jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2015-05-04 00:00:00

Energy Technologies Access and Accountability Act

This bill amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to reauthorize the advanced technology vehicles manufacturing incentive program through FY2020.

An "advanced technology vehicle" under the program shall include:

 a U.S.-manufactured, on-highway commercial truck with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more that meets at least 125% of the average base year combined fuel economy for vehicles with substantially similar attributes, and a U.S.-flagged vessel. The current Department of Transportation (DOT) facility funding awards to automobile manufacturers, among others, shall extend to U.S. commercial truck manufacturers and vessel manufacturers.

DOT, through its Loan Programs Office, shall:

 accelerate efforts to engage sufficient engineering expertise to verify that direct loan borrowers under the program are delivering projects in accordance with applicable loan agreements, and develop sufficient and quantifiable performance measures to achieve the intent of the direct loan program. All proceeds from the repayment of direct loans shall be used by the Treasury to pay down the national debt.

The direct loan program shall be repealed on January 1, 2020.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2015-05-12 00:00:00

Port Performance Act

(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) to: (1) establish a port performance statistics program to provide nationally consistent measures of performance of the nation's top 25 ports by tonnage, by 20-foot equivalent unit, and by dry bulk; and (2) submit annual reports that include statistics on capacity and throughput at such ports.

The BTS shall collect monthly port performance measures for each of such ports that receives federal assistance or is subject to federal regulation to submit an annual report to the BTS that includes monthly statistics on capacity and throughput as applicable to the specific configuration of the port, including:

 the total capacity of inbound and outbound cargo; the total volume of inbound and outbound cargo; the average number of lifts per hour of containers by crane; the average vessel turn time by vessel type; the average cargo or container dwell time; port storage capacity and utilization; the average truck time and rail time at ports; and any additional metrics as determined by the BTS after receiving recommendations from a working group established by this Act. The BTS shall commission a working group, from which it shall obtain recommendations for:

 specifications and data measurements for such port performance measures; additionally needed data elements for measuring port performance; and a process for the Department of Transportation (DOT) to collect timely and consistent data, including identifying safeguards to protect proprietary information. The BTS shall ensure that the statistics compiled under this Act are readily accessible to the public, consistent with applicable security constraints and confidentiality interests.

The bill subjects such port performance measures to specified BTS disclosure restrictions.

(Sec. 4) DOT shall submit to Congress by one year before, and by three months before, the expiration of a maritime labor agreement and monthly thereafter until a new agreement is adopted, a report that includes port performance indicators at affected ports, including:

 the number and type of vessels awaiting berthing, including average wait time; the number of cancelled vessel calls; an estimate of the economic impact associated with any delays both at the port and across the national economy; an estimate of the amount of time required to clear any congestion; the average number of positions ordered and filled; and any other factors that might have created delays.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-05-13 00:00:00

Point Spencer Land Conveyance Act

This bill directs the Department of the Interior to convey the surface and subsurface estates of Tracts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 as identified on the map titled "Point Spencer Land Retention and Conveyance Map," dated January 2015, to the Bering Straits Native Corporation and tract 6 surface and subsurface estates to Alaska in accordance with specified terms.

The Port Coordination Advisory Council for the Port of Point Spencer is established.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2015-05-13 00:00:00

Maritime Administration Enhancement Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill revises:

 the licensing and service requirements for U.S. Merchant Marine Academy cadet commitment agreements, and requirements for U.S. Merchant Marine Academy student incentive payment agreements related to licensing, the service commitment, and the circumstances under which an individual may be ordered to active duty. (Sec. 3) Payments to individuals may be modified if the total amount of payments to an individual does not exceed $32,000.

(Sec. 4) The Internal Revenue Code is amended to reflect the transfer of the Maritime Administration from the Department of Commerce to the Department of Transportation.

(Sec. 5) The definition of "short sea transportation" shall include carriage by a documented vessel of cargo that is: (1) shipped in discrete units or packages that are handled individually, palletized, or unitized for purposes of transportation; or (2) freight vehicles carried aboard commuter ferry boats.

(Sec. 6) The national security aspects of the U.S. Merchant Marine are reauthorized through FY2017.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-05-19 00:00:00

Icebreaker Recapitalization Act

This bill directs the Department of the Navy to enter into multiyear contracts for the procurement of up to six heavy duty polar icebreakers and any associated systems and equipment.

