zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Restoring Medicaid for Compact of Free Association Migrants Act of 2013 - Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 to permit coverage under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act for citizens of the Freely Associated States lawfully residing in the United States under the Compacts of Free Association between the United States Government and the Governments of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

Permits Medicaid coverage also to lawful residents, in accordance with such Compacts, but only at the option of the governor, of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or American Samoa.

Exempts such citizens from the five-year limited eligibility of qualified aliens for federal means-tested public benefits with respect to Medicaid benefits.

Date: 2013-02-28
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health
Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to apply it specifically to American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, or the United States Virgin Islands.

Amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to cover these same territories plus the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to cover the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Applies to such jurisdictions specified criminal penalties relating to the intimidation of voters, interference by government employees, and voting by aliens.

Date: 2013-03-06
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Government operations and politics
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to treat American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands as separate states for purposes of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program.

Date: 2013-03-14
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Amends the Wagner-Peyser Act to include the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Department of Labor's program of providing public employment services through a one-stop services delivery system.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to allot to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands an amount equal to the allotment percentage Guam received for employment services under the Act in FY1983.

Date: 2013-04-18
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Expedited Funds Availability Act to apply it to American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Extends by two business days, for American Samoa and the Commonwealth, any time periods established for large or redeposited check, repeated overdraft, reasonable cause, or other emergency exceptions to the 30-day funds availability requirements for deposits in an depository institution account by a new depositor.

Extends by one business day any deposit which is both deposited: (1) in an account at a depository institution located in American Samoa or the Commonwealth, and (2) by a check drawn on an originating depository institution which is not located in the same commonwealth or territory as the receiving depository institution.

Date: 2013-04-23
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Puerto Rico Status Resolution Act - Authorizes the State Elections Commission of Puerto Rico to provide for a ratification vote on the admission of Puerto Rico as a state of the United States on an equal footing with the several states in all respects. Requires (if a majority of votes cast in the ratification vote are for the admission of Puerto Rico as a state): (1) the President to submit to Congress legislation to admit Puerto Rico as a state, and (2) Congress to act, through legislation, to admit Puerto Rico as a state.

Date: 2013-05-15
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Government operations and politics
Derek M. Hodge Virgin Islands Improvement Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a reduction of taxes on distributions from certain retirement savings plans designated by an individual under the age of 61 as being under investment by the Virgin Islands Investment Program for at least 30 years. Defines "Virgin Islands Investment Program" for purposes of this Act as a fund with managed amounts of $50 billion or less. Imposes a 1.5% annual tax for 10 years, and 1% thereafter, on managed funds to benefit Virgin Island infrastructure development.

Date: 2014-01-08
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the increase in the amount of distilled spirits tax covered into the treasuries of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Date: 2014-01-29
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production activities in Puerto Rico.

Date: 2014-01-29
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
Amends federal law to extend the federal immigration law transition period for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) through December 31, 2019, including: (1) the annual reduction of nonimmigrant H-visa workers who may be admitted to work in the CNMI, and the exclusion of such workers in Guam and the CNMI from national H-visa limits; (2) the prohibition on asylum claims in the CNMI; and (3) the authority for CNMI-only nonimmigrant investors.

 Eliminates the Secretary of Labor's authority to extend such transition period beyond December 31, 2019.

Date: 2014-03-25
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Immigration
Amends the Wagner-Peyser Act to include American Samoa in the Department of Labor's program of providing public employment services through a one-stop services delivery system.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to allot to American Samoa an amount equal to the allotment percentage Guam received for employment services under the Act in FY1983.

Date: 2014-03-26
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Commissioner of Social Security, at the request of Guam or American Samoa, to enter into or modify an agreement extending the OASDI insurance system (including coverage, at territorial option, under SSA title XVIII [Medicare]) to services performed by employees of such territories.

Date: 2014-07-30
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Social welfare
Puerto Rico Chapter 9 Uniformity Act of 2014 - Amends the fedral bankruptcy code to treat Puerto Rice as a state under chapter 9 (Adjustment of the Debts of a Municipality).

Date: 2014-07-31
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the Senate on June 27, 2013. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Conveys to the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) submerged lands surrounding such Islands and extending three geographical miles outward from their coastlines.

Includes the CNMI among the islands where the President may establish naval defensive sea areas and airspace reservations when necessary for national defense.

