hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act

Bill: 114-s-2068
Sponsor: Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME]
Introduced: 2015-09-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Business investment and capital
Fires
Income tax deductions

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-22
text: 

Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act
 
 
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow: (1) 100% expensing in a current taxable year of the cost of automated fire sprinkler system retrofit property, as defined by this Act; and (2) accelerated depreciation (i.e., a 15-year recovery period) of automated fire sprinkler system retrofit property that is installed in a building or structure where the floor of any occupiable story is greater than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle access and that has a certain classification by the National Fire Protection Association. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S6896-6897)
action_date: 2015-09-22
text: Introduced in Senate
GAP Act

Bill: 114-s-2070
Sponsor: Sen. Ayotte, Kelly [R-NH]
Introduced: 2015-09-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Civil actions and liability
Congressional oversight
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Government studies and investigations
Labor standards
Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination
Wages and earnings
Women's employment

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-22
text: 

Gender Advancement in Pay Act or the GAP Act

 
This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to expand exceptions to the prohibition against sex discrimination to include payments pursuant to a differential based on expertise, shift, or a business-related factor other than sex, including but not limited to education, training, or experience.
 
The statute of limitations under the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 for a charge of prohibited sex discrimination, or an action by or on behalf of an employee for such discrimination, shall be tolled until the earlier of: (1) the date on which the Equal Employment Commission or the Department of Justice brings an action or notifies the employee concerned with respect to the charge under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or (2) 270 days after the charge is filed.
 
Nonretaliation prohibitions are extended to cover inquiring about, discussing, or disclosing the wages of an employee or of another employee, or declining to discuss or disclose the employee's wages, with specified exceptions. An employer shall be considered to have committed an unlawful act if the employer requires an employee to sign a contract or waiver (other than as specified) that would prohibit the employee from disclosing information about the employee's wages.
 
Civil penalties are established for violation of prohibitions against sex discrimination.
 
The Department of Labor, together with the Department of Education, shall conduct a multistate study, through a grant to a nonprofit research institution, that includes strategies to increase the participation of women in high-wage, high-demand occupations and industries in which women are underrepresented.
 
The Government Accountability Office shall also conduct a multistate study to develop such strategies.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2015-09-22
text: Introduced in Senate
Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality and Access Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-2071
Sponsor: Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID]
Introduced: 2015-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Advisory bodies
Department of Health and Human Services
Health care quality
Health facilities and institutions
Health information and medical records
Home and outpatient care
Medicare
Surgery and anesthesia

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: 

Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality and Access Act of 2015

 
This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) require the payment system for ambulatory surgical center (ASC) services to feature certain positive annual adjustments equivalent to those made with respect to hospital outpatient department (OPD) services; (2) revise quality reporting requirements to permit publicly available, side-by-side comparisons of quality measures for ASCs and OPDs in the same geographic area; and (3) require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), when excluding requested procedures from the list of those approved to be performed in ASCs, to cite specified reasons for doing so.
 
With respect to excluding procedures from the approved list for ASCs, HHS may not cite as a basis for exclusion that a procedure can only be reported using an unlisted surgical procedure code. (Physicians sometimes use unlisted codes when performing new procedures or services if no existing code is adequately descriptive.)


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program under which the Administrator shall defer the designation of an area as a nonattainment area for purposes of the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard if the area achieves and maintains certain standards under a voluntary early action compact plan.

Bill: 114-s-2072
Sponsor: Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT]
Introduced: 2015-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Air quality
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental regulatory procedures
Intergovernmental relations
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: 
This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish an Early Action Compact Program, which allows an area that is not attaining the eight-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) to obtain a deferment of a nonattainment designation upon the relevant state, local, and tribal government voluntarily developing an early action compact plan. The eight-hour ozone NAAQS measures ozone levels over eight-hour periods to determine the amount of ground-level ozone (i.e., smog) in the environment. 
 
 The EPA: (1) must issue a decision on each early action compact plan no later than one year after it is submitted, and (2) may not designate an area as a nonattainment area until it has issued a decision to approve or deny a plan. 
 
 The EPA must establish separate requirements relating to winter ozone levels for each early action compact plan.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2016-06-22
text: Committee on Environment and Public Works Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 114-363.
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 7715 Post Road in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, as the "Melvoid J. Benson Post Office Building".

Bill: 114-s-2073
Sponsor: Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
Introduced: 2015-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Congressional tributes
Government buildings, facilities, and property
Postal service
Rhode Island

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 7715 Post Road in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, as the "Melvoid J. Benson Post Office Building."

