hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Environmental Compliance Cost Transparency Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1869
Sponsor: Rep. Gosar, Paul A. [R-AZ-4]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Consumer affairs
Electric power generation and transmission
Environmental regulatory procedures
Public utilities and utility rates
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

Environmental Compliance Cost Transparency Act of 2015

 
This bill requires the Bonneville Power Administration, the Western Area Power Administration, the Southwestern Power Administration, and the Southeastern Power Administration to include in monthly billing statements sent to each customer estimates of the customer's share of such administration's direct and indirect costs for compliance with any relevant federal environmental laws impacting the conservation of fish and wildlife. 
 
Each administration must report each year on: (1) estimates of its total direct and indirect compliance costs, and (2) sources of replacement power.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2016-04-20
text: Subcommittee Hearings Held.
action_date: 2015-05-07
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
To authorize Energy Innovation Hubs.

Bill: 114-hr-1870
Sponsor: Rep. Grayson, Alan [D-FL-9]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Advanced technology and technological innovations
Alternative and renewable resources
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Energy efficiency and conservation
Energy research
Energy storage, supplies, demand
Hybrid, electric, and advanced technology vehicles
Nuclear power
Research administration and funding
Research and development
Technology transfer and commercialization

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 
This bill requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to carry out a grant program to enhance the nation's economic, environmental, and energy security by making awards to consortia for establishing and operating Energy Innovation Hubs to conduct and support multidisciplinary, collaborative research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of advanced energy technologies. Advanced energy technologies are innovative technologies or research, development, demonstration, and commercial application activities necessary to ensure the long-term, secure, and sustainable supply of energy critical elements. These elements have a high risk of a supply disruption and are critical to new, energy-related technologies in that a shortage of the element would significantly inhibit large-scale deployment of technologies that produce, transmit, store, or conserve energy. 
 
Examples of advanced energy technology include an innovative technology that:
 
 
produces energy from renewable energy resources; 
 
 produces nuclear energy; 
 
includes carbon capture and sequestration; 
 
enables advanced vehicles, vehicle components, and related technologies that result in significant energy savings; 
 
 generates, transmits, distributes, utilizes, or stores energy more efficiently than conventional technologies; and 
 
 enhances the energy independence and security of the United States by enabling improved or expanded supply and production of domestic energy resources.
 
 
DOE must designate a unique advanced energy technology focus for each hub. 
 
Grants may not be used for constructing new buildings or facilities for hubs. Further, construction of new buildings or facilities may not be considered as part of the non-federal share of a hub cost-sharing agreement. Grants and non-federal cost share funds may be used for research or for the construction of a test bed or renovations to existing buildings or facilities for the purposes of research.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-08-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
To authorize a nuclear physics program.

Bill: 114-hr-1871
Sponsor: Rep. Grayson, Alan [D-FL-9]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Energy research
Radiation
Research administration and funding

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 
Requires the Office of Science of the Department of Energy (DOE) to: (1) carry out a research program, and support relevant facilities, to discover various forms of nuclear matter; and (2) continue supporting the construction of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. 
 
Repeals provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requiring DOE to construct and operate a Rare Isotope Accelerator. 
 
Directs the Office of Science to carry out a program for the production of isotopes that are determined to be necessary for research and applications, including the development of techniques to produce isotopes and support for infrastructure required for isotope research and production. Requires DOE to ensure that such isotope production activities do not compete with private industry unless critical national interests necessitate the federal government's involvement. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-08-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
To authorize Energy Frontier Research Centers.

Bill: 114-hr-1872
Sponsor: Rep. Grayson, Alan [D-FL-9]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Energy research
Research administration and funding

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 
This bill instructs the Director of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science to make awards, on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis, to multi-institutional collaborations or other appropriate entities to conduct fundamental and use-inspired energy research to accelerate scientific breakthroughs related to needs identified in both the Grand Challenges report and the report of the DOE Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee entitled &quot;From Quanta to the Continuum: Opportunities for Mesoscale Science,&quot; as well as in the Basic Energy Sciences Basic Research Needs workshop report.
 
Such collaborations may include multiple types of institutions and private sector entities. 
 
No funding may be used to construct new buildings or facilities. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-08-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
Ending Special Mail Privileges for Congress Act

Bill: 114-hr-1873
Sponsor: Rep. Woodall, Rob [R-GA-7]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Congress
Subjects: Congressional officers and employees
Congressional operations and organization
Members of Congress
Postal service

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

Ending Special Mail Privileges for Congress Act

 
 Amends federal postal law to repeal franking privileges for mail transmitted by Members of Congress and congressional officials. Requires the mail to be transmitted as congressional mail.
 
