zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Congress Leads by Example Act of 2011 - Amends the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to grant the General Counsel of the Office of Compliance (OOC) subpoena authority for inspections and investigations in the legislative branch under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA). Subjects each employing office in the legislative branch to OSHA recordkeeping requirements. Prohibits retaliation by any employing office against an employee for requesting the OOC General Counsel to take authorized action related to, or for instituting or testifying in, any proceeding that arises from the application of OSHA to that office. Applies the whistleblower rights, protections, and remedies of the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 to legislative branch employees, including those of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) or the Library of Congress. Prohibits legislative branch employing offices from: (1) discharging any employee because the employee's earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness; or (2) denying or terminating the employment of, or otherwise discriminating against, an employee for being a debtor or a bankrupt under the bankruptcy code. Requires employing offices to retain records necessary to administer certain rights and protections of employees under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Requires each employing office to post conspicuously all notices describing the rights and protections applicable to its employees under federal law. Amends the federal judicial code to cover legislative branch employees under prohibitions and requirements protecting jurors' employment.

Date: 2011-10-05
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Congress
Burdensome Paperwork Reduction for Our Miners Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Division of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation and the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Labor, to review forms for obtaining workers' compensation benefits under the Federal Black Lung Benefits Program to determine whether it is feasible to combine or reduce such forms in order to further the purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Directs the Secretary to implement any feasible combination or reduction of such forms.

Date: 2012-03-29
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Private Sector Whistleblower Protection Streamlining Act of 2012 - Sets forth whistleblower protections for private sector, state, and municipal employees who are retaliated or discriminated against by an employer for disclosing threats to public safety or violations of federal law. Authorizes a whistleblower who has been discharged or discriminated against by an employer to seek appropriate relief either by: (1) filing a complaint with the Secretary of Labor; or (2) bringing an action at law or equity in the appropriate U.S. district court. Prohibits restrictions on whistleblowing and relief provided under this Act. Establishes the Whistleblower Protection Office in the Department of Labor. Makes conforming whistleblower amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, the federal criminal code with respect to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. Establishes in the Department of Labor an Administrative Review Board with jurisdiction and authority to decide appeals from administrative decisions and issue final agency decisions on behalf of the Secretary. Declares that this Board supersedes the one established by the Secretary pursuant to an administrative order.

Date: 2012-09-13
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 to increase from 5 to 10 the minimum number of years of practical mining experience a person selected by the Secretary of Labor for appointment as a mine inspector must have. Requires mine inspectors assigned to the inspection and investigation of individual mines to have at least 2 years previous experience in the particular type of mining operation where such inspections are to be made.

Date: 2012-09-21
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to require the President to establish an Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health. Requires the Board to provide advice to the President on the review and approval of the Department of Labor site exposure matrix (SEM) used to determine the eligibility of Department of Energy (DOE) employee contractor claims for compensation for lung disease resulting from exposure to toxic substances.

Date: 2011-03-10
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act Amendments of 2011 - Amends the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act to declare that it is the intent of Congress that: (1) in a claim brought under such Act, the facts are not to be given a broad liberal construction in favor of the employee or of the employer; (2) the laws pertaining to the claim are to be construed in accordance with the basic principles of statutory construction and not liberally in favor of either the employee or employer; and (3) the system established under the Act shall be efficient and self-executing, but not an economic or administrative burden. Makes compensation under the Act payable regardless of fault as a cause of an injury (no-fault). Specifies requirements for proportional payment of compensation, the last employer doctrine, intervening employment, and noncontributing employment exposure. Prescribes criteria for the preemption of state law providing additional or alternative remedies for an injured employee, the employee's legal representative, spouse, next of kin, or anyone otherwise entitled to recover from an employer on account of an employee's injury or death. Revises requirements for physician selection. Allows a carrier to designate one or more participating networks or one or more health care panels, or both, to provide medical services to employees. Modifies the formula used to determine disability compensation, including for loss of hearing. Increases allowed funeral expenses. Revises requirements for: (1) determination of death compensation to survivors; (2) timing and recipients of a notice of such injury or death; (3) filing of claims; (4) date of payment of compensation; (5) assignment and exemption from the claims of creditors; (6) presumptions, burdens, and rules of evidence; (7) review of compensation orders; (8) modification of compensation awards for fraud or overpayment; (9) reports of fraud; and (10) payments into the special fund in the absence of an entitled survivor of an employee.

