being granted immunity; (2) in a congressional hearing, refuses to answer questions specifically, directly, and narrowly relating to his or her official duties, without being required to waive immunity with respect to the use of answers or the fruits thereof in a criminal prosecution; or (3) is found, by three-fourths of the congressional body to which testimony is given, to have willfully or knowingly given false testimony in a congressional hearing.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Innovation, Research, and Manufacturing Act

Bill: 114-hr-1536
Sponsor: Rep. Brownley, Julia [D-CA-26]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Business expenses
Employment taxes
Income tax credits
Research and development
Small business

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Innovation, Research, and Manufacturing Act

 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for increasing research activities, to: (1) increase such credit (from the sum of 20% of the excess of qualified research expenses for the taxable year over the base amount, 20% of the basic research payments, and 20% of the amounts paid by the taxpayer in carrying on any trade or business during the taxable year to an energy research consortium for energy research to the sum of 30% of each of those); (2) make such credit permanent; and (3) allow such credit to offset the employment taxes of an eligible small employer, as defined by the Small Business Act. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Advancing Hope Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1537
Sponsor: Rep. Butterfield, G. K. [D-NC-1]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Blood and blood diseases
Cancer
Child health
Drug safety, medical device, and laboratory regulation
Drug therapy
Hereditary and development disorders
Infectious and parasitic diseases
World health

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Advancing Hope Act of 2015

 
This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to expand the priority review voucher program for rare pediatric diseases to include treatments for sickle cell disease and pediatric cancers. 
 
The voucher program is extended by removing the provision terminating the program one year after the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) issuance of three rare pediatric disease vouchers. 
 
A voucher may not be issued for a rare pediatric disease product if a voucher was issued for the product as a tropical disease product.
 A tropical disease voucher may not be issued for a product that was approved, over two years before submitting an application to the FDA, for commercial marketing by a foreign government to treat a tropical disease.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-27
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Ability to Repay Verification Enabling Act

Bill: 114-hr-1539
Sponsor: Rep. Ellison, Keith [D-MN-5]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Consumer affairs
Consumer credit
Department of Labor
Government information and archives
Unemployment

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Ability to Repay Verification Enabling Act

 
Prohibits the Secretary of Labor from implementing, enforcing, or administering the requirement in the Unemployment Insurance Program Letter No. 19-12, dated May 23, 2012, that a third-party consumer reporting agency obtain an informed consent agreement from an individual in order to obtain from a state agency confidential unemployment compensation information about the individual, if the consumer reporting agency: (1) serves only as a secure conduit to data from state unemployment compensation agencies, and (2) is not an agent of the individual.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Tribal Adoption Parity Act

Bill: 114-hr-1542
Sponsor: Rep. Kilmer, Derek [D-WA-6]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Adoption and foster care
Child safety and welfare
Disability and paralysis
Income tax credits
Indian social and development programs

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

 Tribal Adoption Parity Act
 
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow Indian tribes to make the determination that a child is a child with special needs for purposes of the adoption tax credit.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-07
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Facility Earthquake Protection and Improvement Act

Bill: 114-hr-1543
Sponsor: Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-33]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Building construction
California
Department of Veterans Affairs
Emergency planning and evacuation
Government buildings, facilities, and property
Health facilities and institutions
Natural disasters
New York State
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Facility Earthquake Protection and Improvement Act

 
This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out the major medical facility projects of the VA specified in the explanatory statement accompanying the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, including by obligating and expending the amounts specified in such statement. (Those projects include seismic corrections to the West Los Angeles Medical Center, replacement of a community living center and mental health facilities in Long Beach, and replacement of an existing spinal cord injury clinic in San Diego, California, all of which are at high risk of sustaining damage during an earthquake, and renovations to address substantial safety and compliance issues and construction of a new clinic and community living center at the VA medical center in Canandaigua, New York.)


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-07
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Sensible Estate Tax Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1544
Sponsor: Rep. McDermott, Jim [D-WA-7]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Farmland
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
Transfer and inheritance taxes

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Sensible Estate Tax Act of 2015 

 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) establish new estate tax rates of between 41% (for estates with a value in excess of $1 million) and 55% (for estates with a value in excess of $10 million), (2) allow a $1 million estate tax exclusion, and (3) provide for an inflation adjustment to such amounts for decedents dying after 2016. 
 