Amends the Fair Minimum Wage Act to provide for no CNMI minimum wage increases in 2013 and 2015.

Date: 2013-02-07
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Puerto Rico Medicare Part B Equity Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal the exclusion of residents of Puerto Rico from deemed enrollment under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits) and thus apply it to them.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide for a special seven-month enrollment period for such residents.

Requires recalculation of the late enrollment penalty to 15% of the usual penalty for residents of Puerto Rico who are current enrollees or who enroll during a specified transition period.

Date: 2013-02-14
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health
Puerto Rico Status Resolution Act - Authorizes the State Elections Commission of Puerto Rico to provide for a ratification vote on the admission of Puerto Rico as a state of the United States on an equal footing with the several states in all respects. Requires, if a majority of votes cast in the ratification vote are for the admission of Puerto Rico as a state: (1) the President to submit to Congress legislation to admit Puerto Rico as a state; and (2) Congress to act, through legislation, to admit Puerto Rico as a state.

Date: 2014-02-12
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Government operations and politics
Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act

Recognizes the suffering and the loyalty of the residents of Guam during the Japanese occupation of Guam in World War II.

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a Fund for the payment of claims submitted by compensable Guam victims and survivors of compensable Guam decedents.

Directs the Secretary to make specified payments to: (1) living Guam residents who were raped, injured, interned, or subjected to forced labor or marches, or internment resulting from, or incident to, such occupation and subsequent liberation; and (2) survivors of compensable residents who died in war (such payments to be made after payments have been made to surviving Guam residents).

Directs the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission to specify injuries that would constitute a severe personal injury or a personal injury and adjudicate claims and determine payment eligibility.

Requires claims to be filed within one year after the Commission publishes notice of the filing period in the Federal Register and in the Guam media.

Directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish a grant program for research, educational, and media activities that memorialize the events surrounding the occupation of Guam during World War II or honor the loyalty of the people of Guam during such occupation.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Law
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

(Sec. 1) Amends the Expedited Funds Availability Act to apply it to American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Extends by two business days, for American Samoa and the Commonwealth, any time periods established for large or redeposited check, repeated overdraft, reasonable cause, or other emergency exceptions to the 30-day funds availability requirements for deposits in an depository institution account by a new depositor.

Extends by one business day any deposit which is both deposited: (1) in an account at a depository institution located in American Samoa or the Commonwealth, and (2) by a check drawn on an originating depository institution which is not located in the same commonwealth or territory as the receiving depository institution.

Date: 2015-03-16
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Medicaid and CHIP Territory Transparency and Information Act

This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish and update periodically, on the Internet site of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services information on the Medicaid program and the Children's Health Insurance Program under titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act that are carried out in the U.S. territories.

Date: 2015-03-24
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the limitation on the amount of distilled spirits excise taxes covered over (paid into) to treasuries of the Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Date: 2015-04-29
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
Restoring Medicaid for Compact of Free Association Migrants Act of 2015

 Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 to permit coverage under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act for citizens of the Freely Associated States lawfully residing in the United States under the Compacts of Free Association between the United States Government and the Governments of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

Permits Medicaid coverage also to lawful residents, in accordance with such Compacts, but only at the option of the governor, of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or American Samoa.

Exempts such citizens from the five-year limited eligibility of qualified aliens for federal means-tested public benefits with respect to Medicaid benefits.

Date: 2015-05-12
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health
This Act amends the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 to make the applicable minimum wage rate for each American Samoa industry and classification the one in effect on May 1, 2015.

Scheduled increases to such minimum wage are repealed.

The government of American Samoa shall determine the amount and time of such future increases.

Date: 2015-05-26
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Labor and employment
This Act amends the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 to extend through 2016 the postponement of the scheduled increase in the applicable minimum wage rate for each American Samoa industry and classification, pending the Government Accountability Office's triennial report on the impact of these past and future minimum wage increases.

Date: 2015-05-26
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Labor and employment
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on April 12, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Virgin Islands of the United States Centennial Commission Act

(Sec. 2) This bill establishes the Virgin Islands of the United States Centennial Commission to carry out activities to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the date the U.S. Virgin Islands became an unincorporated U.S. territory.

(Sec. 7) The Commission shall report annually to the President and Congress on Commission revenue and expenditures, including a list of each gift, bequest, or devise worth more than $250, and the identity of the donor.