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
No Government No Pay Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-2074
Sponsor: Sen. Heitkamp, Heidi [D-ND]
Introduced: 2015-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Congress
Subjects: Appropriations
Executive agency funding and structure
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Members of Congress

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: 

No Government No Pay Act of 2015

 
 A Member of Congress may not receive pay, during a government shutdown, equal to the product of the Member's daily rate of pay and the number of 24-hour periods during which the government shutdown is in effect. This prohibition shall apply on and after the convening of the 115th Congress.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
American Worker Health Care Tax Relief Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-2075
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2015-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Budget deficits and national debt
Employee benefits and pensions
Health care costs and insurance
Health care coverage and access
Sales and excise taxes

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: 

American Worker Health Care Tax Relief Act of 2015

 
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, the excise tax on employer-sponsored health care coverage for which there is an excess benefit (high-cost plans). 
 
The bill expresses the sense of the Senate that the revenue loss resulting from the repeal of such excise tax should be offset by corresponding revenue. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Child Support Assistance Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-2077
Sponsor: Sen. Toomey, Patrick [R-PA]
Introduced: 2015-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Consumer credit
Separation, divorce, custody, support
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: 

Child Support Assistance Act of 2015

 
Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act, with respect to the permissible purposes of consumer reports, to authorize a consumer reporting agency to furnish a consumer report in response to a request by the head of a state or local child support enforcement agency (or an authorized state or local government official), if the requester certifies that the report is needed for enforcing a child support order, award, agreement, or judgment.
 
Repeals the requirement for 10 days' prior notice to a consumer whose report is requested.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-2079
Sponsor: Sen. Corker, Bob [R-TN]
Introduced: 2015-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Advisory bodies
Congressional oversight
Executive agency funding and structure
Federal officials
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Human rights
Political parties and affiliation
Religion
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: 

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2015

 
This bill reauthorizes the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) through FY2019.
 
The Chair and Vice Chair of USCIRF must at least biennially carry out a strategic policy and organizational review and submit a strategic plan to Congress concerning: (1) prioritized actions for USCIRF, (2) any changes it considers necessary with regard to the scope, content, and timing of USCIRF's annual report; (3) any changes USCIRF considers necessary with regard to personnel matters; and (4) USCIRF's funding requirements.
 
If unanimous agreement is not possible, items for inclusion in the strategic plan may, at the joint discretion of the Chair and Vice Chair, be approved by: (1) a majority of Commissioners appointed by an elected official from the political party of the President, and (2) a majority of Commissioners appointed by an elected official from the political party that is not the party of the President. 
 
The Vice Chair for such purposes must be appointed by an elected official from the political party that is different from the political party of the elected official who appointed the Chair.
 
USCIRF is authorized to implement provisions related to personnel and the annual report that are included in the strategic plan.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
Pipeline Improvement and Preventing Spills Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-2080
Sponsor: Sen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI]
Introduced: 2015-09-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Business records
Congressional oversight
Department of Transportation
Emergency planning and evacuation
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Environmental technology
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Great Lakes
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Marine pollution
Michigan
Oil and gas
Pipelines
Seashores and lakeshores
Transportation safety and security
Water quality
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: 

Pipeline Improvement and Preventing Spills Act of 2015

 
This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to prescribe minimum standards to require the owner or operator of a pipeline facility to notify all owners and residents of property located within 2,000 feet of a transmission line of:
 
 
the property's proximity to the line, and
 
the line's specific location if it is on private residential property.
 
 
DOT shall ensure that industry standards and procedures adopted as part of the federal pipeline safety regulatory program are easily available to the public free of charge.
 
 In identifying high-consequence areas, DOT shall consider specified features of a pipe, including its age, whether it can be inspected using the most modern instrumented internal inspection devices, whether it crosses open waters of the Great Lakes, and the type of commodity it transports.
 
 The Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research shall:
 
 
identify measures to respond to spills or leaks of oil in the Great Lakes; and
 
assess their effectiveness in preventing significant or substantial harm to the public health or welfare.
 
 
DOT shall:
 
 
conduct a comprehensive water crossing survey of all intrastate and interstate hazardous liquid pipeline facilities that cross U.S. waterways in the Great Lakes Basin; and 
 
enter into a joint agreement with the National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences to identify gaps in data and information in the Basin pipeline network, and
 
make recommendations to prevent future leaks, ruptures, and failures that could result in damage to Basin waterways and natural resources.
 
