jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2012-05-22 00:00:00

Small Business Goaling Act of 2012 - Amends the Small Business Act to raise from 23% to 25% the governmentwide prime contract award goal for participation by small business concerns and to make the governmentwide subcontract participation award goal 40% for such businesses. Revises percentage goals for awards to small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone (historically underutilized business zone) small businesses, small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small businesses owned by women (small business categories). Requires the small business procurement goals established by the head of each federal agency participating in federal procurement contracts to: (1) be in the same format as the goals established by the President, (2) address both prime contract and subcontract awards, and (3) meet or exceed the government-wide goals for each small business category. Requires each agency head to: (1) consult with the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) in establishing agency goals, and (2) develop a plan for achieving agency goals. Revises requirements concerning information required to be included in annual reports from: (1) agency heads to the Administrator concerning the extent of small business participation in that agency's procurement contracts; and (2) the Administrator to the President and Congress on whether individual agency goals were achieved, as well as reasons for any failure to achieve such goals. Requires, in the latter reports, information concerning the number and dollar amounts of prime contracts awarded to small businesses owned by an Alaska Native Corporation. Requires training programs established for the development of federal senior executives to include training with respect to federal procurement requirements, including those under the Small Business Act. Requires senior executive performance appraisals to take into account the individual's success in meeting agency small business federal procurement contracting goals.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2012-05-22 00:00:00

Startup Act 2.0 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to adjust to conditional permanent resident status up to 50,000 aliens who have earned a master's or doctorate degree in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field (STEM field) and permit such an alien to remain in the United States: (1) for up to one year after the expiration of the alien's student visa, if the alien is searching for STEM field employment; and (2) indefinitely if the alien remains actively engaged in a STEM field. Removes a STEM alien's conditional status after five years of maintaining eligibility during the entire five-year period. Authorizes the Secretary to issue conditional immigrant visas to up to 75,000 qualified alien entrepreneurs. Removes such conditional basis after four years of maintaining qualified entrepreneur status. Eliminates the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based visas. Increases the per country numerical limitation for family based immigrants from 7% to 15% of the total number of family-sponsored visas. Amends the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 to eliminate the provision requiring the reduction of annual People's Republic of China immigrant visas to offset status adjustments under such Act. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) provide a permanent full tax exclusion on gain from the sale or exchange of qualified small business stock held for more than five years, (2) repeal the minimum tax preference and the 28% capital gains rate on such stock, and (3) provide a limited tax credit for certain startup small businesses. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to use certain federal agency extramural budget funds to award grants to institutions of higher education for initiatives to improve commercialization and transfer of technology. Requires the head of any federal or independent regulatory agency, before issuing a notice of rulemaking in connection with the issuance of a proposed major rule, to complete a review that, among other things, analyzes the problem that the rule intends to address, and identifies and analyzes the rule's expected impact on state, local, and tribal governments, as well as on the ability of new businesses to form and expand. Requires a cost-benefit analysis before rule issuance. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to regularly compile: (1) information from each of the states and the District of Columbia on laws that affect the formation and growth of new businesses, and (2) quantitative and qualitative information on U.S. businesses that are not more than one year old.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Foreign trade and international finance
Date: 2012-05-22 00:00:00

