zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Iran Human Rights and Democracy Promotion Act of 2011 - Expresses the sense of Congress that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is responsible for directing the commission of serious human rights abuses against Iranian citizens on or after June 12, 2009. Amends the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 to require the President: (1) upon receipt of credible information that a person may be an official of the government of Iran or acting on behalf of that government who is complicit in the commission of serious human rights abuses against Iranian citizens on or after June 12, 2009, to investigate and determine within 180 days whether the person is such a described individual; and (2) submit a list of such persons to Congress every 180 days or as new information becomes available. Requires the President: (1) upon receipt of credible information that a person may have transferred to Iran goods or technologies, or provided post-transfer services, that may be used to commit human rights abuses to investigate and determine within 180 days whether the person engaged in such activity; (2) submit a list of such persons to Congress every 180 days or as new information becomes available; and (3) freeze the assets of a listed person. Amends the Iran Freedom Support Act to: (1) extend the President's authority to provide financial and political assistance to support democracy in Iran through December 31, 2016; and (2) expand the forms of such assistance. Requires the President to appoint a Special Representative on Human Rights and Democracy in Iran within the Department of State. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Secretary should support efforts to research and catalogue prisoners of conscience and cases of human rights abuses inside Iran, (2) the U.S. government should offer political asylum to such political prisoners as well as assisting with their relocation to other countries if requested, and (3) the Special Representative and all representatives of the U.S. government should publicly call for the release of Iranian dissidents by name and raise individual cases of Iranian dissidents and prisoners of conscience as appropriate. Requires the President to submit to Congress a comprehensive strategy to promote Internet freedom and access to information in Iran.

Date: 2011-05-04
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Vietnam Human Rights Sanctions Act - Directs the President to: (1) impose financial and immigration/entry sanctions on listed nationals of Vietnam who are complicit in human rights abuses committed against nationals of Vietnam or their family members, regardless of whether such abuses occurred in Vietnam; and (2) submit to Congress a publicly available list of individuals determined to be complicit in such human rights abuses. Authorizes the President to waive sanctions to comply with international agreements or if in the U.S. national interest. Terminates sanctions if the President certifies to Congress that the government of Vietnam has: (1) released all political prisoners; (2) ceased its practices of violence, detention, and abuse of citizens of Vietnam engaging in peaceful political activity; and (3) conducted a transparent investigation into the killings, arrest, and abuse of such political activists and prosecuted those responsible. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the U.S.-Vietnam relationship cannot progress while the government of Vietnam's human rights record continues to deteriorate, and (2) the Secretary of State should designate Vietnam as a country of particular concern with respect to religious freedom.

Date: 2011-05-24
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Ethical Shipping Inspections Act of 2011 - Amends federal shipping inspection laws to prohibit the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating from delegating (and to require revocation of an existing delegation of) certain inspection, certification, and related services to a foreign classification society if the Secretary of State determines that such society provides comparable services: (1) in Iran, North Korea, North Sudan, or Syria; or (2) for the government of such countries.

Date: 2011-08-02
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: Transportation and public works
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2011 - Amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to prohibit: (1) an individual from serving more than two consecutive terms as a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, (2) each member serving on the date of enactment of this Act from being reappointed to more than one additional consecutive term, (3) a member attending less than 75% of the meetings during one of such member's terms from being eligible for reappointment, and (4) a member from being eligible to be elected as Chair of the Commission for a second, consecutive term. Establishes staggered office terms by modifying certain terms of office conditions for members appointed to serve from May 15, 2012, through May 14, 2014. Requires, for purposes of providing remedies and procedures to address alleged violations of rights and protections that pertain to various specified antidiscrimination laws, that all employees of the Commission be treated as employees whose pay is disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate or the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives and that the Commission be treated as an employing office of the Senate or House. Increases to $250,000 the maximum amount the Commission may expend in any fiscal year to procure temporary or intermittent services contracts for the conduct of certain activities necessary to Commission functions. Extends the Commission's termination date to September 30, 2013.

