jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Agriculture and food
Date: 2011-10-20 00:00:00

Clean Energy Infrastructure for Rural Communities Act of 2011 - Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to make electric loans for transmission facilities primarily for interconnecting renewable energy facilities to a high-voltage transmission line. Revokes the requirement that the rate of an electric loan for renewable energy be equal to the average tax-exempt municipal bond rate of similar maturities. Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to: (1) authorize the Secretary to make and insure loans to improve the economic and environmental climate by encouraging the development and construction of infrastructure to provide access to natural gas in rural communities, and (2) define "natural gas" as unmixed natural gas or any mixture of natural and artificial gas.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Economics and public finance
Date: 2011-11-15 00:00:00

EDA Elimination Act of 2011 - Terminates the Economic Development Administration (EDA). Repeals the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965. Direct the Secretary of Commerce to take such actions as necessary to conclude the outstanding affairs of the EDA, including dispositions of personnel, assets, and obligations.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Agriculture and food
Date: 2012-04-25 00:00:00

Forest Products Fairness Act of 2012 - Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to redefine "biobased product" as a commercial or industrial product (other than food or feed) that is composed, in whole or in significant part, of biological products, including renewable domestic agricultural materials and forestry materials, or an intermediate ingredient or feedstock. Includes within such definition forest products that meet biobased content requirements, notwithstanding market maturity. Defines "forest product" as a product made from materials derived from the practice of forestry or the management of growing timber, and includes: (1) pulp, paper, paperboard, pellets, and wood products; and (2) any recycled products derived from forest materials.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Housing and community development
Date: 2012-06-07 00:00:00

Rural Educator and American Community Housing Act of 2012 - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide grants, loan guarantees, or other financial mechanisms to eligible educators, medical providers, and public safety officers to carry out a qualified project in a qualified community. Defines a "qualified project" as: (1) the construction, modernization, renovation, or repair of qualified housing for such eligible individuals; (2) the payment of interest on bonds or other financing instruments (except refinancing instruments) issued for such activities; or (3) the repayment of a loan used for such construction and so forth, or to purchase or lease real property for qualified housing purposes. Defines a "qualified community" as any open country, or any place, town, village, or city that is not part of or associated with an urban area and that has a population between 2,500 to 10,000, and is not accessible by a motor vehicle. Authorizes the State Director of Rural Development for a state to evaluate for the Secretary any application for a qualified project in the state. Requires the Secretary to take the evaluation into consideration in determining whether to provide such assistance. Requires the Secretary to give priority to: (1) a state education agency (SEA) or local educational agency (LEA), (2) a state or local housing authority, (3) an Indian tribe or tribal organization, (4) a tribally designated housing entity, (5) a local government, or (6) a consortium of any such entities.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Housing and community development
Date: 2012-09-13 00:00:00

Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to extend certain requirements for consideration as a rural area with respect to assistance for farm housing. Declares that any area classified as "rural" or a "rural area" before October 1, 1990, and determined not to be one as a result of data received from or after the 2010 decennial census, and any area deemed to be a "rural area" for purposes of the Act under any other provision of law at any time between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2010, shall continue to be so classified until the receipt of data from the decennial census in the year 2020, if that area has a population of between 10,000 and 35,000 (currently, between 10,000 and 25,000), is rural in character, and has a serious lack of mortgage credit for lower and moderate-income families.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2012-12-20 00:00:00

Lyon County Economic Development and Conservation Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the city of Yerington, Nevada, identified federal land in Lyon and Mineral Counties. Designates identified federal land in Nevada managed by the Forest Service, to be known as the Wovoka Wilderness, as wilderness and as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Sets forth provisions for the management of the Wovoka Wilderness, including regarding livestock grazing, overflights, wildfire, insects, and diseases, water rights, and fish and wildlife.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Housing and community development
Date: 2013-04-18 00:00:00

Building Rural Communities Act - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to make grants to rural area-serving public bodies and private nonprofit corporations for technical assistance and training to: (1) assist communities in identifying and planning for community facility needs; (2) identify public and private financial resources; (3) prepare financial assistance applications and related documents; (4) improve management, including financial management; or (5) assist with other areas of need identified by the Secretary.

Gives priority to private nonprofit organizations that have experience in providing technical assistance and training to rural entities.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2014-07-31 00:00:00

Rural Microbusiness Investment Credit Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a business-related tax credit for 35% of new investment in a rural microbusiness. Imposes limits on such credit for businesses and individual taxpayers.

Defines: (1) "rural microbusiness" as a trade or business that employs not more than 5 full-time employees in a taxable year and is carried on, and physically located, in a distressed rural area; and (2) "distressed rural area" as an area that has lost at least 5% of its population over the last 10 years or 10% of its population over the last 20 years, that has a median family income below 85 % of the national median family income, that has a poverty rate that exceeds 12.5%, or where average unemployment in the preceding year exceeds 120% of the national average.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Housing and community development
Date: 2013-02-26 00:00:00

Rural Educator and American Community Housing Act of 2013 - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide grants, loan guarantees, or other financial mechanisms to eligible educators, medical providers, and public safety officers to carry out a qualified project in a qualified community.

