lcalvobartolome/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: International Affairs — Resources Exploitation
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-05-13 00:00:00

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

South Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act

This bill authorizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to promulgate regulations to implement U.S. participation in the South Pacific Fisheries Convention. The convention is designed to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources and marine ecosystems in the South Pacific Ocean.

(Sec. 3) The United Statesmust be represented by no more than three commissioners on the Commission of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation.

In addition, a permanent advisory committee is established, which shall be comprised of seven members. Advisory committee members shall represent groups concerned with fishery resources covered by the South Pacific Fisheries Convention.

NOAA must develop a memorandum of understanding with the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council describing the role of the council with respect to:

 participation of the United States in consulting with international fishery organizations in the Pacific Ocean, providing recommendations to NOAA and the Department of State regarding domestic and foreign fishing vessels, coordinating with the United States on presentations the council makes to international fishery organizations, and recommending domestic fishing regulations that are consistent with the actions of the international fishery organizations. (Sec. 4)The State Department has the authority to receive and transmit various communications concerning the South Pacific commission, and can approve or disapprove bylaws and rules adopted by the commission.

(Sec. 5) This bill details NOAA's authority in implementing this bill and measures adopted by the commission.

(Sec. 6)NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard are required to administer and enforce this bill.

(Sec. 7)This bill lists 16 fishing and shipping activities that are prohibited in the South Pacific Ocean.

(Sec. 8)NOAA may cooperate with public and private institutions in the United Statesand abroad to carry out this bill. Federal agencies are authorized to cooperate with NOAA in conducting research and providing facilities and personnel to assist the commission.

(Sec. 9)The State Department must ensure that American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands participate with the commission in the same manner as territories of other nations.

(Sec. 10)Operators of commercial fishing vessels that do not carry vessel monitoring systems capable of communicating with U.S. enforcement authorities must:

 notify the U.S. Coast Guard prior to or within a reasonable time after entering the exclusive economic zone of the convention area; ensure that all fishing gear is stowed below deck and not readily available for fishing; and if requested, proceed to a specified location so that a vessel inspection can be conducted.
Topic: International Affairs — Resources Exploitation
Subject: Animals
Date: 2015-07-15 00:00:00

African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory Possession Act of 2015

This bill revises and reauthorizes the African Elephant Conservation Act through FY2020.

Raw or worked ivory may be imported or exported under that Act and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 if: (1) the ivory is for a museum; (2) the ivory was lawfully importable into the United States on February 24, 2014, regardless of when it was acquired; or (3) the worked ivory was previously lawfully possessed in the United States.

This bill authorizes: (1) commerce in African elephant ivory or in products containing African elephant ivory that have been lawfully imported or crafted in the United States; and (2) the importation of a sport-hunted African elephant trophy if the trophy was taken from certain elephants populations that at the time were not necessarily threatened with extinction, but may have become so unless trade was closely controlled. Interior may station one U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement officer in each African country that has a significant population of African elephants to assist local wildlife rangers in protecting the elephants and facilitating the apprehension of individuals who illegally kill them or assist in killing them.

The President may embargo any products from a country if it is a significant transit or destination point for illegal ivory trade.

In providing financial assistance under the African Elephant Conservation Act, Interior must prioritize projects for facilitating the acquisition of equipment and training to wildlife officials in ivory-producing countries to be used in anti-poaching efforts.
Topic: International Affairs — Resources Exploitation
Subject: International affairs
Date: 2015-12-10 00:00:00

Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking Act

This bill directs the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking to:

 identify countries of concern regarding the supply, poaching, or transit of wildlife and wildlife products; collaborate with the national wildlife service of a country of concern to analyze the threats to wildlife in that country, and to prepare a strategic plan with recommendations for addressing wildlife crime; coordinate efforts to implement strategic plans among federal agencies and non-federal partners; and coordinate with stakeholders qualified to provide assistance regarding anti-poaching activities, law enforcement efforts, and strategies to reduce illicit trade and reduce consumer demand for illegally traded wildlife and wildlife products. The Task Force shall terminate five years after enactment of this Act.

The Department of State may provide defense articles, services, and training to security forces of a country of concern to counter wildlife trafficking and poaching.