Date: 2011-11-15
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Syria Human Rights Accountability Act of 2012 - Directs the President to submit, and update every 180 days and as new information becomes available, the following lists to Congress: (1) Syrian government officials or persons acting on behalf of that government who are responsible for or complicit in the commission of serious human rights abuses against Syrian citizens or their family members, regardless of whether such abuses occurred in Syria; (2) persons who knowingly transfer or facilitate the transfer of goods or technologies (weapons, surveillance technology, or sensitive technology) that are likely to be used by Syria to commit human rights abuses against the Syrian people; and (3) persons who engage in censorship that prohibits, limits, or penalizes the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression by Syrian citizens. Directs the President to impose specified property and finance-related sanctions on such listed persons and make them ineligible for U.S. entry. Authorizes the President to waive the listing of a person or the imposition of sanctions if in the U.S. national security interest. Prohibits the head of a federal agency from entering into or renewing a contract for the procurement of goods or services with a person (or a person owning or controlling such person) that exports sensitive technology to Syria. Authorizes the President to exempt certain products from such prohibition. Defines "sensitive technology" as hardware, software, telecommunications equipment, or any other technology that is used to: (1) restrict the free flow of unbiased information in Syria; or (2) disrupt, monitor, or otherwise restrict the speech of the Syrian people.

Date: 2012-01-24
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Arms Sale Responsibility Act of 2013 - Expresses the sense of Congress that it should be U.S. policy to adhere to a policy of restraint in transferring conventional arms if evidence exists of substantial risk that such arms will be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law.

Urges the President, in negotiating any conventional arms control agreement, to: (1) encourage the national control list of each party to an agreement to cover all types of weaponry, munitions, armaments and related material used for potentially lethal force in military and law enforcement operations; (2) assess each application or proposal to export or internationally transfer arms on a case-by-case basis; (3) deny an arms transfer authorization if there is a substantial risk that the arms will be used to commit or facilitate violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law; (4) require import and transit state authorizations and certified end use assurances before issuing an export license or authorization for any international transfer of conventional arms; and (5) require each party to an agreement to establish a legal framework for lawful brokering and shipping activities relating to conventional arms transfers.

Prohibits, with certain exemptions, the transfer of defense articles or defense services to the government of a foreign country under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the Arms Export Control Act unless the President certifies to Congress that such government is not: (1) engaging in gross violations of internationally-recognized human rights, and (2) identified by the Secretary of State as having governmental armed forces or government supported armed groups that recruit or use child soldiers.

Date: 2013-02-04
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Arms Sale Responsibility Act of 2013 - Expresses the sense of Congress that it should be U.S. policy to adhere to a policy of restraint in transferring conventional arms if evidence exists of substantial risk that such arms will be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law.

Urges the President, in negotiating any conventional arms control agreement, to: (1) encourage the national control list of each party to an agreement to cover all types of weaponry, munitions, armaments and related material used for potentially lethal force in military and law enforcement operations; (2) assess each application or proposal to export or internationally transfer arms on a case-by-case basis; (3) deny an arms transfer authorization if there is a substantial risk that the arms will be used to commit or facilitate violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law; (4) require import and transit state authorizations and certified end use assurances before issuing an export license or authorization for any international transfer of conventional arms; and (6) require each party to an agreement to establish a legal framework for lawful brokering and shipping activities relating to conventional arms transfers.

Prohibits, with certain exemptions, the transfer of defense articles or defense services to the government of a foreign country under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the Arms Export Control Act unless the President certifies to Congress that such government is not: (1) engaging in gross violations of internationally-recognized human rights, and (2) identified by the Secretary of State as having governmental armed forces or government supported armed groups that recruit or use child soldiers.

Date: 2013-02-08
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Human Trafficking Reporting Act - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to include severe forms of trafficking in persons among "part 1 violent crimes" required to be reported by states for the Uniform Crime Reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for purposes of Bureau of Justice Assistance Grants and Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants.

Date: 2013-02-28
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Countering ALBA Act of 2013 - Requires the Secretary of State to direct the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to defend, protect, and strengthen the independent Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to advance the protection of human rights throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Directs the President to impose sanctions against certain listed officials of ALBA governments (Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Ecuador) or persons acting on behalf of ALBA governments who the President determines are responsible for, or complicit in, the commission of serious human rights abuses against citizens of ALBA countries or their family members on or after February 2, 1999. Includes among authorized sanctions ineligibility for a U.S. entry visa and sanctions pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Terminates such sanctions when the President determines and certifies to the congressional foreign relations committees that the ALBA governments have: (1) unconditionally released all political prisoners; (2) ceased violence, unlawful detention, torture, and abuse of its citizens; (3) conducted a transparent investigation into the killings, arrests, and abuse of peaceful political activists, and prosecuted those responsible; and (4) made public commitments to, and are making demonstrable progress toward, establishing an independent judiciary and respecting the human rights and basic freedoms recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Directs the President to impose sanctions against listed individuals who transfer goods or provide services to ALBA countries that are likely to be used to commit serious human rights abuses.