Small Business Export Growth Act of 2012 - Amends the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 to revise the duties of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC). Requires the TPCC to: (1) identify opportunities to consolidate or co-locate offices of federal agencies involved in export promotion and export financing activities; (2) assess the use and coordination of electronic databases among federal agencies in support of such activities; and (3) provide a detailed listing of current and future federal and state-led trade missions, trade fairs, and related activities to ensure better delivery of services to U.S. businesses. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to make available information on federal and state-led trade missions, trade fairs, and related activities on the Export.gov website. Requires the governmentwide strategic plan for federal trade promotion efforts to: (1) clearly identify and explain the role, goals, and objectives of each TPCC member agency with respect its export promotion and export financing activities; (2) include any recommendations of the Comptroller General relating to coordination of the TPCC and member agencies; and (3) reflect the recommendations of the U.S. Travel Association (currently, U.S. National Tourism Organization) to the degree considered appropriate by the TPCC. Revises membership of the TPCC to include one member that represents state agencies with responsibility for export promotion and export financing. Requires the Inspector General of the Department of Commerce to report annually to Congress on the extent to which the TPCC is successfully carrying out its duties. Requires certain reports to Congress: (1) on recommendations for improving access about export information (including state resources) on the Export.gov website, and (2) for developing a single website for complying with and disseminating information about U.S. export control laws and regulations. Amends the Small Business Act to require that the nationwide marketing effort of the Associate Administrator of the Office of International Trade of the Small Business Administration (SBA), in promoting sales opportunities for the export of small business goods and services, to conduct at least one outreach event each fiscal year in each state. Directs the SBA Administrator to establish a small business export matchmaking pilot program designed to facilitate contact between U.S. small businesses and potential foreign buyers or international clients. Directs the SBA Administrator, the Secretary of Agriculture, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to jointly establish a Small Business Inter-Agency Task Force on Export Financing.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2012-05-24 00:00:00

SCORE Program Improvement Act of 2012 - Establishes the SCORE Advisory Board to: (1) review and monitor plans and programs which affect SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) chapters; (2) advise on improving coordination between such plans and programs; (3) advise SCORE chapters on the use of allocated federal funding; (4) develop and promote initiatives, policies, programs, and plans designed to assist with mentoring services offered by SCORE chapters; and (5) advise the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) on the development and implementation of an annual comprehensive plan for joint public-private efforts to facilitate the formation and development of mentoring by SCORE volunteers. Requires an annual activities report from the Board to the President and the congressional small business committees. Amends the Small Business Act to reauthorize the SCORE program through FY2015. Limits the rate of pay of the SCORE chief executive officer to the maximum rate within the Senior Executive Service. Directs SCORE to establish a committee to determine the amount of, and methods for, allocations to each chapter. Requires the Comptroller General to: (1) conduct a study that includes an examination of each SCORE expenditure for technology activities and the result of each expenditure; and (2) report study results to Congress.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2012-05-24 00:00:00

Expanding Access to Capital for Entrepreneurial Leaders Act or EXCEL Act - Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to guarantee the payment of up to $4 billion per fiscal year for debentures or participating securities issued by small business investment companies (SBICs) to encourage the formation and growth of small businesses. Increases the maximum amount of outstanding leverage for two or more commonly-controlled SBICs. Authorizes annual inflationary adjustments of such limits. Directs the Administrator to make publicly available on the SBA website specified fiscal and related information with respect to each SBIC. Allows SBIC licensing fees to be used by the SBA for SBIC program needs other than the costs of licensing examinations. Expresses the sense of Congress that SBICs would benefit from partnerships with community banks and other lenders, and that the Administrator should: (1) increase outreach to such banks and lenders for investment in SBICs; (2) use the Internet to publicize which SBICs are soliciting and making investments in small businesses; (3) partner with governors, mayors, states, and municipalities to increase outreach by SBICs to underserved and rural areas; and (4) revise and update the SBIC program webpage to make it more prominent and user-friendly.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2012-06-07 00:00:00

