zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Establishes for the Federal Railroad Administration a program for disadvantaged business enterprises, that is, small business concerns owned or controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (including women).

Requires that at least 10% of federal funds for covered rail projects be expended on disadvantaged business enterprises.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation (DOT) to establish: (1) a unified certification program that lists disadvantaged business enterprises; (2) minimum uniform criteria for certifying small business concerns; and (3) minimum requirements for covered rail project federal funding recipients to report to the Secretary information on minority-owned and women-owned business awards, commitments, and achievements.

Date: 2014-04-09
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Transportation and public works
End Racial Profiling Act of 2013 - Prohibits any law enforcement agent or agency from engaging in racial profiling. Grants the United States or an individual injured by racial profiling the right to obtain declaratory or injunctive relief.

Requires federal law enforcement agencies to maintain adequate policies and procedures to eliminate racial profiling and to cease existing practices that permit racial profiling.

Requires state or local governmental entities or state, local, or tribal law enforcement agencies that apply for grants under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program and the Cops on the Beat Program to certify that they maintain adequate policies and procedures for eliminating racial profiling and have eliminated any existing practices that permit or encourage racial profiling.

Authorizes the Attorney General to award grants and contracts for the collection of data relating to racial profiling and for the development of best practices and systems to eliminate racial profiling. Requires the Attorney General to issue regulations for the collection and compilation of data on racial profiling and for the implementation of this Act.

Date: 2013-05-23
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act

Establishes the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans to examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Civil rights and liberties, minority issues
End Racial Profiling Act of 2015

 Prohibits any law enforcement agent or agency from engaging in racial profiling. Grants the United States or an individual injured by racial profiling the right to obtain declaratory or injunctive relief.

Requires federal law enforcement agencies to maintain adequate policies and procedures to eliminate racial profiling and to cease existing practices that permit racial profiling.

Requires state or local governmental entities or state, local, or tribal law enforcement agencies that apply for grants under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program and the Cops on the Beat Program to certify that they maintain adequate policies and procedures for eliminating racial profiling and have eliminated any existing practices that permit or encourage racial profiling.

Authorizes the Attorney General to award grants and contracts for the collection of data relating to racial profiling and for the development of best practices and systems to eliminate racial profiling. Requires the Attorney General to issue regulations for the collection and compilation of data on racial profiling and for the implementation of this Act.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Racial Profiling Prevention Act

Directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to make a grant to a state that: (1) has enacted and is enforcing a law that prohibits a state or local law enforcement officer from using the race or ethnicity (racial profiling) of the driver or passengers in making routine or spontaneous law enforcement decisions, such as ordinary traffic stops on federal-aid highways; and (2) allows and maintains public inspection statistical information for each motor vehicle stop made by a law enforcement officer on a federal-aid highway regarding the race and ethnicity of the driver and any passengers. Requires grant-receiving states to provide assurances to DOT that they are undertaking activities to comply with such requirements.

Requires a state to use such grants for the costs of: (1) collecting, maintaining, and evaluating the results of data on traffic stops; and (2) activities to comply with the requirements of this Act.

Declares that nothing in this Act shall alter the manner in which a state or local law enforcement officer considers race or ethnicity whenever there is trustworthy information that links persons of a particular race or ethnicity to an identified criminal incident, scheme, or organization.

Date: 2015-05-15
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Transportation and public works
Minority Inclusion in Clinical Trials Act of 2015

This bill expresses the sense of Congress that the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities shall include within its strategic plan ways to increase representation of underrepresented communities in clinical trials.

The bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants for expanding existing opportunities for scientists and researchers, and for promoting the inclusion of underrepresented minorities in the health professions, to eligible entities that demonstrate a commitment to health workforce development in underrepresented communities. To be eligible to receive a grant, an entity must be an educational institution or entity that historically produces or trains meaningful numbers of underrepresented minority health professionals.

Grants shall be used to implement, expand, or evaluate workforce diversity programs that shall enhance diversity by considering minority status as part of an individualized consideration of qualifications.

HHS must carry out the following activities to eliminate disparities in maternal health outcomes:

 conduct research into the determinants and the distribution of disparities in maternal care, health risks, and health outcomes and improve the capacity of the performance measurement infrastructure to measure such disparities; expand access to services that have been demonstrated to improve the quality and outcomes of maternity care for vulnerable populations; and establish a demonstration project in up to eight states to compare the effectiveness of interventions to reduce disparities in maternity services and outcomes and implement and assess effective interventions. HHS must establish and coordinate a health and health care disparities education program to support, develop, and implement educational initiatives and outreach strategies that inform health care professionals and the public about the existence of, and methods to reduce, racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care.

