zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Fair Playing Field Act of 2012 - 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: 2012-03-01
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Extension of Section 420 and Retiree Life Insurance Act of 2012 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend through 2021 the authority for transfers of excess pension assets of a defined benefit plan to a retiree health benefits account, and (2) allow the transfer of excess pension assets of a defined benefit plan to a retiree group term life insurance account.

Date: 2012-03-05
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Improvement Act of 2012 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for the health insurance expenses of small employers, to: (1) expand the eligibility of such employers for the credit by allowing them to have up to 50 full-time employees (currently, limited to no more than 25 full-time employees); (2) modify the phaseout of such credit based upon increases in the number of eligible employees and the employer's average annual wages; (3) increase the average annual wage limitation for 2012, 2013, and subsequent years; (4) repeal the requirement that employers make uniform contributions of at least 50% of each employee's premium to qualify for the tax credit; and (5) repeal the limitation on such credit based on the average premium in the small group market in the rating area in which an employee enrolls for coverage.

Date: 2012-03-22
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Veteran Self Relief Act of 2012 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an unemployed veteran to withdraw amounts from an individual retirement account (IRA) or thrift savings account without incurring the 10% penalty for premature distributions from pension plans if such veteran has received unemployment compensation for 12 consecutive weeks during a 1-year uninterrupted period of unemployment beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty.

Date: 2012-03-28
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Small Business Employee Health Insurance Credit Expansion Act of 2012 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for the health insurance expenses of small employers, to: (1) expand the eligibility of such employers for the credit by allowing them to have up to 50 full-time employees (currently, limited to no more than 25 full-time employees); (2) modify the phaseout of such credit based upon increases in the number of eligible employees and the employer's average annual wages as specified in a formula provided by this Act; (3) repeal the requirement that employers make uniform contributions of at least 50% of each employee's premium to qualify for the tax credit; (4) repeal the limitation on such credit based on the average premium in the small group market in the rating area in which an employee enrolls for coverage; and (5) repeal the 2-year limitation on such credit..

Date: 2012-03-29
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Dental Insurance Fairness Act of 2012 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to prescribe certain health care coverage value requirements for dental benefits under group health plans.

Date: 2012-04-26
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Health
Growing Small Farms Act of 2012 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the liability of employers of agricultural labor for federal unemployment tax under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), to increase from $20,000 or more to $40,000 or more the amount of wages which such employers must pay in a calendar quarter for agricultural labor before being treated as employers for FUTA purposes. Provides for an inflation adjustment to such increased wage threshold after 2013.

Date: 2012-04-27
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Airline Pension Fairness Act of 2012 - Amends the Pension Protection Act of 2006 to extend special alternative funding rules for single-employer defined benefit retirement plans for commercial airlines for plan years 2012 and 2013.

Date: 2012-05-10
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Virgin Islands Visa Waiver Act of 2012 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a visa waiver program for the United States Virgin Islands for a national of a country that is a member or an associate member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) listed in regulations under this Act and who is applying for admission as a nonimmigrant business or pleasure visitor solely for entry into and stay in the United States Virgin Islands for not more than 30 days, if the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) determines that such waiver does not represent a threat to the welfare or security of the United States or its territories and commonwealths. Directs the Secretary to suspend the admission of nationals of a country if such admissions have resulted in an unacceptable number of visitors remaining unlawfully in the United States Virgin Islands, unlawfully obtaining entry to other parts of the United States, or seeking withholding of removal or asylum, or that visitors from such country pose a risk to law enforcement or security interests of the United States Virgin Islands or of the United States. Authorizes the Secretary to suspend the program at any time, on a country-by-country basis, for other good cause. Provides for the addition of program countries.

Date: 2012-05-31
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Immigration
Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to declare that a qualified preretirement survivor annuity with respect to a participant under a multiemployer plan which becomes insolvent or is terminated shall not be treated as forfeitable solely because the participant has not died as of the date on which the plan became so insolvent or the termination date. (Thus guarantees, in the absence of other disqualifying factors, the payment by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC] of a qualified preretirement survivor annuity to a participant of a multiemployer pension plan which becomes insolvent or is terminated.)

Date: 2012-06-20
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Commuter Savings Act of 2012 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2013 the equalization of the exclusion from gross income for employer-provided commuter transit and parking benefits. Reduces appropriations to the Prevention and Public Health Fund established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by the amount of the revenue estimated to be lost by this Act.