Directs the President to impose sanctions against listed persons who engage in censorship or other related activities against citizens of ALBA countries.

Directs the Secretary of State to submit to the foreign relations committees a comprehensive strategy: (1) to assist the people of ALBA countries in promoting Internet freedom and access to information, and (2) to ensure that ALBA governments are democratic governments.

Date: 2013-04-23
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Strengthening the Child Welfare Response to Human Trafficking Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and publish guidelines to assist state, Indian tribe, and tribal organization child welfare agencies and juvenile and family courts in efforts to serve appropriately youth who are victims of trafficking and youth at-risk of becoming such.

Amends part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act to require a state plan for foster care and adoption assistance to require reasonable efforts be made to: (1) identify as a victim of trafficking and document appropriately in agency records each child who is such a victim over whom the agency has responsibility for placement, care, or supervision; and (2) specify in agency records the type of trafficking to which the child has been subjected.

Requires the plan to require the agency to report within 72 hours to appropriate law enforcement agencies for entry into the National Crime Information Center database the identity of each child to whom the agency is providing child welfare services who is missing or has been abducted or is identified as a victim of trafficking.

Amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to require the state plan for use of a grant for a child abuse or neglect prevention program to contain an assurance that the state law has in place provisions and procedures for the assessment and identification of victims of trafficking, as well as comprehensive training and services to serve such victims.

Date: 2013-04-25
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: Social welfare
Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of State to submit to Congress an Annual Report on International Child Abduction.

Directs the Secretary to ensure that U.S. diplomatic and consular missions: (1) maintain a consistent reporting standard with respect to abduction or access cases, and (2) designate at least one official in each mission to assist U.S. parents who are visiting to resolve such cases.

Directs the Secretary to seek to enter into a memorandum of understanding (an agreement between the United States and a country that is not a Convention country to resolve abduction and rights of access cases) with every country that is not a Convention country. Defines "Convention country" as a country other than the United States that has ratified, acceded, or succeeded to the Hague Abduction Convention and with respect to which the United States has entered into a reciprocal agreement pursuant to the Hague Abduction Convention.

Provides that whenever the President determines that the government of a foreign country has failed to resolve an unresolved abduction or access case, or has engaged in a pattern of noncooperation, the President shall take one or more specified actions to promote resolution or cooperation.

Date: 2013-05-13
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Human Trafficking Prioritization Act - (Sec. 3) Expresses the sense of Congress that the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking of the Department of State will be more effective in carrying out duties mandated by Congress in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and can do so without an increase in either personnel or budget, if: (1) the Office status is changed to that of a Bureau within the Department; and (2) the Office is headed by an Assistant Secretary with direct access to the Secretary of State, rather than an Ambassador-at-Large.

(Sec. 4) Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to change the status of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to that of the Bureau to Combat Trafficking in Persons.

(Sec. 5) Directs the Secretary to report to Congress:

 detailing for each current Assistant Secretary of State position the exact title and length of designation as Assistant Secretary, and whether that designation was legislatively mandated or authorized and, if so, the relevant statutory citation; and whether the Secretary intends to designate one of the Assistant Secretary of State positions as the Assistant Secretary of State to Combat Trafficking in Persons, and the reasons for that decision. (Sec. 6) Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to prohibit subsequent inclusion for more than one consecutive year on the special watch list of countries whose compliance with minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking is full, partial, or insignificant if the country: (1) was included on the list for four consecutive years after enactment of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, and (2) was subsequently included on the exclusive Tier 3 list of countries not making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with such standards.

(Sec. 7) States that no additional funds are authorized to be appropriated for diplomatic and consular programs to carry out this Act.

Date: 2013-06-06
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
International Women's Freedom Act of 2013 - Establishes within the Department of State an Office of International Women's Rights to be headed by an Ambassador at Large for International Women's Rights.

Directs the Secretary of State to establish a women's rights Internet site and maintain prisoner lists and issue briefs on women's rights concerns.

Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to include instruction on the internationally recognized rights of women and the various aspects and manifestations of violations of women's rights in Foreign Service officer training.

Establishes the United States Commission on International Women's Rights.

Directs the President to take specified actions in response to women's rights violations, especially particularly severe rights violations.

