jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-04-16 00:00:00

Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act of 2015

 (Sec. 2) This bill establishes in the executive branch a Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking. The Commission shall conduct a comprehensive study of the data inventory, data infrastructure, and statistical protocols related to federal policymaking and the agencies responsible for maintaining that data to:

 determine the optimal arrangement for which administrative data on federal programs and tax expenditures, survey data, and related statistical data series may be integrated and made available to facilitate program evaluation, continuous improvement, policy-relevant research, and cost-benefit analyses by qualified researchers and institutions; make recommendations on how data infrastructure and statistical protocols should be modified to best fulfill those objectives; and make recommendations on how best to incorporate outcomes measurement, institutionalize randomized controlled trials, and rigorous impact analysis into program design. The Commission must consider whether a clearinghouse for program and survey data should be established and how to create such a clearinghouse.

The bill directs the Commission to evaluate:

 what administrative data and survey data are relevant for program evaluation and federal policymaking and should be included in a potential clearinghouse; which survey data such administrative data may be linked to, in addition to linkages across administrative data series; the legal and administrative barriers to including or linking these data series; what data-sharing infrastructure should be used to facilitate data merging and access for research purposes; how a clearinghouse could be self-funded; which types of researchers, officials, and institutions should have access to data and what their qualifications should be; what limitations should be placed on the use of data provided; how to protect information and ensure individual privacy and confidentiality; how data and results of research can be used to inform program administrators and policymakers to improve program design; and what incentives may facilitate interagency sharing of information to improve programmatic effectiveness and enhance data accuracy and comprehensiveness. The Commission must submit to the President and Congress a detailed statement of its findings and conclusions, together with its recommendations for legislation or administrative actions, within 15 months of the date a majority of the Commission members are appointed.

(Sec. 6) The agencies identified as "Principal Statistical Agencies" in the the Office of Management and Budget report entitled "Statistical Programs of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015" shall provide specified funds for carrying out the activities of the Commission.

(Sec. 8) The Commission shall terminate not later than 18 months after enactment of this Act.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Law
Date: 2015-04-22 00:00:00

Restoring the 10th Amendment Act

Authorizes a designated state official to submit to the head of a federal agency proposing a rule, during the period when the proposed rule is open for public comment, a legal brief challenging the constitutionality of the rule under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Directs the agency head: (1) to notify the designated official of each state within 15 days after such a brief was submitted; (2) to post prominently on the front page of the agency's website a link to the brief; and (3) within 15 days after posting such link, to certify in writing that such rulemaking does not violate the Tenth Amendment and post the certification prominently on the agency's website next to the briefs pertaining to the rule, unless the agency determines not to finalize such proposed rule.

Authorizes a designated state official, at any time after an agency head posts such a certification, to commence a civil action against the agency on the grounds that the rule violates the Tenth Amendment. Permits such state official, in addition to any other venue or jurisdiction provided by law, to bring such action in the U.S. district court for the district in which the official's place of business is located.

Directs the appropriate U.S. court of appeals, upon the filing of a notice by a designated state official, to grant expedited review of a decision by the district court in such an action.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Social welfare
Date: 2015-04-23 00:00:00

Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act 

(Sec. 2) This bill amends title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Benefits) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to direct the Social Security Administration (SSA) to pay state or local governments for transcribing and transmitting to the SSA information on death records.

The SSA shall make cooperative arrangements with federal and state agencies for use of SSA information on all deceased individuals by federal or state agencies providing federally funded benefits or administering a federal program for such benefits.

The SSA shall make similar arrangements for the use of such information by federal agencies to:

 operate the Do Not Pay working system (which uses specified federal agency databases to reduce improper payments or awards); ensure proper payments under a federal program, including federally funded benefits; conduct federal policing agency prevention activities, detection activities, crime investigation, or apprehension of alleged offenders; and carry out tax administration or debt collection duties. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall analyze potential alternative sources of death data maintained by non-federal sources.

(Sec. 3) The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 is amended to require the OMB to:

 issue guidance to agencies that operate or maintain a database of information relating to beneficiaries, annuity recipients, or other purposes specified in Sec. 3 for which improved data matching with databases relating to an individual's death would be relevant and necessary; develop a plan to assist state and local agencies, Indian Tribes, and tribal organizations to provide death information electronically to the federal government; and submit to Congress a plan to improve state, local, and tribal data matching with the federal government on the death of federally funded benefit recipients. (Sec. 4) The SSA shall submit a plan to improve the accuracy and completeness of death data (including data on individuals who are neither eligible for nor receiving OASDI or title XVI [Supplemental Security Income] benefits).

The plan shall include:

 a procedure for identifying, and verifying information about, individuals who are still alive and are older than the oldest known living person; improved policies and procedures for identifying and correcting erroneous records, especially about dead individuals listed as alive and living individuals listed as dead; improved policies and procedures for identifying and correcting errors in Numerical Identification System records; a process for employing statistical analysis of SSA death data to determine an estimate of the number of erroneous records; and recommendations for legislation. (Sec. 5) The SSA shall report to Congress on: (1) all SSA information systems containing sensitive information; and (2) the measures the SSA is taking to secure and protect these systems.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-05-19 00:00:00

Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill expands the cash awards program for disclosures by federal employees of fraud, waste, or mismanagement that result in cost savings to the employee's agency to include identification of surplus salaries and expenses funds that: (1) an agency employee identifies as unnecessary, (2) the inspector general and the chief financial officer of the agency determine are not required for the purpose for which the amounts were made available, and (3) the rescission of which would not be detrimental to the full execution of the purposes for which the amounts were made available.