Date: 2012-06-29
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Protecting Veterans Pension 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 2023, on the administration of this Act.

Date: 2012-07-24
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Religious Workers Visa Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to extend, through September 30, 2017, the special immigrant religious professionals program for certain immigrants seeking to enter the United States to work for a bona fide nonprofit, religious organization in the United States (at the request of the organization) in a professional capacity in a religious vocation or occupation.

Date: 2012-07-25
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Immigration
Bankruptcy Administration Improvement Act of 2012 - Amends federal bankruptcy law to: (1) round to the nearest $5 any Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase in the trustee fee for services rendered in a case under chapter 7 (Liquidation); (2) increase that fee from $15 to $75; and (3) authorize the court, in determining the amount of reasonable compensation to be awarded to a trustee under chapter 7, to treat such compensation as a commission. Prohibits the waiver of the trustee fee if an individual debtor is able to pay in installments in chapter 7 cases. Repeals the requirement that, when a trustee is not serving a chapter 7 case involving an employee benefit plan, the debtor continue to perform the obligations required of the plan administrator if at the time of the commencement of the case the debtor (or a designee entity) served as the administrator. Repeals the duty of a trustee, in such a circumstance, to continue to perform such administrative obligations.

Date: 2012-08-02
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Delphi Pensions Restoration Act of 2012 - Amends the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to require transfer to the Delphi Retired Employees Fund of all proceeds from the sale or transfer, after enactment of this Act, of any stock, warrant, or financial instrument acquired by the Secretary of the Treasury in connection with providing financial assistance to the General Motors Corporation (GM). Establishes the Delphi Retired Employees Fund in the Treasury for payments to eligible employees separated from Delphi Corporation who participated in a now terminated Delphi-sponsored defined benefit plan, but who are not covered by any agreement between GM and participants in another defined benefit plan under which GM pays covered participants nonforfeitable benefits equal to the amount they would have been entitled to receive under the plan but for the plan's termination. Makes the Fund available to pay each eligible separated employee an amount equal to such nonforfeitable benefits, reduced by any amounts already paid the employee by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) under the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

Date: 2012-09-13
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Savings for American Families' Future Act of 2012 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase the rate of the tax credit for retirement savings contributions, (2) make such credit refundable, and (3) direct the Secretary of the Treasury to pay matching credit amounts into taxpayer retirement accounts.

Date: 2012-09-20
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
American Job Protection Act - Repeals provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that require large employers to offer their full-time employees the opportunity to enroll in minimum essential coverage. Applies the Internal Revenue Code as if such provisions had never been enacted.

Date: 2011-01-25
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Health
Employee Stock Ownership Plan Promotion and Improvement Act of 2011- Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) exempt certain distributions, including dividends, by S corporations to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) from the penalty tax for premature employee benefit plan withdrawals; (2) exempt deductions for ESOP dividends from corporate alternative minimum tax adjustments based on adjusted earnings and profits; (3) allow deferral of the recognition of gain for certain sales to ESOPs sponsored by any domestic corporation, including S corporations; (4) allow reinvestment of ESOP stock proceeds eligible for nonrecognition of gain in certain mutual funds; and (5) modify certain ESOP stock ownership rules. Amends the Small Business Act to allow a majority-owned ESOP business concern to continue to qualify for loans, preferences, and other programs under such Act.

Date: 2011-01-25
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Church Plan Clarification Act of 2011- Amends Internal Revenue Code pension plan provisions to: (1) apply a special rule for determining the status of an employer participating in a church plan as a member of a controlled group of entities, and (2) allow certain tax-free transfers to and mergers of church plans that are maintained by the same church or association of churches. Amends the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) to apply limitations on benefits and contributions under qualified employee plans to certain church defined benefit plans. Includes within the definition of plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) an employee benefit plan which is a church plan for purposes of ERISA automatic enrollment provisions. Allows church plans and their supporting organizations to invest plan assets in a group trust (as defined by Internal Revenue Service Revenue Rulings).

