jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-03-18 00:00:00

Commonsense Contracting Act of 2015

This bill expresses the sense of Congress that, when used appropriately, with respect to federal agency procurement, an auction between a group of offerors who compete against each other by submitting offers for a contract or task or delivery order with the ability to submit revised offers with lower prices throughout the course of the auction (reverse auction) may improve the federal government's procurement of commercially available commodities by increasing competition, reducing prices, and improving opportunities for small businesses.

The Small Business Act is amended to prohibit the use of reverse auction methods for certain Small Business Administration federal procurement contracts for:

 design and construction services; goods purchased to protect federal employees, members of the Armed Forces, or civilians from bodily harm; or goods or services other than these: (1) to be awarded based on factors other than price and technical responsibility, or (2) if awarding the contract requires the contracting officer to conduct discussions with the offerors about their offer.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-03-24 00:00:00

Small Business Contractor's Clarification Act of 2015

This bill amends the Small Business Act to revise the federal procurement requirements of the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) with respect to small business contracts for articles, equipment, supplies, services or materials, or to perform construction work for the government.

The permission to submit an offer for a procurement contract, even though the offeror is not the actual manufacturer or processor of the product in question, is extended to additional kinds of small businesses, including:

 women-owned small businesses; HUBZone small businesses, and small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans. Contracts whose principal purpose is acquisition of services or construction are exempt from this Act.

Limitations on SBA subcontracting are revised to require contracts that are principally for supplies from a regular dealer in such supplies, and that are not contracts principally for services or construction, to supply the product of a domestic small business manufacturer or processor, unless a waiver is granted by the Administrator under specified conditions.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2015-03-26 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Fairness to Veterans for Infrastructure Investment Act of 2015

 (Sec. 2) This bill amends the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) to revise the requirement that 10% of the award of contracts for federal-aid highway, federal public transportation, and highway safety research and development programs be set-aside for small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. This set-aside must include veteran-owned small businesses.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-04-14 00:00:00

Right to Lend Act of 2015

 Repeals provisions of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, as amended by Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, that require financial institutions to: (1) inquire whether businesses applying for credit for a women-owned, minority-owned, or small business are such a business; and (2) submit annually to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a manner to be made available to the public, a record of the responses to such inquiry, including census tract information and disclosures as to the race, sex, and ethnicity of the principal owners of such businesses.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Partnerships to Advance Revolutionary Technology and Novel Entrepreneurial Research Act or the PARTNER Act

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the definition of "passive activity," for purposes of the passive loss tax rules, any qualified research activity 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 if: (1) more than 75% of the entity's expenditures are paid or incurred in connection with qualified research, or (2) more than 50% of the entity's expenditures constitute qualified research expenses. Designates a high technology research entity as a small business if such entity has 250 or fewer full-time employees and does not have aggregate gross assets in excess of $150 million.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-05-01 00:00:00

Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act of 2015

Amends the Small Business Act to require the interagency task force that is responsible for coordinating federal efforts to improve the business development and federal contracting opportunities available to small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans to coordinate administrative and regulatory activities and develop proposals to provide access to, and manage the distribution of, excess or surplus U.S. property to small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans, pursuant to a memorandum of understanding with the appropriate state agency for surplus property.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-05-05 00:00:00

Emerging Business Encouragement Act of 2015

 Amends the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), for each industry category for which the Administrator established a size standard, to establish procedures, by rule, for designating a small business in that industry category as an emerging business enterprise (EBE).

Requires the designation to expire when the small business is no longer in compliance with the criteria, except that:

 in the case of an EBE which existed as a business entity before its EBE designation, the designation shall not expire until five years after it was made; and if the EBE exceeds the required size limitation its designation shall expire only if the size is 50% or more of the maximum size of a small business within that industry category. Directs the Administrator to establish specified criteria for designation of an EBE.

Requires the head of each federal agency to establish goals for participation by the designated EBEs in at least 5% of all contracts, including prime contracts and subcontracts, for each fiscal year.

Authorizes the Administrator to make a loan to a designated EBE under the SBA Express Loan Program, but only in accordance with specified terms.

Requires the Administrator, by rule, to establish a process for initial self-certification of EBEs for purposes of participation in federal contracts and eligibility for the Express Loans.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-05-12 00:00:00

Commercial Real Estate and Economic Development Act of 2015 or the CREED Act of 2015

 Reinstates for a five-year period beginning after enactment of this Act the authority for Small Business Administration (SBA) low-interest refinancing of small business debt not involving business expansion under the SBA's local development business loan program.

