hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Programs Reauthorization Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1473
Sponsor: Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Correctional facilities and imprisonment
Homelessness and emergency shelter
Indian social and development programs
Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
Veterans' loans, housing, homeless programs

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Programs Reauthorization Act of 2017

 
This bill extends through FY2022 the Department of Labor's: (1) homeless veterans reintegration programs, and (2) homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children reintegration grant program. 
 
Currently, the homeless veterans reintegration programs provide job training, counseling, and placement services to expedite the reintegration of homeless veterans into the labor force. The bill expands eligibility for the programs to include: (1) veterans participating in the Department of Housing and Urban Development-Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Supportive Housing Program, (2) Native American veterans receiving assistance under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996, (3) veterans who are transitioning from being incarcerated, and (4) veterans participating in the VA's Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
REGION Act

Bill: 115-s-1474
Sponsor: Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Appropriations
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Executive agency funding and structure

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

Recognizing the Environmental Gains In Overcoming Negligence Act or the REGION Act

 
This bill prohibits funds made available for FY2018 from being used to close, consolidate, or eliminate any regional or program office of the Environmental Protection Agency.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Promoting Good Cyber Hygiene Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1475
Sponsor: Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Advanced technology and technological innovations
Computer security and identity theft
Congressional oversight
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Internet and video services
Internet, web applications, social media

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

Promoting Good Cyber Hygiene Act of 2017

 
This bill requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish for use by the federal government, the private sector, and any person utilizing an information system or device a list of best practices to defend against common cybersecurity threats or risks. 
 
The Department of Homeland Security must assess cybersecurity threats, the effect of such threats on the federal government's information systems and networks, and submit recommendations for addressing such threats. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Countering Russian Missiles Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1476
Sponsor: Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. [D-MD]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Alliances
Arms control and nonproliferation
Asia
Congressional oversight
Defense spending
Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad
Europe
Executive agency funding and structure
International law and treaties
Military assistance, sales, and agreements
Military education and training
Military procurement, research, weapons development
Nuclear weapons
Russia

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

Countering Russian Missiles Act of 2017

 
This bill requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to submit annual reports on:
 
 
the status of the Russian Federation's new SSC-8 ground-launched cruise missile, its capabilities, and the threat it poses to the European and Asian allies of the United States and U.S. assets in the region; 
 
whether the United States faces significant military disadvantages with the introduction of the SSC-8 to the European continent;
 
gaps in the current U.S. missile defense infrastructure in Europe;
 
gaps in capability that a new U.S. intermediate range missile, that is not compliant with the Treaty between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty), would address in Europe and Asia; and 
 
the time line for fielding, and the cost for deployment of, an INF range missile. 
 
 
 The Department of State must submit an annual report that includes a plan: (1) describing how the United States will coordinate with its European allies to enhance missile detection and defense; and (2) recommending additional foreign military sales, financing, or international military education and training for such allies for strengthening missile defense capabilities. 
 
The bill requires specified consultation by the President and Congress regarding Russian Federation compliance with the treaty.
 
The bill prohibits any funds from being made available or expended for any action that effects U.S. withdrawal from the treaty unless the President certifies that withdrawal is in U.S. vital national security interests. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Serve Veterans First Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1477
Sponsor: Sen. Flake, Jeff [R-AZ]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Department of Veterans Affairs
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government studies and investigations
Health care coverage and access
Labor-management relations
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

Serve Veterans First Act of 2017

 
This bill requires the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), at the end of each calendar year, to determine whether any veteran attempted but was unable to schedule an appointment to receive hospital care or a medical service within the wait-time goals of the Veterans Health Administration. 
 
The bill prohibits any VA employee from using official time for any purpose related to a labor organization: (1) before the Inspector General has made such determination; or (2) if the Inspector General's most recent determination found that such an incident occurred. 
 
The Inspector General must investigate each report received of such an incident and may determine whether it occurred.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Defense Siting Clearinghouse Improvement Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1478
Sponsor: Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Aviation and airports
Congressional oversight
Defense spending
Electric power generation and transmission
Government studies and investigations
Military education and training
Military facilities and property
Military operations and strategy
Military procurement, research, weapons development
Military readiness
Research and development
Transportation safety and security

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

Defense Siting Clearinghouse Improvement Act of 2017

 
This bill requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to establish a Defense Siting Clearinghouse to serve as a clearinghouse to: (1) coordinate DOD review of applications for energy projects filed with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and received by DOD from DOT, and (2) accelerate the development of planning tools necessary to determine the acceptability to DOD of proposals included in an application for an energy project.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services. (text of measure as introduced: CR S3860-3861)
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to improve the supplemental agricultural disaster assistance programs, and for other purposes.