Date: 2011-01-25
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
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: 2011-02-03
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Ending Unemployment Payments to Jobless Millionaires Act of 2011 - Prohibits federal funds from being used to make payments of unemployment compensation (including such compensation under the Federal-State Extended Compensation Act of 1970 and the emergency unemployment compensation program under the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008) to an individual whose resources in the preceding year were at least $1 million. Requires an individual's resources to be determined in the same manner as a subsidy eligible individual's resources are determined under the alternative resource standard of the Social Security Act.

Date: 2011-02-08
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Public Employee Pension Transparency Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny tax benefits relating to bonds issed 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 an annual report 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 20 plan years relating to the amount of annual conotributions, the fair market value of plan assets, current liability, the funding percentage, and other matters specified by the Secretary; (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; and (8) a statement of the amount of pension obligation bonds outstanding. 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.

Date: 2011-02-15
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Unemployment Insurance Solvency Act of 2011 - Amends title XII of the Social Security Act (Advances to State Unemployment Funds) to: (1) extend through December 31, 2012, the waiver granted to states for payment of interest on advances made from the federal unemployment account in the Unemployment Trust Fund; and (2) authorize the governor of any state that has outstanding repayable advances from the federal unemployment account to apply to the Secretary of Labor to enter into a voluntary principal abatement agreement. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend the 6.2% employment tax rate for employers through 2013 and impose a reduced 5.78% rate in 2014, (2) modify the rate applicable to the limit on the credit allowed to employers for the federal unemployment tax, and (3) increase the taxable wage base for the federal unemployment tax to $15,000 in 2014. Amends title IX of the Social Security Act (Miscellaneous Provisions Relating to Employment Security) to increase the rate of interest payable on unemployment compensation reserves and lower the rate of the employment tax for employers in states whose unemployment compensation fund remains solvent.

Date: 2011-02-17
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Insurance Fairness for Amputees Act - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Public Health Service Act to require a group health plan that provides medical and surgical benefits and also provides benefits for prosthetics and custom orthotics to offer such prosthetics and custom orthotics in the same manner as applicable to medical and surgical benefits. Prohibits separate financial requirements or more restrictive treatment limitations. Requires a health plan that does not provide coverage for benefits outside of a network to ensure that such provider network is adequate to ensure enrollee access to prosthetic and custom orthotic devices and related services provided by appropriately credentialed practitioners and accredited suppliers. Limits coverage for required benefits for prosthetics and custom orthotics to the most appropriate device or component that adequately meets the medical requirements of the patient. Requires benefits to include repair and replacement due to normal wear and tear, irreparable damage, a change in the condition of the patient, or as otherwise determined appropriate by the treating physician. Prohibits any annual or lifetime dollar limitation on benefits for prosthetics and custom orthotics unless such limitation applies in the aggregate to all benefits. Directs the Comptroller General to study the effects of the implementation of this Act.

Date: 2011-04-08
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Health
Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act - Requires federal employees who are furloughed as a result of any lapse in appropriations that begins on or about April 9, 2011, to be compensated at their standard rate of compensation for the period of such lapse as soon as practicable after such lapse ends.

Date: 2011-04-08
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Government operations and politics
Savings Enhancement by Alleviating Leakage in 401(k) Savings Act of 2011 or the SEAL 401(k) 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, (2) prohibit plans from allowing the use of credit cards or similar arrangements to access loan amounts, and (3) limit to three the number of loans which a plan participant or beneficiary may take at any time. 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: 2011-05-18
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Savings Enhancement by Alleviating Leakage in 401(k) Savings Act of 2011 or the SEAL 401(k) Savings 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: 2011-05-26
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Tax Parity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act of 2011 - 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 beneficiariees 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: 2011-06-09
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to exclude appraisers of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) from the the meaning of a fiduciary subject to ERISA.

Date: 2011-06-20
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Small Business Job Creation Tax Act of 2011- Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employers a credit against payroll tax liability for a payroll increase in a quarter over a corresponding quarter in the previous calendar year. Sets the amount of such credit at 20% of such increase for employers that employ fewer than 100 employees and 15% for employers that employ 100 or more employees in any quarter. Limits the total credit amount available for all quarters to $250,000. Directs the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to: (1) notify all employers required to withhold employment taxes of the enactment and applicability of this Act; and (2) report to Congress on enforcement measures taken to prevent and penalize fraud related to the payroll credit allowed by this Act.