Repeals a provision of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 that terminated such authority as of September 26, 2012. Restores and revives any provision of law struck by the provision, and any regulations promulgated pursuant to it as they were in effect on that date.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-05-13 00:00:00

Helping Our Middle-Class Entrepreneurs Act or the HOME Act

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a taxpayer who uses a residence to conduct a trade or business a standard tax deduction equal to the lesser of $1,500 or the taxpayer's gross trade or business income derived from the business use of such residence. Provides for an inflation adjustment to the standard deduction amount in calendar years beginning after 2015.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-05-19 00:00:00

Main Street Revival Act

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a specified small business to pay its first-year employment taxes in four annual installments. Defines "specified small business" as any HUBZone business (a business operating in a historically underutilized business zone as defined by the Small Business Act) that is not reasonably expected to employ more than 25 full-time employees in its first year of operation.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-05-21 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on July 23, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Veterans Entrepreneurship Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) Amends the Small Business Act to prohibit the Small Business Administration (SBA) from collecting a guarantee fee in connection with a loan made under the SBA Express Program to a veteran or the spouse of a veteran on or after October 1, 2015, except during any upcoming fiscal year for which the President's budget, submitted to Congress, includes a cost for the Program that is above zero.

(Sec. 3) Requires the SBA to assess for Congress the level of outreach to and consultation with female veterans regarding access to capital by women's business centers and Veterans Business Outreach Centers.

(Sec. 4) Amends the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 to increase the limit from $18.75 billion to $23.5 billion for FY2015 commitments for general business loans for a combination of amortizing term loans and the aggregated maximum line of credit provided by revolving loans.

Amends the Small Business Act to prohibit the SBA, starting October 1, 2015, from guaranteeing a loan if:

 the lender determines that the borrower is unable to obtain credit elsewhere solely because the lender's liquidity depends upon the guaranteed portion of the loan being sold on the secondary market, or the sole purpose for requesting the guarantee is to allow the lender to exceed its legal lending limit.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-05-21 00:00:00

Support Our Start-Ups Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the tax deduction for new business expenditures to organizational expenditures, generally defined as expenditures incident to the creation of a corporation or a partnership.

The bill also increases the maximum deduction amount for start-up and organizational expenditures from $5,000 to $20,000 and increases from $50,000 to $120,000 the threshold amount after which the maximum deduction amount for such expenditures is reduced.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-06-04 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The expanded summary of the House reported version is repeated here.)

Microloan Modernization Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Small Business Act with respect to the rule under the Small Business Administration (SBA) Microloan Program (assisting low-income individuals to start and operate a small business) that permits SBA-designated microloan intermediary lenders to expend up to 25% of the grant funds they receive from the SBA to provide information and technical assistance to small businesses that are their prospective borrowers.

The SBA must establish a process by which these microloan intermediaries may apply for, and the SBA may grant, a waiver of this 25/75 allocation.

This rule shall require any waiver applicant to:

 specify how it will use the additional technical assistance, and make assurances that the intermediary will have sufficient funds to provide technical assistance to all of the intermediary's borrowers. (Sec. 3) The total amount of loans outstanding and committed to any particular intermediary (excluding outstanding grants) from the SBA business loan and investment fund is increased from $5 million to $6 million for the remaining years of the intermediary's participation in the program.

(Sec. 4) The SBA may not impose limitations on the repayment term of a loan by an intermediary to a small business or entrepreneur. This repayment term, however, may not exceed:

 6 years for a loan of $10,000 or less, or 10 years for a loan greater than $10,000. (Sec. 5) An eligible intermediary may include lines of credit among the short-term, fixed rate loans it makes to startup, newly established, and growing small businesses from SBA funds made available to the intermediary for working capital and the acquisition of materials, supplies, furniture, fixtures, and equipment.

(Sec. 6) The Government Accountability Office shall:

 compare the operations of a representative sample of eligible intermediaries that participate in the microloan program and of eligible intermediaries that do not, study the reasons why the latter do not participate, recommend how to encourage increased participation by intermediaries in the microloan program, and recommend how to decrease the associated costs for intermediary participation. (Sec. 7) The SBA Office of Advocacy shall report to Congress on the economic impact of a mandatory savings requirement on businesses eligible to participate in the microloan program, including on the benefits and costs of such a requirement, and make implementing recommendations.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-07-07 00:00:00

Small Business Contracting Clarity Act of 2015

This bill expresses the sense of Congress that it is in the best interests of the United States to consistently promote and assist Native Hawaiian Organizations, which are deemed to be economically disadvantaged for purposes of Small Business Administration (SBA) procurement contract requirements.

 The Small Business Act is amended to designate these Organizations as HUBZone (historically underutilized business zone) small businesses for purposes of SBA assistance.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-07-14 00:00:00

Innovators Job Creation Act of 2015

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a qualified small business to elect to use a portion of its tax credit for increasing research expenditures as an offset against its payroll tax liability under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act.

Defines "qualified small business" as a corporation, a partnership, or a person other than a tax-exempt organization that had gross receipts of less than $5 million for the taxable year and that did not have gross receipts for any period preceding the five-taxable-year period ending with such taxable year.

Limits: (1) the number of years a taxpayer may elect to offset payroll taxes under this Act to five, and (2) the annual amount of such offset to $250,000.