Defines a "qualified project" as: (1) the construction, modernization, renovation, or repair of qualified housing for such eligible individuals; (2) the payment of interest on bonds or other financing instruments (except refinancing instruments) issued for such activities; or (3) the repayment of a loan used for such construction and so forth, or to purchase or lease real property for qualified housing purposes.

Defines a "qualified community" as any open country, or any place, town, village, or city that is not part of or associated with an urban area and that has a population between 2,500 to 10,000, and is not accessible by a motor vehicle.

Authorizes the State Director of Rural Development for a state to evaluate for the Secretary any application for a qualified project in the state. Requires the Secretary to take the evaluation into consideration in determining whether to provide such assistance.

Requires the Secretary to give priority to: (1) a state education agency (SEA) or local educational agency (LEA), (2) a state or local housing authority, (3) an Indian tribe or tribal organization, (4) a tribally designated housing entity, (5) a local government, or (6) a consortium of any such entities.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Housing and community development
Date: 2013-04-18 00:00:00

Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to extend certain requirements for consideration as a rural area with respect to assistance for farm housing.

 Declares that any area classified as "rural" or a "rural area" before October 1, 1990, and determined not to be one as a result of data received from or after the 2010 decennial census, and any area deemed to be a "rural area" for purposes of the Act under any other provision of law at any time between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2010, shall continue to be so classified until the receipt of data from the decennial census in the year 2020, if that area has a population of between 10,000 and 35,000 (currently, between 10,000 and 25,000), is rural in character, and has a serious lack of mortgage credit for lower and moderate-income families.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-03-04 00:00:00

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

Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act

(Sec. 2) Directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to establish an application process under which a person who lives or does business in a state may apply to have an area in the state identified as a rural area if it has not yet been so designated by the CFPB for purposes of federal consumer financial law.

 Prescribes criteria for the CFPB to consider when evaluating the application. Requires the CFPB to: (1) grant or deny the application within 90 days after the public comment period ends; and (2) publish the grant or denial in the Federal Register, including an explanation of the factors upon which the CFPB relied in making its determination.

Sunsets this Act two years after its enactment.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-07-28 00:00:00

PILT and SRS Certainty Act 

This bill appropriates funds to carry out the Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program for the first full fiscal year after the enactment of this Act and for each of the following four fiscal years. This Program compensates local governments for tax revenue lost due to tax-exempt federal lands within their boundaries.

The bill amends the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 to extend payment and project authorities for the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Program for five years. This Program provides payments to states to compensate for the cost of providing services in tax-exempt federal lands within their jurisdiction.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2016-03-23 00:00:00

Rural Main Street Investment Credit Act of 2016

 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a business-related tax credit for 35% of new investment in a rural microbusiness. There is a limit on such credit, for any rural microbusiness or any taxpayer, of $10,000 in a taxable year reduced by the amount allowed as a credit for all preceding taxable years.

A "rural microbusiness" is a trade or business that employs not more than five full-time employees in a taxable year and that is carried on, and physically located, in a distressed rural area. A "distressed rural area" as an area that has lost at least 5% of its population over the last 10 years or 10% of its population over the last 20 years, that has a median family income below 85 % of the national median family income, that has a poverty rate that exceeds 12.5%, or where average unemployment in the preceding year exceeds 120% of the national average.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Agriculture and food
Date: 2016-11-17 00:00:00

Broadband Connections for Rural Opportunities Program Act of 2016 or the B-CROP Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to include grants in the Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that provides loans and loan guarantees for broadband telecommunications services in rural areas.

In making grants, loans, or loan guarantees under the program, USDA must give the highest priority to applicants that offer to provide broadband service to the greatest proportion of unserved rural households or rural households that do not have the minimum acceptable level of residential broadband service.

USDA must then give priority to projects to serve rural communities that:

 have a population of less than 10,000 permanent residents, are experiencing out-migration, have a high percentage of low-income residents, and are isolated from other significant population centers. A grant may not exceed 50% of the development cost of the project. USDA may increase the limit to 75% for projects that serve a remote or low-income area that does not have access to broadband service from any provider.

The bill sets forth reporting requirements for recipients of the grants, loans, or loan guarantees.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Housing and community development
Date: 2015-03-25 00:00:00

Appalachian Regional Development Amendments Act of 2015

This bill authorizes appropriations for the Appalachian Regional Commission for FY2016-FY2020, extends the termination date of the Appalachian Regional Development Program through the end of FY2020, and allots funding to enable the Commission to provide technical assistance, make grants, and enter into contracts in the Appalachian region to increase affordable access to broadband networks throughout Appalachia and for related projects and activities.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Agriculture and food
Date: 2016-07-14 00:00:00

Capital for Farmers and Ranchers Act of 2016

 This bill amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to increase the amount of unpaid debt permitted per borrower under Department of Agriculture farm ownership and operating loans.
Topic: Housing — Rural Development
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2016-07-14 00:00:00

Rebuilding and Renewing Rural America Act of 2016 

This bill modifies: (1) tax and regulatory policies that affect certain rural communities, and (2) tax rules that apply to private foundations.