Date: 2011-07-06
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Amends title XII (Advances to State Unemployment Fund) of the Social Security Act, as added by the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act, to extend through December 31, 2012, the waiver of certain interest payments on advances made to states from the federal unemployment account in the Unemployment Trust Fund. (Thus continues temporary assistance for states with such advances.) Denies application of this waiver, between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2012, to any state that, between January 1, 2011 and enactment of this Act, imposed any tax, assessment, or other charge on any taxpayer to pay interest otherwise due from the state, unless the state makes all reasonable efforts to fully reimburse taxpayers that were subject to such interest assessment.

Date: 2011-09-06
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Job Creation and Economic Growth Act - Amends the Budget Control Act of 2011 to redesignate the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, Job Creation, and Economic Growth. Adds as a goal of the joint committee spurring economic growth and restoring the nation's workforce to full employment over the period of FY2012 and FY2013. Revises the duties of the joint committee to require it to make recommendations that will significantly improve U.S. short-term and long-term employment levels and spur economic growth. Requires the joint committee, by November 23, 2011, to vote on: (1) a report containing joint committee findings, conclusions, and recommendations with respect to economic growth and job creation and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) costs estimates of proposed job creation legislation; and (2) proposed legislative language to carry out such recommendations. Prescribes procedures for expedited congressional consideration of proposed joint committee job creation legislative language.

Date: 2011-09-08
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Congress
Job Creation and Economic Growth Act - Amends the Budget Control Act of 2011 to redesignate the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, Job Creation, and Economic Growth. Adds as a goal of the joint committee spurring economic growth and restoring the nation's workforce to full employment over the period of FY2012 and FY2013. Revises the duties of the joint committee to require it to make recommendations that will significantly improve U.S. short-term and long-term employment levels and spur economic growth. Requires the joint committee, by November 23, 2011, to vote on proposed legislative language to carry out joint committee recommendations with respect to job creation measures, including a statement of job creation achieved by such legislation. Increases the number of members of the joint committee from 12 to 16. Directs the joint committee to appoint some of its members to a special subcommittee to make recommendations on measures to spur economic growth and restore the nation's workforce to full employment over the period of FY2012 and FY2013. Prescribes procedures for expedited congressional consideration of proposed joint committee job creation legislative language.

Date: 2011-09-08
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Congress
Automatic IRA Act of 2011 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) require certain employers who do not maintain qualified retirement plans or arrangements to make available to their eligible employees a payroll deposit individual retirement account (IRA) arrangement (automatic IRA arrangement) which grants such employees the right to opt-out of participation, (2) require the Secretary of the Treasury to provide employers with a model notice for notifying employees of automatic IRS arrangements and to establish a program to assist employers in the implementation of such arrangements, (3) allow employers who do not have more than 100 employees a tax credit for costs associated with establishing an automatic IRA arrangement, (4) impose a penalty on employers who fail to provide eligible employees access to automatic IRA arrangements, and (5) increase the tax credit for small employer pension plan start-up costs. Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Labor to jointly conduct feasibility studies on extending spousal consent requirements to automatic IRAs, promoting the use of low-cost lifetime income arrangements, and using investment data to notify individuals with multiple small balance retirement accounts of consolidation options.

Date: 2011-09-14
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Workforce Health Improvement Program Act of 2011 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of employees: (1) the value of any on-premises employer-provided athletic facility; and (2) fees, dues, or membership expenses paid to an athletic or fitness facility by an employer for its employees, but not exceeding $900 per employee per year. Allows employers a tax deduction for fees, dues, or membership expenses paid to an athletic or fitness facility. Limits the amount of such deduction to $900 per employee per year.

Date: 2011-10-04
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Hardship Outlays to protect Mortgagee Equity (HOME) Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow taxpayers to withdraw amounts from their tax-exempt pension and retirement plans, without incurring the 10% penalty otherwise imposed on such withdrawals, to make mortgage payments on their principal residences.

