zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2014 - Declares it an unlawful practice for certain employers with at least 15 employees for each working day in each of at least 20 calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year to: (1) refuse to consider or offer employment to an individual based on present or past unemployment regardless of the length of time such individual was unemployed, (2) publish an advertisement or announcement for any job with provisions indicating that such an unemployed status disqualifies an individual and that an employer will not consider an applicant based on such status, and (3) direct or request that an employment agency account for such status when screening or referring applicants.

Prohibits an employment agency (including agents and persons maintaining a website publishing job advertisements or announcements), based on such an individual's status as unemployed, from: (1) refusing to consider or refer an individual for employment; (2) limiting, segregating, or classifying individuals in any manner limiting access to job information; or (3) publishing an advertisement or announcement for any job vacancy that includes provisions indicating that such an individual is disqualified and that an employer will not consider such individuals.

Allows consideration of an individual's status as unemployed where an individual's employment in a similar or related job for a period of time reasonably proximate to the hiring of such individual is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to successful performance of the job being filled.

Authorizes, subject to termination upon the filing of certain complaints by the Secretary of Labor, one or more persons for and in behalf of the affected individual, or the affected individual and other individuals similarly situated, to bring actions in federal or state court for specified actual damages and equitable relief including employment and compensatory and punitive damages.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve complaints according to specified provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938; and (2) pay directly to each affected individual applicable sums recovered in any civil actions brought by the Secretary under this Act.

Sets forth a two-year statute of limitations period (three years for willful violations) for specified civil actions under this Act, subject to tolling when the Secretary is considering certain complaints.

Date: 2014-01-29
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
American Worker Mobility Act of 2014 - Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to grant a relocation subsidy of up to $10,000 to an individual who: (1) has been totally unemployed for at least 26 consecutive weeks; (2) has exhausted all rights to state or federal unemployment compensation; (3) has not received a relocation subsidy for the two-year period preceding the subsidy application; and (4) is able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work.

Prescribes subsidy program requirements.

Directs the Secretary to issue regulations to prevent program fraud or abuse.

Date: 2014-02-11
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an employee: (1) shares of employer securities received in a qualified employee stock distribution as compensation for services that do not exceed the lowest number of employer securities received by any employee in such distribution; (2) any gain on such securities if held by an employee for not less than 10 years; and (3) in the case of any qualified disposition of an employer security that meets such 10-year holding requirement, any gain on so much stock acquired during the 60-day period beginning on the date of such disposition as does not exceed the fair market value of the employer security so disposed.

Allows employers a tax deduction for the fair market value of securities transferred in a stock distribution. Requires an employee to recapture in gross income the amount of employer securities excluded from gross income if such securities are disposed of within five years after receipt.

Date: 2014-02-25
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Retirement Security Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) prescribe final regulations to permit employers to participate in multiple employer pension benefit plans, (2) promulgate regulations or other guidance to simplify and clarify rules relating to the timing of participant notices required under tax-preferred pension plans and the automatic escalation rules, and (3) modify the 1040EZ tax return form to allow taxpayers to claim the tax credit for retirement savings (saver's credit) on such form.

Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to employer pension benefit plans, to: (1) allow employers to maintain a tax-exempt multiple employer pension benefit plan even if the employers sponsoring the plan share no common interest, (2) modify requirements for secure deferral arrangements with respect to nondiscrimination and employer matching contributions, and (3) allow employers with not more than 100 employees a business-related tax credit to cover increased matching contributions required by this Act.

Date: 2014-04-02
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Subjects an individual's emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) benefit payment to a gradual reduction, if a law extending EUC is enacted on or after enactment of this Act.

 Requires, effective for EUC payable for each week beginning on or after the enactment or, if later, the effective date of the extension, the amount of EUC payable to any individual:

 for the first week of unemployment following the initial post-extension week to be the amount that would otherwise be payable, reduced by 5%; and for each subsequent week of unemployment to be the amount that would otherwise be payable: (1) reduced (but not below zero) by the percentage reduction applicable to the individual's preceding week of unemployment; and (2) increased by 5 percentage points.