Any savings resulting from such identifications must be deposited in the Treasury and used to reduce a budget deficit or the federal debt. But agencies may retain up to 10% of such savings for the purpose of paying cash awards to employees who identify surplus salaries and expenses funds.

Each fiscal year, agencies must submit reports to the Department of the Treasury regarding: (1) the total savings achieved through disclosures of possible fraud, waste, or mismanagement and identifications of surplus salaries and expenses funds by an employee; and (2) each disclosure that has merit and the number and amount of cash awards by the agency. This information must also be included in agency budget requests submitted to the Office of Management and Budget.

Treasury must report annually to Congress on federal cost saving and awards based on agency reports about such employee disclosures. The Office of Personnel Management must certify annually whether each agency's cash award program complies with this bill.

Every three years, the Government Accountability Office must report on the operation of the program and any recommendations for legislative improvements.

The amendments in this bill regarding the expansion of the cash awards program and the use of cost savings from such employee identifications shall sunset six years after enactment of this bill.

The bill prohibits the payment of awards to: (1) federal officers who serve in a position at level I of the Executive Schedule; (2) the head of an agency; or (3) a commissioner, board member, or other voting member of an independent establishment.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-06-03 00:00:00

Regulatory Predictability for Business Growth Act of 2015

This bill adds the definitions of "longstanding interpretative rule" and "revise" to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). A longstanding interpretative rule is distinguished from an "interpretative rule" if it has been in effect for at least one year. If a rule is a longstanding interpretative rule, it remains subject to the general notice of proposed rulemaking and comment and publication provisions of the APA.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-06-10 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on September 22, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Program Management Improvement Accountability Act

(Sec. 2) This bill establishes as additional functions of the Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements to:

 adopt and oversee implementation of government-wide standards, policies, and guidelines for program and project management for executive agencies; chair the Program Management Policy Council (established by this Act); establish standards and policies for executive agencies consistent with widely accepted standards for program and project management planning and delivery; engage with the private sector to identify best practices in program and project management that would improve federal program and project management; conduct portfolio reviews to address programs identified as high risk by the Government Accountability Office (GAO); conduct portfolio reviews of agency programs at least annually to assess the quality and effectiveness of program management; and establish a five-year strategic plan for program and project management. The bill exempts the Department of Defense (DOD) from such provisions to the extent that they are substantially similar to: (1) federal provisions governing the defense acquisition workforce; or (2) policy, guidance, or instruction of DOD related to program management.

The head of each federal agency that is required to have a Chief Financial Officer shall designate a Program Management Improvement Officer to implement agency program management policies and develop a strategy for enhancing the role of program managers within the agency. The OMB must submit a report containing such strategy within one year after enactment of this bill. The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics shall be considered the Program Management Improvement Officer for DOD.

The Program Management Policy Council is established within OMB to act as the principal interagency forum for improving agency practices related to program and project management.

The Office of Personnel Management must issue regulations that: (1) identify key skills and competencies needed for an agency program and project manager, (2) establish a new job series or update and improve an existing job series for program and project management within an agency, and (3) establish a new career path for program and project managers.

The GAO must issue a report within three years of enactment, in conjunction with its high risk list, examining the effectiveness of the following (as required or established under this Act) on improving federal program and project management:

 the standards, policies, and guidelines for program and project management; the strategic plan; Program Management Improvement Officers; and the Program Management Policy Council.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-06-18 00:00:00

Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act of 2015

(Sec. 3) This bill authorizes the President to require an independent regulatory agency, while maximizing net benefits and considering costs, to comply with regulatory analysis requirements applicable to other federal agencies.

For any proposed or final economically significant rule (i.e., a rule that is likely to have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or to adversely affect in a material way the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or state, local, or tribal governments or communities), the President may require in independent regulatory agency to publish and provide the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) with: (1) an assessment of the costs and benefits of such rule, (2) an assessment of costs and benefits of alternatives to such rule, and (3) an explanation of why the planned regulatory action is preferable to identified alternatives.

The President may require: (1) such an agency to submit any proposed or final economically significant rule to OIRA for review; (2) OIRA to submit for inclusion in the rule making record its assessment of the extent to which the agency has complied with regulatory analysis requirements; and (3) that if OIRA does not complete such assessment within 90 days, such agency shall be deemed to have met the requirement for review and may publish the final rule without inclusion of an assessment in the rule making record.

(Sec. 4) Compliance of an independent regulatory agency with this bill's requirements shall not be subject to judicial review.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Science, technology, communications
Date: 2015-06-18 00:00:00

Just Google It Act

 Repeals the National Technical Information Act of 1988, effective one year after the enactment of this Act (thus abolishes the National Technical Information Service [NTIS]).