Date: 2011-03-29
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Protecting America's Workers Act - Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA-1970) to expand its coverage to federal, state, and local government employees. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor, under specified conditions, to cede OSHA-1970 jurisdiction to another federal agency with respect to certain occupational standards or regulations for such agency's employees. Declares OSHA-1970 inapplicable to working conditions covered by the Federal Mine Safety and Heath Act of 1977. Increases protections for whistle blowers under OSHA-1970. Prescribes requirements relating to: (1) the posting of employee rights, (2) employer reporting of employee work-related deaths or hospitalizations, (3) a prohibition against employers adopting or implementing policies or practices that discourage or discriminate against employee reporting of work-related injuries or illnesses, (4) a prohibition against the loss of wages or employee benefits due to an employee participating in a workplace inspection, (5) investigations of incidents resulting in death or the hospitalization of two or more employees which occur in a place of employment, and (6) a prohibition against the issuing, modifying, or settling of unclassified citations for occupational health and safety standard violations. Continues requirements relating to: (1) the rights of an employee (including a former employee or family member in lieu of an employee) who has sustained a work-related injury or illness that is the subject of an inspection or investigation; (2) an employer's right to contest citations and penalties; and (3) periods permitted for an employer to correct serious, willful, or repeated violations pending an employer's contest to a citation and procedures for stays of the time period for abatement of those violations. Increases civil and criminal penalties for certain OSHA-1970 violators. States that pre-final order interest on any penalties owed shall begin to accrue on the date a party contests a citation, at an interest rate calculated at the current underpayment rate. Prescribes requirements for the Secretary's evaluation of state occupational safety and health plans as well as workplace health hazard evaluations by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Requires a state that has an approved plan for the development and enforcement of occupational safety and health standards to amend its plan to conform to the requirements of this Act within 12 months after enactment of this Act.

Date: 2011-06-09
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Directs the Secretary of Labor to revise certain regulations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 so as to require site-controlling employers to keep a site log for all recordable injuries and illnesses occurring among all employees on the particular site, whether such employees are employed directly by the site-controlling employer or are employed by contractors or temporary help or employee leasing services.

Date: 2013-01-04
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Worker Protection Against Combustible Dust Explosions and Fires Act of 2013 - Requires the Secretary of Labor to promulgate an interim final standard regulating occupational exposure to combustible dust hazards, which shall apply to manufacturing, processing, blending, conveying, repackaging, and handling of combustible particulate solids and their dusts (including organic dusts, plastics, sulfur, wood, rubber, furniture, textiles, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, fibers, dyes, coal, metals, and fossil fuels), but shall not apply to processes already covered by the occupational safety and health standard on grain facilities.

Requires such standard to be based on portions of the National Fire Protection Association Standards in effect upon enactment of this Act that: (1) apply to existing facilities, or (2) call for source and dust emission control technologies.

Requires such standard also to provide requirements for: (1) a hazard assessment to identify, evaluate, and control combustible dust hazards; (2) a written program that includes provisions for hazardous dust inspection, testing, hot work, ignition control, and housekeeping; (3) engineering controls, administrative controls, and operating procedures; (4) workplace inspection and housekeeping to prevent accumulation of combustible dust in places of employment in depths that can present explosion, deflagration, or other fire hazards, including safe methods of dust removal; (5) participation of employees and their representatives in hazard assessment, development of and compliance with the written program, incident investigation, and other elements of hazard management; and (6) providing safety and health information and annual training to managers and employees and their representatives.

