zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Small Business International Trade Enhancements Act of 2007 - Amends the Small Business Act to establish an Associate Administrator for International Trade as the head of the Office of International Trade of the Small Business Administration (SBA), who shall be responsible for international trade policy. Grants the SBA Administrator the authority to appoint additional Associate Administrators. Requires United States Export Assistance Centers (export centers/one-stop shops) to aid the Office in maintaining a trade distribution network for trade promotion and trade assistance for small businesses. Requires the Office to establish annual goals to enhance the export capabilities of small businesses and small manufacturers to compete against foreign entities. Directs the Office, in order to provide small businesses access to certain export financing programs, to appoint at least one trade financial specialist within the SBA to oversee international loan programs and assist SBA employees with trade finance issues. Directs the SBA Administrator to ensure that the number of full-time equivalent Office employees assigned to one-stop shops for U.S. exporters is at least the number that were assigned on January 1, 2003. Increases: (1) the total outstanding amount of an international trade loan guaranteed by the SBA under the Export Working Capital Program; (2) the maximum amount of an international trade loan; and (3) the maximum amount available for export working capital, supplies, or financing. Allows such loan to be secured by a second lien position on the property or equipment financed by the loan or on other assets of the small business concern. (Currently, a first lien position or first mortgage on the property, equipment, or other business assets is required.)

Date: 2007-03-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Defense Travel Simplification Act of 2007 - Requires the Secretary of Defense to: (1) redesignate the Defense Travel System as the Defense Travel Accounting and Voucher Processing System; and (2) establish an intra-agency task force to recommend measures to streamline and simplify the commercial travel system used by the Department of Defense (DOD) through the establishment of a successor system to replace the Defense Travel Accounting and Voucher Processing System. Requires the successor system to include an Internet-based travel system designed to identify modes of travel, hotels or other accommodations, or rental vehicles. Prohibits any successor system from being deployed until 90 days after successful operational testing by the Secretary.

Date: 2007-03-02
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Catastrophic Disaster Recovery Enhancement Act of 2007 - Amends the Small Business Act to authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), in providing SBA disaster relief assistance, to waive the prohibition on the duplication of benefits, including whether damage or destruction has been compensated for, credit is available from, or funds have been made available from any other source. Applies such amendment to any SBA assistance provided on or after August 29, 2005 (thereby ensuring applicability and retroactivity for victims of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma).

Date: 2007-03-23
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Intermediary Lending Pilot Program Act of 2007 - Establishes a three-year small business intermediary lending pilot program under which the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) may make direct loans to eligible nonprofit lending intermediaries for the purpose of making fixed interest rate and mid-size loans ($35,000 to $200,000) to startup, newly-established, and growing small businesses. Authorizes the Administrator, under the program, to make one percent, 20-year loans of up to $1 million, on a competitive basis, to up to 20 lending intermediaries. Requires geographic diversity and representation of urban and rural communities under the program.

Date: 2007-03-26
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Military Reservist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization Act of 2007 - Amends the Small Business Act to: (1) authorize grants of up to $25,000 for small business assistance for members of the reserves called or ordered to active duty (reservists); (2) allow the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to make noncollateralized small business loans to such reservists; (3) direct the Administrator to establish a loan preapproval process for small business loans to such reservists; and (4) direct the Administrator to develop an outreach and technical assistance program with respect to loans and grants made to such reservists. National Reservist Enterprise Transition and Sustainability Act of 2007 - Directs the Administrator to establish a program to provide business planning assistance to small businesses owned and operated by reservists. Authorizes SBA loans of up to $100,000 to new veteran entrepreneurs. Provides increased funding for FY2008-FY2010 for the SBA's Office of Veterans Business Development. Extends permanently the SBA's Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs.

Date: 2007-03-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Regulatory Review Act of 2007 - Requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), before approving any final rule of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (established under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002), to conduct and complete a regulatory flexibility analysis of such rule. Requires the SEC to publish the small business compliance guide (as required under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996) on the same date as the publication of the final rule issued to carry out a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act concerning management of internal controls for financial reporting. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct an assessment of the impact on small businesses of such rules.