(Sec. 8) The Inspector General of the Department of the Interior may audit the Commission, making the results available to Congress and the public.

(Sec. 10) The Commission shall terminate on September 30, 2018, or at an earlier date determined by the Commission after submitting its final report to Congress.

(Sec. 11) No federal funds are authorized or may be obligated to carry out this Act.

Date: 2015-06-02
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Government operations and politics
(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on September 30, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

(Sec. 1) This Act amends the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 to prescribe a $0.40 per hour incremental increase in the transitional minimum wage for each American Samoa industry, beginning on September 30, 2015, and on September 30 triennially until the minimum wage applicable to American Samoa is equal to the minimum wage for the United States.

The deadline for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report assessing the impact of minimum wage increases in American Samoa is changed from September 1, 2011, to April 1, 2017, with a subsequent report due by April 1, 2020.

The GAO shall also report on alternative ways of increasing the minimum wage in American Samoa to keep pace with the cost of living there and eventually equal the minimum wage for the United States.

This Act, and the amendments made by it, shall take effect as of September 29, 2015.

Date: 2015-06-02
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Labor and employment
Filipino Veterans Fairness Act of 2015

Deems certain service performed before July 1, 1946, in the organized military forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Scouts as active military service for purposes of eligibility for veterans' benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in determining eligibility under this Act, to take into account any relevant service documentation, including documentation other than the Missouri List (the list of all discharged and deceased veterans from the 20th century).

Date: 2015-06-12
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
U.S. Territorial Federal Judges Improvement Act of 2015

This bill increases from 10 years to 15 years the term of office for judges of the district courts of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Date: 2015-09-24
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Law
This bill amends the Social Security Amendments of 1960 with respect to the extension of the Social Security program to Guam.

If certain legislation enacted by the government of Guam expresses the desire that title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) extend only to those officers and employees initially employed by the government of Guam, local governments, and government instrumentalities, then specified other SSAct provisions shall apply to only those individuals.

Date: 2015-09-29
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Social welfare
This bill amends the Organic Act of Guam to: (1) prohibit any law varying the compensation of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Senators in the Guam Legislature from taking effect until a general election of the legislature shall have intervened; and (2) modify residency requirements for the offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor and for members of the Guam Legislature.

Date: 2015-11-19
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Government operations and politics
United States Virgin Islands College Access Act of 2015

This bill directs the U.S. Virgin Islands to use federal funds authorized by this Act to award grants to public four-year institutions of higher education (IHEs) located in the states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or Guam to cover the difference between the in-state and out-of-state tuition and fees for students who have: (1) been domiciled in the Virgin Islands for at least the 12 months preceding their enrollment in the IHE; and (2) received on or after January 1, 2013, a secondary school diploma or its equivalent while domiciled there.

 The Government Accountability Office must monitor the program's effectiveness in expanding educational opportunities for such students.

Date: 2015-12-08
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Education
Puerto Rico Financial Stability and Debt Restructuring Choice Act

This bill establishes the Puerto Rico Financial Stability Council, subject to enactment of a law by the Legislative Assembly and the governor of Puerto Rico.

For each fiscal year the governor of Puerto Rico shall develop a financial plan, and the Legislative Assembly shall develop a budget, that meet specified requirements to promote financial stability, and both shall submit them to the Council for its approval. The bill prescribes procedures for submission to the Council of revised financial plans or revised budgets in the event of disapproval for failing meet specified criteria.

The government of Puerto Rico may not borrow money unless the Council certifies in advance that both the receipt of borrowed funds and the repayment of obligations incurred are consistent with the financial plan and budget for the year.

The bill also prescribes procedures for addressing any variance of actual revenues and expenditures from the adopted financial plan and budget, including the withholding of funds under federal programs.

The Council shall recommend to the governor, the Legislative Assembly, the President, and Congress actions for the government of Puerto Rico or the federal government to take to ensure compliance with a financial plan and budget.

The bill amends federal bankruptcy law to apply to Puerto Rico treatment as a state with respect to Adjustments of Debts of a Municipality.