Requires the interim final standard to take effect 30 days after its issuance, and remain in effect until a final standard becomes effective, except that it may include a reasonable phase-in period for implementation of required engineering controls.

Requires the Secretary to issue: (1) a proposed rule for regulating combustible dust explosions that includes the major elements contained in the interim final standard, and (2) a final rule three years after issuance of a proposed rule.

Date: 2013-02-14
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Coal Accountability and Retired Employee Act of 2013 or CARE Act - Amends the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to transfer specified excess funds derived from coal mine operator-paid reclamation fees to the trustees of the 1974 United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Pension Plan for use solely to pay pension benefits required under such Plan.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan eligibility requirements.

Makes eligible for health benefits from the 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan an individual who would be eligible to receive benefits from the 1974 UMWA Benefit Plan (with a specified exception) following a bankruptcy or other insolvency proceeding of a coal mine operator, but who does not receive from that operator or any related person health benefits at least equal to those received under the Multiemployer Health Benefit Plan of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

Prescribes a special rule to state that employer contributions to an employees' trust or annuity benefit plan providing supplemental benefits solely to participants in a pension plan are neither deductible nor nondeductible as such from the employer's gross income. Subjects such contributions, on the other hand, to the requirements for deduction as an allowable trade or business expense.

Treats a trust holding the assets of such a pension benefit plan as a tax-exempt organization.

Excludes from wages any payments made to, or on behalf of, an employee or his or her beneficiary under such a plan.

Date: 2013-03-06
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Energy
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2013 - Amends the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund until 19 years after enactment of this Act.

Prescribes additional periods of required presence in an affected area during atmospheric nuclear testing for individuals filing leukemia or specified disease claims. Increases the amount of compensation an individual filing a claim may receive to $150,000.

Expands "affected area" to include Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico, as well as any county in Arizona, Nevada, or Utah.

Extends to December 31, 1990, the period during which an individual employed at any time in a uranium mine or uranium mill is made eligible to receive compensation for a disease claim due to radiation exposure. Makes a core driller eligible to receive compensation upon filing of a disease claim.

Makes miners, core drillers, and ore transporters who suffer renal cancer or any other chronic renal disease, including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue injury, eligible for compensation due to exposure to radiation while on the job.

Requires the Attorney General to accept written affidavits meeting specified requirements regarding employment history, physical presence in an affected area, or participation at a nuclear testing site in determining the eligibility of claimants.

Extends until 19 years after enactment of this Act the statute of limitations for the filing of such claims.

Increases from 2% to 10% of the payment received by a claimant the maximum amount of attorneys fees that can be charged for the filing of an initial claim.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, to establish a program of grants to institutions of higher education to study the epidemiological impacts of uranium mining and milling among non-occupationally exposed individuals, including family members of uranium miners and millers.

Amends the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to include as a member of the Special Exposure Cohort entitled to compensation with respect to chronic beryllium disease under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program any Department of Energy (DOE) employee or contractor who contracted cancer after beginning employment between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1990, in a uranium mine or mill located in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, or any other state the Attorney General includes.

Date: 2013-04-18
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Burdensome Paperwork Reduction for Our Miners Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Division of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation and the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Labor, to review forms for obtaining workers' compensation benefits under the Federal Black Lung Benefits Program to determine whether it is feasible to combine or reduce such forms in order to further the purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

Directs the Secretary to implement any feasible combination or reduction of such forms.

Date: 2013-04-25
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Establishes in the Treasury the Mine Safety Grant Fund.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) award competitive Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants to entities for research and outreach to prevent and treat Black Lung Disease, and (2) deposit into the Fund amounts collected as civil penalties for mandatory health or safety standard violations committed by mine operators.