Date: 2007-04-18
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Invest in Small Business Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase the exclusion from gross income of gain from the sale or exchange of qualified small business stock from 50 to 75 % of such gain and to reduce the required holding period for such stock from five to four years; (2) allow a 100% exclusion of gain from such stock sold by a business in an empowerment zone; (3) deny a tax exclusion for small business stock held by a 25% controlled corporate group; (4) repeal as an item of tax preference under the alternative minimum tax the exclusion of gain from the sale of small business stock; (5) repeal the 28% income tax rate on the gain from the sale of small business stock which is not excluded from gross income; (6) revise the definition of "qualified small business" for certain tax purposes to mean a C corporation with aggregate gross assets not exceeding $100 million (currently, $50 million); and (7) provide for an annual inflation adjustment to the small business aggregate gross asset amount after 2007.

Date: 2007-04-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Taxation
Small Business Emergency Fuel Assistance Act of 2007 - Establishes within the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce an emergency assistance program for small businesses and small farms dependent on fuel. Authorizes the President to declare a federal energy emergency if the health, safety, welfare, or economic well-being of U.S. citizens is at risk because of an imminent or actual shortage of adequate supplies of crude oil, gasoline or petroleum distillates owing to: (1) a disruption in the national distribution system for such distillates (including a shortage related to a major disaster); or (2) significant pricing anomalies in national energy markets for them. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to award grants to states under a presidential declaration of fuel supply interruption.

Date: 2007-06-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Venture Capital Act of 2007 - Title I: Small Business Investment Company Program - (Sec. 101) Amends the Small Business Act to reauthorize for FY2007-FY2010 the venture capital program under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (a program under which small business investment companies (SBICs) provide capital financing to small businesses). (Sec. 102) Amends the latter Act to increase the maximum amounts of outstanding leverage made available to: (1) any one SBIC; (2) two or more SBICs that are commonly controlled; and (3) SBICs that invest in women-owned or minority businesses or in businesses in low-income areas. (Sec. 103) Requires each SBIC, as a condition of an application for leverage, to certify that not less than 25% of the aggregate dollar amount of its financings will be provided to smaller enterprises. (Sec. 104) Allows SBICs who were licensed as participating securities SBICs prior to October 1, 2004, to obtain leverage based on Small Business Administration (SBA)-approved commitments rather than paid-in capital. (Sec. 105) Increases from 20% to 30% of total available private capital the maximum authorized SBIC investment in a single business (absent specific SBA approval). Title II: New Markets Venture Capital Program - (Sec. 201) Requires the SBA Administrator, in selecting investment companies to participate in the New Markets Venture Capital program (NMVC program) (investment in small businesses in low-income areas), to have as a goal to select at least one company from each SBA geographic region. Requires the Administrator, to the extent practicable, to have as a goal to enter into at least one NMVC program agreement with a company engaged primarily in the development of and investment in small manufacturers. (Sec. 202) Establishes in the Investment Division of the SBA the Office of New Markets Venture Capital. Requires the head of such Office to: (1) administer the NMVC program; (2) advise the Administrator on recommended changes; (3) work to expand the number of small businesses participating in the program; and (4) encourage investment in small manufacturing. (Sec. 203) Modifies the definition of low-income geographic area to reflect the new markets tax credit under the Internal Revenue Code. (Sec. 204) Requires the Administrator, within one year after the enactment of this Act, to prescribe standard documents for an application for final approval of a company under the NMVC program. (Sec. 205) Allows NMVC companies to receive operational assistance grants of the lesser of 10% of the private capital raised by the company or $1 million. Requires the Administrator to grant each conditionally-approved NMVC company up to two years to raise the $5 million in private capital required for participation. (Sec. 206) Reauthorizes the NMVC program for FY2007-FY2010. Reduces from $30 million to $20 million the authorization for operational assistance grants.

Date: 2007-06-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Securing Equity for the Economic Development of Low Income Areas Act of 2007 or SEED Act - Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to select at least one company from each SBA geographic region when selecting companies to participate as New Markets Venture Capital companies. Establishes in the Investment Division of the SBA the Office of New Markets Venture Capital. Modifies the definition of low-income geographic area to reflect the new markets tax credit under the Internal Revenue Code. Revises the formula for the amount of operational assistance grants for new markets venture capital companies.