Prescribes criteria for the prohibition of economic, multilateral, military, and export assistance in instances of particularly severe women's rights violations.

Prescribes requirements for the promotion of women's rights.

Requires women's rights-related training with respect to refugee, asylum, and consular matters.

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to declare inadmissible to the United States any foreign government officials who have engaged in particularly severe women's rights violations.

Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) transnational corporations operating overseas should adopt codes of conduct upholding the rights of their female employees, and (2) there should be within the staff of the National Security Council a Special Adviser to the President on International Women's Rights.

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking Elimination Act of 2013 - Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to require the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State to incorporate anti-trafficking and anti-slavery priorities into other aspects of foreign assistance to ensure that assistance programs do not contribute to vulnerability to, or the prevalence of, human trafficking and slavery.

Requires a foreign labor contractor to disclose in writing in English and in the primary language of the worker being recruited specified information, including the identity of the employer and the recruiter, worker protections, and a signed copy of the work contract. Prohibits a foreign labor contractor from providing related false or misleading information.

 Prohibits certain recruitment fees.

 Requires a foreign labor contractor to obtain from the Secretary of Labor a certificate of registration which shall be valid for two years. Provides for a registration fee.

Exempts from such certificate requirement an employer who engages in foreign labor contracting solely to find workers for the employer's own use without the participation of any other foreign labor contractor.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) maintain a list of all registered foreign labor contractors and a list of all such ontractors whose registration has been revoked; and (2) establish a process for receipt, investigation, and disposition of complaints.

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require a consular officer, before issuing specified work visas, to: (1) provide the alien with certain trafficking information, and (2) review and include in the alien's visa file the foreign labor recruiter's disclosures.

Directs the Secretary of State to ensure that: (1) each U.S. diplomatic mission has a person responsible for receiving information from any worker who has been subject to violations of this Act, and (2) consulates maintain and make public any information regarding the identities of foreign labor contractors and the employers to whom those contractors supply workers.

Sets forth administrative and civil action enforcement requirements.

Date: 2013-10-28
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
International Violence Against Women Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of State to establish an Office of Global Women's Issues which shall be headed by an Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues.

Directs the Ambassador-at-Large to coordinate U.S. government efforts regarding gender integration and advancing the status of women and girls in U.S. foreign policy.

 Establishes in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) a Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment who shall direct USAID activities, policies, programs, and funding relating to gender equality and women's empowerment.

Directs the Ambassador-at-Large to develop or update annually for six years a U.S. global strategy to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.

Authorizes the Secretary and the Administrator of USAID to provide assistance to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls internationally.

Date: 2013-11-21
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on May 13, 2014. The summary of that version is repeated here.) 

Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act of 2014 - (Sec. 2) Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the Attorney General to give preferential consideration in awarding Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) grants to an application from an applicant in a state that has in effect a law that: (1) treats a minor who has engaged in, or has attempted to engage in, a commercial sex act as a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons; (2) discourages the charging or prosecution of such individual for a prostitution or sex trafficking offense based on such conduct; or (3) encourages the diversion of such an individual to appropriate service providers, including child welfare services, victim treatment programs, child advocacy centers, rape crisis centers, or other social services.

 (Sec. 3) Amends the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTVPA) to require the Attorney General's annual report on federal agencies that are implementing provisions relating to the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to include information on the activities of such agencies in cooperation with state, tribal, and local law enforcement officials to identify, investigate, and prosecute the following offenses: (1) sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion or with a minor; (2) sexual exploitation of children; (3) the selling and buying of children; (4) transportation with intent that the victim engage in illegal sexual activity; (5) coercion or enticement to travel for illegal sexual activity; and (6) transportation of minors for illegal sexual activity. Requires such information to include: (1) the number of individuals required by a court order to pay restitution in connection with a violation of each offense and the amount of such restitution; and (2) the age, gender, race, country of origin, country of citizenship, and description of the role of individuals convicted under each offense.

 (Sec. 4) Amends the VTVPA to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), annually beginning in FY2017, to make grants for a national communication system to assist victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons in communicating with service providers.

(Sec. 5) Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to include victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons among those eligible for the Job Corps without being required to demonstrate low-income eligibility.

(Sec. 6) Authorizes the United States Marshals Service to assist state, local, and other federal law enforcement agencies, upon request, in locating and recovering missing children.

Date: 2013-11-21
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on May 28, 2014. The summary of that version is repeated here.) 

Amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include the desecration of cemeteries among the forms of violations of the right to religious freedom in many countries around the world.

Date: 2014-02-10
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
War Crimes Accountability Act of 2014 - Directs the President to submit a report to Congress for each of FY2015-FY2019 that identifies each country that is failing to: (1) cooperate with relevant jurisdictions in extraditing or deporting war crimes suspects or Nazi war criminals to the appropriate jurisdiction; (2) enforce arrest warrants issued by an international tribunal against war crimes suspects; (3) accept Nazi war criminals deported from the United States; or (4) effectively prosecute war crimes suspects or Nazi war criminals within such country's jurisdiction, including Nazi war criminals who resided in the United States and were deported from or extradited by the United States or left the United States voluntarily.

Prohibits the President from issuing a letter of offer to sell defense articles under the Arms Export Control Act for $7 million or more to a country so identified.

Authorizes the President to waive such prohibition if in the U.S. national security interest.

Date: 2014-02-21
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Venezuelan Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act - Directs the Secretary of State to require the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) to use U.S. influence at the OAS to protect the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and strengthen the independent Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to protect human rights throughout the Western Hemisphere, especially in Venezuela.

Directs the President to transmit to Congress a list of Venezuelan government officials or persons acting on behalf of that government who are responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses against citizens of Venezuela or their family members.

Directs the President to transmit to Congress a list of persons who: (1) transfer or facilitate the transfer of goods or technologies that are likely to be used to commit serious rights abuses to Venezuela, to any entity organized under the laws of Venezuela, or to any national of Venezuela, for use in Venezuela; or (2) provide services with respect to such goods or technologies after their transfer to Venezuela.

Directs the President to transmit to Congress a list of persons who have engaged in censorship or other activities with respect to Venezuela that: (1) prohibit, limit, or penalize the exercise of freedom of expression or assembly; or (2) limit access to print or broadcast media, including facilitation of intentional frequency manipulation.

Imposes property, financial, and visa sanctions against a person listed pursuant to this Act.

States that it should be U.S. policy to reduce petroleum imports from Venezuela to prevent its leader Nicolas Maduro from using petroleum profits to fund his regime's oppression and human rights violations.

Directs the Secretary of State to submit comprehensive strategies to Congress to: (1) promote internet and information access freedom in Venezuela, and (2) ensure that the government of Venezuela will uphold democratic principles and is moving toward market-oriented economic systems.

States that it shall be U.S. policy to: (1) support efforts to identify prisoners of conscience and cases of human rights abuses in Venezuela, and (2) offer refugee status or political asylum in the United States to political dissidents in Venezuela or assist in their relocation to other countries.

Obligates specified amounts for assistance to civil society in Venezuela.

Date: 2014-03-13
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Vietnam Human Rights Sanctions Act - Directs the President to: (1) impose financial and immigration/entry sanctions on listed nationals of Vietnam who are complicit in human rights abuses committed against nationals of Vietnam or their family members, regardless of whether such abuses occurred in Vietnam; and (2) submit to Congress a publicly available list of individuals determined to be complicit in such human rights abuses.

Authorizes the President to waive sanctions to comply with international agreements.

Terminates sanctions if the President certifies to Congress that the government of Vietnam has: (1) released all political prisoners; (2) ceased its practices of violence, detention, and abuse of citizens of Vietnam engaging in peaceful political activity; and (3) conducted a transparent investigation into the killings, arrest, and abuse of such political activists and prosecuted those responsible.

Date: 2014-03-14
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Coordinated Assistance To Catch Human Traffickers Act of 2014 or the CATCH Traffickers Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish and maintain a database to serve as a central location for information from law enforcement agency investigations relating to human trafficking.

Requires: (1) the head of a law enforcement agency conducting such an investigation to ensure that information the Secretary determines to be appropriate is entered into the database; and (2) the Attorney General to reduce by 20% the amount of a grant under Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program received by a state or local government the law enforcement agency of which does not substantially comply with such requirement.

Permits law enforcement agencies to access the database only in connection with an investigation related to human trafficking.