The Department may enter into one or more contracts, beginning in FY 2016, for advance procurement associated with such vessels, systems, and equipment.

The Department and the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall enter into a memorandum of agreement under which the Coast Guard shall:

 identify the vessel specifications, capabilities, systems, equipment, and other details required for the design of heavy polar icebreakers, with the Coast Guard retaining final decision authority; oversee the construction of authorized heavy polar icebreakers; and to the extent not adequately addressed in the 1965 Revised Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of the Navy and the Department of the Treasury on the Operation of Icebreakers, transfer heavy polar icebreakers from the Navy to the Coast Guard to be maintained and operated by the Coast Guard.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2015-05-22 00:00:00

Boating Capacity Standards Act of 2015

 Directs the Commandant of the Coast Guard to:

 establish standards for determining the maximum passenger capacity for recreational vessels, expressed in the number of passengers and in pounds; require manufacturers and operators of passenger vessels to permanently display such maximum capacity in a legible manner that is clearly visible to passengers; and require operators to post notice of the need to balance vessel weight to avoid capsizing. Defines a "recreational vehicle" as any vessel that is manufactured or used primarily for pleasure, excluding any vessel that is subject to Coast Guard inspection and engaged in commercial use.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2015-06-04 00:00:00

Ships to be Recycled in the States Act or the STORIS Act

This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT), in coordination with the Department of the Navy, to report to Congress on the program for disposal of government-owned merchant vessels as well as on any other disposal of obsolete government-owned vessels.

The Government Accountability Office shall audit all excess federal government vessel sales contracts, including resulting receivables and expenditures, entered into by the Maritime Administration during a specified period.

The bill repeals authority to scrap any vessel sold from the National Defense Reserve Fleet in an approved foreign market without obtaining additional separate DOT approval to transfer the vessel to a person not a U.S. citizen.

The Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 is amended to revise requirements for the selection of qualified scrapping facilities.

The Toxic Substances Control Act is amended to declare that nothing in the mandate for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) shall be construed to prohibit the dismantling of a vessel or marine structure in order to recycle recovered materials. If PCBs are found or suspected, the person dismantling the vessel or marine structure must comply with specified requirements for informing the EPA and disposing of the PCBs.

The bill repeals authorization for any foreign country to apply for an obsolete vessel to be used for an artificial reef.

The Maritime Administration shall make public on its website the full text of each memorandum of agreement and similar agreement between the Maritime Administration and any other agency, department, or person.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2015-07-08 00:00:00

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

(Sec. 1) This bill extends through October 31, 2028, the exemption of certain vessels from the requirement that U.S. passenger vessels having berth or stateroom accommodations for at least 50 passengers be constructed of fire-retardant materials in order to be granted a certificate of inspection.

The bill continues to apply this exemption only to vessels in operation before January 1, 1968, which operate only within the Boundary Line (the dividing point between inland waters and high seas).

An owner or managing operator of an exempt vessel shall:

 notify crew members (currently, only prospective passengers) that the vessel does not comply with applicable fire safety standards due primarily to the wooden construction of passenger berthing areas; and make annual structural alterations to at least 10% of vessel areas that are not constructed of fire-retardant materials and provide advance notice to the Coast Guard of such alterations. Any noncombustible material requirements prescribed by the Coast Guard (with which an exempt vessel is still required to comply) shall be consistent with the preservation of a vessel's historic integrity in areas carrying or accessible to passengers or generally visible to the public.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Immigration
Date: 2015-07-27 00:00:00

Department of Homeland Security Border Security Metrics Act of 2015

(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop and annually implement specified metrics to measure the effectiveness of: (1) security between ports of entry; (2) security at ports of entry; (3) security in the maritime environment; and (4) aviation assets and operations of the Office of Air and Marine of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including in detecting and apprehending subjects and in seizing illicit drugs. Such metrics shall be informed by situational awareness, which is defined as knowledge and unified understanding of current unlawful cross-border activity.