Date: 2007-06-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Health Insurance Options Act of 2007 - Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to: (1) establish a four-year pilot program to provide information and educational materials regarding health insurance options, including coverage options within the small group market, to small businesses; and (2) select up to 20 small business development centers (SBDCs) to receive grants under the pilot program. Requires: (1) a specified geographical distribution with respect to grant recipients; and (2) grant funds to be used to create and distribute informational materials and conduct training and educational activities.

Date: 2007-06-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Children's Health Education Act of 2007 - Establishes a task force to conduct a nationwide campaign of education and outreach for small businesses regarding the availability of health care coverage for children through private insurance options, the Medicaid program, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) (title XXI of the Social Security Act).Requires the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to ensure that links to information on eligibility and enrollment requirements for the Medicaid program and SCHIP of each state are prominently displayed on the SBA website.

Date: 2007-06-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Military Reservist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act of 2007 - Increases funding, for each of FY2008-FY2010, for the Office of Veterans Business Development of the Small Business Administration (SBA), with the excess funds to be used to support veterans business outreach centers. Amends the Small Business Act to direct the President to establish an interagency task force to coordinate federal efforts to increase capital and business development opportunities for, and the award of federal contracts and subcontracts to, small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans and veterans. Extends permanently the SBA's Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs. National Reservist Enterprise Transition and Sustainability Act of 2007 - Directs the SBA Administrator to establish a program to provide business planning assistance to small businesses owned and operated by reservists. Directs the Administrator to: (1) establish a loan pre-consideration process for small business loans to reservists; (2) develop an outreach and technical assistance program with respect to loans and grants made to reservists; and (3) give priority to reservists' loan applications. Increases the loan limit for such loans. Authorizes the Administrator to make noncollateralized small business loans to reservists. Provides relief from SBA time limits in the case of certain veteran or service-disabled veteran small business loans. Requires a: (1) report concerning types of assistance needed by service-disabled veterans who wish to become entrepreneurs; and (2) study on options for promoting positive working relations between employers and their reservist employees.

Date: 2007-07-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Amends the Small Business Act to increase the percentage amount that federal agencies with research or research and development budgets in excess of $100 million must spend during FY2008 and thereafter with small businesses participating in federal small business innovative research (SBIR) and small business technology transfer (STTR) programs.

Date: 2007-08-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Surety Bond Improvement Act of 2007 - Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to: (1) authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to guarantee any surety against loss from a small business principal's breach of bond on any total work or contract amount that does not exceed $3 million (under current law, $2 million); (2) direct the Administrator to authorize a surety that issues, monitors, or services such bonds to use rates approved by the insurance commissioner in the state in which the contract will be performed; and (3) prohibit the Administrator from refusing to make payment on a surety guarantee based on facts, circumstances, or defects that the Administrator should reasonably have identified during the guarantee process. Requires the Administrator to notify the congressional small business committees regarding a proposed change in fees charged to guarantee surety bonds. Expresses the sense of Congress that the surety bond guarantee program is not required to be self-funding and, therefore, may at times operate at a loss. Directs the Administrator to establish a third-party alternative dispute resolution procedure for mediating an issue in controversy between a participating surety and the SBA.

Date: 2007-08-02
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Lending Oversight and Program Performance Improvement Act of 2007 - Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to develop and publish portfolio quality evaluation standards to evaluate the loan portfolios of lenders participating in the section 7(a) (SBA-guaranteed loans to small businesses) and 504 (financing to small businesses funded by SBA-guaranteed debentures) programs of the Small Business Act. Requires the standards to measure the rates of loan liquidation, currency, recovery, and delinquency, and to be used by the Administrator to determine lender portfolio quality and to conduct lender oversight. Requires quarterly lender evaluations, and allows for onsite reviews of covered lenders. Directs the Administrator to: (1) calculate loan default rates; (2) inform lenders of their portfolio quality ranking; (3) develop and publish loan recipient economic performance evaluation measurements; and (4) ensure the privacy of collected information. Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to require a state or local development company (lender) participating in an SBA loan program to execute a written contract with each executive or highly paid company employee which includes the amount of compensation, benefits, and transfer of anything of value to that executive or employee. Requires such contract to be approved by that company's board of directors. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study of the 7(a) loan program relating to lender oversight and portfolio examination and review fees.