Directs: (1) the Secretary of Commerce, the Archivist of the United States, the Comptroller General, and the Commissioner of Social Security to consult with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to determine if any NTIS function is critical to the U.S. economy; and (2) the Comptroller General to determine which of such critical functions are not being carried out by any other federal agency. Authorizes: (1) the Secretary of Commerce to transfer such critical functions to another office of the Department of Commerce, excluding any fee-based services offered by the NTIS; and (2) the General Services Administration or any federal agency receiving critical fee-based services from an NTIS contractor to enter into a new contract to continue such services. Terminates all other NTIS functions.

Requires the Secretary of Commerce to certify that all NTIS operations have been terminated. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) transfer all unexpended balances in the NTIS Revolving Fund to the Treasury general fund for the purpose of deficit reduction, and (2) dissolve such Fund.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-06-25 00:00:00

Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome Act of 2015 or the SCRUB Act of 2015

Establishes the Retrospective Regulatory Review Commission to review the Code of Federal Regulations to identify, using specified criteria, rules and sets of rules that collectively implement a regulatory program that should be repealed to lower the cost of regulation to the economy, giving priority to major rules that: (1) have been in effect more than 15 years, (2) impose paperwork burdens that could be reduced substantially without significantly diminishing regulatory effectiveness, (3) impose disproportionately high costs on small business entities, and (4) could be strengthened in their effectiveness while reducing regulatory costs. 

Sets forth congressional procedures for consideration of recommendations for the repeal of rules in the Commission's reports. Requires agencies to repeal a rule or set of rules as recommended by the Commission within 60 days after the enactment of a joint resolution approving the recommendations in the Commission's reports. Prohibits the reissuance of a rule similar to any rule that has been repealed or that results in the same adverse effects of a repealed rule.

Requires the Commission to: (1) establish a public website to make regulatory information accessible to the public at no cost, and (2) make any of its meetings of hearings open to the public.

Requires a federal agency that makes a new rule to: (1) repeal rules identified by the Commission to offset the cost to the economy of such new rule (cut-go procedures), and (2) include in the final issuance of such rule a plan for reviewing the rule not later than 10 years after it is promulgated. Requires the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget to review and certify the accuracy of agency determinations of the cost of new rules.

Makes agency compliance with the requirements of this Act subject to judicial review.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-07-21 00:00:00

Regulatory Impact Scale on the Economy Small Business Act of 2015 or the RISE Small Business Act of 2015

Requires a federal agency, before promulgating a proposed or final rule that it determines is likely to have an annual effect on the economy of at least $100 million, to assign the rule to, and publish in the Federal Register, the following category that applies based on the highest possible annual effect the agency determines the rule is likely to have on the economy:

 category 1 rule likely to result in an annual effect of between $100 million and $499,999,999; category 2 rule likely to result in an annual effect of between $500 million and $999,999,999; category 3 rule likely to result in an annual effect of between $1 billion and $4,999,999,999; category 4 rule likely to result in an annual effect of between $5 billion and $9,999,999,999; and category 5 rule likely to result in an annual effect of not less than $10 billion. Directs: (1) each agency to submit to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) annually a list of the rules, by category, that the agency published during the preceding year; and (2) OIRA to publish each list and an estimate of the costs and benefits of each included rule on www.reginfo.gov.

Defines "significant economic impact" for purposes of provisions concerning initial and final regulator flexibility analyses as an annual economic effect of at least $100 million.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-07-21 00:00:00

Early Participation in Regulations Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill defines a "major rule" as a rule that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) determines is likely to impose: (1) an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more; (2) a major increase in costs or prices for consumers, individual industries, government agencies, or geographic regions; or (3) significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or the ability of U.S. enterprises to compete with foreign-based enterprises.

The bill directs an agency, not later than 90 days before publishing a notice of proposed rule making for a major rule in the Federal Register, to publish advance notice of proposed rule making for such rule, which shall:

 include a written statement identifying the nature and significance of the problem to be addressed, a general description of regulatory alternatives, the legal authority under which the rule is proposed, and an achievable objective for the rule and metrics by which the agency expects to measure progress toward that objective; and solicit and provide a period of at least 60 days for submission of written data, views, and argument from interested persons. Any deviation between policies set forth in such statement and any final agency action shall not be considered arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

The bill is inapplicable to a major rule:

 for which the proposing agency is not required to publish a notice of proposed rule making, if the OIRA determines that complying with the requirements described in this bill would not serve the public interest or would be unduly burdensome and duplicative of processes required by specific statutory requirements as rigorous as those prescribed in this bill, or if the agency proposing the major rule is otherwise specifically exempted by law from notice and comment rule making procedures. Such a determination made by the OIRA shall not be subject to judicial review.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-08-04 00:00:00

Require Evaluation before Implementing Executive Wishlists Act of 2015 or the REVIEW Act of 2015

Requires a federal agency to postpone the effective date of a high-impact rule pending judicial review. Permits such a rule to take effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register if no person seeks judicial review of such rule during such period.

Defines a "high-impact rule" as any rule that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determines may impose an annual cost on the economy of at least $1 billion.