 The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, with respect to countries of concern, may:

 provide assistance to carry out strategic plan recommendations, including improving the effectiveness of wildlife law enforcement; design and implement programs to increase the investigational capacity of wildlife law enforcement and customs and border security officers and to combat the transnational trade in illegal wildlife; and take actions to strengthen international cooperation and partnerships to combat the global wildlife crime crisis. The State Department may also provide support in countries of concern to the development and replication of community-owned wildlife conservancies and community-based conservation programs.

It is the sense of Congress that the United States should continue to work with foreign countries, including China, Thailand, and Vietnam to combat global wildlife trafficking.

The State Department should implement agreements with China and initiate negotiations with Thailand and Vietnam aimed at reducing demand for ivory and rhinoceros horn (Vietnam), and eliminating illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products.

 It is the sense of Congress that efforts to find funds to carry out this Act should not result in an increase in amounts authorized to be appropriated for a fiscal year to provide additional funds for overseas contingency operations.
Topic: International Affairs — Resources Exploitation
Subject: Animals
Date: 2016-02-11 00:00:00

Big Cat Public Safety Act of 2016

This bill amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to prohibit any person from breeding or possessing any live animal of any prohibited wildlife species (i.e., any live species of lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar or any hybrid of such species). Breeding means facilitating propagation or reproduction (whether intentionally or negligently), or failing to prevent propagation or reproduction. The bill extends forfeiture provisions to fish, wildlife, or plants that are bred or possessed.

The bill revises the list of entities that are exempt from Lacey Act prohibitions to include:

 institutions accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums; certain facilities that have an active written contract with an Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan or Taxon Advisory Group for breeding prohibited wildlife species; persons who do not allow the transportation and display of prohibited wildlife species off-site; current owners of animals that were born before this bill's enactment if the animals are registered with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service within 180 days; and certain traveling circuses that hold Class C licenses under the Animal Welfare Act. Entities exempt from Lacey Act prohibitions must require that current owners and circuses not allow direct contact between the public and the prohibited wildlife species.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Law
Date: 2007-04-23 00:00:00

Tulsa-Greenwood Race Riots Claims Accountability Act of 2007 - Provides that any Greenwood, Oklahoma, claimant (a survivor or descendant of victims of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Race Riot of 1921) who has not previously obtained a determination on the merits of a Greenwood claim may, in a civil action commenced within five years after enactment of this Act, obtain that determination.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Law
Date: 2007-05-09 00:00:00

Federal Tort Claim Reform Act of 2007 - Amends the federal judicial code to exempt from coverage by the Federal Tort Claims Act any claim, based on an act or omission by a federal government employee relating to criminal conduct, that is made by a person who engaged in that conduct, except to the extent: (1) the act or omission consists of the purposeful infliction of serious bodily injury; and (2) the damages sought are actual losses (up to $250,000 in medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, and other tangible losses).
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Law
Date: 2007-05-09 00:00:00

Prohibits the use or availability of any sums appropriated in any Act of Congress to pay any claim against the United States by Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila arising out of the conduct of Ignacio Ramos, Jose Alonso Compean, or any other person engaging in duties as an employee of the government on February 17, 2005. Declares that the United States does not consent to (does not waive sovereign immunity for) the commencement or maintenance of any civil action against the United States by Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila arising out of such conduct.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: International affairs
Date: 2007-06-22 00:00:00

Foreign Service Victims of Terrorism Act of 2007 - Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to provide a death gratuity for foreign national employees, foreign nationals appointees, and locally employed staff who die as a result of injuries suffered abroad in an amount equal to one year's basic salary at the highest step of the highest grade on the local compensation plan of the country in which the foreign staffer was being paid. Authorizes the Secretary of State or the head of a relevant agency to make an additional payment to the surviving dependents of a Foreign Service employee or a government executive branch employee killed as a result of an act of international terrorism in an amount equal to a maximum of eight times such employee's salary. Provides compensation retroactively to the families of each person killed in a terrorist act while serving on a U.S. diplomatic or consular mission abroad between Jan. 1, 1998, and the bills enactment, including the victims of the August 1998 bombing in Nairobi, Kenya. States that with respect to a U.S. citizen such amount shall be 10 times the salary amount of $94,000 ($940,000).
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Law
Date: 2007-10-01 00:00:00