Date: 2013-05-09
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2013 - Requires the Secretary of Labor to promulgate an interim final standard on safe patient handling, mobility, and injury prevention to prevent musculoskeletal disorders for direct-care registered nurses and all other health care workers that requires the use of engineering and safety controls to handle patients through the use of mechanical technology and devices where feasible. Requires, however, the use of alternative controls and measures, including trained, designated lift teams, where such technology and devices are not feasible, in order to minimize the risk of injury to nurses and health care workers.

Includes among the requirements of a final standard that health care employers: (1) develop and implement a safe patient handling, mobility, and injury prevention program; (2) train their workers on safe patient handling, mobility, and injury prevention; and (3) post a uniform notice that explains the standard, procedures to report patient handling-related injuries, and workers' rights under this Act. Requires the Secretary to conduct unscheduled inspections to ensure compliance with the standard.

Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to apply the safe patient handling, mobility, and injury prevention standard to hospitals receiving Medicare funds.

Date: 2013-06-25
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Nuclear Workers Health Advisory Board Act - Amends the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to require the President to establish an Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health.

Requires the Board to provide advice to the President on the review and approval of the Department of Labor site exposure matrix (SEM) used to determine the eligibility of Department of Energy (DOE) employee contractor claims for compensation for lung disease resulting from exposure to toxic substances.

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Black Lung Benefits Act, with respect to claims filed on or after the effective date of the Black Lung Benefits Amendments of 1981, to eliminate exceptions to: (1) the applicability of certain provisions regarding rebuttable presumptions; and (2) the prohibition against requiring eligible survivors of a miner determined to be eligible for black lung benefits to file a new claim or refile or otherwise revalidate the miner's claim.

Applies the amendments made by this Act to claims filed after January 1, 2005, that were pending on or after March 23, 2010.

Date: 2013-09-20
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Future Logging Careers Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to make the restrictions on oppressive child labor inapplicable to employment of an employee age 16 or 17 by a parent, or a person standing in place of a parent, in a logging or mechanized operation owned or operated by that parent or person.

Date: 2014-05-07
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 to authorize appropriations for FY2015 specifically for Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants for programs to provide hands-on mine safety skills training and certification in mine rescue and mine emergency response.

Date: 2014-05-08
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require any employment in which children under the age of 18 come into direct contact with tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves to be considered particularly hazardous oppressive child labor, which is prohibited under such Act.

Date: 2014-07-31
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Black Lung Health Improvements Act of 2013 - Amends the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 to transfer to the Secretary of Labor from the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) (formerly known as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare [HEW]) the duty to establish a schedule reducing the average concentration of respirable dust in the mine atmosphere during each shift to which each miner is exposed below the levels established under that Act to a level of exposure which will prevent new incidences and further development of respiratory disease in any person.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) issue a final regulation lowering a miner's permissible exposure level to respirable dust (including coal and silica dust) through environmental and engineering controls, as well as update sampling and testing procedures; and (2) reexamine once every five years the incidence of pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) in miners and, unless black lung disease declines, update the regulation.

Amends the Black Lung Benefits Act to require a mine operator to deliver within 14 days a complete copy of the examining physician's report to any miner required to submit to a medical examination regarding his or her respiratory or pulmonary condition.

Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to report to Congress on any barriers to health care faced by people with black lung disease.

Directs the Secretary to review forms for obtaining workers' compensation benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Program to determine any paperwork barriers to receiving and processing black lung benefit claims as well as the feasibility of reducing such forms.

Amends the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 to direct the Secretary to award competitive Brookwood-Saga Mine Safety Grants to entities for research and outreach to prevent and treat black lung disease.

Directs the Secretary to establish an attorneys' fee payment program to pay attorneys' fees of up to $4,500 to prevailing parties on a qualifying black lung benefit claim.

Directs the Secretary to make black lung benefit payments to a miner's widow and children in respect of survivors' benefits: (1) for claims filed after January 1, 2005, that are pending on or after March 23, 2010, where the miner is found entitled to receive benefits at the time of his death as a result of a lifetime claim; and (2) where the miner is found entitled to receive benefits at the time of his death as a result of a lifetime claim filed before January 1, 1982.