Date: 2015-05-20
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Health
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

This bill amends: (1) the Department of Energy Organization Act to revise the definition of "minority" to mean any U.S. citizen who is an Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Native American, or Alaska Native; and (2) the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 to revise the definition of "minority group members" (who own minority group enterprises) to mean U.S. citizens who are Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders, African American, Hispanic, Native American, or Alaska Natives.

Date: 2015-12-11
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Civil rights and liberties, minority issues
Commission to Study Family Reconstruction Proposals for African-Americans Unjustly Impacted by the "War on Drugs" Act of 2016

This bill establishes a commission to examine and report on: the disparate incarceration and the institution of forced prison labor within the African-American community, government and private sector support for and profit from mass incarceration, discriminatory laws and other forms of discrimination in the public and private sectors, and the lingering negative effects of mass incarceration.

The commission must make recommendations for education and remedies.

Date: 2016-12-08
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Building and Lifting Trust In order to Multiply Opportunities and Racial Equality Act of 2015 or the BALTIMORE Act

End Racial Profiling Act of 2015

This bill prohibits racial profiling by federal, state, local, or tribal law enforcement agents or agencies.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) or an individual may bring a civil action for declaratory or injunctive relief. Proof of disparate impact constitutes prima facie (i.e., sufficient) evidence of racial profiling.

This bills sets forth provisions to eliminate racial profiling, including creating administrative complaint procedures, increasing data collection, and making certain federal funds contingent on law enforcement agencies instituting appropriate policies and procedures.

Police Creating Accountability by Making Effective Recording Available Act of 2015 or the Police CAMERA Act

The DOJ Office of Justice Programs may award grants to states, local, governments, and Indian tribes to acquire body-worn cameras. Grant recipients must establish certain policies and protocols related to body-worn cameras.

 Democracy Restoration Act of 2015

The bill prohibits denial of the right to vote in any federal election due to a criminal conviction, unless the individual is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution at election time. It also makes convicted felons eligible for federal jury service.

Reclassification to Ensure Smarter and Equal Treatment Act of 2015 or the RESET Act

The bill reduces the penalties for simple possession of a controlled substance by a person with one or more prior drug convictions. It establishes penalties for simple possession of a date rape drug, including flunitrasepam, by person with one or more prior drug conviction.

 It eliminates the sentencing disparity between trafficking in powder cocaine and trafficking in crack cocaine.

Date: 2015-06-18
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Advancing NIH Strategic Planning and Representation in Medical Research Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to publish a strategic plan that addresses research, training, the biomedical workforce, and collaboration with other agencies. Common Fund strategic planning is included in this strategic plan.

(Sec. 3) In assessing research priorities, the NIH must publish data on certain clinical research study populations. The NIH must foster collaboration among clinical research projects that use human subjects and that collect similar data to increase the number and diversity of subjects.

(Sec. 4) The strategic plans of the national research institutes must ensure that future activities take into account women and minorities and are focused on reducing health disparities. Advisory council reports must include certain demographic data for clinical research subjects. The results of NIH-funded clinical trials that include women and minorities must be submitted to NIH's clinical trial data bank.

(Sec. 5) The NIH must encourage efforts to improve research related to the health of sexual and gender minority populations, including by facilitating participation by such populations and addressing methodological challenges. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with the NIH, must continue to support development of measures related to reporting health information about sexual and gender minority populations and must publish such measures.

(Sec. 6) The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities may foster partnerships among the national research institutes and encourage the funding of collaborative research projects to achieve NIH goals related to minority health and health disparities.

(Sec. 7) The NIH must convene a working group to make recommendations to enhance the rigor and reproducibility of NIH-funded research.

(Sec. 8) HHS must establish the Task Force on Research Specific to Pregnant Women and Lactating Women to report on issues including development of safe and effective therapies for such women.

(Sec. 9) The NIH must develop policies for NIH-funded basic research projects to assess how differences between male and female cells, tissues, or animals may be examined and analyzed.