Date: 2014-04-08
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Human Trafficking Prevention Act - Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to require training for federal government personnel related to trafficking in persons to include at a minimum: (1) a distance learning course on trafficking-in-persons issues and the Department of State's obligations under the Act, targeted for embassy reporting officers, regional bureaus' trafficking-in-persons coordinators, and their superiors; (2) specific trafficking-in-persons briefings for all ambassadors and deputy chiefs of mission before they depart for their posts; and (3) at least annual reminders to all such personnel and other federal personnel at each diplomatic or consular post of the Department of State located outside the United States of key problems, threats, methods, and warning signs of trafficking in persons specific to the country or jurisdiction in which each such post is located, and appropriate procedures to report information acquired about possible trafficking cases.

Date: 2014-04-10
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking Elimination Act of 2014 - Requires a foreign labor contractor (including a third-party foreign labor recruiter) who files a petition, certification, or application for a work-authorized nonimmigrant visa to provide a prospective worker with a copy of the petition and a copy of the approval notification.

Prohibits a foreign labor contractor (including a third-party foreign labor recruiter) from knowingly providing false or misleading information to any worker or prospective worker concerning any required document.

 Requires a third-party foreign labor recruiter to disclose in writing in English and in the prospective worker's primary language specified information about fees, contracts, worker protections, and a copy of the work visa petition.

Requires a third-party foreign labor recruiter to obtain from the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) a certificate of registration which shall be valid for two years. Establishes a registration fee.

Prohibits a third-party foreign labor recruiter, or agent or employee of the recruiter, from assessing any recruitment, placement, legal, or processing fee on a worker or prospective worker.

States that, unless required by the Immigration and Nationality Act, no foreign labor contractor (including a third-party foreign labor recruiter) shall be required to pay for the visa or passport fees or transportation costs to and from the United States of a prospective worker or worker.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) maintain a publicly available list of all registered third-party foreign labor recruiters that identifies the countries from which the contractors recruit, the visa categories and occupations for which the contractors recruit, and the states where recruited workers are employed; (2) maintain a publicly available list of all third-party foreign labor recruiters whose certificate of registration has been revoked; and (3) provide such lists to the Secretary of State, who shall make them available in written form at, and on the websites of, each U.S. diplomatic mission.

Sets forth worker complaint and related civil and administrative enforcement requirements.

Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to require the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State to incorporate anti-trafficking and anti-slavery priorities into other aspects of foreign assistance to ensure that assistance programs do not contribute to human trafficking and slavery.

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require a consular officer, before issuing specified work visas, to: (1) provide the alien with certain trafficking information, and (2) review and include in the alien's visa file the foreign labor recruiter's disclosures.

Date: 2014-05-07
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Strengthening the Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2014 - Amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to require that the state plan under the Act certifies that the state has in effect and is enforcing a state law, or is operating a statewide program, relating to child abuse and neglect that includes provisions and procedures requiring: (1) identification and assessment of reports involving child trafficking, and (2) training child protective services workers about identifying and providing services for such children.

Date: 2014-05-09
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: Social welfare
European Union Religious Freedom Act - Amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include among Congress's finding with respect to the forms of government-sponsored or government-tolerated violations of religious freedom prohibitions against: (1) homeschooling, (2) religious methods of meat production, (3) circumcision, and (4) wearing religious garb.

Date: 2014-05-09
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2014 - Amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to reauthorize the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as an independent federal government advisory body through FY2019.

(Sec. 2) Requires USCIRF as a whole to have expertise on the variety of faiths practiced around the world.

Requires appointments to USCIRF to be made within 90 days of a vacancy. Removes authority under which a USCIRF member may serve after the expiration of that member's term until a successor has taken office.

(Sec. 3) Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to require the Secretary of State to receive assistance from USCIRF when establishing training for Foreign Service officers in the field of internationally recognized human rights, including instruction regarding the relationship between religious freedom and security, as well as the role of religious freedom in U.S. foreign policy.

(Sec. 4) Encourages the Department of State to allow classified information to be accessed by USCIRF Commissioners and staff with the appropriate security clearance.

Requires discrimination on the basis of religion to be treated as a category of employment discrimination for purposes of the employment protections for USCIRF employees.

(Sec. 5) Revises restrictions on USCIRF's acceptance of gifts and donations to permit sponsoring private parties to provide compensation and benefits to interns, fellows, and volunteers. Requires the number, duration, and funding source of any such internship, fellowship, or volunteer programs to be described in USCIRF's annual financial report.

(Sec. 6) Terminates USCIRF on September 30, 2019.

Date: 2014-05-09
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to declare that, in determining whether a government has made serious and sustained efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts and participation in international sex tourism by its nationals, pursuant to the minimum standards for the elimination of sex trafficking, if such government has the authority to prohibit the purchase of commercial sex acts but fails to do so, it shall be deemed a failure to make serious and sustained efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts, notwithstanding other efforts the government has made to do so.

