hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Protecting Adoption and Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1637
Sponsor: Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]
Introduced: 2015-06-18 in the Senate
Policy area: Families
Subjects: Adoption and foster care
Family relationships
Government information and archives
Marriage and family status
Separation, divorce, custody, support
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-18
text: 

Protecting Adoption and Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Act of 2015 

 
 Amends part B (Child and Family Services) of title IV of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish and maintain an automated National Responsible Father Registry.
 
Requires the Registry to: (1) contain specified kinds of information sufficient to identify a possible father, and (2) provide a mechanism for men to register such identifying information directly with the Registry.
 
Limits access to Registry information to eligible parties, including: (1) public and licensed private adoption or child placement agencies, (2) licensed attorneys representing a party in a planned or pending adoption or in the termination of rights of one or more possible fathers, (3) state agencies or entities responsible for the placement of children, and (4) state courts.
 
Directs the Secretary to establish a nationwide campaign designed to inform possible fathers, unwed mothers, possible adoptive parents, and eligible parties of the National Registry, the advantages of possible fathers registering either in the National Registry or State Responsible Father Registries, or both, the rights and responsibilities of such parties with regard to a proceeding, and the role of such Registries in a proceeding.
 
Directs the Secretary to use all reasonable efforts to encourage states to enter into agreements to establish automated State Responsible Father Registries and centers that make registration forms easily accessible to possible fathers.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to make a grant to a state to establish a State Registry or modify an existing one to meet the requirements of this Act. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-18
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-06-18
text: Introduced in Senate
Education Stability for Foster Youth Act

Bill: 114-s-1639
Sponsor: Sen. Franken, Al [D-MN]
Introduced: 2015-06-18 in the Senate
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Adoption and foster care
Child safety and welfare
Congressional oversight
Elementary and secondary education
Homelessness and emergency shelter
Transportation costs

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-18
text: 

Education Stability for Foster Youth Act

 
This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require a state plan for academic content and achievement standards to describe how the state will ensure the educational stability of children in foster care. Specifically, a state plan must include assurances that: (1) a foster child will remain or be enrolled in the child&rsquo;s school of origin absent a determination that such enrollment is not in the child&rsquo;s best interest; (2) if such a determination is made, the child will be immediately enrolled in a new school, which must immediately contact the child&rsquo;s previous school to obtain relevant records; and (3) the state will designate a point of contact for child welfare agencies, who shall also oversee implementation of the state&rsquo;s responsibilities under the bill. 
 
Relatedly, a local educational agency (LEA) plan must provide assurances that the LEA will develop and implement procedures governing the provision and funding of transportation services necessary to maintain a foster child&rsquo;s enrollment in the child&rsquo;s school of origin.
 
This bill amends the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to alter the definition of &ldquo;homeless children and youths&rdquo; to no longer include children who are awaiting foster care placement.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-18
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2015-06-18
text: Introduced in Senate
Savings Act

Bill: 114-s-1642
Sponsor: Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR]
Introduced: 2015-06-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Government information and archives
Hydrology and hydrography
Rural conditions and development
Water quality
Water use and supply

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-22
text: 

Water Supply Cost Savings Act or the Savings Act 

 
This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture to: (1) update their programs that provide drinking water technical assistance by including information on cost-effective, innovative, and alternative drinking water delivery systems; and (2) disseminate information on the cost effectiveness of alternative drinking water delivery systems, including wells and well systems, to communities and nonprofit organizations seeking federal funding for drinking water systems serving 500 or fewer persons.
 
In applications for a grant or loan from the federal government or a state that is using federal assistance for drinking water systems serving 500 or fewer persons, applicants must self-certify that they have considered as an alternative drinking water supply, drinking water delivery systems sourced by publicly-owned individual, shared, and community wells.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2015-06-22
text: Introduced in Senate
Ensuring the Safety and Security of Iranian Dissidents in Iraq Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1643
Sponsor: Sen. Blunt, Roy [R-MO]
Introduced: 2015-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Detention of persons
Human rights
Iran
Iraq
Middle East
Protest and dissent

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: 

Ensuring the Safety and Security of Iranian Dissidents in Iraq Act of 2015 

 
This bill directs the Department of State to certify to Congress whether or not the government of Iraq is taking sufficient actions to ensure the safety and security of dissidents housed at Camp Liberty, Iraq.

action_date: 2015-06-25
text: 

Ensuring the Safety and Security of Iranian Dissidents in Iraq Act of 2015 

 
This bill directs the Department of State to submit an assessment to Congress of whether or not the government of Iraq is taking sufficient actions to ensure the safety and security of dissidents housed at Camp Liberty, Iraq.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-25
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 133.
action_date: 2015-06-25
text: Committee on Foreign Relations. Reported by Senator Corker with an amendment. Without written report.
action_date: 2015-06-25
text: Committee on Foreign Relations. Reported by Senator Corker with an amendment. Without written report.
action_date: 2015-06-25
text: Committee on Foreign Relations. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to permanently extend the private mortgage insurance tax deduction.

Bill: 114-s-1644
Sponsor: Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID]
Introduced: 2015-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Housing finance and home ownership
Income tax deductions

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the tax deduction for mortgage insurance premiums.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Technical Clarification to Public Law 113-243 Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1646
Sponsor: Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]
Introduced: 2015-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Aviation and airports
Bankruptcy
Employee benefits and pensions
Income tax exclusion
Transportation employees

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: 

Technical Clarification to Public Law 113-243 Act of 2015

 
This bill amends the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 with respect to rollovers to a traditional individual retirement account (IRA) of payments to qualified airline employees in commercial airline carrier bankruptcy cases.
 
A commercial airline employee shall be qualified for such a rollover if he or she had participated in a commercial airline's tax-exempt defined benefit pension plan that was terminated or otherwise restricted.
 
 The bill prescribes a special rule for airline payments received by a qualified employee from an airline carrier resulting from a bankruptcy case filed after September 11, 2001, and before January 1, 2007, or on November 29, 2011.
 
Under this special rule, the period for a qualified airline employee to make a tax-exempt rollover of such a payment into a traditional IRA shall be extended to the period beginning on December 18, 2014, and ending 180 days after the enactment of this Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Sonoran Corridor Interstate Development Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1649
Sponsor: Sen. McCain, John [R-AZ]
Introduced: 2015-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Arizona
Roads and highways
Transportation programs funding

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: 

Sonoran Corridor Interstate Development Act of 2015

 
This bill amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 to designate the State Route 410, the Sonoran Corridor connecting Interstate 19 to Interstate 10 south of the Tucson International Airport in Arizona, as a high priority corridor on the National Highway System and a future part of the Interstate System.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Home Health Documentation and Program Improvement Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1650
Sponsor: Sen. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ]
Introduced: 2015-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Health information and medical records
Home and outpatient care
Medicare

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: 

Home Health Documentation and Program Improvement Act of 2015

 
This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to:
 
 
develop a single form or document to be used by a physician to satisfy the documentation requirements necessary to fulfill the requirement of a face-to-face encounter and other criteria for home health eligibility (otherwise known as the certification for home health services); and
 
notify and provide guidance and education to Medicare administrative contractors, recovery audit contractors, and any other appropriate entity regarding application of the form or document to such documentation requirements.
 
 
HHS shall also:
 
 
develop and implement processes to open and review claims denied on or after January 1, 2011, and before enactment of this Act, due solely to the face-to-face documentation requirements;
 
issue revised decisions of such denials as if the requirements of related regulations did not apply at the time such services were furnished; and 
 
establish a voluntary process for home health agencies to enter into a settlement agreement with HHS in lieu of reprocessing claims whose payment this bill now requires.
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Social Security Fairness Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1651
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2015-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Social security and elderly assistance

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: 

Social Security Fairness Act of 2015

 
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to repeal the government pension offset requirement applicable to and reducing husband's and wife's insurance benefits, widow's and widower's insurance benefits, and divorced mother's and divorced father's insurance benefits with respect to federal, state, or local government employees who receive a government pension and did not pay Social Security taxes during their years of government service, and so did not earn entitlement to Social Security benefits for those years.
 
Repeals also the windfall elimination requirement with respect to computation of an individual's primary insurance amount under which OASDI retirement or disability benefits are reduced if the individual receives a federal, state, or local government pension, did not pay Social Security taxes during the years of government service, and so did not earn entitlement to Social Security benefits for those years.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S4547-4548)
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to designate an existing Federal officer to coordinate efforts to secure the release of United States persons who are hostages of hostile groups or state sponsors of terrorism, and for other purposes.

Bill: 114-s-1652
Sponsor: Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. [D-MD]
Introduced: 2015-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Asia
Conflicts and wars
Congressional oversight
Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad
Executive agency funding and structure
Federal officials
North Korea
Terrorism

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: 
This bill directs the President to designate an existing federal officer as the Interagency Hostage Recovery Coordinator, who shall coordinate efforts to secure the release of U.S. persons held hostage outside the United States by hostile groups or state sponsors of terrorism.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Equalizing the Playing Field for Agents and Brokers Act

Bill: 114-s-1653
Sponsor: Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA]
Introduced: 2015-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Comprehensive health care
Consumer affairs
Government information and archives
Health care costs and insurance
Health care coverage and access
Insurance industry and regulation

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: 

Equalizing the Playing Field

 for Agents and Brokers Act

 
 Directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a toll-free customer service support help line to enable certified health insurance agents and brokers to seek assistance regarding qualified health plans offered in the federal health insurance marketplace.
 
Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require HHS to:
 
 
make available on the federal government website for health insurance coverage a list of all certified agents and brokers;
 
contract with the National Insurance Producers Registry to regularly verify the licensure status of all such agents and brokers and develop a mechanism to enable submission of changes to contact and licensure information; and
 
provide trained navigators, agents, and brokers, no later than five business days after promulgation or issuance of any new cost- or enrollment-related policies, with a clear description of such policy changes.
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate
Overdose Prevention Act

Bill: 114-s-1654
Sponsor: Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI]
Introduced: 2015-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Advisory bodies
Congressional oversight
Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Health information and medical records
Health programs administration and funding
Health promotion and preventive care
Medical research
Research administration and funding

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: 

Overdose Prevention Act

 
This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to enter into cooperative agreements to reduce deaths from drug overdoses by: (1) purchasing and distributing naloxone (a medication that rapidly reverses overdose from heroin or other drugs with effects similar to opium) or a similar drug; and (2) educating or training the public, first responders, or health professionals on drug overdose prevention or response.
 
SAMHSA must establish a coordinating center and develop a plan to reduce drug overdose deaths by educating the public about overdose prevention and recommending improvements to overdose prevention programs.
 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must improve drug overdose surveillance by entering into cooperative agreements to: (1) provide training to improve identification of drug overdose as the cause of death, and (2) establish a national program for reporting drug overdoses.
 The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) must prioritize, conduct, and support research on circumstances that contribute to drug overdose, drugs associated with fatal overdose, and overdose prevention methods. NIDA must support research on drug overdose treatments that can be administered by lay persons or first responders.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S4548-4549)
action_date: 2015-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the United States Cotton Futures Act to exclude certain cotton futures contracts from coverage under that Act.

Bill: 114-s-1655
Sponsor: Sen. Perdue, David [R-GA]
Introduced: 2015-06-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Agricultural marketing and promotion
Agricultural trade
Commodities markets

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: 
This bill amends the United States Cotton Futures Act to exclude cotton future contracts involving cotton that is grown outside of the United States and tendered for delivery from coverage under the Act, including the requirement that the cotton be classified by the Department of Agriculture. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act

Bill: 114-s-1656
Sponsor: Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]
Introduced: 2015-06-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Alternative and renewable resources
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Corporate finance and management
Electric power generation and transmission
Energy efficiency and conservation
Energy storage, supplies, demand
Lighting and heating
Lighting, heating, cooling
Motor fuels
Solid waste and recycling
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: 

Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act

 
 Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships as corporations, to expand the definition of &quot;qualifying income&quot; for such partnerships to include income and gains from renewable and alternative fuels (in addition to fossil fuels), including energy derived from thermal resources, waste, renewable fuels and chemicals, energy efficient buildings, gasification, and carbon capture in secure geological storage.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Dams Accountability, Maintenance, and Safety Act

Bill: 114-s-1657
Sponsor: Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY]
Introduced: 2015-06-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Water Resources Development
Subjects: Dams and canals
Government studies and investigations
Water resources funding
Water use and supply

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: 

Dams Accountability, Maintenance, and Safety Act

 
Amends the Reclamation Safety of Dams Act of 1978 to authorize the Department of the Interior, subject to a feasibility study, to develop additional project benefits (including additional conservation storage capacity) through the construction of new or supplementary works when it exercises its authority to modify Bureau of Reclamation dams and related facilities to preserve their structural safety, provided that: (1) the additional project benefits will promote more efficient management of water and water-related facilities, (2) the feasibility study is authorized under the Federal Water Project Recreation Act of 1965, and (3) the costs are allocated to the authorized purposes of the structure and repaid consistent with federal reclamation law. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Vested Employee Pension Benefit Protection Act

Bill: 114-s-1658
Sponsor: Sen. McCaskill, Claire [D-MO]
Introduced: 2015-06-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Building construction
Employee benefits and pensions
Income tax deferral

Summary:
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: 

Vested Employee Pension Benefit Protection Act 

 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employees in the building and construction industry to make distributions from their tax-exempt employer pension plans at age 55 if they are not separated from service at the time of such distributions and were participants in such plan on or before April 30, 2013.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: Introduced in Senate