Date: 2016-04-05
Topic: Civil Rights (Minority Discrimination)
Subject: Health
Serving Everyone with Reliable, Vital Internet, Communications, and Education Act of 2007 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to expand the Lifeline Assistance Program and the Link Up Program. Requires a report to Congress on the benefit level for the programs that will encourage low-income consumers to seek broadband service, projections on potential broadband consumers if the service was economically feasible, industry requirements to provide broadband service in underserved areas, and policy proposals regarding gaps in broadband availability.

Date: 2007-01-04
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Science, technology, communications
Healthy Foods for Healthy Living Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to community-based organizations and local redevelopment agencies operating in low-income communities to: (1) assist in purchasing appropriate equipment or in hiring and training personnel to expand the inventory of fresh fruits and vegetables or other healthy food alternatives available for residents of a low-income community; and (2) carry out related consumer education and outreach activities. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) and title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to cover additional primary and preventive services relating to obesity treatment and prevention, supervised exercise sessions, stress testing, lifestyle modification education, and nutrition education.

Date: 2007-01-04
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Health
LIHEAP Equity Act of 2007 - Amends the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 governing state allotments under the low-income energy assistance program (LIHEAP) to limit to 50% the earmark for home heating purposes of amounts appropriated for program implementation.

Date: 2007-01-04
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Energy
Anti-hunger Empowerment Act of 2007 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to replace current food stamp program (program) administrative cost provisions with provisions authorizing 75% reimbursement for specified state activities to increase program access. States that fingerprinting shall not be required for program participation. Beyond the Soup Kitchen Grants Program Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a Beyond the Soup Kitchen pilot program to provide grants: (1) to a primary community-based nonprofit feeding and anti-hunger group in each designated pilot community which shall allocate subgrants to other nonprofit feeding and anti-hunger groups in such community; and (2) for technical assistance grants. Sets forth program provisions.

Date: 2007-01-04
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to: (1) expand the fruit and vegetable pilot program to five states, including New York; and (2) include Head Start programs (as well as elementary and secondary schools) in the program.

Date: 2007-01-04
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Education
Poverty Impact Trigger Act of 2007 - Amends Rule XXI (Restrictions on Certain Bills) of the Rules of the House of Representatives to make it out of order to consider a public bill or joint resolution authorizing an appropriation of $10 million or more, unless: (1) the accompanying committee report includes a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Poverty Impact Division impact statement; or (2) the chairman of the committee reporting the legislation submits such statement for publication in the Congressional Record before consideration of the measure. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to establish the CBO Poverty Impact Division to prepare and submit poverty impact statements to the chairmen of House committees.

Date: 2007-01-09
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Congress
Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act to revise requirements for the pass-through of child support collected on behalf of families receiving assistance under the program of block grants to states for temporary assistance for needy families (TANF).Requires pass-through to a family receiving TANF of the total amount of collected child support. (Currently the federal government receives its share and the state retains or distributes to the family the state share of such child support.) Requires payment to: (1) the federal government of its share of foster care maintenance payments; (2) the state for retention, or distribution to the family, of the state share of such payments; and (3) the family of any remaining amount.

Date: 2007-02-07
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to obligate funds for the administrative costs of commodity distributions on Indian reservations. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out an annual survey of foods purchased by school authorities with federal cash assistance. Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to direct the transfer of funds in FY2007-FY2009 for the free lunch and breakfast eligibility program.

Date: 2007-03-06
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2007 - Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to revise the definition of "food of minimal nutritional value," the sale of which in areas where school meals are sold or eaten is prohibited as a condition for federal funding of school lunch and breakfast programs. Applies such definition (and prohibition) to all food sold outside such programs anywhere on school campuses at any time of the day, with the possible limited exemption of food sold at school fundraisers. Requires the Secretary, when revising such definition, to consider the recommendations of authoritative scientific organizations and evidence concerning the relationship between diet and health.

Date: 2007-03-06
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Education
Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act with respect to payment rates for meals and meal supplements provided by service institutions under summer food service programs for children. Requires payments for administrative costs to be set at levels determined by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to a specified study. (Currently, payments to service institutions shall equal the full cost of food service operations, excluding administrative costs. Payments for administrative costs shall equal the full amount of state-approved administrative costs incurred, not to exceed the maximum allowable levels the Secretary determines pursuant to such study.) Repeals authority for simplified summer food pilot projects.