Date: 2007-11-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Contracting Revitalization Act of 2007 - Amends the Small Business Act to provide federal review and oversight of the practice of contract bundling (the consolidation of two or more procurement contracts into a solicitation for a single prime contract that is unlikely, because of its size or complexity, to be suitable for award to a small business). Revises or adds federal provisions or requirements concerning: (1) increased small business participation in federal procurement subcontracts, including a pilot program to provide contractual incentives to prime contractors that exceed their small business subcontracting goals; (2) Small Business Administration (SBA) certification of small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, women, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals; (3) historically underutilized business zones (HUBZones) affected by military base closures; (4) the BusinessLINC program (business-to-business and mentor-protege relationships between large and small businesses); (5) information on contracts involving small businesses that were displaced by bundled or consolidated actions; (6) the reservation of certain prime contract awards to small businesses; (7) a Comptroller General study on federal procurement contracting reporting systems; (8) micropurchase guidelines; (9) reporting on overseas contracts; (10) federal agency accountability with respect to small business procurement contracting and subcontracting goals; (11) certification as a small business for purposes of eligibility for the award of federal contracts and subcontracts (including authority to protest a business as a small business for such purposes); (12) training for federal contracting and contract enforcement personnel; (13) revised size standards for qualification as a small business; and (14) small business size and status for purposes of multiple award contracts.

Date: 2007-11-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Stimulus Act of 2008 - Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to reduce in 2008 the rate of certain loan fees imposed under the Small Business Act.Appropriates, as an emergency requirement, additional funds in FY2008 for: (1) loan subsidies under the SBA Business Loans Program Account; and (2) direct loans and assistance under the SBA Microloan Program.Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase to $200,000 in 2008 the expensing allowance for depreciable business assets; and (2) extend through 2008 the five-year carryback of certain unused net operating losses.

Date: 2008-01-24
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Women's Procurement Program Improvement Act - Amends the Small Business Act relating to the women's procurement program (the provision of contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses) to require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to wait until five years after the program is implemented before conducting a required study to identify industries in which small businesses owned and controlled by women are underrepresented with respect to federal procurement contracting (and therefore eligible for contracting preferences or set-asides). Presumes as underrepresented by women-owned small businesses the industries identified in industry codes 11 through 81 of the 2007 North American Industry Classification System Code. States that a contracting officer need not make a finding of past gender discrimination by a contracting agency in order to comply with federal contracting requirements under the women's business procurement program.

Date: 2008-02-07
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Lending Stimulus Act of 2008 - Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to reduce in 2008 the rate of certain loan fees imposed under the Small Business Act and debenture fees under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958. Authorizes appropriations for FY2008: (1) to cover such rate reductions; and (2) for direct loans and assistance under the SBA Microloan Program. Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to authorize the SBA to refinance certain existing debt of small businesses that received prior loans for plant acquisition, construction, conversion, or expansion.

Date: 2008-02-07
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Independent Office of Advocacy and Small Business Regulatory Reform Act of 2008 - Requires the Office of Advocacy (Office) of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to carry out responsibilities concerning the analysis of regulatory functions, including regulatory flexibility analyses. Requires: (1) each federal budget to include a separate statement of the amount requested for the Office, designated in a separate account in the General Fund of the Treasury; and (2) the SBA Administrator to provide the Office with appropriate and adequate office space, together with necessary equipment, operating budget, and communications facilities and services, and to provide necessary maintenance services for such offices and equipment. Requires: (1) each federal agency to notify the SBA's Chief Counsel for Advocacy of any agency draft rules that may have a significant impact on a substantial number of small businesses; (2) each agency's final regulatory analysis of a final rule to include the agency's response to any comments of the Chief Counsel for Advocacy with respect to that rule, as well as changes made as a result of such comments; and (3) agencies to make final regulatory flexibility analyses available to the public, including on a website.