Bill: 115-s-1479
Sponsor: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Atmospheric science and weather
Disaster relief and insurance
Forests, forestry, trees
Land use and conservation
Livestock
Veterinary medicine and animal diseases

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 
This bill amends the Agricultural Act of 2014 to modify two Department of Agriculture (USDA) disaster assistance programs: (1) the Livestock Forage Program (LFP), and (2) the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP). 
 
(The LFP makes payments to eligible livestock producers who have suffered certain grazing losses due to a drought or a fire. The LIP provides payments to eligible livestock producers on farms that incurred livestock deaths in excess of the normal mortality due to adverse weather or attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by the federal government or protected by federal law.) 
 
The bill modifies the LIP to specify that livestock death losses due to disease in livestock that has been exacerbated by adverse weather are eligible for payments if a licensed veterinarian verifies that the adverse weather created conditions contributing to the livestock death. USDA must determine eligibility for the payments without regard to any management practice, vaccine protocol, or lack of vaccination by the producer relating to the disease. 
 
With respect to the LFP, the bill modifies the payment schedule to: (1) allow a one-month payment when a county reaches the severe drought category for four consecutive weeks (eight weeks under current law), and (2) allow an additional monthly payment when the county reaches eight weeks in the severe drought category. 
 
The bill also amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to revise the rules regarding the eligibility of national grasslands for grazing leases and permits. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
BTU Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1480
Sponsor: Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Alternative and renewable resources
Energy efficiency and conservation
Income tax credits
Lighting and heating
Lighting, heating, cooling
Residential rehabilitation and home repair

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

Biomass Thermal Utilization Act of 2017 or the BTU Act of 201

7

 
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to include 30% of qualified biomass fuel property expenditures for property placed in service before 2022 in the residential energy efficient property tax credit. A &quot;qualified biomass fuel property expenditure&quot; is an expenditure for property which uses the burning of biomass fuel (a plant-derived fuel available on a renewable or recurring basis) to heat a dwelling used as a residence, or to heat water for use in such dwelling, and which has a thermal efficiency rating of at least 75%.
 
The bill also allows: (1) a 15% energy tax credit until 2022 for investment in open-loop biomass heating property, including boilers or furnaces that operate at thermal output efficiencies of at least 65% and provide thermal energy in the form of heat, hot water, or steam for space heating, air conditioning, domestic hot water, or industrial process heat; and (2) a 30% credit until 2022 for investment in such property that operates at a thermal output efficiency of at least 80%. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Improvement Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1481
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Alaska
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Birds
Congressional oversight
Corporate finance and management
Food assistance and relief
Government studies and investigations
Government trust funds
Indian claims
Indian lands and resources rights
Interest, dividends, interest rates
Land transfers
Land use and conservation
Marine pollution
Monuments and memorials
Oil and gas
Parks, recreation areas, trails
Pollution liability
Poverty and welfare assistance
Roads and highways
Securities
Veterans' pensions and compensation
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Improvement Act of 2017

 
This bill revises provisions concerning Alaska Natives claims to land and Alaska Native regional, village, or urban corporations. 
 
The bill amends the Barrow Gas Field Transfer Act of 1984 to require the Department of the Interior to convey to the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation certain sand and gravel deposits.
 
 Interior must grant the Shishmaref Native Corporation a transportation easement. 
 
Shee Atika Incorporated may opt to receive credits from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the sale of Cube Cove in Admiralty Island, Alaska, that may be used to acquire federal property sold at public sales. 
 
The bill authorizes a land exchange between the USDA and the Sealaska Corporation. 
 
Cook Inlet Region, Inc. may satisfy its land claim under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). 
 
Interior must convey a surface estate to the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, a subsurface estate to the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, a surface estate to Kian Tr'ee Corporation, and a subsurface estate to Doyon Limited.
 
The bill amends ANCSA to require Interior to pay compensation to Nagamut Limited and the Calista Corporation in lieu of conveying land to Nagamut and a subsurface estate to Calista.
 
Native residents of the villages of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell, Alaska, may organize as urban corporations. Upon incorporation, Interior must offer each corporation 23,040 acres of land. 
 
Alaska Native veterans who served during the Vietnam War may receive an allotment of federal land.
 
For purposes of determining eligibility for need-based federal programs, the amount of cash an Alaska Native receives from a Native corporation that is disregarded is increased.
 