Date: 2013-07-31
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Toxic Substances and Worker Health Advisory Board Act - Amends the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to require the President to establish an Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health.

Requires the Board to provide advice to the President on the review and approval of the Department of Labor site exposure matrix (SEM) used to determine the eligibility of Department of Energy (DOE) employee contractor claims for compensation for lung disease resulting from exposure to toxic substances.

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2014 or FACT Act - Amends federal bankruptcy law concerning a trust formed under a reorganization plan following the discharge in bankruptcy of a debtor corporation in order to assume the debtor's liability with respect to claims seeking recovery for personal injury, wrongful death, or property damage allegedly caused by the presence of, or exposure to, asbestos or asbestos-containing products.

Requires such a trust to file with the bankruptcy court quarterly reports, available on the public docket, which describe each demand the trust has received from a claimant and the basis for any payment made to that claimant (excluding any confidential medical record or the claimant's full Social Security number).

Requires such reports, upon written request, and subject to payment (demanded at the option of the trust) for any reasonable cost incurred by it, to provide any information related to payment from, and demands for payment from, the trust to any party to any action in law or equity concerning liability for asbestos exposure.

Date: 2014-05-12
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Future Logging Careers Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to make the restrictions on oppressive child labor inapplicable to employment of an employee age 16 or 17 by a parent, or a person standing in place of a parent, in a logging or mechanized operation owned or operated by that parent or person.

Date: 2014-05-14
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Student Loan Tax Relief Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income income imputed from a discharge of student loan indebtedness based on repayments which are income contingent or income based or a discharge due to the death or total disability of the student.

Date: 2014-09-18
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Taxation
Worksite Reporting Act

Directs the Secretary of Labor to revise certain regulations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 so as to require site-controlling employers to keep a site log for all recordable injuries and illnesses occurring among all employees on the particular site, whether such employees are employed directly by the site-controlling employer or are employed by contractors or temporary help or employee leasing services.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Black Lung Benefits Act, with respect to claims filed on or after the effective date of the Black Lung Benefits Amendments of 1981, to eliminate exceptions to: (1) the applicability of certain provisions regarding rebuttable presumptions; and (2) the prohibition against requiring eligible survivors of a miner determined to be eligible for black lung benefits to file a new claim or refile or otherwise revalidate the miner's claim.

Applies the amendments made by this Act to claims filed after January 1, 2005, that were pending on or after March 23, 2010.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

 Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2015

 (Sec. 2) This bill amends federal bankruptcy law concerning a trust formed under a reorganization plan following the discharge in bankruptcy of a debtor corporation in order to assume the debtor's liability with respect to claims seeking recovery for personal injury, wrongful death, or property damage allegedly caused by the presence of, or exposure to, asbestos or asbestos-containing products.

Such a trust shall file with the bankruptcy court quarterly reports, available on the public docket, which describe each demand the trust has received from a claimant and the basis for any payment made to that claimant (excluding any confidential medical record or the claimant's full Social Security number).

Such reports, upon written request, and subject to payment (demanded at the option of the trust) for any reasonable cost incurred by it, shall provide any information related to payment from, and demands for payment from, the trust to any party to any action in law or equity concerning liability for asbestos exposure.

Date: 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2015

 Amends the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund until 19 years after enactment of this Act.

Prescribes additional periods of required presence in an affected area during atmospheric nuclear testing for individuals filing leukemia or specified disease claims. Increases the amount of compensation an individual filing a claim may receive to $150,000.

Expands "affected area" to include Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico, as well as any county in Arizona, Nevada, or Utah.

Extends to December 31, 1990, the period during which an individual employed at any time in a uranium mine or uranium mill is made eligible to receive compensation for a disease claim due to radiation exposure. Makes a core driller eligible to receive compensation upon filing of a disease claim.