Date: 2008-04-23
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Extends through March 20, 2009, under the same terms and conditions, the authorization for any program, authority, or provision, including any pilot program, that is currently authorized through May 23, 2008, under the Small Business Act or the Small Business Investment Act of 1958.

Date: 2008-05-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Manufacturing, Assembling, Development, and Export in the USA Tax Act or the MADE in the USA Tax Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) phase in a reduction in the maximum corporate income tax rate from 35 to 28% between 2009 and 2013; (2) increase the deduction for income attributable to domestic production activities and limit such deduction to business entities other than C corporations; (3) make permanent the increased expensing allowance for depreciable business property; (4) repeal certain limitations on the exclusion for the housing expenses of U.S. citizens working abroad; (5) include all foreign-source royalties in passive category income in applying the foreign tax credit limitation; (6) apply the foreign tax credit limitation separately to financial services income; (7) treat certain foreign corporations that are managed and controlled primarily within the United States as domestic corporations for tax purposes; (8) treat certain foreign entities with single owners as corporations; (9) prohibit any reduction of tax withholding for payments made by a U.S. subsidiary of a foreign parent corporation to a related subsidiary in any country that has a tax treaty with the United States, except for payments made directly to the foreign parent corporation; (10) repeal special source rules for inventory property; (11) impose a fair market value standard for determining foreign oil and gas extraction income; (12) modify the limitation on excess interest deductions of certain corporations; (13) require the inclusion in gross income for income tax purposes of employee compensation deferred under a nonqualified deferred compensation plan of a nonqualified foreign entity when there is no substantial risk of forfeiture of the rights to such compensation; (14) deny the refundable portion of the child tax credit to taxpayers living or residing outside the United States; (15) repeal certain inventory accounting methods; (16) repeal the percentage depletion allowance after 2008; (17) extend the amortization period for intangible property (e.g., goodwill) from 15 to 20 years; (18) set forth rules for the application of the economic substance doctrine to financial transactions affecting tax liability; (19) impose penalties for understatement of tax attributable to transactions lacking economic substance; and (20) extend the 6.2% federal unemployment tax rate through 2018.Repeals the 3% withholding requirement applicable to payments by governmental entities to vendors of goods and services. Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) to revise and make permanent certain provisions relating to fees for certain customs services.

Date: 2008-06-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Taxation
Disaster Recovery Substance Abuse Mental Health Treatment Act of 2008 - Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize the President to provide mental health and substance abuse services to individuals affected by a major disaster to relieve or prevent mental health or substance abuse problems caused or aggravated by that disaster or its aftermath.Allows such assistance to include financial assistance to government agencies, mental health or substance abuse organizations, or mental health providers to provide, or train individuals to provide, mental health or substance abuse services. Restricts assistance to an 18-month period, which in limited circumstances may be extended if the President determines it to be in the public interest. Makes this applicable to any major disaster declared by the President on or after August 29, 2005.Requires the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the head of any other federal agency that provides mental health or substance abuse services, in coordination with the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and state and local officials with responsibilities for such services, to: (1) conduct a survey of such services; and (2) develop a strategy for the adequate provision of such services to individuals affected by major disasters and to emergency response providers responding to major disasters.

Date: 2008-06-23
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Emergency management
Mentoring for All Act of 2008 - Amends the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to direct the Corporation for National and Community Service to award competitive, matching, three-year grants to nonpartisan, collaborative, public-private partnerships at the state and local level for efforts to grow and strengthen direct-service youth mentoring programs in all forms and settings in their service areas. Requires partnership grantees to use at least 80% of their grant for competitive subgrants to mentoring programs: (1) operated by or being created by, nonprofit organizations, schools, or local governments; or (2) operated by local collaboratives that each include at least two experienced youth mentoring organizations and at least one entity that provides volunteer mentors. Allows partnership grantees to give subgrant priority to collaboratives. Requires each partnership grantee to participate in a collaborative national network of mentoring partnerships. Directs the Corporation to award competitive, matching, three-year grants to entities or collaboratives of entities enabling the entities or collaboratives to: (1) build the necessary infrastructure to create a state mentoring partnership; or (2) implement national mentoring projects. Requires the Corporation to evaluate this Act's programs and provide training and technical assistance to grant fund recipients that is based on support from the national network of mentoring partnerships.