Date: 2014-04-09
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the special rule for the exclusion from gross income of amounts received by an employee from a governmental accident or health plan to include amounts paid from plans established by or on behalf of a state or political subdivision.

Date: 2014-05-06
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Permanent IRA Charitable Contribution Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the exclusion from gross income of distributions from individual retirement accounts (IRAs) for charitable purposes.

Date: 2014-05-08
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the additional 50% depreciation allowance (bonus depreciation) for qualified property placed in service after December 31, 2013. Modifies the definition of "qualified property" to include qualified retail improvement property. Increases by $8,000 (with an annual inflation adjustment after 2014) the maximum allowable depreciation deduction for a passenger automobile (i.e., any 4-wheeled vehicle which is manufactured primarily for use on public streets, roads, and highways and is rated at 6,000 pounds unloaded gross vehicle weight or less).

Makes permanent, for taxable years ending after December 31, 2013, the election to increase the alternative minimum tax (AMT) credit limitation in lieu of bonus depreciation.

Allows an additional deprecation allowance for a tree or vine bearing fruits or nuts, in the taxable year in which the tree or vine is planted, or grafted to a plant, in the ordinary course of the taxpayer's farming business. Makes such provision applicable to trees and vines planted or grafted after December 31, 2013.

Prohibits the entry of the budgetary effects of this Act on any PAYGO (pay-as-you-go) scorecard.

Date: 2014-05-22
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Bonus Depreciation Extension Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend: (1) through 2015, the additional 50% depreciation allowance (bonus depreciation) for business property (through 2016, for property having longer production periods and for transportation property); and (2) the election to increase the alternative minimum tax (AMT) credit in lieu of bonus depreciation by extending to January 1, 2016, the placed-in-service requirement for property eligible for such election (January 1, 2017, for property having longer production periods and for transportation property).

Date: 2014-05-23
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend to all domestic corporations, including S corporations, provisions allowing deferral of tax on gain from the sale of employer securities to an S corporation-sponsored employer stock ownership plan (ESOP); and (2) allow a tax deduction for 50% of the interest incurred on loans to S corporation-sponsored ESOPs for the purchase of employer securities.

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish the S Corporation Employee Ownership Assistance Office to foster increased employee ownership of S corporations.

Amends the Small Business Act to define "ESOP business concern" and allow such a concern to continue to qualify for loans, preferences, and other programs under such Act.

Date: 2014-06-11
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Protecting Employees and Retirees in Municipal Bankruptcies Act of 2014 - Amends federal bankruptcy law with respect to the requirement for a municipality to be a debtor under Chapter 9 (Adjustment of Debts of a Municipality) that the municipality has negotiated in good faith with creditors and failed to obtain the agreement of those holding at least a majority in amount of the claims of each class that the municipality intends to impair under a plan.

Requires that, with respect to creditors who are the municipality's employees or retirees, "good faith" has the same meaning as it does in the National Labor Relations Act.

Requires the municipality also to establish by clear and convincing evidence that it satisfies all eligibility criteria.

Repeals the limitation placed upon on court authority to issue a stay pending an appeal of an order for relief.

Amends the Judicial Code to confer upon the appropriate court of appeals jurisdiction of any appeal of a bankruptcy court determination that an entity is eligible to be a municipal debtor. Requires the appellate court to consider and determine such appeal on an expedited basis as a direct appeal, which shall be reviewed and heard de novo on the merits.

Requires the court to confirm the bankruptcy plan of a municipality which modifies a collective bargaining agreement or a retiree benefit in any manner otherwise prohibited by nonbankruptcy law if the plan is agreed to by the authorized representative of either the employees covered by collective bargaining or the individuals receiving the retiree benefits.

 Designates the labor organization signatory to a collective bargaining agreement as the authorized representative of individuals receiving retiree benefits covered by that agreement.