Replaces requirements and procedures for the use of franked mail with those for congressional mail.
 
Repeals franked mailing privileges for survivors of Members of Congress.
 
Requires a former President and his or her surviving spouse to send nonpolitical mail within the United States and its territories and possessions as congressional mail instead of franked mail.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 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: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 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: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 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: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
SKILLs Act

Bill: 114-hr-1874
Sponsor: Rep. Grijalva, Raúl M. [D-AZ-3]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Education of the disadvantaged
Education programs funding
Elementary and secondary education
Language arts
Libraries and archives
Licensing and registrations
Teaching, teachers, curricula

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries Act or the SKILLs Act

 
Amends title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize appropriations for FY2016-FY2021 for the Improving Literacy through School Libraries grant program.
 
Requires local educational agencies (LEAs) that receive school improvement funds to ensure, to the extent feasible, that each of their schools receiving such funds employs at least one state certified school library media specialist.
 
Directs states and LEAs that receive school improvement funds to ensure that by the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year there is at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in every school that receives such funds.
 
Requires Improving Literacy through School Libraries funds to be: (1) proportionally distributed to serve students in elementary, middle, and high schools; (2) used for media resources appropriate for all grades; and (3) used for professional development in information literacy instruction that is appropriate for all grades.
 
Expands the program of grants to states and subgrants to LEAs for the recruitment, retention, and professional development of teachers to require that highly qualified school library media specialists be included in the focus of such efforts.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-11-16
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
Filipino Veterans Recognition Act

Bill: 114-hr-1875
Sponsor: Rep. Heck, Joseph J. [R-NV-3]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Asia
Military history
Philippines
Veterans' pensions and compensation

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

Filipino Veterans Recognition Act

 
This bill amends the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make a payment from the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund to an eligible person who, during the one-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this paragraph, submits to the Secretary: 
 
 
a benefits claim; or 
 
with respect to a person who filed a benefits claim during such one-year period, a new claim or an appeal to such previously filed claim. 
 
 
 In determining an individual's eligibility to receive Compensation Fund benefits the Secretary shall accept as proof of service an affidavit from the government of the Philippines certifying an eligible individual's service (AGO Form 23).
 
 Such an affidavit shall serve as proof of service regardless of whether the eligible individual: 
 
 
submits any other qualifying document, or 
 
is included in the Approved Revised Reconstructed Guerilla Roster of 1948, (Missouri List). 
 
 
 The Secretary may not accept such an affidavit as proof of service for any VA benefit other than the Compensation Fund.
 
Nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorizing additional amounts to be appropriated to the Compensation Fund.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-05-01
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
Real Unemployment Calculation Act

Bill: 114-hr-1876
Sponsor: Rep. Hunter, Duncan D. [R-CA-50]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Census and government statistics
Unemployment

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

Real Unemployment Calculation Act 

 
 Treats the measure of unemployment issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (known as U5) as the official and primary measure of unemployment in the United States.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-11-16
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
Keeping Families Home Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1878
Sponsor: Rep. Lujan Grisham, Michelle [D-NM-1]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Housing and Community Development
Subjects: Consumer affairs
Housing finance and home ownership
Real estate business

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

Keeping Families Home Act of 2015

 
 Directs each mortgage servicer to establish a deed-for-lease program which shall permit an eligible mortgagor to:
 
 
enter into a deed in lieu of foreclosure agreement; 
continue to occupy and lease the property that is the subject of the agreement for one year; and 
have a right of first refusal to purchase such property after the end of the one-year lease period, if the owner intends to sell the property at that time. 
 
 
Exempts small servicers from such requirement.
 
Requires a lease to carry a monthly rent amount equal to the fair market rent for the property, as determined by an independent private appraiser hired by and paid by the servicer.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1879
Sponsor: Rep. Lujan Grisham, Michelle [D-NM-1]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Housing and Community Development
Subjects: Civil actions and liability
Government lending and loan guarantees
Housing finance and home ownership

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2015 

 
 Prohibits a court, in the case of any federally related mortgage loan made after enactment of this Act, from entering a deficiency judgment requiring the mortgagor to pay any balance on the mortgage loan after a foreclosure sale of the mortgaged property.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-06-26
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial And Antitrust Law.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
American Royalties Too Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1881
Sponsor: Rep. Nadler, Jerrold [D-NY-10]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Art, artists, authorship
Congressional agencies
Congressional oversight
Government studies and investigations
Intellectual property
Library of Congress
User charges and fees

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

American Royalties Too Act of 2015

 
Expands copyright owners' exclusive rights, in the case of a work of visual art, to include the right to collect or authorize the collection of a royalty if the work is sold by a person other than the author for at least $5,000 in an auction.
 