Date: 2014-05-21
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Human Trafficking Fraud Enforcement Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) an office to investigate and prosecute violations of internal revenue laws by persons that appear to be engaged in violations of specified federal laws prohibiting forced labor, trafficking of individuals, and transportation of minors or aliens for immoral purposes and of state or territorial laws prohibiting the promotion of prostitution or of any commercial sex act. Directs such office to cooperate with the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Innocence Lost National Initiative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Allow victims of human trafficking crimes to claim awards allowed for whistleblowing.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase civil and criminal penalties for tax evasion attributable to income derived from human trafficking and commercial sex acts. Makes it a felony to fail to file a tax return including income derived from human trafficking or commercial sex acts. Appropriates to the Crime Victims Fund additional funds equal to the increase in receipts from increased civil and criminal penalties provided by this Act.

Date: 2014-05-21
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: Taxation
Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2014 - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) legislation is necessary to provide consumers information on products that are free of child labor, forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking; and (2) businesses and consumers, by means of publicly available disclosures, can avoid inadvertently promoting or sanctioning these crimes through production and purchase of goods and products that have been tainted in the supply chains.

Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), within one year after enactment of the Global Supply Chain Transparency for Trafficking, Forced Labor, and Child Labor Eradication Act, to promulgate regulations requiring that mandatory annual reports include a disclosure whether the covered issuer has taken any measures during the year to identify and address conditions of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor within the issuer's supply chains.

Requires any business entity filing such disclosures to make them available on its Internet website.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to develop and publish annually on the Internet website of the Department of Labor a list of top 100 companies adhering to supply chain labor standards, as established under federal and international guidelines.

Date: 2014-06-11
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of State to submit an annual, publicly-available report to Congress containing: (1) an assessment of the level of access Chinese authorities granted U.S. diplomats, journalists, and tourists to Tibetan areas in China; (2) a list of the persons in senior leadership positions in Tibet Autonomous Region and other specified provinces, prefectures, and autonomous entities; and (3) a list of the persons in senior leadership positions at the national and regional levels as defined by this Act.

Makes certain listed persons ineligible for U.S entry under specified circumstances.

Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) reciprocity forms the basis of diplomatic law and the practice of mutual exchanges between countries; (2) consular access should be given on a reciprocal basis; and (3) the Secretary, when granting Chinese diplomats access to parts of the United States, should take into account the extent to which China grants U.S. diplomats access to parts of China, including the level of access to Tibetan areas.

Date: 2014-06-12
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Global Respect Act - Directs the President to submit to Congress a list of each foreign person that the President determines is responsible, or acted as an agent, for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against an individual in a foreign country based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Makes a listed foreign person ineligible to enter or be admitted to the United States. Requires revocation of any visa issued for such person.

Authorizes the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to waive such prohibition if in U.S. national security interests or if necessary for compliance with the Agreement between the United Nations (U.N.) and the United States regarding the U.N. Headquarters. Requires congressional notification prior to any such waiver.

Directs the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor to designate a senior officer or officers to track violence, criminalization, and restrictions on fundamental freedoms in foreign countries based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to include information on sexual orientation or gender identity violence or restrictions in the annual country reports on human rights practices.

Date: 2014-06-19
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: International affairs
Human Smuggling Prevention Act of 2014 - Prohibits an individual acting for financial gain from directing or participating in an effort to bring or attempt to bring five or more persons unlawfully into the United States.

Establishes monetary and/or prison penalties for such actions. Prescribes increased penalties for actions that: (1) result in death or serious bodily injury; (2) place a life in jeopardy; or (3) involve bribery of a government official, robbery, sexual abuse, or 10 or more persons.

Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to: (1) implement a strategy to deter and interdict human smuggling across the international land and maritime borders of the United States, and (2) submit an annual list to Congress of high traffic areas of human smuggling.

Makes it a crime to: (1) transmit to another person the location, movement, or activities of law enforcement agents with the intent to further a federal crime relating to immigration, customs, controlled substances, agriculture, monetary instruments, or other border controls; and (2) destroy, alter, or damage any physical or electronic device used by the federal government to control the border or any port of entry.

Prohibits the carrying or use of a firearm in an alien smuggling crime.

Date: 2014-06-25
Topic: International Affairs (Human Rights)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement