jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Bill 114-S-1180 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Emergency management

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the Senate on June 25, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2015

 (Sec. 2) Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to: (1) modernize the integrated U.S. public alert and warning system to help ensure that under all conditions the President, federal agencies, and state, tribal, and local governments can alert and warn the civilian population in areas endangered by natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters or threats to public safety; and (2) implement such system to disseminate timely and effective warnings.

Directs FEMA to: (1) establish common alerting and warning protocols, standards, terminology, and operating procedures for the system; (2) include in such system the capability to adapt the distribution and content of communications on the basis of geographic location, risks, and multiple communication technologies and to alert, warn, and provide equivalent information to individuals with disabilities, access and functional needs, or limited English proficiency; (3) ensure that specified training, tests, and exercises for such system are conducted and that the system is resilient, secure, and can withstand external attacks; and (4) conduct public education efforts and a general market awareness campaign about the system.

Requires the system to: (1) be designed to adapt to and incorporate future technologies for communicating directly with the public, provide alerts to the largest portion of the affected population feasible, and improve the ability of remote areas to receive alerts; (2) promote local and regional public and private partnerships to enhance community preparedness and response; (3) provide redundant alert mechanisms; and (4) protect individual privacy.

Requires FEMA to make available on its public website and submit to Congress an annual report of the performance of the system.

Directs FEMA to establish the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Subcommittee to develop and submit recommendations for an integrated public alert and warning system to the National Advisory Council, which shall report the recommendations it approves to agencies represented on the Subcommittee and to specified congressional committees. Terminates the Subcommittee not later than three years after this Act's enactment.

Authorizes appropriations to carry out this Act for FY2016-FY2018.
Bill 114-S-1259 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Science, technology, communications

National Laboratory Technology Maturation Act of 2015

 Requires the Department of Energy to establish the National Laboratory technology maturation program to make grants of up to $5 million per fiscal year to National Laboratories to increase the successful transfer of technologies licensed from National Laboratories to small businesses by providing a link between an innovative process or technology and a practical application with potential to be successful in commercial markets.

Requires grant recipients to use the funds to provide vouchers of up to $250,000 each to small businesses that hold a technology license from a National Laboratory to pay the cost of providing assistance from its scientists and engineers to assist in the development of the licensed technology and further develop related products and services until they are market-ready or sufficiently developed to attract private investment.

Requires a National Laboratory that awards a voucher to carry out such a project to: (1) establish a procedure to monitor interim progress of the project toward commercialization milestones, and (2) discontinue providing such funding or assistance if it determines that a project is not making adequate progress toward such milestones under the procedure.
Bill 114-S-1262 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Taxation

Small Business Start-up Savings Accounts Act of 2015

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for tax-exempt Small Business Start-up Savings Accounts to pay for trade or business expenses, including the purchase of equipment or facilities, marketing, training, incorporation, and accounting fees. Allows annual contributions to such accounts up to $10,000. Sets forth rules for the tax treatment of contributions to and rollovers from such accounts, similar to rules governing individual retirement accounts (IRAs).
Bill 114-S-1281 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Taxation

Helping Our Middle-Class Entrepreneurs Act or the HOME Act

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a taxpayer who uses a residence to conduct a trade or business a standard tax deduction equal to the lesser of $1,500 or the taxpayer's gross trade or business income derived from the business use of such residence. Provides for an inflation adjustment to the standard deduction amount in calendar years beginning after 2015.
Bill 114-S-1292 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Commerce

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

HUBZone Revitalization Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Small Business Act to redefine HUBZones (historically underutilized business Zones) eligible for certain assistance to include a qualified disaster area (a specified census tract or nonmetropolitan county located in a major declared disaster area or in an area where a catastrophic incident has occurred).

A qualified disaster area shall be treated as a HUBZone for 5 years after it has been declared a major disaster area or for 10 years after a catastrophic incident has occurred within it.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency shall provide the Small Business Administration with any data it needs to verify a small business's eligibility for the HUBZone small business loan program.