Sets forth procedures for court appointment of an authorized representative if a labor organization elects not to serve as one, or if the retired employees are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Date: 2014-07-17
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Schedules That Work Act - Grants an employee the right to request that his or her employer change the terms and conditions of employment relating to:

 the number of hours or times the employee is required to work or be on call; the location; the amount of notification he or she receives of work schedule assignments; and minimizing fluctuations in the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Requires the employer, if the request is made, to engage in a timely, good faith interactive process with the employee that includes a discussion of potential schedule changes that would meet his or her needs. Outlines the process for either granting or denying a change.

Requires the employer to grant a request, unless there is a bona fide business reason for denying it, if the request is made because of the employee's serious health condition, his or her responsibilities as a caregiver, or enrollment in a career-related educational or training program, or if a part-time employee requests such a change for a reason related to a second job.

Authorizes an employer, if an employee requests a change for any other reason, to deny it for any reason that is not unlawful. Requires the employer to give the employee the reason for the denial, including whether it was a bona fide business reason.

Outlines employer requirements for paying reporting time and split shift pay and for giving advance notice of work schedules to retail, food service, or cleaning employees, except for those in bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacities.

Makes it unlawful for any employer or other person to: (1) interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise or the attempt to exercise any right of an employee specified in this Act; (2) retaliate against an individual for exercising his or her rights, or (3) interfere with proceedings or inquiries with respect to violation of an individual's rights.

Sets forth administrative enforcement procedures and civil remedies for violation of these prohibitions.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to give information and technical assistance to employers, labor organizations, and the general public concerning compliance with this Act.

Requires the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the impact of certain difficult scheduling practices on employees and employers.

Makes this Act inapplicable to any employee covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement if its terms govern work scheduling practices.

Date: 2014-07-22
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Employee Benefits Protection Act of 2014 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require the mandatory summary description of a group health plan to declare: (1) whether the plan permits either the plan sponsor or any participating employer to unilaterally modify or terminate plan benefits affecting employees, retirees, and beneficiaries; and (2) when and to what extent plan benefits are fully vested with respect to these individuals.

Presumes that retiree health benefits cannot be modified or terminated as of the date an employee retires or completes 20 years of service with the employer. Allows this presumption to be overcome only upon a showing, by clear and convincing evidence, that the employee, before becoming a plan participant, was made aware, in clear and unambiguous terms, that the plan allowed for such a modification or termination of benefits.

Amends the National Labor Relations Act to make it an unfair labor practice for a labor organization and employer to enter into a contract or agreement to modify a previous agreement in a manner that results in a reduction or termination of retiree health insurance benefits, if the modification occurs after the retiree's retirement date.

Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to report to Congress on strategies used by corporations to avoid obligations to pay promised employee and retiree benefits.

Date: 2014-09-17
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Layoff Prevention Extension Act of 2014 - Amends the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 with respect to state short-time compensation programs that allow employers to reduce the workweek of their employees in lieu of layoffs.

Extends federal financing of the programs for an additional year.

Extends through December 31, 2015, the deadline for a state to submit to the Secretary of Labor its application for a short-time compensation program grant.

Date: 2014-09-18
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
CEO-Employee Pay Fairness Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny a publicly held corporation a tax deduction for the payment of performance-based remuneration in excess of $1 million to any of its current or former officers or directors if such corporation does not meet the pay fairness requirement established by this Act. Deems the pay fairness requirement to be satisfied if: (1) the average compensation paid by the employer for all applicable U.S. employees for the taxable year exceeds the inflation and productivity growth adjusted average (i.e., $115,000 in 2014) of such compensation for the preceding taxable year; and (2) the aggregate compensation paid by the employer to or for all applicable employees for the taxable year is not less than the aggregate of such compensation for the preceding taxable year. 

Date: 2014-09-18
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow tax-free rollovers from tax-exempt retirement plans, annuities, and deferred compensation plans into a simple individual retirement account.

Date: 2014-09-19
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Internal Revenue Code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to extend through 2015 the automatic extensions of amortization periods for multiemployer defined benefit plans.