Date: 2007-03-28
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Education
Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture conduct a study of hunger in the United States and develop recommendations on reducing domestic hunger. Directs the Secretary to make: (1) hunger-free communities collaborative grants to eligible public food program service providers or nonprofit organizations; (2) hunger-free communities infrastructure grants to eligible emergency feeding organizations; and (3) hunger-free communities training and technical assistance grants to eligible national or regional nonprofit organizations. (States that such grants' federal share shall not exceed 80%.) Sets forth grant priorities.

Date: 2007-04-19
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Feeding America's Families Act of 2007 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 with respect to: (1) inflation adjustments; (2) standard deduction increases; (3) combat pay, retirement account, and education account exclusions; (4) minimum benefit increases; (5) countable resource increases; (6) legal immigrant eligibility; (7) work requirements; (8) state option to provide food assistance to foster community reintegration; (9) program administration; (10) cash payment pilot projects; (11) food stamp program reauthorization; (12) block grants for Puerto Rico and American Samoa; (13) outreach; (14) food stamp use at farmers' markets; (15) community food projects, community food assistance, and food bank infrastructure; (16) creation of the national food for the hungry transportation, self-help, and job-training fund; and (17) hunger-free communities collaborative grants. Establishes in the Department of Agriculture the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship Program and the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellowship Program. Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to repeal the hunger fellowship program. Amends the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to extend the commodity supplemental food program.

Date: 2007-05-03
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Strengthen the Earned Income Tax Credit Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) make permanent the reduction in the marriage penalty applicable to the earned income tax credit; (2) increase the rate of such credit for families with three or more children; (3) increase the rate and the phase-out percentage of such credit for individuals without children; and (4) make permanent provisions treating combat pay as earned income for purposes of calculating such credit.

Date: 2007-05-08
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Amends part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act to increase payments to states for expenditures for short term training of staff of certain child welfare agencies.

Date: 2007-05-15
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Summer Food Service Rural Expansion Act - Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act with respect to the summer food service programs for children in service institutions (e.g., schools and summer camps). Revises the condition limiting eligibility to institutions conducting a regularly scheduled food service for children from areas in which poor economic conditions exist (i.e., where at least 50% of the children meet eligibility requirements for certain free or reduced price school meals.) Eliminates the special 2005 and 2006 exemption from this requirement for rural areas in Pennsylvania which lowers the threshold eligibility to areas where at least 40% of the children meet eligibility requirements for free or reduced price school meals. Applies such 40% threshold to rural areas of all states and makes it permanent.

Date: 2007-07-10
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Home Energy Assistance Targeted for Seniors Act - Amends the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 to rename it the Low-Income and Senior Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981. Redefines low-income households as households with incomes which do not exceed that of state median income, with at least 50% of the household income attributable to persons who are at least 65 years old.

Date: 2007-07-10
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Energy
Summer Food Service Program Improvement Act of 2007 - Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to revise requirements for the summer food service program for children. Provides for a redefinition of rural areas in which poor economic conditions exist. Revises requirements relating to payments to service institutions for operating expenses and administrative costs. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to make competitive startup grants to ten states to assist eligible service institutions in initiating summer food service program sites.

Date: 2007-07-12
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Freedom to Save Act of 2007 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to modify the asset test for food stamp program eligibility by increasing the amounts of allowable financial resources, with annual inflation adjustments, and excluding from countable financial resources any retirement accounts, education accounts, and licensed vehicles. Prohibits the use of any asset test under the temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) program under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act. Prescribes an administrative penalty for any state imposing such a test. Eliminates any asset test for disabled persons under title XVI (Supplemental Security Income (SSI)) of the Social Security Act (SSA) and for any eligible individual under SSA title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)).

Date: 2007-07-25
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
TANF Marriage Penalty Elimination Act - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act to eliminate the separate work participation rate requirements for two-parent families.

Date: 2007-07-26
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Poverty Measurement Improvement Act - Requires the Bureau of the Census to publish, annually, statistics on levels of family income in the United States in order to more accurately determine the extent of poverty and the antipoverty effectiveness of means-tested benefit and tax programs. Requires such statistics to be based on the following measures of income: (1) full benefits poverty income (equal to the sum of partial benefits poverty income and noncash benefits attributable to the members of a household); and (2) full benefits and taxes poverty income (equal to full benefits poverty income increased by state and federal earned income tax credits, refundable child credits, and any other refundable tax credit and decreased by state and federal income and payroll taxes attributable to the members of a household).Requires the Bureau to use such measures to produce corresponding tables and graphs showing for each year: (1) the partial benefits poverty rate; (2) the full benefits poverty rate; and (3) the full benefits and taxes poverty rate.