(Sec. 3) HUBZones shall now also include areas that can be used by small businesses whose principal offices are located in base closure HUBZones, with at least 35% of their employees residing in:

 a HUBZone, a census tract in which the base closure HUBZone is wholly contained, a census tract that intersects the boundaries of the base closure HUBZone, or census tract contiguous with these census tracts. This bill also amends the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 to extend HUBZone eligibility assistance for base closure areas from five years to eight years after their closure.
Bill 114-S-1400 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Commerce

Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act of 2015

This bill amends the Small Business Act to direct the Small Business Administration (SBA) to give access to and manage the distribution of U.S-owned surplus property, including foreign excess personal property returned to a state for handling as surplus property, to small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans, pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the SBA and the head of the state agency for surplus properties.
Bill 114-S-1445 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Commerce

Microloan Act of 2015

This bill amends the Small Business Act to revise requirements for the Small Business Administration (SBA) Microloan Program (direct loans to eligible intermediaries for making fixed interest rate microloans to startup, newly established, or growing small businesses).

The bill repeals the authority for each intermediary to expend certain grant amounts to: (1) provide information and technical assistance to small businesses that are prospective borrowers, and (2) enter into third party contracts to provide technical assistance.

The bill also repeals minimum allocation requirements and authority to redistribute portions of remaining microloan funds in the third quarter.

It is the sense of Congress that the SBA should promote the Microloan Program to encourage entrepreneurs to use it.
Bill 114-S-1481 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Emergency management

Urban Flooding Awareness Act of 2015

Directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study on urban flooding.

Defines "urban flooding" as the inundation of property in a built environment, particularly in more densely populated areas, caused by rain falling on increased amounts of impervious surface and overwhelming the capacity of drainage systems. Requires the primary focus of the study to be on urban areas outside of special flood hazard areas.

Directs the NAS to evaluate the latest research, laws, regulations, policies, best practices, procedures, and institutional knowledge regarding urban flooding. Requires the study to include an examination of:

 the prevalence of and costs associated with urban flooding events across the United States, with a focus on the largest metropolitan areas and trends in frequency and severity over the past two decades; the adequacy of federally provided flood risk information and the most cost-effective methods and products to characterize the risk of property damage from urban flooding on a property-by-property basis; the potential for training and certifying local experts in flood risk characterization as a service to property purchasers and owners; the causes of urban flooding and its apparent increase; the most cost-effective strategies, practices, technologies, policies, standards, or rules used to reduce the impacts of urban flooding; the role of the federal and state governments in spurring market innovations based on public-private-nonprofit partnerships; the most sustainable and effective methods for funding flood risk and flood damage reduction at all levels of government; the relevance of the National Flood Insurance Program and Community Rating System to urban flooding areas outside traditional flood plains and strategies for improving compliance, broadening coverage, and increasing participation under the Program; strategies for protecting communities in the lower elevations of a watershed or drainage area from the flooding impacts of development in upstream communities; cost-effective strategies for reducing infiltration/inflow into combined and separate sewer systems; and opportunities to increase coordination between stormwater management programming under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and flood risk management and mitigation programming under various laws.
Bill 114-S-1679 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Finance and financial sector

Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act

This bill amends the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to make technical amendments to requirements for flood insurance under either the federal program or private flood insurance.

"Private flood insurance" shall include any policy issued by an insurance company eligible as a nonadmitted insurer to provide flood insurance in the state or jurisdiction where the property to be insured is located.