(Sec. 7) DHS shall: (1) make data related to apprehensions, inadmissible aliens, drug seizures, and other enforcement actions available to the public, academic research, and law enforcement communities in accordance with applicable privacy laws; (2) provide DHS's Office of Immigration Statistics with unfettered access to the data; (3) submit an annual report containing such metrics and the data and methodology used to develop such metrics to specified congressional committees and the Comptroller General; and (4) after submitting its final report, evaluate and update such metrics to ensure that they meet DHS's performance management needs and are suitable to measure the effectiveness of border security.

(Sec. 8) The Comptroller General shall submit a biennial report that analyzes the suitability and statistical validity of the data and methodology contained in such DHS reports and that includes recommendations on: (1) the feasibility of other suitable metrics for measuring the effectiveness of border security, and (2) improvements that need to be made to the metrics being used to measure such effectiveness.

After the end of each fiscal year through FY2025, DHS must submit a "State of the Border" reportthat includes: (1) trends for each metric under this Act for the last 10 years, and (2) selected analysis into related aspects of illegal flow rates.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-08-05 00:00:00

Caribbean Oil Spill Intervention, Prevention, and Preparedness Act

This bill authorizes the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to act, without liability for damage to any interested party, to prevent or respond to a grave and imminent threat of damage to U.S. waters, coastline, or related interests from pollution of the sea by crude oil whenever an incident, activity, or occurrence involving a vessel in waters beyond the U.S. territorial jurisdiction creates such a threat.

The Secretary must: (1) consult, through the Department of State, unless extreme urgency requires immediate action, with the flag country of any vessel involved and other affected countries; and (2) take other specified actions proportionate to the threat.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall develop and apply hydrodynamic modeling of the ocean currents and meteorological modeling of the Straits of Florida.

The National Marine Sanctuaries Act is amended to direct the State Department to negotiate with Mexico, Cuba, and the Bahamas for oil pollution prevention and response and protection of the marine resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act is amended to prohibit the Department of the Interior from granting an oil or gas lease to a bidder conducting operations in the territorial sea, on the continental shelf, or within the exclusive economic zone of Cuba without submitting an oil spill response plan that includes one or more worst-case-scenario oil discharge plans as well as evidence that the bidder has sufficient financial and other resources necessary for response to a worst-case-scenario discharge.

The Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 is amended to direct the Department of Commerce to carry out international conservation activities for coral reef ecosystems in waters beyond theU.S. territorial jurisdiction in the Straits of Florida.

The Secretary:

 shall carry out an oil spill risk analysis and planning process for the development and implementation of response plans for oil spills in the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico originating in waters beyond the U.S. territorial jurisdiction, and may conduct a verification process to ensure that any companies operating in the United States that conduct drilling operations off the coast of Cuba are subject to standards as stringent as those under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2016-03-03 00:00:00

Coast Guard Icebreaker Recapitalization Act

This bill authorizes the U.S. Coast Guard to renovate and reactivate the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea, a heavy icebreaker, for an additional 7 to 10 years of service life.

The Coast Guard must submit a polar icebreaker recapitalization plan to Congress within 90 days. The plan must include:

 the number of heavy and medium polar icebreakers required in the polar regions, the vessel details required for the design of heavy polar icebreakers, the specific appropriations required for the acquisition of each icebreaker, and a description of any polar icebreaking capacity gaps that exist based on the current fleet and procurement outlook. The bill requires the Government Accountability Office to submit to Congress, within six months, a report on the international funding models used to sustain the icebreaking fleets of foreign countries in the polar regions or other areas. The report must include:

 an analysis of icebreaking activity carried out by foreign countries, an overview of the fees used to compensate foreign countries for icebreaking escorts, the impact of escort fees in the polar regions on the shipping industry, the effectiveness of escort fees in funding foreign icebreaking vessels, and policy recommendations for funding U.S. polar icebreaking vessels.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2016-03-17 00:00:00

Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Reform Act of 2016

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make certain amounts in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund available, without appropriation, for expenditures to pay:

 100% of the eligible operations and maintenance costs of specified portions of the Saint Lawrence Seaway as well as those assigned to commercial navigation of all U.S. harbors and inland harbors; rebates of certain tolls or charges on the Seaway; and all expenses of administration relating to harbor maintenance tax incurred by the Department of the Treasury, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Commerce. The Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 is amended to:

 require allocation to certain donor ports and energy transfer ports of at least 20% of amounts made available each fiscal year from the Trust Fund, and authorize the Department of the Army to make the allocations equally between these kinds of ports. A "donor port" is a port, subject to the harbor maintenance fee, located in a state in which more than 2 million cargo containers were unloaded from or loaded on to vessels in FY2012, whose total amount of collected harbor maintenance taxes comes to less than $15 million annually, and which received less than 25% of the total amount of harbor maintenance taxes collected at that port in the previous five fiscal years.