Makes miners, core drillers, and ore transporters who suffer renal cancer or any other chronic renal disease, including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue injury, eligible for compensation due to exposure to radiation while on the job.

Requires the Attorney General to accept written affidavits meeting specified requirements regarding employment history, physical presence in an affected area, or participation at a nuclear testing site in determining the eligibility of claimants.

Extends until 19 years after enactment of this Act the statute of limitations for the filing of such claims.

Increases from 2% to 10% of the payment received by a claimant the maximum amount of attorneys fees that can be charged for the filing of an initial claim.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, to establish a program of grants to institutions of higher education to study the epidemiological impacts of uranium mining and milling among non-occupationally exposed individuals, including family members of uranium miners and millers.

Amends the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to include as a member of the Special Exposure Cohort entitled to compensation with respect to chronic beryllium disease under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program any Department of Energy employee or contractor who contracted cancer after beginning employment between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1990, in a uranium mine or mill located in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, or any other state the Attorney General includes.

Date: 2015-02-13
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Future Logging Careers Act

 Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to make the restrictions on oppressive child labor inapplicable to employment of an employee age 16 or 17 by a parent, or a person standing in place of a parent, in a logging or mechanized operation owned or operated by that parent or person.

Date: 2015-03-03
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to redefine "oppressive child labor," for purposes of child labor prohibitions, to include the employment of any employee under age 18 who has direct contact with tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
This bill amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to prohibit the assessment of penalties against employers for non-willful, unrepeated, or non-serious violations of occupational safety and health standards during the time period fixed for abatement of such a violation in any citation or final order. Furthermore, no penalty shall be assessed for a violation if it shall be abated by the employer in accordance with the citation or order before the end of that period.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Medicare Secondary Payer and Workers' Compensation Settlement Agreements Act of 2015

Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) create an exception to Medicare secondary payer requirements for certain workers' compensation settlement agreements, and (2) provide for the satisfaction of such requirements through use of qualified Medicare set-asides under such agreements.

Date: 2015-06-04
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Health
Downwinders Compensation Act of 2015

This bill amends the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to expand eligibility for restitution relating to atmospheric nuclear testing to individuals who were present, during the periods of testing, in any part of Clark County, Nevada, or any part of any county in Arizona that has a part north of the Grand Canyon.

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the tax deduction for charitable contributions that are required to purchase a ticket to a college sporting event.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Law
Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2015

This bill amends the Black Lung Benefits Act to revise requirements for miners' claims for pneumoconiosis (black lung) benefits.

A mine operator must give a copy of the examining physician's report to miners required to have a medical examination of their respiratory condition.

The Department of Labor must pay the attorneys' fees of prevailing parties on a qualifying black lung benefit claim.

This bill revises: (1) the standards of medical evidence that establish a presumption that a miner is totally disabled by black lung, and (2) payments to miners (including their dependents) totally disabled by black lung.

Black lung clinics may use federal funds to help individuals file black lung benefit claims.

A person may not: (1) make a false statement or misrepresentation in increasing or reducing black lung benefits, or (2) threaten or mislead a participant in a proceeding regarding black lung benefits.

Labor, upon request, must give a claimant the opportunity to substantiate a claim for benefits through a pulmonary evaluation of the miner.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) must establish a pilot program to assure accurate classifications of chest radiographs in black lung cases where the diagnosis is at issue.

Labor, in coordination with NIOSH, must educate certain individuals who work on black lung benefits about medical evidence relevant to claims.

A previously denied claimant may file a claim for black lung benefits within one year after enactment of this Act.

Labor must report to Congress a strategy to reduce the backlog of black lung cases pending before the Office of Administrative Law Judges.

The Government Accountability Office must report on any barriers to health care faced by coal miners with black lung.

The bill amends the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 to direct Labor to use data from continuous personal dust monitors to determine whether to make changes to respirable dust concentration standards, controls, and measurements.

Establishment of the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs is codified.