Grants U.S. district courts original jurisdiction over any civil action for damages for personal injury or death that: (1) arose from the deportation of persons to Nazi concentration camps between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1944; and (2) is brought by or on behalf of such person against a railroad that owned or operated the trains on which the persons were deported and that was organized as a separate legal entity.Provides that: (1) no law limiting the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts shall preclude any such action; and (2) no such action shall be barred because a statute of limitations has expired. Makes this Act applicable to any action pending on or commenced after January 1, 2002.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Animals
Date: 2007-10-04 00:00:00

Immunity from Claims Related to Donated Horses Act of 2007 - Requires each humane organization that receives any horse or mule to hold the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, harmless from any demand, suit, action, or claim arising from or related to the government's donation of the horse or mule, including damages to the organization's property and any personal injury, disability, or death of any officer, employee, or agent.Authorizes horses and mules belonging to the federal government that have become unfit for service to be adopted by the DHS agents who have worked with such horse or mule.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Health
Date: 2008-04-24 00:00:00

Travel Trailer Residents' Health Registry Act - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS Secretary) to: (1) establish and maintain a health registry for individuals exposed to formaldehyde in temporary housing units provided by the government when displaced by a major disaster that occurred between August 29, 2005, and January 1, 2008; (2) include in the registry information the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS Secretary) determines is necessary to ascertain and monitor the health effects of such exposure; (3) develop a public information campaign to inform eligible individuals about the registry; and (4) periodically notify such individuals of significant developments in the study and treatment of conditions associated with exposure. Directs the DHS Secretary to contract with the HHS Secretary to provide health examinations, consultations, and mental health counseling free of charge to each eligible individual.Requires the HHS Secretary to contract with an independent scientific organization to report to Congress on: (1) the effectiveness of actions taken to collect and maintain information on the health consequences of such exposure; (2) recommendations to improve such collection and maintenance; and (3) the most effective and prudent means of addressing medical needs of eligible individuals.Requires: (1) such health consultation and mental health counseling to provide to each eligible individual information on examination results and on developments; and (2) the Secretary to commence an epidemiological study of the immediate and long-term effects of such exposure sufficient to further understand the medical needs of eligible individuals.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Date: 2008-09-23 00:00:00

Wrongful Convictions Tax Relief Act of 2008 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow wrongfully incarcerated individuals: (1) an exclusion from gross income for compensation received relating to their incarceration and for the first $50,000 of annual income received by such an individual after December 31, 2007; and (2) a refundable tax credit for 50% of payroll taxes on employment and self-employment income, up to $50,000 of such income. Limits the duration of such tax benefits to the lesser of 15 years or the number of years such an individual was incarcerated.Defines "wrongfully incarcerated individual" as an individual who was convicted of a criminal offense and was then pardoned or found not guilty of such offense because of innocence after serving all or a portion of a prison term. Disqualifies individuals with prior convictions punishable by more than one year of imprisonment.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Native Americans
Date: 2007-02-28 00:00:00

Hawaiian Homeownership Opportunity Act of 2007 - Amends the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 and the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to extend through FY2012 the authorization of appropriations for housing assistance for Native Americans and loan guarantees for Native Hawaiian housing. Amends the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 to: (1) make the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands of the state of Hawaii eligible for loan guarantees; and (2) extend through FY2012 the authorization of appropriations for the credit subsidy to cover the costs of federal guarantees for financing for tribal housing activities.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Law
Date: 2008-09-10 00:00:00

Grants U.S. district courts original jurisdiction over any civil action for damages for personal injury or death that: (1) arose from the deportation of persons to Nazi concentration camps between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1944; and (2) is brought by or on behalf of such person against a railroad that owned or operated the trains on which the persons were deported and that was organized as a separate legal entity.Provides that: (1) no law limiting the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts shall preclude any such action; and (2) no such action shall be barred because a statute of limitations has expired. Makes this Act applicable to any action pending on or commenced after January 1, 2002.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Law
Date: 2009-04-01 00:00:00

John Hope Franklin Tulsa-Greenwood Race Riot Claims Accountability Act of 2009 - Provides that any Greenwood, Oklahoma, claimant (a survivor or descendant of victims of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Race Riot of 1921) who has not previously obtained a determination on the merits of a Greenwood claim may, in a civil action commenced within five years after enactment of this Act, obtain that determination.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Law
Date: 2009-07-08 00:00:00