Allows an offset of research tax credit amounts against alternative minimum tax liability.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-07-21 00:00:00

This bill amends the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 to increase the limit from $18.75 billion to $23.5 billion for FY2015 commitments for general business loans authorized under the Small Business Act for a combination of amortizing term loans and the aggregated maximum line of credit provided by revolving loans.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-07-23 00:00:00

Assuring Contracting Equity Act of 2015

This bill increases from: (1) 23% to 25% the government-wide small business procurement contract goal, (2) 5% to 10% the government-wide procurement goal for small disadvantaged businesses and women-owned businesses, and (3) 3% to 6% the government-wide procurement goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and HUBZONE (historically underutilized business zone) small businesses. The number of categories is limited for which a small business may qualify under such goals.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) must include in its annual report to the President and Congress on these goals the percentage of participation by small businesses for the total value of all prime contracts and subcontracts awards for a fiscal year, including the value of each contract awarded.

The SBA must consult with the heads of other federal agencies to develop and implement standards for procurement officers to take into consideration the past compliance of potential contractors with small business subcontracting goals when making contract awards.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-07-23 00:00:00

Small Business Administration Franchise Loan Transparency Act of 2015

This bill requires a franchisor, except one with a franchise in the lodging industry, to disclose in the required Federal Trade Commission disclosure document:

 the average first-year revenue of each specific location of the franchise for each of the preceding five years of operation; the number of franchise locations that went out of business or were sold by the franchisee during the first year of operation for each such period; and the average revenues for all locations of the franchise for each such period, aggregated to show the top 25%, middle 50%, and the bottom 25% of revenue. Any financial information relating to the performance of any franchise's location provided by the franchisor, or its representatives, to the lender for the purpose of qualifying the loan, must be disclosed to the prospective franchisee borrower.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-07-23 00:00:00

Fair Franchise Act of 2015

 This bill prohibits any franchise seller, in connection with any disclosure document, notice, or report required by any federal, state, or local law, from making an untrue statement of material fact or failing to state a material fact or any other fact that would render any required statement or disclosure either untrue or misleading.

A franchise seller is also prohibited from failing to furnish any prospective franchisee with:

 all information required to be disclosed by law; a written statement on whether the franchise agreement involved contains a right to renew it; and certain historical financial performance data in the disclosure document. Nor may a franchise seller make any oral or written claim or representation to a prospective franchisee that is inconsistent with, or that contradicts, the disclosure document.

 A franchisor or subfranchisor, in connection with the performance, enforcement, renewal, or termination of any franchise agreement, must not:

 engage in any act or pattern of conduct that operates as a fraud upon any person; hinder, prohibit, or penalize the free association of franchisees for any lawful purpose; discriminate against a franchisee by imposing requirements not imposed on other similarly situated franchisees or otherwise retaliate against any franchisee for membership or participation in a franchisee association; charge excessive and unreasonable renewal fees; enforce a provision in a franchise agreement requiring the parties to submit to arbitration unless certain conditions are met; terminate, cancel, or fail to renew a franchise for failure or refusal of the franchisee because it failed or refused to perform specified activities; restrict a franchisee from associating with other franchisees or from joining, leading, or otherwise participating in a trade or other association; require or prohibit any change in management of any franchise except for good cause; or impose on a franchisee a standard of conduct or performance unless the franchisor sustains the burden of proving the standard to be reasonable, necessary, and uniformly enforced. This bill specifies requirements concerning minimum standards of conduct (good faith and due care) for each party to a franchise agreement. It also prohibits:

 requiring inclusion in a franchise agreement of a term or condition which violates this Act or relieves a person from a duty or liability under it, or any waiver of compliance with this Act. A franchisee may assign a franchise interest to a transferee, provided the transferee satisfies reasonable qualifications applied by the franchisor in the offer and sale of franchises.

The bill also:

 requires specified renewal, termination, and transfer protection for franchisees; specifies requirements concerning legal actions brought by franchisees injured or damaged by violations of this Act; and authorizes legal actions by state attorneys general on behalf of state residents for alleged violation of this Act.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-07-28 00:00:00

Veterans Entrepreneurial Transition Act of 2015 or the VET Act of 2015

This bill amends the Small Business Act to direct the Small Business Administration to carry out a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of making grants to eligible veterans to start or acquire a qualifying business enterprise.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-07-28 00:00:00

Paycheck Relief Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax rates on wage income and corresponding tax rates on self-employment income.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-09-18 00:00:00

Small Business Administration Franchise Loan Transparency Act of 2015

This bill requires a franchisor, except one with a franchise in the lodging industry, to disclose in the required Federal Trade Commission disclosure document:

 the average first-year revenue for all franchise locations for each of the preceding five years of operation; the number of franchise locations that went out of business or were sold by the franchisee during the first year of operation for each such period; and the average revenues for all locations of the franchise for each such period, aggregated to show the top 25%, middle 50%, and the bottom 25% of revenue. Any financial information relating to the performance of any franchise's location provided by the franchisor, or its representatives, to the lender for the purpose of qualifying the loan, must be disclosed to the prospective franchisee borrower.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2015-10-08 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Small Agriculture Producer Size Standards Improvements Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Small Business Act to specify that the agricultural enterprises it covers are small business concerns.

(Sec. 3) The Act shall cover any small farm regardless of whether its annual receipts, including those of any affiliates, exceed $750,000.

(Sec. 4) The Small Business Administration shall, by rule, establish size standards for agricultural enterprises, which shall be subject to rolling review procedures under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.