Date: 2008-06-26
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Social welfare
Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008 - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to prescribe procedures for petition, by the governor of a state with a new producing area within the offshore administrative boundaries beyond the state's submerged land, to make the new producing area available for oil and gas leasing. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit specified percentages of outer Continental Shelf revenues into: (1) the general fund of the Treasury; and (2) into a special account in the Treasury for disbursal to both new producing states and to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Amends the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008, to repeal the prohibition against funding: (1) regulations regarding a commercial leasing program for oil shale resources on public lands; or (2) an oil shale lease sale. Instructs the Secretary of Energy to: (1) expand and accelerate research and development efforts for advanced batteries; and (2) implement a direct loan program for up to 30% of the costs of advanced battery production. Expresses the sense of the Senate that the federal government should implement policies to increase federal purchases of plug-in electric drive vehicles. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to study jointly and report to Congress on the international regime for regulating trading in energy commodity futures and derivatives. Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to prohibit the CFTC from permitting a foreign board of trade to provide to participants subject to CFTC jurisdiction direct access to electronic trading and order matching unless specified requirements are met. Directs the CFTC to: (1) promulgate rules for routine reporting requirements for index traders and swap dealers in energy and agricultural transactions; and (2) disaggregate and make public monthly information on the positions and value of index funds and other passive, long-only positions in the energy and agricultural futures markets.Instructs the CFTC to report to certain congressional committees on: (1) the scope of commodity index trading in the futures markets; (2) whether classification of index traders and swap dealers in the futures markets can be improved for regulatory and reporting purposes; and (3) whether index trading activity is adversely impacting the price discovery process in the futures markets and whether different practices and controls should be required. Instructs the CFTC to hire additional employees.

Date: 2008-06-26
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Energy
SBA Women's Business Programs Act of 2008 - Amends the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988 to direct the National Women's Business Council to: (1) conduct at least one annual study that evaluates problems hindering the success of women entrepreneurs; and (2) report biannually on its initiatives, policies, programs, and plans. Amends the Small Business Act relating to the women's business center program (program) to replace the five-year projects for the benefit of small businesses owned and controlled by women with a three-tiered program of five-year (first tier), three-year (second tier), and three-year (third tier) projects, with each tier commencing after the previous tier is being completed. Revises matching funds requirements for such projects. States that organizations that have conducted projects under the program: (1) are not eligible to conduct another such project; and (2) may continue to use the women's business center logo only with the Administrator's consent. Requires notice to the public of women's business center awards.

Date: 2008-07-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Disadvantaged Business Disaster Eligibility Act of 2008 - Permits any small business that was participating in a Small Business Administration (SBA) business development program located in a Louisiana parish or Mississippi or Alabama county designated by the SBA Administrator as a disaster area by reason of Hurricane Katrina or Rita to continue participation and eligibility in such program for an additional 24 months.

Date: 2008-07-17
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
American Shipping Reinvestment Act of 2008 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) repeal shipping investment withdrawal tax rules; and (2) allow U.S. corporate shareholders a tax deduction for dividends attributable to foreign base company shipping income received from a controlled foreign corporation.

Date: 2008-07-29
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Taxation
Long-Term Care Family Accessibility Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income-based tax credit for 50% of the first $4,000 of premiums paid for long-term care insurance coverage of a taxpayer or a taxpayer's family member or dependent.

Date: 2008-07-30
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Taxation
Recreational Performance Outerwear Apparel Act of 2008 - Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to provide for the duty-free treatment of certain recreational performance outerwear. Establishes the Sustainable Textile and Apparel Research Fund (STAR Fund). Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) impose and collect, with specified exceptions, a fee of 1.5% of the appraised value of imported recreational performance outerwear and to deposit amounts collected into the STAR Fund; and (2) make quarterly distributions from the STAR Fund to one or more appropriate organizations to conduct applied research, development, and education activities to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. businesses in clean, eco-friendly apparel, other textile and apparel products, and sewn-product design and manufacturing.

Date: 2008-08-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Foreign trade and international finance
Small Business Lending Market Stabilization Act of 2008 - Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), to the extent that the cost is offset by appropriations, to collect no fees currently charged by: (1) the SBA to borrowers and lenders under the SBA's 7(a) loan program (SBA-guaranteed general business loans to small businesses); and (2) development companies under SBA's 504 loan program (local business development loans). Directs the Administrator to reimburse development companies for waived fees. Increases maximum limits on SBA loans made to small businesses under the Small Business Act and on loans made to development companies under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958. Authorizes a small business whose SBA loan includes the acquisition of a facility or construction of a new facility to lease up to 50% of the space in such facility. Permits certain borrowers to refinance a limited amount of their preexisting debt through a new 504 loan. Directs the SBA to establish an optional business size standard for certain small business loan applicants. Allows the SBA to use weighted average rates when pooling loans for sale on the secondary market. Directs the SBA to provide lenders at least one alternative loan interest rate to the prime rate.

Date: 2008-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
HUBZone Improvement Act of 2008 - Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to: (1) correct and update the map used by the SBA to identify HUBZones (historically underutilized business zones) and to ensure that it is updated on a more frequent basis; (2) develop and implement guidance for determining whether an applicant is a qualified HUBZone small business; (3) establish a date for elimination of the backlog of applications for recertification as a qualified HUBZone small business; (4) ensure that the SBA eliminates the backlog by such date; (5) establish and implement a time period for completing a recertification; and (6) develop and implement plans to assess the effectiveness of the HUBZone program.

Date: 2008-11-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2009: (1) the increased ($250,000) expensing allowance for depreciable business assets; and (2) the additional 50% depreciation allowance for certain types of investment property (bonus depreciation).

Date: 2009-01-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Taxation
Small Business Liability Reform Act of 2009 - Allows punitive damages against a small business only if the claimant establishes by clear and convincing evidence that conduct carried out by the defendant with a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of others was the proximate cause of the harm that is the subject of the action. States that in any civil action against a small business: (1) each defendant shall be liable only for the amount of noneconomic loss allocated to that defendant in direct proportion to the percentage of responsibility of that defendant for the harm caused to the plaintiff; and (2) the court shall render a separate judgment against each defendant describing such percentage of responsibility. Excepts from such liability limitations specified misconduct of a defendant.

Date: 2009-01-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Law
Disabled Veteran Small Business Eligibility Expansion Act of 2009 - Amends the Small Business Act to make small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans eligible for the award by the Small Business Administration (SBA) of small business development grants in the same manner as small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

Date: 2009-01-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Opportunity for Family Farms and Small Businesses Act of 2009 - Makes permanent the provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) that repeal the estate and generation skipping transfer taxes and that make reductions in the gift tax. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase to $200,000 and make permanent the expensing allowance (i.e., a tax deduction in the current taxable year) for depreciable business assets; (2) increase the threshold for phaseout of such allowance to $800,000 (the cost basis of property placed in service); (3) allow an inflation adjustment to the expensing and threshold amounts after 2009; (4) make permanent the right of a taxpayer to revoke an election to expense business assets; (5) make permanent the inclusion of certain computer software as property eligible for expensing; and (6) allow self-employment health insurance costs as a deduction in determining net self-employment income.

Date: 2009-01-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the restrictions on the tax deduction for the travel expenses of a taxpayer's spouse, dependent, or other individual accompanying the taxpayer on business travel.

Date: 2009-01-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Taxation
Increases, for one year after the enactment of this Act, the authorized level of participation (financing) by the Small Business Administration (SBA) in certain SBA-guaranteed loans made to small businesses.