Date: 2015-12-09
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Economics and public finance
Tax Equity and Prosperity for Puerto Rican Families Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make citizens of Puerto Rico eligible for the federal earned income tax credit and allow them to claim the refundable portion of the child tax credit on the same basis as U.S. taxpayers. In making the earned income tax credit applicable to Puerto Rican citizens, the bill modifies credit requirements to allow taxpayers in Puerto Rico to claim the credit at age 21 (rather than age 25) and to allow a credit percentage of 40, without regard to the number of qualifying children claimed by the taxpayer.

Date: 2015-12-10
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
Puerto Rico Emergency Financial Stability Act of 2015

This bill grants a temporary stay (until April 1, 2016, with specified exceptions) of any litigation, liens, or other collection actions to recover debts owed by the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and allows relief from such stay only in limited circumstances.

Date: 2015-12-18
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Economics and public finance
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to direct the Department of the Treasury to pay to the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands amounts of the earned income tax credit paid or payable to residents for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2015.

Date: 2015-12-18
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
National Community Service Improvement Act of 2015

This bill amends the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to extend eligibility for participation in national service programs to individuals who are citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or Palau and who are admitted to the United States as nonimmigrants under the Compact of Free Association with the United States.

Date: 2016-01-07
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Social welfare
This bill permits foreign aircraft to provide and sustain air commerce in American Samoa between the islands of Tutuila and Manu'a.

Date: 2016-02-03
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Transportation and public works
This bill approves, with specified exceptions, the agreement and appendices signed by the United States and the Republic of Palau on September 3, 2010, in connection with the Compact of Free Association between the United States and Palau.

If Palau withdraws more than $5 million from the trust fund set up by the Compact in FY2015, certain amounts will be withheld from Palau until it reimburses the fund for the total amounts withdrawn that exceeded $5 million in FY2015. Certain funds may be released to replenish that trust fund, however, if the United States and Palau have arranged to advance funds during FY2015 from the trust fund for specified allowable purposes.

 The bill authorizes appropriations to: (1) subsidize postal services to Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia for FY2016-FY2024; and (2) carry out specified federal responsibilities under the Compact.

The bill also repeals specified offset requirements.

 FY2016 funding is provided to reduce government arrears of Palau.

 FY2016-FY2023 additional economic assistance, and FY2016 funding for infrastructure projects, are provided.

Specified passport requirements are revised.

Date: 2016-02-10
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: International affairs
Puerto Rico Minimum Wage Improvement Act

This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to authorize the government of Puerto Rico to enact law nullifying the application of the federal minimum wage in effect as it pertains to Puerto Rico.

Date: 2016-02-26
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Labor and employment
Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act or PROMESA 

This bill addresses Puerto Rico's debt by establishing an oversight board, a process for restructuring debt, and expedited procedures for approving critical infrastructure projects.

The bill establishes the Financial Oversight and Management Board to oversee the development of budgets and fiscal plans for Puerto Rico's instrumentalities and government. The board may issue subpoenas, certify voluntary agreements between creditors and debtors, seek judicial enforcement of its authority, impose penalties, and enforce territorial laws prohibiting public sector employees from participating in strikes or lockouts.

The board's responsibilities include:

 approving the governor's fiscal plan; approving annual budgets; enforcing budgets and ordering any necessary spending reductions; and reviewing laws, contracts, rules, and regulations for compliance with the fiscal plan. The bill establishes procedures and requirements for Puerto Rico to restructure its debt and designates the board as the representative of the debtor. The board may initiate a procedure for debt restructuring and submit or modify a plan of adjustment.

The establishment of the board operates as an automatic stay of creditor actions to enforce claims against the government of Puerto Rico.

The bill establishes a Revitalization Coordinator to designate critical infrastructure projects that address an infrastructure emergency, have access to private capital, and meet other requirements. Critical projects approved by the oversight board are eligible for an expedited permitting process.

The board shall divide creditors into pools based on the characteristics of the debt, and each pool may vote on a plan to restructure the debt. If at least two-thirds of the outstanding principal amount of a pool agrees with the plan, the pool may file a petition in court to bind the dissenting bondholders to the modification.

Date: 2016-04-12
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Economics and public finance
Territorial Tax Equity and Economic Growth Act

 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the residence and income source rules involving U.S. possessions, including Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

The bill specifies that a bona fide resident of a possession is a person who has a substantial presence in the possession for at least 122 days during the calendar year. (Under current law, the person must be present for at least 183 days during the year.)