Date: 2007-07-31
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2007 - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) with respect to: (1) funding for responsible fatherhood programs; (2) requirements to ensure procedures to address domestic violence; (3) activities promoting responsible fatherhood; (4) grants to healthy family partnerships for domestic violence prevention, for services for families and individuals affected by domestic violence, and for developing and implementing best practices; and (5) elimination of separate TANF work participation rate for two-parent families.Amends SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) to prohibit a state from collecting any amount owed it by reason of costs it has incurred for the birth of a child for whom support rights have been assigned.Requires a state to make a full distribution of collected child support to the family.Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to states for an employment demonstration project involving a court- or state child support agency-supervised program for noncustodial parents so they can pay child support obligations. Directs the Secretary of Labor to award grants for transitional jobs programs and for public-private career pathways partnerships.Conditions continued approval of a state plan under part D upon state assessment of its policies with respect to barriers to employment and financial support of children.Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 with respect to: (1) deductions from family income for child support received in order to qualify for food stamps; (2) verification of child support payments; and (3) inclusion of economic opportunities programs in qualifying work programs. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) modify the earned income tax credit (EIC); (2) raise the EIC phase-out amount for couples (further easing the "marriage penalty"); and (3) require information pertaining to the customer's adjusted basis in broker's returns in the case of securities transactions. Amends the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 with respect to the effective date of leasing provisions of the Act.Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to the economic substance doctrine.

Date: 2007-08-03
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Creating Access to Rides Act - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to states, counties, localties, Indian tribes or tribal organizations, and nonprofit entities to promote improving access to ownership of dependable, affordable automobiles by low-income families. Authorizes the use of funds in TANF individual development accounts for automobile ownership, maintenance, and insurance.

Date: 2007-09-19
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act to subject applicants for, and recipients of, TANF to drug testing and the withholding of assistance when there is substantial evidence of recent unlawful drug use.

Date: 2007-09-25
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Food Stamp Equality Act of 2007 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to make individuals convicted of specified federal or state drug-related offenses eligible for food stamp or similar benefits. (Current law denies food stamp benefits to such individuals.) Authorizes a state to: (1) deny or limit food stamp benefits to such individuals; or (2) continue to provide such benefits under a previous opt-out provision.

Date: 2007-10-10
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Student Breakfast and Education Improvement Act of 2007 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to states or local educational agencies (LEAs) for the establishment or enhancement of school breakfast programs at, and through the provision of subgrants to, schools where at least 65% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches under the school lunch program. Authorizes schools to use the school breakfast subgrants to: (1) increase the quantity of local or fresh food available under their programs; (2) provide nutrition education and first-hand knowledge of food systems to students; (3) extend the period during which breakfast is available, including during the school day; (4) increase participation in their breakfast programs, including through the provision of universal free breakfasts; or (5) collaborate with institutions of higher education or other research entities in compiling data and reports on their breakfast programs. Gives priority to subgrant applicant schools at least 75% of whose students are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches and which intend to use the funds to procure local produce, provide universal free breakfasts, or provide breakfast during the school day. Directs state and LEA grantees, at least 180 days before the end of a grant term, to evaluate whether it would be cost-effective for subgrantee schools to provide universal free breakfasts under the school breakfast program.

Date: 2007-10-25
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Education
Federal Food Donation Act of 2007 - Revises the Federal Acquisition Regulation to provide that each contract in an amount greater than $25,000 for the provision, service, or sale of food, or for the lease or rental of federal property to a private entity for events at which food is provided shall include a clause that: (1) encourages the donation of excess, apparently wholesome food to nonprofit organizations that provide assistance to food-insecure people; (2) provides that the head of an executive agency shall not assume responsibility for the costs and logistics of collecting, transporting, maintaining the safety of, or distributing such food; and (3) states that executive agencies and contractors making donations are protected from civil or criminal liability under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act.

Date: 2007-11-15
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Government operations and politics
Keeping Americans Warm Act of 2007 - Appropriates funds for FY2008 to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for emergency payments to states under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981, notwithstanding such Act's requirement that funds be made available only after the President's submission to Congress of a formal budget request that includes a designation of the requested amount as an emergency requirement.

Date: 2007-12-04
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Energy
Food Assistance to Improve Reintegration Act of 2008 - Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to repeal the denial of food stamp eligibility for a person convicted of a felony which has as an element the possession, use, or distribution of a controlled substance. .