Date: 2011-10-05
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Public Safety Officers' Benefits Improvements Act of 2011 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to revise provisions concerning public safety officer death or disability benefits, including by: (1) modifying the list of recipients of death benefits payable when a public safety officer has died as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty to include as an eligible individual, if there is no other individual meeting existing eligibility requirements, the surviving individual (or individuals, in equal shares) who would qualify as an eligible "child" but for age; (2) providing that disability benefits shall be payable when an officer has become permanently and totally disabled as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury (currently, as the direct result of a catastrophic injury) sustained in the line of duty; (3) eliminating the $5,000,000 limit on total annual disability benefits paid; (4) providing that such death or disability benefits shall not be in addition to payments under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001; (5) revising the criteria for death resulting from a heart attack, stroke, or vascular rupture suffered by a public safety officer while on duty; (6) including as eligible for benefits a candidate-officer (an individual officially enrolled or admitted in an officially recognized, formal program of instruction or training as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew) who is injured while engaging in an activity or exercise that is part of that program; (7) including within the definitions of "member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew" and "public safety officer" an officially recognized or designated employee or volunteer member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew that is a public agency or a nonprofit entity serving the public that is officially authorized or licensed to engage in rescue activity or to provide emergency medical services and that is officially designated as a prehospital emergency medical response agency; and (8) making those who have sustained a catastrophic injury in the line of duty eligible for peer support and counseling programs. Makes funds available for appeals from final determinations (currently, decisions) of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and for expenses of representation of hearing examiners, with respect to public safety officer's death benefits under specified circumstances. Provides that no appeal shall bring a final determination of the Bureau before any court for review unless notice of appeal is filed within 90 days after the date on which the Bureau serves notice of the final determination. Defines a "hearing examiner" under such Act to include any medical or claims examiner.

Date: 2011-10-12
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act of 2011 - Directs the Secretary of Education to allocate grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for the costs of retaining, recalling, rehiring, or hiring employees to provide early childhood, elementary, or secondary education and related services. Allows states to reserve up to 10% of their grant for awards, for the same purposes, to state-funded early learning programs. Requires LEAs and state-funded early learning programs to obligate such funds by the close of FY2013. Prohibits the use of such grants to supplant state funding for education. Directs the Attorney General to carry out a competitive grant program pursuant to the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 for the hiring, rehiring, or retention of career law enforcement officers. Makes appropriations to the Community Oriented Policing Stabilization Fund to carry out such program and for transfer to a First Responder Stabilization Fund from which the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) shall make competitive grants for hiring additional firefighters pursuant to the Federal Fire Prevention Control Act of 1974. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose on individual taxpayers in taxable years beginning after 2012 an additional tax equal to 0.5% of so much of their modified adjusted gross income as exceeds $1 million. Defines "modified adjusted gross income" as adjusted gross income reduced by any deduction allowed for investment interest. Provides for an inflation adjustment to the $1 million threshold amount for taxable years beginning after 2013.

Date: 2011-10-17
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Economics and public finance
Back to Work Tax Credit - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an increased work opportunity tax credit for the hiring of a qualified long-term unemployed individual. Defines "qualified long-term unemployed individual" as any individual who was not a student for at least six months during the one-year period ending on the hiring date and is certified as having aggregate periods of unemployment during the one-year period ending on the hiring date which equal or exceed six months. Allows tax-exempt charitable organizations or public institutions of higher education to claim the lesser of the amount of the work opportunity credit or the amount of payroll taxes paid during the calendar year for hiring qualified long-term unemployed individuals.

Date: 2011-11-02
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Startup Technical Assistance for Reemployment Training and Unemployment Prevention Act or the STARTUP Act - Amends the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 to authorize states to establish a self-employment assistance program (a program to provide unemployed individuals with an allowance in lieu of extended unemployment compensation to establish a business and become self-employed). Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to allow individuals receiving emergency unemployment compensation to participate in a self-employment assistance program. Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) award grants to states for self-employment assistance programs; (2) develop model language that may be used by states in enacting such programs and provide technical assistance to states in establishing, improving, and administering such programs; (3) establish reporting requirement for states that have established such programs; and (4) report to Congress on the effectiveness of such programs. Amends the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 to repeal the program for investment in microentrepreneurs. Limits and rescinds funding for the Loan Modernization and Accounting System established by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Directs the Administrator of SBA to terminate the Special Purpose Counseling Grant program under the Small Business Act.

Date: 2011-11-08
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Responsible Unemployment Extension Act - Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 with respect to the state-established individual emergency unemployment compensation account (EUCA). Extends the final date for entering a federal-state agreement under the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program through January 3, 2013. Postpones the termination of the program until June 8, 2013. Amends the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act to extend until January 4, 2013, 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 9, 2013, from the prohibition in the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act 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.) Rescinds specified unobligated discretionary funds. Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine and identify from which appropriation accounts such rescissions shall apply, including their amounts. Exempts from rescission any unobligated funds of the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), or the Army Corps of Engineers.

Date: 2011-11-17
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
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: 2011-11-18
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Taxation
Extended Unemployment Benefits Reform Act of 2012 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (relating to approval of state unemployment compensation [UC] laws) to prohibit state payment of extended UC to an individual, even under a temporary program, for any week in which he or she does not: (1) perform at least 20 hours of unpaid public service to a charitable organization, except in specified circumstances; and (2) engage in at least 20 hours of active job searching. Authorizes a state to reduce the required 20 hours of active job searching, and prescribe alternative job search requirements, for any individual who has met both the public service and active job searching requirements for at least 12 weeks.

Date: 2012-02-09
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Working Families Flexibility Act - Authorizes an employee to request from an employer a temporary or permanent change in the terms or conditions of the employee's employment if the request relates to: (1) the number of hours the employee is required to work, (2) the times when the employee is required to work or be on call for work, (3) where the employee is required to work, or (4) the amount of notification the employee receives of work schedule assignments. Sets forth certain employer duties with respect to such requests. Makes it unlawful for an employer to interfere with any rights provided to an employee under this Act. Authorizes an employee to file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor for any violations of such rights. Provides for the investigation and assessment of civil penalties or the award of relief for alleged violations, including the review in federal courts of appeal of orders of the Secretary. Requires the Secretary and certain federal agency administrative officers to provide information and technical assistance to employers, labor organizations, and the general public regarding compliance with this Act. Requires the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor to issue guidance on compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act that provides a flexible work environment through changes in employee terms and conditions of employment provided in this Act. Applies the requirements of this Act to certain classes of employees, including employees of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Library of Congress.

Date: 2012-02-29
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
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 2023, on the administration of this Act.

Date: 2012-06-06
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Forewarn Act - Amends the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to: (1) redefine the terms "employer," "plant closing," and "mass layoff" for purposes of the Act; and, among other things, (2) apply it to employers of 75 or more employees (currently, 100 employees), including any parent company of which the business enterprise is a subsidiary. Requires an employer to: (1) give 90-day (currently, 60-day) written notice to employees and appropriate state and local governments before ordering a plant closing or mass layoff; (2) notify the Secretary of Labor and the governor of the state in which the closing or layoff will occur; and (3) provide affected employees with information regarding benefits and services available to them, including unemployment compensation, trade adjustment assistance, COBRA benefits, onsite access to rapid response teams, and certain other services. Exempts from such notice requirements any plant closings or mass layoffs which are due directly to a terrorist attack. Requires the Secretary to notify the appropriate U.S. Senators and Members of the House of Representatives who represent the area where such closing or mass layoff is to occur. Makes an employer who violates such notice requirements liable to the employee for, among other things, two days pay (currently, back pay for each day of violation) multiplied by the number of calendar days for which the employer was required but failed to provide notice, including interest on such pay. Authorizes an affected employee to file a complaint with the Secretary alleging a violation of the notice requirements. Requires the Secretary to investigate and attempt to resolve such complaints. Authorizes the Secretary to bring an action in court to recover on behalf of an affected employee any backpay (including interest), benefits, and liquidated damages due. Requires an employer to post conspicuously upon its premises pertinent provisions of this Act and information on the filing of a complaint. Requires the Secretary to maintain a guide on the benefits and services available to affected employees. Prohibits the waiver of rights and remedies provided under this Act (including the right to maintain a civil action) by any agreement or settlement negotiated on behalf of affected employees.

Date: 2012-06-14
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Labor and employment
Directs the Secretary of Labor to commence a one-year pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of providing veterans seeking employment with access to computing facilities in order to facilitate their access to websites that: (1) match such veterans with available jobs based on skills acquired as members of the Armed Forces, and (2) allow employers to post information about available jobs. Requires the Secretary to provide such veterans with assistance in using such facilities. Repeals a required annual report from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) on the use of authorities for retaining experienced nurses in the Veterans Health Administration.

Date: 2012-06-20
Topic: Labor (Employee Benefits)
Subject: Armed forces and national security