Amends the Pension Protection Act of 2006 to extend through 2015 rules relating to funding improvement and rehabilitation plans.

Date: 2014-12-01
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code to formulate a special rule for determining normal retirement age for certain existing defined benefit plans.

Date: 2014-12-04
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Paid Sick Leave Act - Requires certain employers, who employ 15 or more employees for each working day during 20 or more workweeks a year, to permit each employee to earn at least 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.

Allows employees to use such time to: (1) meet their own medical needs; (2) care for the medical needs of certain family members ; or (3) seek medical attention, assist a related person, take legal action, or engage in other specified activities relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Date: 2014-12-11
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Small Businesses Add Value for Employees Act of 2014 or the SAVE Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to employer-established simple individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and pension plans, to:

 repeal restrictions on rollovers from simple IRAs to qualified retirement plans; allow employers to elect to terminate simple IRAs at any time during the year; repeal the increased 25% penalty on premature distributions from simple IRAs within the first two plan years; allow additional nonelective employer contributions to simple IRAs not exceeding 10% of compensation; establish automatic deferral IRAs to permit the automatic enrollment of employees earning at least $5,000 in a preceding year; establish secure deferral arrangements for automatically enrolling employees at 6% of pay with annual increases; allow small employers a new tax credit for the cost of adopting safe harbor requirements for secure deferral arrangements; allow a transfer of unused benefits in a flexible spending arrangement to a qualified retirement or eligible deferred compensation plan; increase the tax credit for small employer pension plan startup costs; and establish multiple small employer retirement plans that provide for automatic employee contributions. Requires: (1) the Secretary of the Treasury to promulgate regulations regarding the timing of notices to participants in automatic contribution pension plans; (2) the Office of Financial Education of the Department of the Treasury to develop and implement an outreach plan to educate small businesses on the types and benefits of available retirement plans; (3) the Secretaries of the Treasury and Labor to develop recommendations for small businesses to improve retirement outcomes; and (4) the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to develop age-appropriate financial literacy curricula for elementary and secondary schools.

Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to: (1) exempt IRAs that permit payroll deductions from additional pension plan requirements, (2) require disclosures relating to lifetime income from pension plans and annuities, and (3) set forth safe harbor criteria for the selection of an annuity contract and an insurer.

Date: 2014-12-11
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
American Pension Investments Modernization Act of 2014 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require the fiduciary of an employee benefit plan to establish policies for appointment of an investment manager or managers to manage any plan assets or business enterprise or enterprises for brokerage and investment banking services.

Requires the fiduciary, under these policies, to consider:

 the concentration level of the plan's exposure to firm-specific risks, including operational, compliance, and fraud risks; the inclusion, to the greatest extent feasible, of minority business enterprises for brokerage and investment banking services (including enterprises owned or controlled by specified percentages of African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Subcontinent Asian Americans, Native Americans, women, or veterans); and the utilization of diverse asset managers, taking into consideration the investment opportunities they offer in sectors, strategies, geographies, and demographics not meaningfully available to the plans. Defines "diverse asset manager" as a minority business enterprise that manages an investment portfolio of between $100 million and $25 billion.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to issue related guidance and requires the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to take this guidance into account.

Directs the FRTIB to give current and former federal employees and Members of Congress in FERS the option to participate in actively managed funds within the employee's or Member's Thrift Savings Fund account (but no more than 20% of a current or former employee's or Member's funds).

Prohibits the FRTIB from subjecting more than 20% of the total assets under management of the Thrift Savings Fund to active management.

Date: 2014-12-11
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to exclude appraisers of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) from the meaning of a fiduciary subject to ERISA.

Date: 2013-02-11
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Small Business Efficiency Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat professional employer organizations (PEOs), certified by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as employers for employment tax purposes (thus allowing such PEOs to pay wages and collect and remit payroll taxes on behalf of an employer).

Sets forth IRS certification requirements for PEOs, including financial review and reporting requirements. Requires a PEO to post a bond each year, up to $1 million, to guarantee payment of employment taxes.