Date: 2015-09-28
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2015

This bill requires the Department of Labor to establish a standard on safe patient handling, mobility, and injury prevention to prevent musculoskeletal disorders for health care workers. The standard must require the use of engineering and safety controls to handle patients.

The standard must require health care employers to: (1) develop and implement a safe patient handling, mobility, and injury prevention program; (2) train their workers on safe patient handling, mobility, and injury prevention; and (3) post a notice that explains the standard, procedures to report patient handling-related injuries, and workers' rights under this Act. Labor must conduct unscheduled inspections to ensure compliance with the standard.

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to apply the standard to hospitals receiving Medicare funds.

Date: 2015-12-16
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2015

 Amends the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund until 19 years after enactment of this Act.

Prescribes additional periods of required presence in an affected area during atmospheric nuclear testing for individuals filing leukemia or specified disease claims. Increases the amount of compensation an individual filing a claim may receive to $150,000.

Expands "affected area" to include Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico, as well as any county in Arizona, Nevada, or Utah.

Extends to December 31, 1990, the period during which an individual employed at any time in a uranium mine or uranium mill is made eligible to receive compensation for a disease claim due to radiation exposure. Makes a core driller eligible to receive compensation upon filing of a disease claim.

Makes miners, core drillers, and ore transporters who suffer renal cancer or any other chronic renal disease, including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue injury, eligible for compensation due to exposure to radiation while on the job.

Requires the Attorney General to accept written affidavits meeting specified requirements regarding employment history, physical presence in an affected area, or participation at a nuclear testing site in determining the eligibility of claimants.

Extends until 19 years after enactment of this Act the statute of limitations for the filing of such claims.

Increases from 2% to 10% of the payment received by a claimant the maximum amount of attorneys fees that can be charged for the filing of an initial claim.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, to establish a program of grants to institutions of higher education to study the epidemiological impacts of uranium mining and milling among non-occupationally exposed individuals, including family members of uranium miners and millers.

Amends the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to include as a member of the Special Exposure Cohort entitled to compensation with respect to chronic beryllium disease under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program any Department of Energy employee or contractor who contracted cancer after beginning employment between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1990, in a uranium mine or mill located in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, or any other state the Attorney General includes.

Date: 2015-02-02
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2015 or FACT Act

Amends federal bankruptcy law concerning a trust formed under a reorganization plan following the discharge in bankruptcy of a debtor corporation in order to assume the debtor's liability with respect to claims seeking recovery for personal injury, wrongful death, or property damage allegedly caused by the presence of, or exposure to, asbestos or asbestos-containing products.

Requires such a trust to file with the bankruptcy court quarterly reports, available on the public docket, which describe each demand the trust has received from a claimant and the basis for any payment made to that claimant (excluding any confidential medical record or the claimant's full Social Security number).

Requires such reports, upon written request, and subject to payment (demanded at the option of the trust) for any reasonable cost incurred by it, to provide any information related to payment from, and demands for payment from, the trust to any party to any action in law or equity concerning liability for asbestos exposure.

Date: 2015-02-04
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Future Logging Careers Act

 Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to make the restrictions on oppressive child labor inapplicable to employment of an employee age 16 or 17 by a parent, or a person standing in place of a parent, in a logging or mechanized operation owned or operated by that parent or person.

Date: 2015-03-10
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Protecting America's Workers Act 

 Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) to expand its coverage to federal, state, and local government employees.

Authorizes the Secretary of Labor, under specified conditions, to cede OSHA jurisdiction to another federal agency with respect to certain occupational standards or regulations for such agency's employees. Declares OSHA inapplicable to working conditions covered by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

Increases protections for whistle blowers under OSHA.