(Under current law, income is not considered to be possession source income if it is treated as: (1) income from sources within the United States, or (2) as effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the United States.)

The bill amends this rule to specify that it applies to the extent that the income is attributable to an office or fixed place of business within the United States. Income from activities within the United States which are of a preparatory or auxiliary character may not be treated as income from sources within the United States or as effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the United States.

The bill specifies principles that must be used to determine whether income from sources without a possession is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the possession.

The Internal Revenue Service may limit the application in the Virgin Islands of requirements for U.S. citizens and resident aliens to pay a tax to a foreign country to be considered a nonresident of the United States for certain personal property sales.

Date: 2016-04-21
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
Territorial Tax Parity Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the income source rules involving U.S. possessions, including Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Under current law, income is not considered to be possession source income if it is treated as income: (1) from sources within the United States, or (2) effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the United States. The bill amends this rule to specify that it applies to the extent that the income is attributable to an office or fixed place of business within the United States.

The bill also revises the source rules for personal property sales. The Internal Revenue Service may limit the application in the Virgin Islands of requirements for U.S. citizens and resident aliens to pay a tax to a foreign country to be considered a nonresident of the United States for certain personal property sales.

Date: 2016-04-21
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
Territorial Economic Growth and Recovery Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the limitation on the amount of distilled spirits excise taxes covered over (paid into) to the treasuries of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

If Puerto Rico or the Northern Mariana Islands has a tax system that mirrors federal tax law (mirror code tax system), the Department of the Treasury must pay each possession amounts equal to the loss to the possession due to the application of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

If the possession does not have a mirror code tax system, Treasury must pay to the possession an amount equal to the aggregate benefits that would have been provided to residents of the possession by applying the EITC if a mirror code tax system had been in effect.

Treasury must pay to the Virgin Islands and Guam amounts equal to the aggregate loss to the Virgin Islands or Guam due to the Child Tax Credit.

The Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries must submit to Treasury's Office of Domestic Finance recommendations for actions that would be necessary to ensure that the public pension plans of the Virgin Islands can be sustainably maintained and funded by the government of the Virgin Islands for the next 20 years.

Date: 2016-04-29
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

U.S. Territories Investor Protection Act of 2016 

 This bill amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to repeal the exemption from its coverage of investment companies created under the laws of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or any other U.S. possession.

Date: 2016-05-25
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production activities in Puerto Rico. (Under current law, the deduction expires on January 1, 2017.)

Date: 2016-06-07
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
Modernizing Travel to the Marianas Act of 2016

This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop and implement a fully automated electronic travel authorization system to collect biographical and other information in order to determine, before travel, the eligibility of, and any law enforcement or security risk of permitting, an alien to travel to Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

DHS shall establish and collect a fee for the use of such system.

Such system shall be similar to the electronic system for travel authorization to the United States.

Date: 2016-07-14
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Immigration
This bill amends the "Joint Resolution to approve the Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America" to extend until December 31, 2029, the transition period during which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall regulate immigration in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) pending full applicability of U.S. immigration laws to the CNMI.

The annual supplemental vocational education fee currently charged to the employer of each CNMI transition period nonimmigrant worker shall be charged instead to the employer of each temporary worker. The CNMI shall provide the Department of Labor with an annual plan for the expenditure of such funds for U.S. worker job placement.

DHS is authorized to not reduce the annual transitional nonimmigrant worker visa allocation to zero during the transition period if a reduction in the number of available workers would adversely affect the CNMI's economy.

The bill caps the number of transitional nonimmigrant worker visas at 18,000.

An employer shall pay a CW-1 transitional worker: (1) wages that are at least the actual wage level paid by the employer to all other similarly qualified individuals; (2) wages that are at least the prevailing wage level for the occupational classification; or (3) for job classifications without a certified prevailing wage, wages equal to or greater than the mean wage of the three lowest wages within the CNMI's prevailing wage system.

Labor, by April 30, 2027, shall ascertain the CNMI's current and anticipated labor needs and determine whether a five-year extension of the transition program is necessary to ensure the availability of an adequate number of workers.

The bill provides for, and set forth the criteria under which, long-term CNMI residents may be admitted as CNMI permanent residents.

The bill sets forth specified reporting and data collection requirements.