Date: 2013-03-06
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Shrinking Emergency Account Losses Act of 2013 or the SEAL Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to loans made from a qualified employer plan, to: (1) extend the period for repayment of loans if a plan terminates or a plan participant becomes unemployed, and (2) prohibit plans from allowing the use of credit cards or similar arrangements to access loan amounts.

Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to modify regulations governing hardship distributions from qualified employer plans to allow participants to make additional contributions to a plan during the six month period following a hardship distribution.

Date: 2013-03-19
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Healthy Families Act - Requires certain employers, who employ 15 or more employees for each working day during 20 or more workweeks a year, to permit each employee to earn at least 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.

Declares that an employer shall not be required to permit an employee to earn more than 56 hours of paid sick time in a calendar year, unless the employer chooses to set a higher limit.

Allows employees to use such time to: (1) meet their own medical needs; (2) care for the medical needs of certain family members (including a domestic partner or the domestic partner's parent or child); or (3) seek medical attention, assist a related person, take legal action, or engage in other specified activities relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Prohibits an employer from interfering with an employee's exercise of such rights.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to exercise certain investigative and enforcement authority for employees covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 or the Government Employee Rights Act of 1991. Grants the same authority, for employees under their jurisdiction, to the Librarian of Congress, the Comptroller General (GAO), the Board of Directors of the congressional Office of Compliance, and the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Authorizes civil actions by employees, individuals, or their representatives for damages or equitable relief against employers who violate this Act.

Waives a state's sovereign immunity with respect to a suit brought by an employee of a federally-assisted state program or activity for relief authorized under this Act.

Requires the Commissioner of Labor Statistics to annually compile information on paid sick time and the Comptroller General to study related matters.

Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to discourage employers from adopting or retaining more generous leave policies.

Date: 2013-03-20
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the employer mandate to provide health care coverage, to: (1) modify the formula for calculating the number of full-time employees employed by an applicable large employer subject to the mandate; and (2) define a "full-time employee" as an employee who is employed on average at least 40 hours per week (currently, 30 hours).

Date: 2013-04-10
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Tax Parity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) exclude from an employee's gross income employer-provided accident and health plan benefits extended to a domestic partner or non-dependent, non-spouse beneficiary eligible to receive such benefits under an employer plan (i.e., "eligible beneficiary"); (2) exempt such benefits paid to eligible beneficiaries from otherwise applicable employment and unemployment taxes; (3) allow self-employed individuals a tax deduction for the health insurance costs of their eligible beneficiaries; (4) allow tax-exempt voluntary employees' beneficiary associations to provide sick and accident benefits to the domestic partners and non-dependent, non-spouse beneficiaries of their members; (5) allow reimbursement of the medical expenses of an eligible beneficiary from a health savings account (HSA); and (6) extend tax-exempt medical benefits to the eligible beneficiaries of retired employees

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to provide guidance relating to reimbursements from a flexible spending arrangement and a health reimbursement arrangement attributable to an eligible beneficiary as defined by this Act.

Date: 2013-04-15
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Veterans Pension Protection Act - Provides that if a veteran eligible for a pension for service or for a non-service-connected disability, or the spouse of such veteran, disposes of a resource that was part of such veteran's estate for less than its fair market value within three years before applying for such pension, then the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) shall deny or discontinue the pension payment for months beginning on the date of such disposition and ending when the uncompensated value of such resource is reached. Provides the same denial or discontinuance in the case of a veteran eligible for an increased pension payment on account of a child, unless the Secretary determines that such denial or discontinuance would work an undue hardship.

Applies the same denial or discontinuance, with the same undue hardship exception, in the case of: (1) a veteran's surviving spouse who disposes of a covered resource for less than fair market value within such period, and (2) an increased pension for such spouse on account of a child.

Requires the Secretary, at the time a veteran, surviving spouse, or child applies for such a pension, to: (1) inform the individual of such requirements, and (2) obtain information to determine whether a period of ineligibility for such payments will be required.