Go Global Act of 2012 - Amends the Small Business Act to allow the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to employ additional export finance specialists in the 15 states with the greatest volume of exports, as determined through a study required under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. Directs the Administrator to develop a program to cross-train export finance specialists: (1) with personnel within the SBA's Office of International Trade (Office) on the export financing programs of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS); and (2) with personnel within such Office, small business development centers, women's business centers, the Service Corps of Retired Executives, export assistance centers, and other SBA resource partners on the export assistance and business counseling programs of the USDA. Requires: (1) information on loans provided through programs of the USDA and FAS to be included in a required annual SBA list of export finance lenders, and (2) an annual SBA list of rural export assistance resources. Directs the Administrator to establish a program to register export management companies and export trading companies. Requires the Office to encourage the participation of SBA employees and resource partners in reverse trade missions hosted or sponsored by the federal government. Authorizes the Administrator to waive section 7(a) (general small business loans) loan fees in the case of a small business: (1) exporting for the first time, or (2) certified as eligible to apply for trade adjustment assistance under the Trade Act of 1974. Requires the Administrator to report to the small business committees, in each of FY2013-FY2016, on such fee waivers. Provides a specified reallocation of funds from the Community Adjustment and Investment Program to the SBA's Export Expansion Investment Program. Amends the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 to add the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to the list of U.S. territories and possessions eligible for SBA grants to carry out export programs that assist certain small businesses. Expresses the sense of Congress in support of: (1) small business representation on international trade promotion advisory panels, councils, and boards; and (2) detailing SBA staff to other federal agencies for training on export assistance programs. Directs the SBA's Associate Administrator for International Trade to: (1) develop and maintain a small business trade strategy to be included within the government-wide strategic plan for federal trade promotion, and (2) report annually to the small business committees on such strategy. Requires the Administrator to report to such committees on any SBA memoranda of understanding entered into and their benefit to small businesses.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2012-07-09 00:00:00

Bring Jobs Home Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) grant business taxpayers a tax credit for up to 20% of insourcing expenses incurred for eliminating a business located outside the United States and  relocating it within the United States, and (2) deny a tax deduction for outsourcing expenses incurred in relocating a U.S. business outside the United States. Requires an increase in the taxpayer's employment of full-time employees in the United States in order to claim the tax credit for insourcing expenses.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2012-07-12 00:00:00

Small Refiner Relief Act of 2012 - Defines "small business refiner" for purposes of administering any law under the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) jurisdiction to mean, with respect to any taxable year, a refiner of crude oil: (1) with respect to which not more than 1,500 individuals are engaged in the business's refinery operations on any day during such year, and (2) the average daily domestic refinery run or average retained production of which for all facilities of the taxpayer during any calendar year did not exceed 205,000 barrels.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2012-08-02 00:00:00

SCORE for Small Business Act of 2012 - Amends the Small Business Act to reauthorize for FY2013-FY2015 the SCORE program (the Service Corps of Retired Executives, which provides free mentoring and related services to small businesses). Requires the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to ensure that SCORE volunteers are adequately oriented and trained in areas and disciplines necessary to ensure successful, outcome-oriented interactions relating to services provided by the SCORE program. Directs the Administrator to ensure that the SCORE program and each SCORE chapter develop and implement plans and goals: (1) for outreach to individuals in rural, ethnically diverse, minority, and underserved communities; and (2) to more effectively and efficiently provide services to individuals in such communities. Requires the SCORE Association to report annually to the Administrator on SCORE counseling and training, as well as on the number of small businesses created or expanded with SCORE assistance. Outlines privacy requirements of the Administrator and the SCORE Association with respect to the disclosure of information concerning businesses assisted under the SCORE program.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2012-09-20 00:00:00

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from passive loss rules any activity of a taxpayer carried on by a high technology research small business pass-thru entity. Defines "high technology research small business pass-thru entity" as any domestic pass-thru entity that: (1) spends a specified percentage of its income on research, (2) is a small business with 250 or fewer employees, and (3) does not have aggregate gross receipts in excess of $150 million.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2012-11-26 00:00:00

Today's Entrepreneurs are Advancing Mentorship Act of 2012 or TEAM Act of 2012 - Amends the Small Business Act to establish within the Small Business Administration (SBA) an Office of Entrepreneurial Support, headed by a Director, to develop and provide innovative entrepreneurial information, education, and resources to promote both prospective entrepreneurs and successful small businesses. Requires: (1) the SBA's Associate Administrator for Entrepreneurial Development to establish a program of technical assistance grants for the development and implementation of curricula and mentoring programs designed to promote entrepreneurship, and (2) the Director to report to the congressional small business committees on best practices of U.S. entrepreneurial education and training programs. Directs the SBA Administrator to establish an Emerging Leaders Program of specialized training and executive-level mentoring to certain small businesses, with an emphasis on small businesses in emerging, underserved, rural, and urban markets. Requires: (1) the Administrator to develop performance measures for the Emerging Leaders and Entrepreneurial Support Programs, and (2) the Comptroller General to submit to the small business committees a comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of such Programs.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-01-03 00:00:00

Working Families' Access to Health Innovations Act of 2013 - Amends the Small Business Act to authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to guarantee up to 90% of a loan made to a health care professional for the acquisition of health information technology for use in such professional's medical practice and for the costs associated with its installation. Provides loan guarantee limits, and authorizes the Administrator to impose a loan guarantee fee.

