jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-08-05 00:00:00

Regulations Endanger Democracy Act of 2015 or the RED Tape Act of 2015

Prohibits a federal agency from issuing a covered rule (a rule that causes a new financial or administrative burden on businesses or people in the United States) that either amends or modifies an existing agency rule or does not amend or modify an existing rule unless the agency has repealed one or more existing covered rules and the cost of the rule to be issued is less than or equal to that of the covered rules repealed. Exempts a covered rule that: (1) relates to the internal policy or practice of, or procurement by, the agency; or (2) is being revised to be less burdensome by decreasing requirements imposed by, or compliance costs of, the rule.

Prohibits any statutory pay adjustment from taking effect for any employee of an agency during any period during which the agency is not in compliance with such requirement.

Directs an agency, in determining whether to repeal a covered rule, to consider: (1) whether the rule has achieved its purpose, has become obsolete, or overlaps with a covered rule to be issued; (2) any adverse effects that could materialize if the rule is repealed; and (3) whether the costs of the rule outweigh it benefits.

Requires each agency, semiannually, to submit to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for publication in the Unified Agenda a list containing each covered rule the agency intends to issue, repeal, or amend during the following six months and the cost of each such rule.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-08-06 00:00:00

Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Administrative Procedure Act to revise requirements for federal agency rulemaking by requiring agencies, in making a rule, to consider: (1) the legal authority under which a rule may be proposed, including whether rulemaking is required by statute or is within the discretion of the agency; (2) the nature and significance of the problem the agency intends to address with a rule; (3) whether existing federal laws or rules have created or contributed to the problem; (4) reasonable alternatives for a new rule; and (5) for any major rule or high-impact rule (generally defined as rules having an annual cost to the economy of $100 million or $1 billion or more, respectively), the potential costs and benefits associated with potential alternative rules.

The bill requires agencies that initiate a rulemaking that may result in a major rule or a high-impact rule to: (1) establish an electronic docket for that rulemaking, which may have a physical counterpart; and (2) publish a notice of initiation of rulemaking in the Federal Register.

The bill requires agencies issuing a rule to notify the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) of the Office of Management and Budget and publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register which shall include: (1) a text of the proposed rule; (2) a summary of rulemaking considerations; and (3) for any major rule or high-impact rule, a preliminary determination that the benefits of the proposed rule justify its costs and a discussion of the costs and benefits of alternatives to the rule. Similar notice requirements apply when an agency adopts a final rule.

The bill expands agency requirements for allowing opportunities for public comment and sets forth requirements for providing public hearings for high-impact and major rules and for petitioning for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule. An agency must, in a rulemaking for a major rule or high-impact rule, adopt the least costly rule considered during the rulemaking that meets relevant statutory objectives.

The bill requires the OIRA to establish and update guidelines for the assessment of: (1) the costs and benefits of proposed and final rules, and (2) other economic issues and risk assessments that are relevant to rulemaking.

The bill revises the scope of judicial review to prohibit review of a determination of whether a rule is a major rule and to establish a substantial evidence standard for affirming agency rulemaking decisions.

The bill sets forth criteria for issuing major guidance (agency guidance that is likely to lead to an annual cost to the economy of $100 million or more, a major increase in cost or prices, or significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or ability to compete).
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-10-05 00:00:00

Inspector General Mandates Reporting Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill requires each Office of Inspector General to submit to the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency a report which: (1) shall include a list of each reporting requirement for such Office, and (2) may include a list of reporting requirements that such Office recommends should be modified or repealed.

Within 60 days after receiving such report, the Council shall submit to Congress a report which: (1) shall include a list of reporting requirements that are common to more than one Office of Inspector General and a list of reporting requirements that are unique to each Office, and (2) may include recommendations for reporting requirements that should be modified or repealed.

These reports shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified index.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-10-22 00:00:00

Regulatory Authority Clarification Act of 2015

This bill prohibits a federal agency from promulgating a rule that conflicts with or fails to carry out any concurrent resolution enacted by Congress that clarifies the meaning of a provision of law, including a clarification of whether a law delegates certain authority to an agency. If an agency has a rule in effect that conflicts with or fails to carry out the meaning of the resolution, the agency must promulgate new rules that carry out such meaning.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-11-10 00:00:00

Government Transformation Act of 2015

This bill establishes the Government Transformation Board, which shall:

 review programs and conduct research to determine whether the organizational practices, operations, and reform efforts of federal agencies are useful, duplicative, efficient, effective, and economical; develop and maintain approved criteria for the selection, prioritization, and scheduling of such reviews; analyze organizational practices and management challenges of federal agencies; identify best practices of federal agencies and opportunities for such agencies to share methods, tools, systems, and technologies; coordinate input from appropriate federal agencies and provide opportunities for the Board to accept ideas on improving government performance; upon request, provide information on Board activities to the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the Office of Management and Budget, other federal agencies, the Office of the Inspector General of each federal agency, and specified congressional committees; conduct post-transformation follow-up reviews; serve as a repository for best practices and successful processes, systems, and technologies for federal agencies; provide training and education to federal employees who are on detail to the Board about program improvement, government transformation, efficiency, and effectiveness; review program assessments performed by federal agencies; and maintain data privacy and security. The Board shall submit semiannual reports on its activities, including its suggestions for implementing the best practices of federal agencies and recommendations for improvement or investment in federal programs or elimination, reduction, or consolidation of federal programs.