The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to program-related investments made by private foundations for a charitable purpose, to:

 modify the definition of and requirements for program-related investments; allow a declaratory judgment remedy to determine whether investments in any entity are program-related investments; expand reporting requirements for for-profit entities that receive program-related investments; and allow public inspection of petitions seeking a determination of program-related investment status and annual information returns. The bill also includes several tax provisions that apply to rural renewal communities, which are low-income communities that: (1) have a population of at least 200 people but not more than 25,000 people, and are not located in a metropolitan area which has a population of 200,000 or more; or (2) are entirely within an Indian reservation.

With respect to such communities, the bill:

 allows tax credits for a portion of the costs of reducing lead, radon, or asbestos hazards in rural commercial structures; expands the new markets tax credit; allows expensing of certain depreciable business assets; reduces payroll taxes; and allows tax-preferred rural renewal community business start-up savings accounts. Reducing Excessive Government in Rural America Act of 2016 

Congress must consider legislation to reduce the regulatory cost to rural America by at least 10% over 10 years by repealing certain regulations. The legislation must be considered using expedited legislative procedures specified in the bill.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Insurance Regulation
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2007-01-09 00:00:00

Homeowners' Insurance Availability Act of 2007 - Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to implement a reinsurance coverage program available only through contracts for reinsurance coverage purchased at regional auctions. States that the purpose of the program is to improve: (1) the availability of homeowners' insurance for the purpose of facilitating the pooling, and spreading the risk, of catastrophic financial losses from disasters; and (2) the solvency of the homeowners' insurance markets. Prescribes implementation guidelines that include establishment: (1) in the Treasury of the Disaster Reinsurance Fund; and (2) of a National Commission on Catastrophe Risks and Insurance Loss Costs.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Insurance Regulation
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2007-02-15 00:00:00

Insurance Industry Competition Act of 2007 - Amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act to make the Federal Trade Commission Act, as it relates to areas other than unfair methods of competition, applicable to the business of insurance to the extent that such business is not regulated by state law. Authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue joint statements of their antitrust enforcement policies regarding joint activities in the business of insurance.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Insurance Regulation
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2007-03-28 00:00:00

Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2008 - (Sec. 3) Requires insurers of Holocaust-era policies to: (1) respond within 90 days to written inquiries from eligible persons regarding such polices; (2) provide to such persons all information in the possession of such insurer regarding whether such person is a potential beneficiary; and (3) notify the Holocaust Claims Processing Office (HCPO) immediately in writing of the inquiry, with a copy of all acknowledgments and information provided to such eligible person. Terminates such requirement 10 years after enactment of this Act. Instructs the Secretary of State to: (1) seek to enter into an agreement with each European country with which no appropriate agreement exists to facilitate such response requirements; and (2) report annually to Congress on implementation of this Act. (Sec. 4) Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) to enter into an agreement with the HCPO to: (1) monitor compliance with requirements of this Act; (2) notify the Secretary of the identity of any insurer not complying with this Act within 30 days after the failure to comply; and (3) notify the certain congressional committees annually, including the Secretary and the Secretary of State, of the identity of each non-compliant insurer. Provides for the transfer of specified funds to the HCPO to implement its monitoring functions.(Sec. 5) Instructs the Secretary to assess a civil penalty of not less than $5,000 for each day that an insurer fails to comply with the requirements of this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to seek to attach a lien on any payment from a U.S. domiciliary subsidiary of any insurer based outside the United States from which the Secretary is unable to collect a penalty. (Sec. 6) Sets forth a federal cause of action for any claim against an insurer arising out of or related to a covered policy. (Sec. 7) Expresses the sense of Congress that claimants have the right to opt out of new or ongoing class action proceedings relating to claims based on Holocaust-era insurance policies. (Sec. 8) Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to use the voice and vote of the United States to create and advocate the policies of the Bank to encourage Eastern European countries to engage in and pursue restitution programs in compliance with this Act.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Insurance Regulation
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2007-03-29 00:00:00

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow affiliated life and non-life insurance companies to file consolidated tax returns. Allows: (1) a phasein, between 2007 and 2013, of the full application of losses of affiliated non-life insurance companies against the taxable income of an affiliated life insurance company; and (2) an automatic waiver of the five-year waiting period applicable to affiliated non-life insurance companies for offset of their losses against life insurance company income.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Insurance Regulation
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2007-05-08 00:00:00

Retirement Security for Life Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an exclusion from gross income for 50 percent of the amount otherwise includible in gross income as guaranteed payments from certain annuity or life insurance contracts. Limits the amount of such exclusion to $20,000 in any taxable year. Provides for an inflation adjustment of the $20,000 limitation beginning in 2009.