Prescribes requirements relating to:

 a employer's duty to furnish a place of employment free from recognized hazards causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to any individual (not just an employer's employee) performing work there; a site-controlling employer's duty to keep a site log for recordable injuries and illnesses of all employees, including employees of the site-controlling employer or others (including independent contractors) performing work there; the posting of employee rights; employer reporting of employee work-related deaths or hospitalizations; a prohibition against employers adopting or implementing policies or practices that discourage or discriminate against employee reporting of work-related injuries or illnesses; a prohibition against the loss of wages or employee benefits due to an employee participating in a workplace inspection; investigations of incidents resulting in death or the hospitalization of two or more employees which occur in a place of employment; and a prohibition against the issuing, modifying, or settling of unclassified citations for occupational health and safety standard violations. Continues requirements relating to: (1) the rights of an employee (including a former employee or family member in lieu of an employee) who has sustained a work-related injury or illness that is the subject of an inspection or investigation; (2) an employer's right to contest citations and penalties; and (3) periods permitted for an employer to correct serious, willful, or repeated violations pending an employer's contest to a citation and procedures for stays of the time period for abatement of those violations.

Increases civil and criminal penalties for certain OSHA violators.

States that pre-final order interest on any penalties owed shall begin to accrue on the date a party contests a citation, at an interest rate calculated at the current underpayment rate.

Prescribes requirements for the Secretary's evaluation of state occupational safety and health plans as well as workplace health hazard evaluations by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Requires a state that has an approved plan for the development and enforcement of occupational safety and health standards to amend its plan to conform to the requirements of this Act within 12 months after enactment of this Act.

Date: 2015-04-28
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2015

This bill amends the Black Lung Benefits Act to revise requirements for miners' claims for pneumoconiosis (black lung) benefits.

A mine operator must give a copy of the examining physician's report to miners required to have a medical examination of their respiratory condition.

The Department of Labor must pay the attorneys' fees of prevailing parties on a qualifying black lung benefit claim.

This bill revises: (1) the standards of medical evidence that establish a presumption that a miner is totally disabled by black lung, and (2) payments to miners (including their dependents) totally disabled by black lung.

Black lung clinics may use federal funds to help individuals file black lung benefit claims.

A person may not: (1) make a false statement or misrepresentation in increasing or reducing black lung benefits, or (2) threaten or mislead a participant in a proceeding regarding black lung benefits.

Labor, upon request, must give a claimant the opportunity to substantiate a claim for benefits through a pulmonary evaluation of the miner.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) must establish a pilot program to assure accurate classifications of chest radiographs in black lung cases where the diagnosis is at issue.

Labor, in coordination with NIOSH, must educate certain individuals who work on black lung benefits about medical evidence relevant to claims.

A previously denied claimant may file a claim for black lung benefits within one year after enactment of this Act.

Labor must report to Congress a strategy to reduce the backlog of black lung cases pending before the Office of Administrative Law Judges.

The Government Accountability Office must report on any barriers to health care faced by coal miners with black lung.

The bill amends the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 to direct Labor to use data from continuous personal dust monitors to determine whether to make changes to respirable dust concentration standards, controls, and measurements.

Establishment of the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs is codified.

Date: 2015-09-29
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Labor and employment
Protection of Social Security Benefits Restoration Act

This bill amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to prohibit the application of, and repeal authority for, administrative offsets to Social Security, railroad retirement, and black lung benefits.

Date: 2015-12-10
Topic: Labor (Worker Safety)
Subject: Social welfare
Labor Relations First Contract Negotiations Act of 2005 [sic]- Amends the National Labor Relations Act to require mediation and, if necessary, binding arbitration of initial contract negotiation disputes.

Date: 2007-01-04
Topic: Labor (Labor Unions)
Subject: Labor and employment
National Right-to-Work Act - Amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to repeal those provisions that permit employers, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement that is a union security agreement, to require employees to join a union as a condition of employment (including provisions permitting railroad carriers to require, pursuant to such an agreement, payroll deduction of union dues or fees as a condition of employment).

Date: 2007-01-24
Topic: Labor (Labor Unions)
Subject: Labor and employment