Date: 2016-07-14
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Immigration
Puerto Rico Health Insurance Fairness Act of 2016

This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to exempt health insurers in jurisdictions where premium subsidies and cost-sharing reductions are not available from the annual fee on health insurers. Currently, premium subsidies and cost-sharing reductions are not available in U.S. territories. The bill reduces the total amount to be collected annually from health insurers by the amount that would have been collected from those jurisdictions.

Date: 2016-09-14
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Northern Mariana Islands Economic Expansion Act

(Sec. 2) This bill: (1) requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to increase the supplemental education fee charged to a prospective employer for each CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands)-Only Transitional Worker who is issued a permit during the transition period to U.S. immigration law, (2) allows such a permit for construction occupations to be issued only to extend a permit first issued before October 1, 2015, and (3) caps the number of permits issued for such nonimmigrant workers for FY2017 at 15,000.

Date: 2016-11-29
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Immigration
Puerto Rico Medicare Part B Equity Act of 2015

Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal the exclusion of residents of Puerto Rico from deemed enrollment under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits) and thus apply it to them.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide for a special seven-month enrollment period for such residents.

Requires recalculation of the late enrollment penalty to 15% of the usual penalty for residents of Puerto Rico who are current enrollees or who enroll during a specified transition period.

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health
This bill amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to exempt Indian health facilities and services, programs administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and programs under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 from sequestration. Sequestration is a process of automatic, usually across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently cancelled to enforce specific budget policy goals.

Date: 2015-06-03
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Native Americans
Puerto Rico Chapter 9 Uniformity Act of 2015

Amends the federal bankruptcy code to treat Puerto Rico as a state under chapter 9 (Adjustment of the Debts of a Municipality).

Date: 2015-07-15
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
United States-Philippines Security Partnership Enhancement Act of 2015

This bill amends the Arms Export Control Act to extend special foreign military sales status to the Philippines.

Date: 2015-07-23
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: International affairs
Improving the Treatment of the U.S. Territories Under Federal Health Programs Act of 2015

This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to: (1) terminate limitations on general Medicaid funding, as well as the specific federal medical assistance percentage, for U.S. territories; (2) extend to additional U.S. territories the authority to waive or modify certain Medicaid requirements; and (3) establish a formula for Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments to the territories.

Federal financial participation shall generally not be available to a territory for medical assistance for an individual whose family income exceeds 100% percent of the official poverty line for a family of that size.

The bill also amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the SSAct to: (1) revise the formula for the Medicare inpatient hospital services payment rate for hospitals in Puerto Rico to increase the applicable federal percentage from 75% to 100%, (2) apply Medicare HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) payments to certain hospitals in Puerto Rico, (3) establish a formula element for calculating Medicare DSH payments under the inpatient prospective payment system for certain hospitals in Puerto Rico, (4) allow residents of Puerto Rico to enroll under Medicare hospital services, (5) increase the geographic adjustment practice expense index for Puerto Rico, and (6) alter how U.S territories are treated under Medicare Advantage and the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Date: 2015-08-05
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health
This bill amends title I (Quality, Affordable Health Care for All Americans) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to add a definition of “Indian.” This definition includes individuals of Indian descent who are members of an Indian community served by the Indian Health Service and individuals considered by the Department of Health and Human Services to be Indian for purposes of eligibility for Indian health care services, including California Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, or other Alaska Natives.

Individuals included in the above definition are eligible for special monthly enrollment periods on health insurance exchanges and elimination of cost-sharing under individual health coverage for those whose income is not more than 300% of the poverty line. (Currently, only members of Indian tribes are eligible for these benefits.)

Indians are exempted from the penalty for not maintaining minimum essential health coverage.

Date: 2015-10-01
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health
Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit Equity for Puerto Rico Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make citizens of Puerto Rico eligible for the federal earned income tax credit and allow them to claim the refundable portion of the child tax credit on the same basis as U.S. taxpayers.

Date: 2015-10-22
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Taxation
Territories Medicare Prescription Drug Assistance Equity Act of 2015

This bill amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to make certain subsidies available to Medicare prescription drug program beneficiaries who reside in Puerto Rico or another U.S. territory. Current law makes such beneficiaries ineligible for premium and cost-sharing subsidies, but establishes a process for U.S. territories to apply for financial assistance with respect to the provision of Medicare prescription drugs. The bill eliminates this process and makes the subsidies available to beneficiaries who reside in a U.S. territory and are otherwise eligible.