Restores the estate tax credit for any estate, inheritance, legacy, or succession taxes paid to a state (expired after 2004). Repeals the deduction currently allowed for such taxes. 
 
Sets forth estate valuation rules for certain transfers of nonbusiness assets and limits estate tax discounts for certain individuals with minority interests in a business acquired from a decedent.
 
Requires that the value of the basis in any property acquired from a decedent be consistent with the basis as determined for estate tax purposes. Requires executors of estates to disclose to the Internal Revenue Service, and to recipients of any interest in an estate, information identifying the value of each interest received.
 
Expands rules for valuing assets in grantor retained annuity trusts to require that: (1) the right to receive fixed amounts from an annuity last for a term of not less than 10 years and that such fixed amounts not decrease during the first 10 years of the annuity term, and (2) the remainder interest have a value greater than zero when transferred.
 
Terminates the generation-skipping transfer exemption for certain long-term trusts (perpetual dynasty trusts) 90 years after the establishment of such trusts.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1545
Sponsor: Rep. Nugent, Richard B. [R-FL-11]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Correctional facilities and imprisonment
Firearms and explosives
Law enforcement officers

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati 

Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act of 2015

 
 Amends the federal criminal code to require the Bureau of Prisons to ensure that each chief executive officer of a federal penal or correctional institution: (1) provides a secure storage area located outside of the secure perimeter of the institution for qualified law enforcement officers employed by the Bureau to store firearms, or allows such officers to store firearms in a vehicle lockbox approved by the Bureau; and (2) allows such officers to carry concealed firearms on the premises outside of the secure perimeter of the institution.
 
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-21
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Emergency Information Improvement Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1546
Sponsor: Rep. Palazzo, Steven M. [R-MS-4]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Emergency Management
Subjects: Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies
Disaster relief and insurance
News media and reporting

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Emergency Information Improvement Act of 2015

 
 Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to include public broadcasting facilities within the definition of a &quot;private nonprofit facility&quot; that provides essential services of a governmental nature to the general public, and to include broadcast and telecommunications within the definition of &quot;critical services&quot; provided by such a facility, for purposes of eligibility for certain disaster assistance.
 
Makes this Act applicable to a major disaster declared by the President under such Act on or after October 28, 2012.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-24
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Family Health Care Flexibility Act

Bill: 114-hr-1547
Sponsor: Rep. Paulsen, Erik [R-MN-3]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Employee benefits and pensions
Health care costs and insurance
Income tax deductions
Wages and earnings

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Family Health Care Flexibility Act

 
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal provisions added by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that: (1) restrict payments from health savings accounts, Archer medical savings accounts, and health flexible spending and reimbursement arrangements for medications to prescription drugs and insulin only (thus allowing payments for over-the-counter medications); and (2) impose a $2,500 limitation on salary reduction contributions to a health flexible spending arrangement under a cafeteria plan. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-07
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H1835)
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
BREATHE Act

Bill: 114-hr-1548
Sponsor: Rep. Polis, Jared [D-CO-2]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Air quality
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental regulatory procedures
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Oil and gas

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Bringing Reductions to Energy's Airborne Toxic Health Effects Act or the BREATHE Act

 
This bill amends the Clean Air Act to repeal prohibitions against: (1) aggregating emissions from any oil or gas exploration or production well and emissions from any pipeline compressor or pump station with emissions from other similar units, whether or not the units are in a contiguous area or under common control, to determine whether the units or stations are major sources of listed toxic air pollutants under such Act; (2) aggregating such emissions for any purpose under such Act, in the case of any oil or gas exploration or production well; and (3) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listing an oil and gas production well as an area source category of toxic air pollutants under such Act.
 