Requires annual reports from the Secretary, through 2018, on the administration of this Act.

Date: 2013-04-17
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Public Employee Pension Transparency Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny tax benefits relating to bonds issued by a state or political subdivision during any period in which such state or political subdivision is noncompliant with specified reporting requirements for state or local government employee pension benefit plans.

Requires plan sponsors of a state or local government employee pension benefit plan to file with the Secretary of the Treasury a report for each plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2014, setting forth: (1) a schedule of the funding status of the plan, (2) a schedule of contributions by the plan sponsor for the plan year, (3) alternative projections for each of the next 60 plan years of the cash flows associated with the current plan liability, (4) a statement of the actuarial assumptions used for the plan year, (5) a statement of the number of plan participants who are retired or separated from service and are either receiving benefits or are entitled to future benefits and those who are active under the plan, (6) a statement of the plan's investment returns, (7) a statement of the degree to which unfunded liabilities are expected to be eliminated, (8) a statement of the amount of pension obligation bonds outstanding, and (9) a statement of the current cost of the plan for the plan year.

Directs the Secretary  to develop model reporting statements and create and maintain a public website, with searchable capabilities, for purposes of posting plan information required by this Act.

Exempts the United States from liability for any future shortfall in any state or local government employee pension plan.

Date: 2013-04-23
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Vested Employee Pension Benefit Protection Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employees in the building and construction industry to make distributions from their tax-exempt employer pension plans at age 55 if they are not separated from service at the time of such distributions and were participants in such plan on or before April 30, 2013.

Date: 2013-04-25
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Reducing Overlapping Payments Act - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to require reduced to zero the total of an individual's monthly disability insurance benefits and any spouse's, surviving spouse's, child's, widow's, widower's, or parent's OASDI benefits based on the individual's wages and self-employment income for any month before the individual attains retirement age in which that individual is entitled to both disability insurance benefits and unemployment compensation. (Thus allows only unemployment compensation in such a situation.)

Date: 2013-06-06
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Social welfare
Lifetime Income Disclosure Act - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require the quarterly pension benefit statement furnished to a participant or beneficiary with the right to direct the investment of assets in his or her account under an individual account plan to include a lifetime income disclosure at least once during any 12-month period.

Requires such lifetime income disclosure to set forth the lifetime income stream equivalent of the participant's or beneficiary's total benefits accrued. Defines a lifetime income stream equivalent of the total benefits accrued as the monthly annuity payment the participant or beneficiary would receive if those total accrued benefits were used to provide lifetime income streams to a qualified joint and survivor annuitant.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) issue a model lifetime income disclosure, written in a manner which can be understood by the average plan participant; and (2) prescribe assumptions that plan administrators may use in converting total accrued benefits into lifetime income stream equivalents.

Declares that no plan fiduciary, plan sponsor, or other person shall have any liability under ERISA solely by reason of the provision of lifetime income stream equivalents derived in accordance with such assumptions and related rules and including explanations contained in the model lifetime income disclosure.

Date: 2013-06-12
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the employer mandate to provide health care coverage, to: (1) modify the formula for calculating the number of full-time employees employed by an applicable large employer subject to the mandate; and (2) define a "full-time employee" as an employee who is employed on average at least 40 hours per week (currently, 30 hours).

Date: 2013-06-19
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Stop Subsidizing Multimillion Dollar Corporate Bonuses Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the $1 million limitation on the deductibility of employee compensation, to: (1) extend such limitation to any individual who is a current or former officer, director, or employee of a publicly-held corporation; (2) eliminate the exemption from such limitation for compensation payable on a commission basis or upon the attainment of a performance goal; and (3) make such limitation applicable to all publicly-held corporations that are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to register securities and provide periodic reports to their investors.

