jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Bill 114-HR-1321 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Health

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on December 7, 2015. The summary of the House passed version is repeated here.)

Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ban rinse-off cosmetics that contain intentionally-added plastic microbeads beginning on January 1, 2018, and to ban manufacturing of these cosmetics beginning on July 1, 2017. These bans are delayed by one year for cosmetics that are over-the-counter drugs.
Bill 114-HR-1582 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Public lands and natural resources

Forest Legacy Management Flexibility Act 

This bill amends the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to permit states to allow qualified (tax-exempt) organizations, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, to acquire, hold, and manage conservation easements using funds provided to the state under the Forest Legacy Program. The qualified organizations must be organized for specified conservation purposes.
Bill 114-HR-1623 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to authorize states to issue permits to discharge pollutants into navigable waters for up to 20 years. Currently, permits are allowed to be issued for up to 5 years.
Bill 114-HR-1705 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Clean Water Affordability Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a comprehensive and integrated planning approach to the permit obligations under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) or a municipal separate storm sewer system.

A state may extend the term of a NPDES permit to up to 25 years under a state-administered NPDES program, if the permittee has an approved integrated plan.

The EPA must update the guidance entitled "Combined Sewer Overflows--Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Development," to ensure that the evaluations by the EPA of financial capability assessment and schedule development meet specified criteria.

States must set aside 15% of the amount of each capitalization grant they receive for water pollution control revolving funds to provide assistance to municipalities of fewer than 10,000 individuals that meet specified affordability criteria for activities on the state's priority list of POTW construction projects.

Effluent limitations must be applied at the final point of discharge from a POTW treatment facility and not to flows within the facility.

The EPA may issue NPDES permits with modified effluent limits for discharges of pollutants from a collection system servicing a POTW during periods of peak wet weather if a state concurs and the permit applicant has an approved peak wet weather management plan. States may adopt peak wet weather-related water quality standards for receiving waters during periods of peak wet weather events. The EPA must develop and publish guidance with respect to peak wet weather-related water quality standards and waste water management practices.
Bill 114-HR-1732 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Regulatory Integrity Protection Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw, within 30 days, the proposed rule, "Definition of 'Waters of the United States' Under the Clean Water Act," dated April 21, 2014, describing the water bodies that fall under the scope of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act), as well as any final rule based on the proposed rule.

(Sec. 3) The Army Corps and the EPA must develop a new proposed rule to define the term, "waters of the United States" as used in that Act. In developing the new rule, the Army Corps and the EPA must meet requirements concerning consultation with states and localities enumerated in this bill. The new rule must specifically identify those waters covered and not covered by the Clean Water Act and incorporate the areas and issues where consensus was reached by the interested parties.

The Army Corps and the EPA must prepare a report with details about the new proposed rule and its development, including: (1) explanations of how the rule addresses public comments filed on certain related rules and reports and addresses recommendations provided in the consultation process; and (2) comprehensive regulatory and economic impact analyses of how the rule will impact interested parties and each program under the Clean Water Act.

The Army Corps and the EPA must: (1) publish the report, a description of the areas and issues where consensus was reached with the state and local officials consulted, and the new proposed rule; and (2) make them available for public review and comment for at least 180 days.

(Sec. 5) Within 90 days of issuing a final rule to define the term, the EPA must determine whether each permit program administered by states under the Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program, the program to regulate the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, and the program regulating the disposal of sewage sludge is in compliance with the rule. States are given two years to bring any noncompliant programs into compliance before the EPA withdraws approval of the state program.
Bill 114-HR-1814 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Public lands and natural resources

Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to make permanent the authorization for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Requires not less than 1.5% of the annual authorized funding amount or $10 million, whichever is greater, to be used for projects that secure recreational public access to existing federal public land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes.
Bill 114-HR-1922 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Ban Toxic Dispersants Act of 2015

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to revise requirements governing the schedule of the National Contingency Plan for removal of oil and hazardous substances.

A dispersant, chemical, or other spill mitigating device or substance that is not included on the schedule may be used in carrying out the plan only if it is proposed to be included on the schedule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must issue a revised regulation for the development of the schedule for the use of those devices and substances. In issuing the regulation, the EPA must: (1) establish minimum toxicity and efficacy testing criteria; (2) establish a requirement that the volume of oil or hazardous substance discharged, and the volume and location of any spill mitigating substance used, be measured and made publicly available on a daily basis; and (3) require the public disclosure of all ingredients of those substance. The EPA must: (1) require manufacturers of mitigating devices to study their risks and effectiveness; (2) provide a mechanism for the delisting of a substance or device that poses a risk to or impact on human health, water quality, or the environment; and (3) initiate a formal review of the potential risks and impacts associated with a substance or device prior to delisting it.