Date: 2008-04-15
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Access to Books for Children Act, or the ABC Act - Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to local agencies to provide vouchers to women participating in the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC) for the purchase of educational books for their infants and children. Limits to one $5 voucher the maximum amount any one woman may receive, regardless of the number of her infants or children.

Date: 2008-06-04
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Families
Home Energy Affordability Tax Relief Act of 2008 or the HEATR Act of 2008 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individual taxpayers an income-based refundable tax credit for residential energy costs. Limits such credit to the lesser of 33% of such costs or $500.

Date: 2008-06-19
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Children and Family Food Relief Act of 2008 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to increase the benefits provided under the supplemental nutrition assistance program by the earlier of the date of the enactment of this Act or October 1, 2008. (Current law requires that such adjustment be made on October 1, 2008.)

Date: 2008-06-24
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Earned Income Credit Information Act of 2008 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require certain employers (with more than 25 employees) to provide their employees with a notice explaining the earned income tax credit and eligibility rules for such credit.

Date: 2008-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act - Makes appropriations for FY2008 for payments under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (LIHEAP Program).

Date: 2008-06-26
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Energy
Home Energy Assistance Through Emergency Relief Act - Makes appropriations for FY2008 for payments under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (LIHEAP Program). Makes appropriations for FY2008 to carry out the Weatherization Assistance Program for Low-Income Persons under the Energy Conservation and Production Act.

Date: 2008-07-17
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Energy
Emergency Gasoline Assistance Act - Increases funding for the social services block grant under title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) of the Social Security Act for FY2008 and 2009. Requires the state to use such increased funding to provide a gasoline subsidy to assist individuals who are members of families with incomes that do not exceed 300% of the federal poverty line.

Date: 2008-07-22
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act to increase from 12 to 24 the number of months allowed for vocational educational training that are counted as a work activity under TANF.

Date: 2008-07-30
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Measuring American Poverty Act of 2008 - Amends part A of title XI of the Social Security Act to direct the Bureau of the Census, in collaboration with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to calculate modern poverty thresholds and modern poverty rates for each calendar year. Declares that the modern poverty threshold for a reference family consisting of two adults and their two related children shall be an amount equal to the average of 120% of the 33rd percentile of the distribution of annual expenditures by such families on food, clothing, and shelter during each of the three most recent years for which data is available from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, a superior federal government source of data, or some combination of such sources. Prescribes requirements for determining modern poverty rates. Directs the Bureau of the Census, in collaboration with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), to contract with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to develop and publish methods of: (1) calculating a decent living standard threshold; and (2) measuring the extent to which the income of families in the United States is sufficient to meet it. Directs the Bureau of the Census, in collaboration with BLS, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to contract with NAS to develop and publish a method of: (1) measuring the extent of medical care risk in the United States; and (2) calculating the number and percentage of individuals in the United States who lack adequate health insurance, leaving them at risk of being unable to afford needed treatment.

Date: 2008-09-18
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Health
Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, to award grants to eligible institutions of higher education to improve mental and behavioral health services and outreach on college and university campuses. Directs the Secretary to give special consideration to programs that: (1) demonstrate the greatest need; (2) propose effective approaches for initiating or expanding campus services; (3) target underserved and at-risk populations; (4) coordinate with a community mental health center or other community mental health resources; (5) identify how the college or university will address psychiatric emergencies; and (6) demonstrate the greatest potential for replication and dissemination. Allows the Secretary to provide technical assistance to grantees. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Administrator, to convene an interagency, public-private sector working group to plan, establish, and begin coordinating and evaluating a targeted public education campaign that is designed to focus on mental and behavioral health on college campuses. Requires the Secretary to establish the College Campus Task Force to discuss mental and behavioral health concerns on college and university campuses.

Date: 2008-09-18
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Health
Amends the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to replace "Food and Nutrition Act of 2008" with "Food Stamp Act of 1977" in a provision reauthorizing grant funds to assist eligible private nonprofit entities to establish and carry out community food projects. Makes such grant funds for FY2008 available until September 30, 2009, to fund proposals solicited in FY2008.

Date: 2008-09-22
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Healthy Activity for Lifelong Energy Act of 2008 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to enable state health departments to maintain community action teams to work within the local community to promote healthier lifestyles through physical activity and good nutrition and thereby prevent obesity and chronic disease. Requires such departments to collect data on the effectiveness of the community action team program.Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct training institutes to jump-start the work of such teams; (2) provide the teams with access to national experts in ongoing community change; and (3) disseminate information about success achieved through the teams to communities across the nation.