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Fair Playing Field Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the classification of workers for employment tax purposes, to: (1) repeal the prohibition against issuance of regulations and guidance by the Secretary of the Treasury on workers' employment tax status (i.e., as an employee or as an independent contractor) enacted by the Revenue Act of 1978; (2) direct the Secretary to issue regulations and other guidance to clarify the proper employment status of workers for employment tax purposes; (3) prohibit a retroactive assessment of employment tax, except with respect to certain skilled workers, for tax periods after December 31, 1978, and before a specified reclassification date for worker misclassifications, unless the taxpayer had no reasonable basis for not treating a worker as an employee; (4) require taxpayers who hire independent contractors on a regular and ongoing basis to provide such contractors with notice of their federal tax obligations, the labor and employment law protections that do not apply to them, and their right to seek a status determination from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); and (5) eliminate reduced penalty provisions for failure to withhold income taxes for taxpayers who lack a reasonable basis for treating a worker as other than an employee (i.e., as an independent contractor).

Provides that for purposes of determining whether a registered representative of a securities broker-dealer is an employee for employment tax purposes, no weight shall be given to instructions from a service recipient which are imposed only in compliance with investor protection standards. Makes this rule applicable to services performed by a broker-dealer after December 31, 1997.

Date: 2013-11-14
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2013 - Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to extend emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) payments for eligible individuals to weeks of employment ending on or before January 1, 2015.

 Amends the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act to extend until December 31, 2014, requirements that federal payments to states cover 100% of EUC.

 Amends the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008 to exempt weeks of unemployment between enactment of this Act and June 30, 2015, from the prohibition in the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (FSEUCA of 1970) against federal matching payments to a state for the first week in an individual's eligibility period for which extended compensation or sharable regular compensation is paid if the state law provides for payment of regular compensation to an individual for his or her first week of otherwise compensable unemployment. (Thus allows temporary federal matching for the first week of extended benefits for states with no waiting period.)

 Amends the FSEUCA of 1970 to postpone similarly from December 31, 2013, to December 31, 2014, termination of the period during which a state may determine its "on" and "off" indicators according to specified temporary substitutions in its formula.

 Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (SAA, 2008) to appropriate funds out of the employment security administration account through FY2015 to assist states in providing reemployment and eligibility assessment activities.

 Amends the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act to extend through December 31, 2014, the temporary increase in extended unemployment benefits.

Makes a change in application of a certain requirement (nonreduction rule) to a state whose federal-state EUC agreement was terminated in 2013, under which the federal government would reimburse a state unemployment compensation agency making EUC payments to individuals who have exhausted all rights to regular unemployment compensation under state or federal law and meet specified other criteria.

(Under the nonreduction rule such an agreement does not apply with respect to a state whose method for computing regular unemployment compensation under state law has been modified to make the average weekly unemployment compensation benefit paid on or after June 2, 2010, less than what would have been paid before June 2, 2010.)

Declares that the nonreduction rule shall not apply to a state whose EUC agreement was terminated in 2013. Allows such a state, however, to enter into a subsequent federal-state EUC agreement on or after enactment of this Act if, taking into account this inapplicability of the nonreduction rule, it would otherwise meet the requirements for an EUC agreement. (Thus allows such a subsequent EUC agreement to permit payment of less than the average weekly unemployment compensation benefit paid on or after June 2, 2010.)

Date: 2013-12-10
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act - Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to extend emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) payments for eligible individuals to weeks of employment ending on or before April 1, 2014.

 Amends the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act to extend until March 31, 2014, requirements that federal payments to states cover 100% of EUC.

 Amends the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008 to exempt weeks of unemployment between enactment of this Act and September 30, 2014, from the prohibition in the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (FSEUCA of 1970) against federal matching payments to a state for the first week in an individual's eligibility period for which extended compensation or sharable regular compensation is paid if the state law provides for payment of regular compensation to an individual for his or her first week of otherwise compensable unemployment. (Thus allows temporary federal matching for the first week of extended benefits for states with no waiting period.)

 Amends the FSEUCA of 1970 to postpone similarly from December 31, 2013, to March 31, 2014, termination of the period during which a state may determine its "on" and "off" indicators according to specified temporary substitutions in its formula.

 Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to appropriate funds out of the employment security administration account through the first quarter of FY2015 to assist states in providing reemployment and eligibility assessment activities.