Under certain circumstances, Alaska Native village corporations may reincorporate after they are involuntarily dissolved.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2018-02-07
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 115-502.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
ANCSA Shishmaref Emergency Access Easement Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1482
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Alaska
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Indian claims
Indian lands and resources rights
Land use and conservation
Monuments and memorials
Parks, recreation areas, trails

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

ANCSA Shishmaref Emergency Access Easement Act of 2017

 This bill requires the Department of the Interior to grant the Shishmaref Native Corporation, an Alaska Native village corporation, an easement that crosses the Bering Land Bridge National Monument to permit a surface transportation route between Shishmaref and the area of Ear Mountain, Alaska.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
ANCSA Shee Atika Land Exchange Settlement Act

Bill: 115-s-1483
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Alaska
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Government trust funds
Indian claims
Indian lands and resources rights
Land transfers

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

ANCSA Shee Atika Land Exchange Settlement Act

 
This bill declares that consideration received by the urban Native corporation of Shee Atika under the agreement between Shee Atika and the United States must be treated as the receipt of land or interest in land pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act or as cash to equalize the values of properties exchanged pursuant to that Act. (Under the Act, these considerations are not taxed.)
 
Shee Atika may elect to accept payment from the Department of Agriculture for Cube Cove lands into an account that may be used to purchase property sold at public sale by a federal agency. Purchases made through that account must be considered to be conveyances under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
ANCSA Admiralty Island Land Exchange Finalization Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1484
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Alaska
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Indian claims
Indian lands and resources rights
Land transfers
Monuments and memorials
Parks, recreation areas, trails

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

ANCSA Admiralty Island Land Exchange Finalization Act of 2017

 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to convey specified land to the Sealaska Corporation, an Alaska Native regional corporation, if the corporation relinquishes a specified 23,000 acres of subsurface estate. The land to be conveyed by USDA to the corporation consists of 8,873 acres of surface and subsurface estate and 5,145 acres of surface estate.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
ANCSA Cook Inlet Region Land Conveyance Finalization Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1485
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Alaska
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Indian claims
Indian lands and resources rights
Land transfers

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

ANCSA Cook Inlet Region Land Conveyance Finalization Act of 2017

 
This bill requires the Department of the Interior to convey to Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI), an Alaska Native regional corporation, land CIRI selects from specified areas to satisfy its claim to an additional 43,000 acres under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. CIRI is granted a right of notice and first refusal for federal land or property identified as excess in CIRI's region. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
ANCSA Barrow Sand and Gravel Access Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1486
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Alaska
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Birds
Indian lands and resources rights
Land transfers
Oil and gas
Roads and highways
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

ANCSA Barrow Sand and Gravel Access Act of 2017

 This bill amends the Barrow Gas Field Transfer Act of 1984 to require the Department of the Interior to convey to the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation (UIC), an Alaska Native village corporation, sand and gravel deposits underlying specified surface estate owned by the UIC upon execution of an agreement between the UIC and North Slope Borough, Alaska.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
ANCSA Kaktovik and Canyon Village Land Conveyance Settlement Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1487
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Alaska
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Indian claims
Indian lands and resources rights
Land transfers

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

ANCSA Kaktovik and Canyon Village Land Conveyance Settlement Act of 2017

 
This bill requires the Department of the Interior to convey: (1) specified surface estate to the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, an Alaska Native village corporation, in accordance with an agreement effective January 22, 1993; and (2) specified subsurface estate to the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, the Alaska Native regional corporation for the village of Kaktovik, pursuant to an agreement dated August 9, 1983.
 
Interior also must convey: (1) up to 6,400 acres of surface estate to Kian Tr'ee Corporation, a village corporation, for the village of Canyon Village; and (2) equal acreage of subsurface estate to Doyon Limited, the regional corporation for Canyon Village.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Reform Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1488
Sponsor: Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA]
Introduced: 2017-06-29 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Government trust funds
Navigation, waterways, harbors
Saint Lawrence Seaway
Sales and excise taxes
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
Transportation programs funding
User charges and fees
Water resources funding

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: 

Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Reform Act of 2017

 
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make certain amounts in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund available, without appropriation, to pay
 
 
100% of the eligible operations and maintenance costs of specified portions of the Saint Lawrence Seaway (a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes) as well as those assigned to commercial navigation of all U.S. harbors and inland harbors;
 
rebates of certain tolls or charges on the Seaway; and
 
all expenses of administration relating to harbor maintenance tax incurred by the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Commerce.
 
 
The bill also amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to require
 
 
allocation to certain donor ports and energy transfer ports of at least 20% of amounts made available each fiscal year from the trust fund, and
 
the Department of the Army to make allocations equally between these types of ports. 
 
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Introduced in Senate