Date: 2015-12-02
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the Senate on August 30, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Omnibus Territories Act of 2015 

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1982, to eliminate the restriction on the use of resettlement and relocation funds by people of the Bikini Atoll for resettlement and relocation to areas only within the Marshall Islands.

The bill limits eligibility for the funds to Bikini people living on Kili and Ejit Islands, but they may use the funds to relocate and resettle outside the Marshall Islands. The use of resettlement funds is subject to the condition that the Department of the Interior submit to Congress a resettlement plan developed in coordination with the Bikini Atoll leadership.

Annual fiscal year expenditures from the resettlement fund may not exceed 90% of its average annual earnings for the preceding five years unless for resettlement purposes outside of the Marshall Islands.

(Sec. 3) To provide and sustain air transportation in American Samoa between the islands of Tutuila and Manu'a, the Department of Transportation may renew a foreign air carrier's emergency air transportation exemption every 180 days (instead of the current 30-day renewal period that still applies to other areas).

(Sec. 4) The bill amends the REAL ID Act of 2005 to provide that citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau who have been admitted as nonimmigrants pursuant to a Compact of Free Association are eligible for driver's licenses or personal identification cards.

Date: 2015-12-07
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Government operations and politics
This bill approves, with specified exceptions, the agreement and appendices signed by the United States and the Republic of Palau on September 3, 2010, in connection with the Compact of Free Association between the United States and Palau.

If Palau withdraws more than $5 million from the trust fund set up by the Compact in FY2016, or more than $8 million in FY2017, certain amounts will be withheld from Palau until it reimburses the fund for the total amounts withdrawn that exceeded $5 million in FY2016 or $8 million in FY2017.

 The bill authorizes appropriations to: (1) subsidize postal services to Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia for FY2017-FY2024; and (2) carry out specified federal responsibilities under the Compact through FY2023.

The bill repeals specified offset requirements.

Funding is provided through:

 FY2018 to reduce government arrears of Palau, FY2023 for additional economic assistance, and FY2024 for infrastructure projects. Funding is provided through FY2024 to create an Infrastructure Maintenance Fund for routine and periodic maintenance of major capital improvement projects. (Palau is required to provide specified quarterly amounts for the Fund.)

The bill revises specified passport requirements.

Date: 2016-03-01
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: International affairs
Puerto Rico Recovery Act of 2016

 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make citizens of Puerto Rico eligible for the federal earned income tax credit and allow them to claim the refundable portion of the child tax credit on the same basis as U.S. taxpayers.

Title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) is amended to terminate the limitations on general Medicaid funding, as well as the specific federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP, or matching rate), beginning FY2017 for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa (territories).

The authority to waive or modify certain Medicaid requirements in American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands shall now extend as well to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.

Federal financial participation shall not be available to a territory, however, for medical assistance (with certain exceptions) for an individual whose family income exceeds 100% percent of the official poverty line.

The bill prescribes a formula for Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments to the territories beginning FY2017, and revises a formula element for calculating Medicare DSH payments under the inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) for subsection (d) hospitals in Puerto Rico. (Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's IPPS when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.)

The bill repeals the exclusion of Puerto Rico residents from deemed enrollment under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits), permitting them now to be deemed enrolled. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall extend such residents a special seven-month enrollment period. The late enrollment penalty shall be recalculated to 15% of the usual penalty for residents of Puerto Rico who are current enrollees or who enroll during a specified transition period.

HHS shall increase the geographic adjustment practice expense index for Puerto Rico.

The blended benchmark component of payments to Medicare+Choice organizations for an area in a territory under SSAct title XVIII part C (Medicare+Choice) shall be at least 80% of the national average of specified base payment amounts for the year (but never more than the lowest blended benchmark amount).

The bill also eliminates the exclusion from eligibility for premium and cost-sharing subsidies of territory residents otherwise eligible for Medicare part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) benefits.

HHS shall report to Congress on:

 the treatment of territories under Medicare part D, and the adverse impacts in each territory from practical exclusion from the establishment of American Health Benefit Exchanges or the administration of a federally facilitated exchange.

Date: 2016-03-14
Topic: Public Lands (Dependencies & Territories)
Subject: Health