 Amends the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act to extend through March 31, 2014, the temporary increase in extended unemployment benefits.

Makes a change in application of a certain requirement (nonreduction rule) to a state that has entered a federal-state EUC agreement, under which the federal government would reimburse the state's unemployment compensation agency making EUC payments to individuals who have exhausted all rights to regular unemployment compensation under state or federal law and meet specified other criteria.

 (Under the nonreduction rule such an agreement does not apply with respect to a state whose method for computing regular unemployment compensation under state law has been modified to make the average weekly unemployment compensation benefit paid on or after June 2, 2010, less than what would have been paid before June 2, 2010.)

 Declares that the nonreduction rule shall not apply to a state which has enacted a law before December 1, 2013, that, upon taking effect, would violate the nonreduction rule. Allows a state whose agreement was terminated, however, to enter into a subsequent federal-state EUC agreement on or after enactment of this Act if, taking into account this inapplicability of the nonreduction rule, it would otherwise meet the requirements for an EUC agreement. (Thus allows such a subsequent EUC agreement to permit payment of less than the average weekly unemployment compensation benefit paid on or after June 2, 2010.)

Date: 2013-12-17
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2014 the equalization of the exclusion from gross income for employer-provided mass transit and parking benefits.

Date: 2013-12-20
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Clarity for Military Retiree Health Care Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax exclusion of benefits under cafeteria employee benefit plans, to allow a participant in a cafeteria plan which permits a revocation of an election during a period of coverage and a new election based upon a change in status event, to treat an event that causes an employee to become eligible for coverage under the TRICARE health care program for military personnel as a change in status event.

Date: 2014-01-14
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Retirement Security Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) prescribe final regulations to permit employers to participate in multiple employer pension benefit plans, (2) promulgate regulations or other guidance to simplify and clarify rules relating to the timing of participant notices required under tax-preferred pension plans and the automatic escalation rules, and (3) modify the 1040EZ tax return form to allow taxpayers to claim the tax credit for retirement savings (saver's credit) on such form.

Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to employer pension benefit plans, to: (1) allow employers to maintain a tax-exempt multiple employer pension benefit plan even if the employers sponsoring the plan share no common interest, (2) modify requirements for secure deferral arrangements with respect to nondiscrimination and employer matching contributions, and (3) allow employers with not more than 100 employees a business-related tax credit to cover increased matching contributions required by this Act.

Date: 2014-01-29
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Protecting Employees and Retirees in Municipal Bankruptcies Act of 2015

Amends federal bankruptcy law with respect to the requirement for a municipality to be a debtor under Chapter 9 (Adjustment of Debts of a Municipality) that the municipality has negotiated in good faith with creditors and failed to obtain the agreement of those holding at least a majority in amount of the claims of each class that the municipality intends to impair under a plan.

Requires that, with respect to creditors who are the municipality's employees or retirees, "good faith" has the same meaning as it does in the National Labor Relations Act.

Requires the municipality also to establish by clear and convincing evidence that it satisfies all eligibility criteria.

Repeals the limitation placed upon on court authority to issue a stay pending an appeal of an order for relief.

Amends the Judicial Code to confer upon the appropriate court of appeals jurisdiction of any appeal of a bankruptcy court determination that an entity is eligible to be a municipal debtor. Requires the appellate court to consider and determine such appeal on an expedited basis as a direct appeal, which shall be reviewed and heard de novo on the merits.

Requires the court to confirm the bankruptcy plan of a municipality which modifies a collective bargaining agreement or a retiree benefit in any manner otherwise prohibited by nonbankruptcy law if the plan is agreed to by the authorized representative of either the employees covered by collective bargaining or the individuals receiving the retiree benefits.

 Designates the labor organization signatory to a collective bargaining agreement as the authorized representative of individuals receiving retiree benefits covered by that agreement.

Sets forth procedures for court appointment of an authorized representative if a labor organization elects not to serve as one, or if the retired employees are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Finance and financial sector