The EPA must: (1) issue a final rule adding hydrogen sulfide to the list of hazardous air pollutants; and (2) revise the list within 365 days after issuing the rule to include categories and subcategories of major sources and area sources of hydrogen sulfide, including oil and gas wells.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-27
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Power.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Motorsports Fairness and Permanency Act

Bill: 114-hr-1549
Sponsor: Rep. Reed, Tom [R-NY-23]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Business investment and capital
Income tax deductions
Motor vehicles
Sports and recreation facilities

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Motorsports Fairness and Permanency Act 

 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the accelerated depreciation (seven-year recovery period) of motorsports entertainment complexes.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Highway Restoration Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1551
Sponsor: Rep. Sanford, Mark [R-SC-1]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Government trust funds
Public transit
Roads and highways
Transportation programs funding

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Highway Restoration Act of 2015

 
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a phaseout of the Mass Transit Account by the end of FY2020, after which no funds would be transferred to such Account from the Highway Trust Fund. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1552
Sponsor: Rep. Slaughter, Louise McIntosh [D-NY-25]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Administrative remedies
Department of Health and Human Services
Drug safety, medical device, and laboratory regulation
Drug therapy
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Livestock
Veterinary medicine and animal diseases

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2015

 
This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require an applicant for approval of a new animal drug that is a medically important antimicrobial to demonstrate that there is a reasonable certainty of no harm to human health from antimicrobial resistance attributable to the nontherapeutic use of the drug.
 
Medically important antimicrobials are drugs intended for use in food-producing animals that contain: (1) specified antibiotics, or (2) certain drugs on the World Health Organization&rsquo;s list of critically important antimicrobials.
 
 Two years after enactment of this Act, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must withdraw approval of a drug's nontherapeutic use in food-producing animals unless the FDA makes a determination that, based on the application holder's demonstration or an FDA risk analysis, there is a reasonable certainty of no harm to human health from antimicrobial resistance attributable to nontherapeutic use.
 
 The FDA must rescind an exemption for investigational use of, or approval of a new drug application for, a medically important antimicrobial for its nontherapeutic use in food-producing animals two years after the exemption is granted or the application for approval is submitted unless there is a reasonable certainty of no harm to human health from antimicrobial resistance attributable to nontherapeutic use.
 
A medically important antimicrobial cannot be administered (including through animal feed) to a food-producing animal for disease control unless there is a significant risk that a disease or infection present on the premises will be transmitted to the animal.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-03-27
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2015-03-24
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E400-401)
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Forest Access in Rural Communities Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1555
Sponsor: Rep. Walden, Greg [R-OR-2]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Department of Agriculture
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Forests, forestry, trees
General public lands matters
Intergovernmental relations
Land use and conservation
Mining
Motor vehicles
Parks, recreation areas, trails
Roads and highways
State and local government operations
Travel and tourism

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Forest Access in Rural Communities Act of 2015

 
 This bill directs the Department of Agriculture to cease all implementation and enforcement of the travel management rule (an action that will, or can reasonably be expected to, alter public access to such lands) in all units of the National Forest System derived from the public domain. 
 
 In preparing an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for a proposed access travel management action, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service must consult with affected communities for the purpose of incorporating their needs, uses, and input.
 
The BLM and the Forest Service may not implement an access travel management action unless and until they: (1) comply with the consultation requirement imposed by this bill, and (2) obtain the concurrence of each affected community. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-08
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
Civil Rights Voting Restoration Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1556
Sponsor: Rep. Wilson, Frederica S. [D-FL-24]
Introduced: 2015-03-23 in the House
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Subjects: Civil actions and liability
Correctional facilities and imprisonment
Criminal procedure and sentencing
Law enforcement administration and funding
Voting rights

Summary:
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: 

Civil Rights Voting Restoration Act of 2015

 
 Declares that the right of a U.S. citizen to vote in any election for federal office shall not be denied or abridged because the individual has been convicted of a non-violent criminal offense, unless, at the time of the election, the individual is serving a sentence in a correctional facility or a term of probation. 
 
Restores the right to vote of an individual on probation: (1) on the date the term of probation ends, if such term is less than one year; or (2) one year after the date the individual begins serving the term of probation, if such term is one year or longer.
 
Directs the Attorney General to determine and establish a list of the criminal offenses under federal and state law that are non-violent criminal offenses.
 
Provides for enforcement of, and remedies for violations of, this Act.
 
Sets forth requirements for state and federal notification of individuals of their voting rights pursuant to this Act.
 
Prohibits a state, local government, or other person from receiving or using federal grant amounts to construct or improve a place of incarceration unless that person has in effect a program under which each incarcerated individual is notified, upon release, of his or her rights under this Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-21
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-03-23
text: Introduced in House