The EPA must: (1) study those potential risks and impacts, (2) impose a moratorium on approval of the use of dispersants until the study is complete, (3) review the schedule for the use of the devices and substances and revise it as necessary every five years, and (4) establish a schedule of fees to be collected from the manufacturers of the substances or devices to offset the costs of evaluating their use.
Bill 114-HR-1923 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

This bill requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, acting as chair of the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, to appoint a coordinator to work with appropriate governments to address harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes.
Bill 114-HR-1955 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Great Lakes Nutrient Removal Assistance Act 

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a program to provide grants to states in the Great Lakes System (i.e., Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) and municipalities in those states to install nutrient removal technologies at a municipal wastewater treatment facility that has a permitted design capacity to treat an annual average of at least 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day.

The EPA must give priority to facilities at which nutrient removal technology installations would: (1) produce the greatest nutrient load reductions at points of discharge, (2) result in the greatest environmental benefits to the Great Lakes System, and (3) help meet the objectives related to nutrients outlined in Annex 4 of the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
Bill 114-HR-1967 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Science, technology, communications

Ocean Acidification Innovation Act of 2015

 Amends the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 to authorize any federal agency with a representative serving on the Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification, either individually or in cooperation with other agencies, to carry out a program to award prizes competitively under the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 for the purpose of stimulating innovation to advance the nation's ability to understand, research, or monitor ocean acidification or its impacts or to develop management or adaptation options for responding to ocean acidification.

Grants priority to establishing programs that address communities, environments, or industries that are in distress due to the impacts of ocean acidification.
Bill 114-HR-1990 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Protecting Our Great Lakes Act 

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to prohibit discharges of dredged material into the Great Lakes System, except for discharges: (1) into a confined disposal facility; or (2) in connection with a beneficial use or habitat establishment, improvement, and/or restoration. The prohibition becomes effective in five years.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or a state with an approved permit program, may waive application of the prohibition on a discharge during the first two years of the prohibition if: (1) the Environmental Protection Agency or the state determines that the waiver is necessary and appropriate, and (2) each concerned state approves of the waiver in the case of a waiver issued by the Corps of Engineers.

In determining the least costly manner, and the least costly and most practicable location, for discharges of dredged material resulting from Corps of Engineers operations and maintenance activities in the Great Lakes System, the Corps of Engineers must exclude from consideration the use of open-water placement of dredged material.
Bill 114-HR-2346 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Water resources development

North American Wetlands Conservation Extension Act 

This bill amends the North American Wetlands Conservation Act to extend the authorization for the Department of the Interior to carry out certain wetlands conservation projects through FY2020.
Bill 114-HR-2556 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to make grants to states or local governments for monitoring water quality standards for pathogens, or disease-causing organisms, in coastal recreation waters adjacent to beaches that are used by the public and notifying the public when those standards are exceeded.
Bill 114-HR-2599 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Don't Ignore the Will of the American People Act 

This bill prohibits the obligation of funds made available under the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its Office of the Administrator until the EPA rescinds the rule entitled, "Clean Water Rule: Definition of Waters of the United States," about the scope of the Clean Water Act.
Bill 114-HR-2705 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Federal Regulatory Certainty for Water Act

This bill nullifies the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Water Rule signed on May 27, 2015, which describes the scope of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act).

Under this bill, the Clean Water Act applies to waters of the United States that are: (1) navigable-in-fact; or (2) permanent or continuously flowing bodies of water that form geographical features commonly known as streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes that are connected to waters that are navigable-in-fact.

Under this bill, the Act does not apply to: (1) waters that do not physically abut those waters of the United States through an actual and continuous surface water connection; (2) man-made or natural structures or channels through which water flows intermittently or ephemerally; or (3) wetlands (including playa lakes, prairie potholes, wet meadows, wet prairies, and vernal pools) that lack that continuous surface water connection.

The aggregation of wetlands or waters may not be used to determine whether the wetlands or waters are navigable waters.
Bill 114-HR-2717 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2015

This bill amends the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 to revise and reauthorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation's (NSF) ocean acidification programs through FY2019.

The scope of the Act is expanded to cover acidification in estuaries and the Great Lakes, not just oceans. Acidification is the decrease in pH of those waters and changes in their chemistry caused by chemical inputs, including carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology must: (1) oversee the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies to address socioeconomic impacts resulting from ocean acidification, (2) ensure that agencies represented on the interagency working group on ocean acidification deliver data and information to support the Ocean Acidification Information Exchange and a data archive, and (3) establish an Ocean Acidification Advisory Board to provide advice to the subcommittee and the interagency working group and certain information to Congress and the public.

The strategic plan for federal research and monitoring on ocean acidification must include: (1) modeling to determine impacts of acidification on marine food webs, and (2) research to understand related and cumulative stressors and other biogeochemical processes occurring in conjunction with ocean acidification.