 
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act is amended to:
 
 
prohibit vessel transportation of crude oil and crude oil derived from oil sands on the Great Lakes; and 
 
include in the meaning of &quot;worst-case discharge,&quot; in the case of an offshore or onshore facility, the largest foreseeable discharge in adverse weather conditions (as in current law) in which waters that may receive a discharge are covered by ice.
 
 
 
 
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2015-09-24
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to extend authorities for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to expand presumption of service connection for compensation for diseases the Secretary determines are associated with exposure to herbicide agents, and for other purposes.

Bill: 114-s-2081
Sponsor: Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
Introduced: 2015-09-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Asia
Conflicts and wars
Disability and paralysis
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Military personnel and dependents
Veterans' medical care
Veterans' pensions and compensation
Vietnam

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-25
text: 
This bill extends for five years the Department of Veterans Affairs presumption of service connection for diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicides, including Agent Orange, with respect to veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
action_date: 2015-09-25
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to extend the deadline for commencement of construction of a hydroelectric project.

Bill: 114-s-2083
Sponsor: Sen. Burr, Richard [R-NC]
Introduced: 2015-09-28 in the Senate
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Alternative and renewable resources
Dams and canals
Electric power generation and transmission
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Licensing and registrations
North Carolina

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-28
text: 
This bill permits the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), upon licensee request, to extend for up to three consecutive two-year periods from the expiration date of the extension originally issued by FERC the time period during which the licensee must commence construction of project numbered 12642.
 
FERC may also reinstate the license effective as of its expiration date if the period required for commencement of project construction has expired before enactment of this Act. The first extension authorized under this Act shall take effect upon that expiration date.

action_date: 2015-12-16
text: 
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
 
(Sec. 1) This bill permits the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), upon licensee request, to extend for up to three consecutive two-year periods from the expiration date of the extension originally issued by FERC the time period during which the licensee must commence construction of project numbered 12642. 
 
FERC may also reinstate the license effective as of its expiration date if the period required for commencement of project construction has expired before enactment of this Act. The first extension authorized under this Act shall take effect upon that expiration date. 
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-12-16
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 337.
action_date: 2015-12-16
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Reported by Senator Murkowski without amendment. With written report No. 114-192.
action_date: 2015-12-16
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Reported by Senator Murkowski without amendment. With written report No. 114-192.
action_date: 2015-11-19
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
action_date: 2015-10-08
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 114-381.
action_date: 2015-09-28
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2015-09-28
text: Introduced in Senate
Protecting American Jobs Act

Bill: 114-s-2084
Sponsor: Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]
Introduced: 2015-09-28 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Administrative remedies
Civil actions and liability
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Labor-management relations
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-28
text: 

Protecting American Jobs Act 

 
 Amends the National Labor Relations Act to repeal the authority of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board to issue, and prosecute before the Board, complaints with respect to unfair labor practices.
 
Repeals the prohibition against: (1) review of an administrative law judge's report by any person other than a Board member or legal assistant; and (2) advice to or consultation with the Board by an administrative law judge with respect to exceptions taken to his or her findings, rulings, or recommendations.
 
Limits the Board's rulemaking authority to rules concerning the internal functions of the Board. Prohibits the Board from promulgating rules or regulations that affect the substantive or procedural rights of a person, employer, employee, or labor organization, including those concerning unfair labor practices and representation elections.
 
Revises Board powers to grant it the authority to investigate unfair labor practices, but repeals its power to prevent any person from engaging in them.
 
Repeals the Board's power to issue a complaint against a person charging an unfair labor practice. Allows an aggrieved person to bring a civil action for relief (including an injunction) in U.S. district court or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in cases where it appears that a person has engaged, is engaging, or is about to engage in an unfair labor practice


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-28
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2015-09-28
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to clarify that nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity may accept donated mortgage appraisals, and for other purposes.

Bill: 114-s-2085
Sponsor: Sen. Portman, Rob [R-OH]
Introduced: 2015-09-28 in the Senate
Policy area: Housing and Community Development
Subjects: Charitable contributions
Housing finance and home ownership
Real estate business
Social work, volunteer service, charitable organizations

Summary:
action_date: 2015-09-28
text: 
This bill amends the Truth in Lending Act to deem mortgage appraisal services donated by a fee appraiser to an organization eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions to be customary and reasonable. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-09-28
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2015-09-28
text: Introduced in Senate