The Board shall submit: (1) specific recommendations, after completion of a program assessment, for the improvement of the effectiveness, efficiency, and economy of the program; and (2) biannual reports on historical data and trends in the information studied by the Board.

The Board shall terminate on September 30 of the sixth fiscal year beginning after enactment of this Act.

The bill provides for expedited congressional consideration of legislation to implement Board recommendations.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Economics and public finance
Date: 2015-11-17 00:00:00

SCORE Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to establish a Regulatory Analysis Division within the Congressional Budget Office to assess the impact of economically significant rules.

The division must provide an economic analysis of proposed rules that: (1) have an annual effect on the economy of at least $100 million; or (2) adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or state, local, or tribal governments or communities.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-12-02 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the Senate on June 28, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Making Electronic Government Accountable By Yielding Tangible Efficiencies Act of 2016 or the MEGABYTE Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue a directive to require the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of each executive agency to develop a comprehensive software licensing policy, which shall:

 identify clear roles, responsibilities, and central oversight authority within the agency for managing enterprise software license agreements and commercial software licenses; and require each CIO to establish a comprehensive inventory of software licenses, track and maintain such licenses, analyze software usage to make cost-effective decisions, provide software license management training, establish goals and objectives of the agency's software license management program, and consider the software license management life cycle phases to implement effective decision-making and incorporate existing standards, processes, and metrics. Each CIO shall report to OMB in each of the six fiscal years after this bill's enactment on the savings from improved software license management.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2016-01-20 00:00:00

Duplication Reduction and Scoring Act of 2016

This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget to coordinate with relevant federal agencies to: (1) use available administrative authority to eliminate, consolidate, or streamline federal programs and agencies with duplicate and overlapping missions identified in specified reports of the Government Accountability Office issued between 2011 and 2015; (2) determine the total cost savings from the use of such authority; and (3) rescind from appropriate accounts the greater of $10 billion or the total amount of estimated cost savings and apply the savings towards deficit reduction.

The bill amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require the Congressional Budget Office to submit an analysis of whether any legislation reported from a congressional committee that creates a new federal program, office, or initiative would duplicate or overlap with any existing program, office, or initiative with a similar mission, purpose, or goal.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2016-02-24 00:00:00

Unfunded Mandates Accountability Act of 2016

This bill revises rulemaking requirements under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) to: (1) require federal agencies to prepare and publish in the Federal Register an initial and final regulatory impact analysis prior to promulgating any proposed or final rule that may have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more (adjusted for inflation); (2) make consideration of the least burdensome alternative to a rule mandatory and require the selection of the least costly, most cost-effective, or least burdensome alternative; (3) extend UMRA requirements to independent regulatory agencies; and (4) expand judicial review of agency rulemaking. The bill exempts from UMRA requirements rules that concern monetary policy proposed or implemented by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or the Federal Open Market Committee.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Congress
Date: 2016-03-03 00:00:00

Equal Access to Congressional Research Service Reports Act of 2016

This bill directs the Government Publishing Office (GPO) to establish and maintain a public website containing Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports, and an index, that are searchable, sortable, and downloadable (including in bulk), for which no fee may be charged.

The CRS Reports on the website shall include CRS Authorization of Appropriations Products, Appropriations Products, and any other written CRS product containing CRS research or analysis available for general congressional access on the CRS Congressional Intranet.

The website shall exclude any:

 custom product or service prepared in direct response to a request for custom analysis or research and not available for general congressional access on the CRS Congressional Intranet; CRS Reports, Authorization of Appropriations Products, or Appropriations Products not so available; or written CRS products that CRS has made available on a public website (besides this website) maintained by the GPO or the Library of Congress. The GPO shall ensure that the website is updated contemporaneously, automatically, and electronically to include each new or updated CRS Report.

Before transmitting a CRS Report to the GPO for publication on the website, CRS may remove the name of, and any contact information for, any CRS employee.

The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 is amended to require CRS to comply with this Act.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2016-03-17 00:00:00

Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016

This bill modifies the scope of judicial review of agency actions to authorize courts reviewing agency actions to decide de novo all relevant questions of law, including the interpretation of constitutional and statutory provisions and rules.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2016-04-25 00:00:00

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

GAO Access and Oversight Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill authorizes the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to obtain federal agency records required to discharge the GAO's duties (including audit, evaluation, and investigative duties), including through bringing civil actions to require an agency to produce a record.