An "energy transfer port" is one, also subject to the harbor maintenance fee, through which more than 40 million tons of cargo were transported in FY2012, and at which energy commodities constituted more than 25% of all commercial activity by tonnage in that fiscal year.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2016-04-20 00:00:00

Maritime Administration Authorization and Enhancement Act for Fiscal Year 2017

This bill reauthorizes the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) programs of the Department of Transportation (DOT) for FY2017.

DOT must direct the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy to prescribe a policy and develop a program to prevent and respond to the sexual harassment and sexual assault of Academy cadets and other Academy personnel.

The bill codifies the legal status of National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) vessels. MARAD training ships which are part of the NDRF are public vessels. NDRF vessels shall remain ''vessels'' until they are delivered to a dismantling facility.

 The Department of Defense (DOD), in conjunction with DOT, may extend the 20- and 25-year age restrictions for vessels in the maritime security fleet for up to 5 years, when the departments jointly determine that it would be in the national interest.

The bill increases from 40 to 50 the number of DOT non-competitive appointments of Merchant Marine Academy cadets with qualities of special value.

The Department of the Navy may use the services of an approved classification society to provide for the classification of certain high-speed vessels. (Currently, the American Bureau of Shipping a non-profit organization makes such classifications for government-owned vessels.)

DOT shall convene a working group to examine and assess the size of the pool of citizen mariners necessary to support the U.S. Flag Fleet in times of national emergency.

DOT shall establish a task force to analyze the impact of extreme weather events on the maritime environment.

MARAD shall review its workforce plans and policies.

The Department of Homeland Security shall make a prospective payment to DOD for medical treatment or care provided to members of the Coast Guard and their dependents at DOD facilities.

Polar Icebreaker Fleet Recapitalization Transparency Act

The bill directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to submit to Congress a detailed U.S. Federal polar icebreaker recapitalization plan to meet the 2013 Department of Homeland Security Mission Need Statement.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention Act

This bill requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop policies on the prevention of and response to sexual harassment or assaults involving its employees, NOAA's commissioned officer corps, and individuals who work with or conduct business on behalf of NOAA. Those policies must include procedures for reporting incidents, including those occurring after-hours, at sea, or in remote locations.

The bill establishes protections for victims, including through a change of duty station of an alleged perpetrator.

The bill revises and reauthorizes through FY2020 the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 1998.
Topic: Transportation — Maritime
Subject: Law
Date: 2016-04-28 00:00:00

Justice for Telecommunications Consumers Act

This bill prohibits a predispute arbitration agreement from being valid or enforceable if it requires arbitration of a dispute arising out of a contract for commercial mobile services, multichannel video programming distributor services, telecommunications or information services, or common carrier services under the Communications Act of 1934.

The validity or enforceability of such an agreement to arbitrate shall be determined by a court, under federal law, rather than by an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunction with other terms of the contract containing such agreement.

The bill does not apply to contracts between an employer and a labor organization or between labor organizations, except that no such arbitration provision shall waive the right of an employee to seek judicial enforcement of a right arising under the U.S. Constitution, a state constitution, a federal or state statute, or related public policy.
Topic: Public Lands — Indigenous Affairs
Subject: Native Americans
Date: 2007-01-04 00:00:00

Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2007 - Transfers certain land in Riverside and San Diego counties, California, from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to the United States to be held in trust for the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians. Prohibits such transfer from including the 12.82 acres of lands more or less, including the facilities, improvements, and appurtenances associated with the existing 230kV transmission line in San Diego County and its 300 foot corridor, which shall be sold by BLM for fair market value to the San Diego Gas & Electric Company not later than 30 days after the completion of the cadastral survey described in this Act.