Confers upon the U.S. Court of Federal Claims jurisdiction to hear, determine, and render final judgment on any legal or equitable claim against the United States to receive just compensation for the taking of certain lands in the state of Missouri by reason of the decision and notice of interim trail use or abandonment authorized by the National Trails System Act and decided by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) on March 25, 1992.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2009-07-21 00:00:00

Amends the federal law commonly known as the "Tort Claims Act" to apply it to individuals accompanying, with the knowledge and consent of the U.S. government, federal employees engaged in missions for the U.S. government in foreign countries (thus assuring them of legal recourse against the U.S. government for certain tort claims). Declares that the law of the place where the act or omission occurred which gives rise to the tort claim shall be deemed to be the law of the claimant's current or last U.S. domicile.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Law
Date: 2009-10-01 00:00:00

Removing Excess Litigation Involving Energy on Federal Lands Act or the RELIEF Act - Establishes judicial procedures for causes and claims relating to any action or decision by a federal official regarding the leasing of federal lands (including submerged lands) for the exploration, development, production, processing, or transmitting of oil, natural gas, or any other source or form of energy. Grants the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia exclusive jurisdiction to hear all causes and claims that arise from any covered energy project.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Agriculture and food
Date: 2010-03-11 00:00:00

Directs the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to use discretionary funds available to the Service to fund the settlement of claims associated with the Houlka Creek Watershed Project in Mississippi in order to close out the Project.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2010-05-27 00:00:00

Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009 to extend the period for the submission by members of the Armed Forces of claims for retroactive stop-loss special pay (paid to members whose enlistment or period of obligated service was extended, or whose eligibility for retirement was suspended, by the President in time or war or national emergency) from one to two years after the date on which implementing rules for such payments take effect. Directs the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to include in a required report concerning such payments a plan describing DOD outreach and informational efforts to promote and increase awareness of the special pay.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2010-07-15 00:00:00

District of Columbia National Disaster Insurance Protection Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a tax-exempt natural disaster protection fund held by an insurance company that: (1) is incorporated and domiciled in the District of Columbia; (2) is subject to supervision by the District of Columbia Commissioner of Insurance, Securities, and Banking; (3) maintains an office in the District of Columbia that employs no fewer than 10 full-time employees, at least 5 of whom are District of Columbia residents; (4) is subject to taxes imposed by the District of Columbia on premiums for natural catastrophic risk coverage; and (5) is not subject to premium taxes imposed by any state or other taxing jurisdiction for natural catastrophic risk coverage written through the fund. Allows distributions from such fund to cover losses attributable to wind (including hurricanes and tornadoes), earthquakes, floods, tsunami or tidal wave, volcanic eruption, fire, hail, snow, ice freezing, or other winter catastrophes, or a pandemic or other public health catastrophe. Sets forth tax rules for contributions to and distributions from such fund.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Law
Date: 2010-09-29 00:00:00

American Fuel Protection Act of 2010 - Deems a claim for liability against a qualified entity as a claim against the United States for damages resulting from, or aggravated by, the use of transportation fuel containing ethanol in concentrations greater than 10% to operate an internal combustion engine. Abrogates U.S. sovereign immunity and makes the United States exclusively liable for such claims. Limits awards to actual damages sustained by a claimant. Defines "qualified entity" to mean an entity engaged in the manufacture, use, sale, or distribution of: (1) transportation fuel or renewable fuel; or (2) products which use transportation fuel. Grants U.S. district courts exclusive jurisdiction of any civil actions on such claims.
Topic: Government Operations — Claims against
Subject: Civil rights and liberties, minority issues
Date: 2009-01-06 00:00:00

Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Latin Americans of Japanese Descent Act - Establishes the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Latin Americans of Japanese descent. Directs the Commission to: (1) extend the study of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to investigate U.S. relocation, internment, and (in some cases) deportation to Axis countries of Latin Americans of Japanese descent held in U.S. custody from December 1941 through February 1948; and (2) recommend appropriate remedies to Congress based on preliminary findings by the original Commission and new discoveries. Terminates the Commission 90 days after submission of its report to Congress (as required by this Act). Authorizes appropriations.