The flood insurance program under the Act, including both private and federal flood insurance, shall extend to Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 is amended to direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to consider any period during which a property was continuously covered by private flood insurance to be a period of continuous insurance coverage.
Bill 114-S-1795 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Taxation

National Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2015

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide tax relief for disasters declared in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 by:

 allowing an election to expense qualified disaster expenses (i.e., for the abatement of hazardous substances, removal of debris, demolition, and repair of business-related property); increasing the tax deduction for charitable contributions for disaster relief for individual and corporate taxpayers; allowing through 2015 the deduction of losses and net operating losses attributable to disasters; allowing waivers of requirements relating to mortgage revenue bonds; extending through 2015 the additional allowance for depreciation of business property (bonus depreciation); allowing an increase through 2015 of the new markets tax credit limitation amount within a federally-declared disaster area; permitting the use of tax-exempt retirement plan funds in federally-declared disasters without penalty; allowing an additional tax exemption for individuals who are displaced as a result of a federally-declared disaster; allowing an exclusion from gross income of imputed income from the cancellation of indebtedness resulting from federally-declared disasters; providing a special rule to allow individuals affected by a disaster in 2012, 2013, 2014, or 2015 to claim a full earned income tax credit; increasing the rehabilitation tax credit for buildings affected by a federally-declared disaster; permitting one additional advance refunding of a tax-exempt bond that is outstanding on the date on which a federally-declared disaster occurs; allowing the issuance of qualified disaster area recovery bonds; allowing an additional allocation of the low-income housing tax credit in 2016 to states affected by a federally-declared disaster occurring in 2012, 2013, 2014, or 2015;   allowing payments of disaster assistance to tax-exempt mutual ditch or irrigation companies without affecting their tax-exempt status; allowing an exclusion from gross income for disaster mitigation payments received from state and local governments; allowing a tax deduction for payments to a tax-exempt natural disaster fund; allowing a five-year replacement period for property located in a disaster area for purposes of the exclusion of gain from an involuntary conversion; allowing employers a business-related tax credit for up to 40% of wages paid to employees in a disaster area; and allowing an enhanced tax deduction for medical expenses related to an injury occurring in a disaster area.
Bill 114-S-1811 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Commerce

Superstorm Sandy Relief and Disaster Loan Program Improvement Act of 2015

(Sec. 3) This bill amends the Small Business Act to authorize a small business, homeowner, nonprofit entity, or renter that was located within a declared major disaster area during Superstorm Sandy in 2012 to apply for a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan to: (1) repair, rehabilitate, or replace property damaged or destroyed because of the storm; or (2) assist a small business that suffered substantial economic injury because of it.

The SBA must select loan recipients and make such loans available for at least one year after the date on which it begins carrying out this authority.

The SBA Inspector General must review the controls for ensuring applicant eligibility for these loans.

(Sec. 4) SBA physical disaster loans may be used to construct a safe room or similar storm shelter designed to protect property and occupants from tornadoes or other natural disasters, if they are constructed in accordance with applicable standards issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

(Sec. 5) The SBA shall make a clear and concise notification on all application materials for SBA disaster loans and on relevant websites notifying an applicant that:

 he or she may submit all documentation necessary for the approval of the loan at the time of application, and failure to do so could delay the loan's approval and disbursement. (Sec. 6) The SBA shall revise the comprehensive written disaster response plan, and any successor, to incorporate its response to a situation in which an extreme volume of applications are received during the period of time immediately after a disaster. The revised plan must: (1) ensure that sufficient human and technological resources are made available, and (2) prevent delays in loan processing.
Bill 114-S-1827 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Taxation

Small Business Tax Compliance Relief Act of 2015 

This bill amends provisions of the the Internal Revenue Code relating to the taxation of small businesses to:

 allow small business entities with gross receipts not exceeding $10 million (currently, $5 million) to use the cash method of accounting and an exemption from the requirement to use inventories; eliminate restrictions on the depreciation of computers or peripheral equipment; extend the tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals; allow small business entities to maintain pension plans designated as flexible retirement accounts; repeal provisions for simple pension plans and simple individual retirement accounts and special rules for top-heavy pension plans; require inflation adjustments after 2015 to the dollar amounts of specified tax exclusions and deductions; allow a reasonable cause exception to noncompliance penalties; modify return due dates for partnerships, C corporations, S corporations, and other entities; modifiy the application of tax rules for nonqualified deferred compensation plans; and reduce from 5 years to 3 years the required holding period for qualified small business stock and extend the rollover period for such stock. The bill directs: (1) the Department of the Treasury to modify Treasury regulations for the expensing of tangible property to increase from $500 to $2,500 the de minimis safe harbor amount for taxpayers without applicable financial statements; and (2) the Internal Revenue Service to implement procedures for the review of regulations affecting small business and report on uniform statutory definitions relating to small business and on improvements in customer service to small business.
Bill 114-S-1857 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Commerce