Requires services provided by a small business development center to include: (1) facilitating the training of medical professionals in health information technology systems; and (2) establishing and providing a network of small health information technology companies available to such professionals in low-income and underserved areas for assistance in purchasing, utilizing, and maintaining such technology.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2013-01-03 00:00:00

Small Business Investment Enhancement and Tax Relief Act - Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish and carry out an early-stage investment program (program) to provide, through participating investment companies, equity financing to support early-stage businesses (gross annual sales of $15 million or less in any of the previous three years). Outlines investment company application requirements and selection procedures. Allows the Administrator to make one or more equity financings to a participating company, with a limit of $100 million to any one company. Requires the company to make all of their investments in small businesses, of which at least 50% shall be early-stage small businesses. Establishes in the Treasury a separate fund for equity financings under the program.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a small business investment tax credit of 20% of the amount paid or incurred for small business investments. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a study of the effectiveness of the tax credit in providing incentives for investment in small businesses.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2013-01-03 00:00:00

Creating Jobs From Innovative Small Businesses Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a general business tax credit of 20% of the amount paid to acquire an equity investment in a qualified high technology small business concern. Defines "qualified high technology small business concern" as a small business concern that employs an average of fewer than 500 employees during a year and devotes at least 50% of its gross expenditures to research and experimentation.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2013-01-04 00:00:00

Small Business Freedom of Commerce Act of 2013 - Allows a small business operating in the United States to elect to be exempt from any federal rule or regulation issued on or after January 20, 2009. Requires the small business to notify the federal agency that issued the rule or regulation that it has elected such exemption, and makes the exemption effective 30 days after such notification.

Requires an exempt small business to: (1) label any product affected by the exemption as no longer subject to such rule or regulation, and (2) include in any communication relating to the affected product or activity a notice that it is no longer so subject.

Provides penalties for small business noncompliance with such requirements.

Prohibits a small business from electing to be exempt from a rule or regulation issued by the Department of Defense (DOD) or Homeland Security (DHS) if the Secretary of Defense or Homeland Security has determined that the rule or regulation is necessary for U.S. security.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2013-02-13 00:00:00

Voluntary Protection Program Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor to enter into cooperative agreements with employers to: (1) encourage establishment of comprehensive safety and health management systems to protect employees from occupational hazards, and (2) establish a voluntary protection program to encourage excellence and recognize its achievement in both the technical and managerial protection of employees from occupational hazards.

Requires the Secretary to take necessary steps for the orderly transition from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cooperative agreements and voluntary protection programs existing before enactment of this Act to agreements and programs authorized under this Act.

Directs the Secretary to establish a program to increase small business participation in the voluntary protection program.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2013-02-15 00:00:00

Protect Small Business Jobs Act of 2013 - Requires a federal agency, before any enforcement action is taken on any sanction on a small business for any violation of a rule or pursuant to an adjudication, to: (1) notify the small business that it may be subject to a sanction at the end of a six-month grace period following such notification; (2) delay further action for 15 days after such notification; (3) defer further action for the six-month period (allowing an additional three-month period upon application by the small business demonstrating reasonable good-faith efforts to remedy the violation or other conduct giving rise to the sanction); (4) make a further determination at the end of the applicable grace period as to whether the small business would still be subject to the sanction; and (5) upon a negative determination, waive the sanction. Makes the grace period inapplicable with respect to a violation that puts anyone in imminent danger, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Makes null and void any sanction imposed in violation of such requirements.

Requires: (1) federal agencies to report annually to the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman on the utilization of this directive and to disclose the penalty mitigation for small businesses, and (2) the Ombudsman to include such information in a currently-required annual report to Congress.