No provision of the Social Security Act shall be construed to limit, amend, or supersede the GAO's authority to: (1) obtain information or inspect records about an agency's duties, powers, activities, organization, or financial transactions; or (2) obtain other agency records that the GAO requires to discharge its duties.

Agency statements on actions taken or planned in response to GAO recommendations must be submitted to: (1) the congressional committees with jurisdiction over the pertinent agency program or activity, and (2) the GAO.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2016-04-27 00:00:00

Corps' Obligation to Assist in Safeguarding Texas Act or the COAST Act

This bill requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite: (1) the completion of the Coastal Texas Protection and Restoration Study by taking into consideration information developed by the Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery District, and (2) the completion of the reports for the study. (The study will evaluate the feasibility of developing a comprehensive plan for flood risk management, hurricane and storm risk management, and ecosystem restoration for Texas' coastal areas.) The Corps of Engineers may proceed without additional congressional authorization to preconstruction, engineering, and design of coastal protection projects along the Texas coast that are justified by the Corps of Engineers in the reports.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Health
Date: 2016-04-28 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on November 29, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Expanding Capacity for Health Outcomes Act or the ECHO Act

(Sec. 3) This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to report on technology-enabled collaborative learning and capacity building models, which connect specialists to primary care providers through videoconferencing to facilitate case-based learning, dissemination of best practices, and evaluation of outcomes.

The report must include: (1) an analysis of the use, integration, and impact of such models; (2) a list of such models recently funded by HHS; (3) recommendations to reduce barriers to adoption of such models; (4) opportunities for adoption of such models into HHS programs; and (5) recommendations regarding the role of such models in continuing medical education.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2016-04-28 00:00:00

Reports Reduction Act of 2016

This bill eliminates or modifies reporting requirements for programs of:

 the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, State, the Treasury, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs; the U.S. Coast Guard; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Executive Office of the President; the Federal Communications Commission; the Federal Trade Commission; the General Services Administration; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; the National Science Foundation; the Office of Personnel Management; the Director of National Intelligence; and the Small Business Administration. The Andean Trade Preference Act is amended to eliminate the U.S. International Trade Commission's reports regarding the economic impact of the President's authority to proclaim duty-free treatment to beneficiary countries and the effectiveness of drug-related crop eradication.

The bill eliminates a provision that required the President to report on compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act for projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2016-05-10 00:00:00

Federal Research Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016

This bill directs the Office of Management and Budget to coordinate with each federal agency that provides funding to entities to carry out research and development to establish a system for the detection of potential duplicative applications for funding in order to prevent duplicative funding.

Each federal agency shall include in a publicly accessible database a searchable listing of each unclassified research and development project the agency funds, including contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or task orders.

The acknowledgment section in each study carried out in whole or in part with federal funds and published, presented at a conference or meeting, or otherwise made publicly available shall include:

 the name of the agency that provided funding for the study, the project or award number associated with the study, and an estimate of the study's total cost. The Government Accountability Office shall study agency compliance with these requirements.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2016-06-29 00:00:00

Inspector General Recommendation Transparency Act of 2016

This bill amends the Inspector General Act of 1978 to require each Inspector General, within one year after the first deadline for the semiannual report on its activities after enactment of this bill, to make available on its website a list of any recommendations by such Inspector General that have been open for more than one year. An "open" recommendation is one that has been made publicly available on such website but has not been adopted or implemented by such Inspector General's establishment.

The list shall include:

 the number of recommendations issued by the Inspector General for the fiscal year and the number that are open, each report in which an open recommendation was issued, the assigned number and a short description of each open recommendation, the date the open recommendation was first issued and its current status, and any comments of the Inspector General relating to why the recommendation remains open and any response from the establishment. The list shall be updated by the Inspector General at least every six months.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2016-07-07 00:00:00

Cutting Administrative Red-tape for Education and Employment Reinvestment Act or the CAREER Act

This bill addresses educational and employment training programs for certain individuals including:

 training for adults, training for disadvantaged youth, vocational rehabilitation and referral services for individuals with disabilities, training for Native Americans, and training to reintegrate criminal offenders. The Department of Labor must assist in the development of a nationwide system of public labor exchange services that are provided through state and local workforce investment boards. Labor must provide funding to the boards to assist with training adults and disadvantaged youths, including providing services to promote literacy, attain education, and assist with job search and placement.Additionally, Labor must provide funding to states to carry out vocational rehabilitation and referral services for individuals with disabilities so that those individuals may prepare for and engage in employment.

The bill also provides training for Native Americans to develop skills, be competitive in the workforce, and promote economic and social development.

The bill amends the Second Chance Act of 2007 to make youth offenders eligible to receive grants from Labor for certain transitional services, including being reintegrated into society and obtaining and retaining employment.

The bill replaces several provisions related to educational and employment programs for adults, youths, disabled individuals, and Native Americans.