NOAA must establish data processing, storage, and archive facilities and procedures to provide for the long-term stewardship of environmental data, products, and information necessary for carrying out the Act.
Bill 114-HR-2719 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Public lands and natural resources

Tribal Coastal Resiliency Act

This bill amends the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to authorize the Department of Commerce to award grants to qualified Indian tribes to further achievement of any of the following tribal coastal zone objectives:

 protecting, restoring, or preserving areas in the zone that hold important ecological, cultural, or sacred significance for the tribes, or traditional, historic, and esthetic values essential to the tribes; preparing and implementing a special area management plan and technical planning for important coastal areas; and implementing any coastal or shoreline stabilization measure for the purpose of public safety, public access, or cultural or historical preservation.
Bill 114-HR-2744 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Public lands and natural resources

Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act Amendments of 2015

This bill reauthorizes through FY2019 and revises the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009.
Bill 114-HR-2809 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Great Lakes Water Protection Act 

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to prohibit a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) from discharging untreated or partially treated sewage into the Great Lakes or a tributary of the Great Lakes when the discharge is the result of the POTW intentionally diverting waste streams to bypass any portion of a treatment facility. A bypass is allowed if: (1) it is unavoidable to prevent loss of life, personal injury, or severe property damage, there is no feasible alternative, and the treatment works provides notice; or (2) it does not cause effluent (waste) limitations to be exceeded and is for essential maintenance to ensure efficient operation of the treatment facility.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must work with relevant states to create requirements for providing immediate notice to the public about discharges.

The EPA must establish procedures to ensure that permits issued to POTWs under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System include requirements to comply with this bill.

This bill establishes a maximum civil penalty of $100,000 per day for violations of the bill occurring on or after January 1, 2035. The penalties must be deposited into the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund, which is established by this bill. The Fund must be used for improving wastewater discharges.
Bill 114-HR-2930 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Act

This bill reauthorizes the Management Conference of the Long Island Sound Study, the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act of 2006, the Long Island Sound Grants, and Long Island Sound Stewardship Grants through FY2020.

The bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to direct the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of the Management Conference of the Long Island Sound Study to include in studies on strengthening the implementation of the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Long Island Sound: (1) environmental impacts on the Sound watershed; and (2) planning initiatives that identify areas most suitable for various activities in order to reduce conflicts among uses, reduce adverse environmental impacts, facilitate compatible uses, or preserve critical ecosystem services.

The Office must: (1) develop and implement strategies to increase education and awareness about the ecological health and water quality of the Sound; and (2) monitor progress toward meeting the goals, actions, and schedules of the Plan.

The limit on the federal share for certain grants for projects and studies to help implement the Plan is revised by increasing the limit for grants other than citizen involvement and education grants.

A federal agency that owns or occupies real property, or carries out activities, within the Sound watershed must: (1) participate in regional and subwatershed planning, protection, and restoration activities; and (2) ensure that the property and activities are consistent with the Plan to the maximum extent practicable.
Bill 114-HR-3120 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Agriculture and food

Great Lakes Assurance Program Verification Act of 2015

This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to require the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a Great Lakes basin initiative for agricultural nonpoint source pollution prevention. (Nonpoint source pollution comes from diffuse sources and is caused by precipitation moving over or through the ground and carrying pollution.)

In implementing the initiative, USDA must:

 provide grants to Great Lakes states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin) for education and outreach, technical assistance, and voluntary programs to verify implementation of practices to reduce nonpoint pollution from agricultural activities; establish a funding priority within the Great Lakes basin for payments to producers that participate in the initiative to achieve verification through a state verification program; and use existing data. In carrying out the initiative, states may collaborate with entities that have agricultural or environmental expertise, including academic or nonprofit organizations.
Bill 114-HR-3270 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to exempt Indian tribes from any requirement to provide compensatory mitigation as a condition of a permit to discharge dredged or fill material into waters of the United States when the permitted activity is conducted on Indian land. If the Indian tribe ceases to maintain the permitted activity on that land, or seeks to abandon that activity without a good faith transfer, the Indian tribe must obtain a permit modification from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps of Engineers may require restoration and rehabilitation of the area.
Bill 114-HR-3271 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to allow a permittee under the Act to satisfy compensatory mitigation requirements for discharging dredged or fill material into the waters of the United States (permitted activity) by entering into a preservation lease with a state or Indian tribe whose wetlands are affected.

A preservation lease is an agreement under which a permittee leases wetlands or other aquatic sites on state or Indian land for the sole purpose of preserving the wetlands or other aquatic sites in an undisturbed state during the term of the lease to mitigate for a permitted activity. The term of the lease may not be less than the life of the permitted activity and must be adjusted to account for the cessation of the impacts caused by such activity.

If a permittee enters into a preservation lease and subsequently ceases to maintain the permitted activity, or seeks to abandon the permitted activity without a good faith transfer, the permittee must obtain a permit modification from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which may require restoration and rehabilitation of the area.
Bill 114-HR-3434 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection

Commonsense Permitting for Job Creation Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to revise requirements for permit guidelines applicable to the designation of disposal sites for discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States. Those guidelines may not prohibit the designation of a disposal site due to the lack of a final site plan because there is not an identified end user, industry, or industrial classification for the site.
Bill 114-HR-3479 — Environment / Conservation
Subject: Taxation

Save our Bays Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a new tax credit, through 2020, for developing and implementing a plan to address non-point pollution carried by surface water runoff on real property located in the United States within the boundaries of an estuary of national significance.