Date: 2009-01-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Small Business Cooperative for Healthcare Options to Improve Coverage for Employees (CHOICE) Act of 2009 or the Small Business CHOICE Act of 2009 - Provides for the establishment and governance of Fully Funded Small Business Health Insurance cooperatives, which are small businesses that form a captive insurance company chartered in a qualified state to provide excess claims coverage insurance that meets certain qualifications to its members. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish an independent commission on Fully Funded Small Business Health Insurance Cooperatives to: (1) promote the development of such cooperatives; (2) make recommendations to the Secretary regarding minimum capital requirements; and (3) conduct oversight of such cooperatives.Exempts such cooperatives from certain state laws, rules, regulations, or orders, including any that would: (1) prohibit the establishment of a cooperative; (2) impose any material requirements, procedures, or standards on a cooperative that are not generally applicable to other entities engaged in a substantially similar business; or (3) discriminate against a cooperative or any of its members. Preempts any state law that conflicts with, hinders, poses an obstacle to, or frustrates the purpose of this Act.Sets forth provisions governing the provision of claims information, including protected health information, from health insurance issuers to cooperatives.Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish the small business CHOICE tax credit for small employers for costs related to providing qualified employer-subsidized health coverage for employees and their families. Disallows such a credit unless the employee offers a qualified small business wellness program to covered employees and family members.

Date: 2009-02-04
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Health
Declares that this Act is enacted pursuant to the constitutional power granted to Congress to regulate commerce. Amends the Consumer Product Safety Act to allow a secondhand seller to sell, offer for sale, or distribute a product or substance that is not in conformity with a consumer product safety rule relating to lead in children's products or to currently-required labeling for children's products. Defines "secondhand seller" to include: (1) a consignment or thrift shop; (2) an individual who uses the Internet, a yard sale, or other casual means; or (3) a person who sells such a product at an auction to benefit a nonprofit organization. Delays by six months each required step down in the allowed lead level in children's products. Applies this change as though it had taken effect on August 15, 2008.Prevents a specified requirement for third-party children's product safety testing from going into effect before August 9, 2009. Applies this change as though it had taken effect on August 15, 2008.Relieves a manufacturer from the requirement to test or certify a product regarding lead content if the manufacturer has tested and certifies each component of the product.Prohibits either the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) or any state attorney general from initiating an enforcement proceeding under the Consumer Product Safety Act or the Federal Hazardous Substances Act regarding product certification and labeling and children's products containing lead until 30 days after the issuance of final rules, regulations, or guidance.Requires the CPSC to waive any civil penalty for a good faith first violation of a prohibition under the Act.Requires the CPSC to develop, publish, and distribute a guide to assist small enterprises in complying with the requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Act and other Acts enforced by the CPSC.

Date: 2009-02-10
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Eagle Employers Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a taxpayer certified as an Eagle employer by the Secretary of the Treasury a tax credit for one percent of such employer's taxable income. Defines an " Eagle employer" as any taxpayer who: (1) maintains its headquarters in the United States; (2) pays at least 60% of the health care premiums of its employees; (3) maintains or increases the number of its full-time workers in the United States relative to its full-time workers outside of the United States; (4) provides full differential salary and insurance benefits for all National Guard and Reserve employees called to active duty; and (5) provides its employees with a certain level of compensation and retirement benefits.

Date: 2009-02-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Taxation
Securing Equity for the Economic Development of Low Income Areas Act of 2009 - Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), in selecting companies to participate in the New Markets Venture Capital Program (Program), to select at least one company from each geographic region of the SBA. Requires (current law authorizes) the Administrator to make grants to such companies to be used for loans to new-market small businesses, and to guarantee debentures issued by such companies. Establishes the Office of New Markets Venture Capital, headed by a Director, to administer the Program. Revises the definition of "low income geographic area" for Program eligibility purposes. Requires a study by the SBA's Chief Counsel for Advocacy on the availability of equity capital in low-income urban and rural areas. Authorizes operational assistance grants to conditionally approved companies.

Date: 2009-03-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Amends the Business Opportunity Development Reform Act of 1988 to repeal the small business competitiveness demonstration program (the testing of innovative small business procurement methods and procedures).

Date: 2009-03-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Commerce
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase in taxable years beginning in 2009, 2010, or 2011: (1) the limit on the tax deduction for trade or business start-up expenditures from $5,000 to $20,000; and (2) the threshold amount for reducing such limit.

Date: 2009-03-17
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Small Businesses)
Subject: Taxation