Defines "auction" as a public sale of visual art to the highest bidder run by an entity that sold at least $1 million of works of visual art during the previous year.
 
Revises the term "work of visual art" to make requirements for photographs consistent with requirements for paintings, drawings, and prints. (Currently, a photograph must be a still photographic image produced for exhibition purposes only.)
 
Limits the amount of such a royalty to the lesser of: (1) 5% of the purchase price; or (2) $35,000, subject to cost-of-living adjustments.
 
Directs entities conducting such auctions to collect and pay the royalties to a visual artists' copyright collecting society. Requires the collecting society, at least four times each year, to distribute the appropriate royalties (minus administrative expenses) to authors or successor copyright owners.
 
Requires an author of a work of visual art, in order to be eligible to receive such a royalty, to: (1) be a citizen of, or domiciled in, the United States or a country that provides resale royalty rights; or (2) have first created the work in the United States or a country that provides such royalty rights.
 
Establishes a copyright infringement offense for the failure to pay such a royalty. Subjects infringers to: (1) statutory damages, and (2) liability for the full royalty. 
 
Prohibits the sale, assignment, or waiver of the right to collect such a royalty, subject to exceptions for works made for hire and transfers of copyright ownership. 
 
Directs the Register of Copyrights to issue regulations governing visual artists' copyright collecting societies.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-05-15
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
Hearing Aid Assistance Tax Credit Act 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1882
Sponsor: Rep. Nunes, Devin [R-CA-22]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Aging
Health technology, devices, supplies
Hearing, speech, and vision care
Income tax credits
Tax treatment of families

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

Hearing Aid Assistance Tax Credit Act
 
2015

 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income based tax credit of up to $500 in a taxable year for the purchase of a qualified hearing aid that is described in the Code of Federal Regulations, is authorized under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for commercial distribution, and is intended for use by the taxpayer or a dependent of the taxpayer. Disallows such credit for a taxpayer whose modified adjusted gross income exceeds $200,000 for any taxable year.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-29
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
Breaking Down Barriers to Innovation Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1883
Sponsor: Rep. Polis, Jared [D-CO-2]
Introduced: 2015-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Computers and information technology
Congressional oversight
Disability and paralysis
Government studies and investigations
Intellectual property

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: 

Breaking Down Barriers to Innovation Act of 2015

 
Revises procedures established under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for the Librarian of Congress to conduct an administrative rulemaking every three years to determine whether to exempt certain noninfringing uses of a copyrighted work from the statutory prohibition on circumventing a technological measure controlling access to a particular class of work.
 
Requires the Librarian, when evaluating whether to allow an administrative exemption, to consider the impact of the circumvention prohibition on: (1) any reduction in the availability for use of copyrighted works; (2) repairs, recycling, or other fair uses when applied to copyrighted works, as well as access to information not subject to copyright protection; (3) accessibility of works and technologies for persons with disabilities; and (4) security research.
 
Prohibits the Librarian from placing the burden of proof on the proponent of an exemption. Requires consideration of the totality of the evidence. 
 
Allows the Librarian to make administrative exemption determinations through rulemaking proceedings outside of the three-year review process if it is substantially likely that users of a copyrighted work are, or are likely to be in the succeeding three-year period, adversely affected by virtue of the prohibition in their ability to make noninfringing uses.
 
Requires the Librarian to automatically renew for an ensuing three-year period any exemptions granted under a rulemaking unless, as a result of changed circumstances, it is unlikely that users are adversely affected by the prohibition. 
 
Establishes a presumption that users are likely to be adversely affected if a technological measure inhibits noninfringing uses that improve accessibility of works or technologies for persons with disabilities.
 
Expands existing statutory exceptions by removing certain restrictions and conditions that apply to permissible circumventions for:
 
 
reverse engineering to achieve interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs;
 
encryption research on copies, phonorecords, performances, or displays of a published work;
 
activities to prevent the collection or dissemination of personally identifying information about a natural person; or
 
authorized security testing on computer systems or networks.
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-05-15
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2015-04-16
text: Introduced in House