Date: 2008-09-24
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
America's Right-to-Eat Rescue Act of 2008 - Applies, for a specified six-month period, the poverty line used in making eligibility determinations under the Food Stamp and School Lunch programs in Alaska to the same eligibility determinations in all states and the District of Columbia.

Date: 2008-09-25
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Food Stamp Personal Savings and Investment Act of 2007 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to provide an annual financial resource inflation adjustment for purposes of household food stamp program eligibility. Excludes from countable financial resources specified retirement and education accounts. (Authorizes the exclusion of other such programs.)

Date: 2007-02-14
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Commuter Benefits Equity Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to equalize and increase to $200, with a modified cost-of-living adjustment, the tax exclusion for both transportation and parking fringe benefits. Extends such benefits to federal employees.

Date: 2007-02-28
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Food Stamp Vitamin and Mineral Improvement Act of 2007 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to permit food stamp program purchases of nutritional supplements providing a vitamin or mineral, or both.

Date: 2007-03-06
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act with respect to payment rates for meals and meal supplements provided by service institutions under summer food service programs for children. Requires payments for administrative costs to be set at levels determined by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to a specified study. (Currently, payments to service institutions shall equal the full cost of food service operations, excluding administrative costs. Payments for administrative costs shall equal the full amount of state-approved administrative costs incurred, not to exceed the maximum allowable levels the Secretary determines pursuant to such study.) Repeals authority for simplified summer food pilot projects.

Date: 2007-03-07
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Education
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the tax deduction for attorney's fees and courts costs to allow an above-the-line deduction for such fees and costs paid in connection with any legal action involving a civil claim (currently, limited to actions involving unlawful discrimination, the False Claims Act, and Medicare payments).

Date: 2007-03-08
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Taxation
On-farm Energy Production Act of 2007 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make cost-share payments for on-farm energy production (including solar and wind energy and renewable fuel) under the environmental quality incentives program.

Date: 2007-03-08
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food
Savings for Working Families Act of 2007 - Allows certain low-income individuals between age 18 and 61 to establish tax-exempt individual development accounts (IDAs) to pay for certain qualified expenses, including education expenses, first-time homebuyer costs, and business capitalization or expansion costs. Sets forth rules for the establishment, maintenance, and termination of IDAs. Permits tax-free withdrawals from IDAs for qualified expenses, but requires IDA beneficiaries to complete one or more financial education courses prior to making an IDA withdrawal.Allows certain financial institutions, tax-exempt organizations, and Indian tribes to sponsor and administer IDAs. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow such entities a business-related tax credit for the cost of administering IDAs and for making matching contributions to IDAs in parallel accounts. Provides that IDA amounts shall be disregarded for purposes of determining eligibility for assistance under certain means-tested federal programs.

Date: 2007-03-14
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Older Americans Reauthorization Technical Corrections Act - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 with respect to incentives for effective performance by states and tribal organizations in the efficient delivery of nutritious meals to older individuals. Repeals certain provisions regarding state agency and tribal grantee commodity purchases, as added by the Older Americans Act Amendments of 2006. Restores former commodity purchase provisions, with revisions. Entitles each state agency and tribal grantee to use its allotments to obtain from the Secretary of Agriculture commodities available through any food program of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the rates at which such commodities are valued for such program. (Currently, such purchases are not limited to commodities from USDA food programs, but may be any U.S. agricultural commodity and other foods.) Repeals the authority of a state agency or tribal grantee to opt to use part or all of the amounts it receives to pay a school food authority to obtain U.S. agricultural commodities for its nutrition projects. Prescribes requirements for Secretary of Agriculture determination of state agency and tribal grantee allotments. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture to agree on reimbursement amounts and procedures.

Date: 2007-03-27
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Social welfare
Senior Nutrition Act of 2007 - Amends the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to make a person who is at least 60 years old eligible for the commodity supplemental food program if such person: (1) is eligible for the food stamp program; or (2) has a household income that is not more than 185% of federal poverty income guidelines. Authorizes appropriations to carry out such program and prohibits using such funds to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation for commodities donated to such program.

Date: 2007-04-11
Topic: Social Welfare (Other)
Subject: Agriculture and food