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Microloan Modernization Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Small Business Act with respect to the rule under the Small Business Administration (SBA) Microloan Program (assisting low-income individuals to start and operate a small business) that permits SBA-designated microloan intermediary lenders to expend up to 25% of the grant funds they receive from the SBA to provide information and technical assistance to small business concerns that are their prospective borrowers.

(Sec. 3) The total amount of loans outstanding and committed to any particular intermediary (excluding outstanding grants) from the SBA business loan and investment fund is increased from $5 million to $6 million for the remaining years of the intermediary's participation in the program.

(Sec. 4) The SBA must establish a process by which these microloan intermediaries may apply for, and the SBA may grant, a waiver of this 25/75 allocation.

This rule shall require any waiver applicant to:

 specify how it will use the additional technical assistance, and make assurances that the intermediary will have sufficient funds to provide technical assistance to all of the intermediary's borrowers. (Sec. 5) An eligible intermediary may include lines of credit among the short-term, fixed rate loans it makes to startup, newly established, and growing small business concerns from SBA funds made available to the intermediary for working capital and the acquisition of materials, supplies, furniture, fixtures, and equipment.

(Sec. 6) The SBA may not impose limitations on the repayment term of a loan by an intermediary to a small business or entrepreneur. This repayment term, however, may not exceed:

 6 years for a loan of $10,000 or less, or 10 years for a loan greater than $10,000. (Sec. 7) The Government Accountability Office shall:

 compare the operations of a representative sample of eligible intermediaries that participate in the microloan program and of eligible intermediaries that do not, study the reasons why the latter do not participate, recommend how to encourage increased participation by intermediaries in the microloan program, and recommend how to decrease the associated costs for intermediary participation.
Bill 114-S-1862 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Commerce

Veterans Entrepreneurial Transition Act of 2015 or the VET Act of 2015

This bill directs the Small Business Administration to carry out a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of making grants to eligible veterans to start or acquire a qualifying business enterprise.
Bill 114-S-1870 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Commerce

Veterans Entrepreneurial Transition Act of 2016 or the VET Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Small Business Act to direct the Small Business Administration (SBA) to carry out a three-year pilot program to assess the feasibility of making grants to up to 250 eligible veterans and retiring or honorably discharged members of the Armed Forces to start or acquire a qualifying business enterprise. 

The SBA shall establish a list of qualifying business enterprise categories, which shall include: (1) a small business concern, (2) a franchise business enterprise, and (3) any other appropriate business enterprise category.

The SBA shall ensure grantee geographic diversity.

The SBA may authorize eligible veterans to apply as a group. Such a group shall be treated as a single veteran.

Each grantee shall: (1) complete an SBA-approved entrepreneurship readiness program, and (2) prepare a business plan.

The SBA shall submit a program assessment within two years of the program's commencement.

The Government Accountability Office shall submit a program evaluation within one year of the program's termination.

Nothing in the bill shall be construed to modify any time limitation or period during which an individual is entitled to Post 9/11 or all-volunteer force educational assistance.
Bill 114-S-1901 — Domestic Commerce / Disaster Relief
Subject: Commerce

Small Business Access to Capital Act of 2015 Amends the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 to extend for an additional eight fiscal years the State Small Business Credit Initiative to assist participating states to give collateral support and other innovative credit access and guarantee initiatives for small businesses and manufacturers.

Prescribes allocations of federal funds to participating states.

Authorizes the Department of the Treasury to award, on a competitive basis, up to a total of $1 billion in two tranches, according to specified criteria, to participating states and consortiums of participating states for use: (1) for making federal contributions to, or for the account of, an approved state program; or (2) as collateral for a qualifying loan or swap funding facility.