United States · United States Congress · 30 October 2018
Shirley Chisholm Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the posthumous presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of Shirley Chisholm, in recognition of her activism, independence, and groundbreaking achievements in politics, election as the first African American woman in Congress, and campaign to be the first African American to gain the nomination of a major political party for President of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 2018
Finds that no person should face violence or discrimination because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Honors the contributions of nonprofit organizations and community leaders working to advance tolerance, acceptance, equality, safety and respect for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Americans. Reaffirms support for LGBTQ-inclusive hate crime prevention laws.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2018
Intern Opportunity Act This bill permits each Member of the House of Representatives to use the Members' Representational Allowance to employ up to four paid interns without affecting the number of other employees whom the Member may employ under such allowance.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2018
Protecting the Health and Wellness of Babies and Pregnant Women in Custody Act or the Pregnant Women in Custody Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to limit the use of restraints and restrictive housing for prisoners who are pregnant or in postpartum recovery. Additionally, it requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics to include, in the National Prison Statistics Program and Annual Survey of Jails, statistics on the health needs of incarcerated pregnant women. A Bureau of Prisons facility must provide appropriate services and programs to address the health and safety needs of women inmates related to pregnancy and childbirth. The Government Accountability Office must study the services and protections for pregnant incarcerated women in state and local correctional settings.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2018
Recognizes: (1) the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month; and (2) the integral role of Latinos and their manifold heritage in the economy, culture, and identity of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2018
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Homeland Security Partnerships Act This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to issue a strategy to enhance partnerships with historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions.
United States · United States Congress · 24 August 2018
Clean Slate Act of 2018 This bill requires courts to automatically seal records for certain arrests and nonviolent offenses involving marijuana. Additionally, the bill creates a mechanism to allow an individual to petition to seal criminal records for certain other nonviolent offenses.
United States · United States Congress · 24 August 2018
Aretha Franklin Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill instructs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the posthumous presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of Aretha Franklin in recognition of her outstanding artistic and historical significance to the culture of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 14 August 2018
Clean Slate Act of 2018 This bill requires courts to automatically seal records for certain arrests and nonviolent offenses involving marijuana. Additionally, the bill creates a mechanism to allow an individual to petition to seal criminal records for certain other nonviolent offenses.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 2018
This bill makes it unlawful for a person who is not a licensed gun dealer to transfer a firearm at a gun show. The prohibition does not apply to a transfer to a licensed manufacturer, importer, dealer, or collector. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2018
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2018 This bill revises and reauthorizes through FY2023 various programs and activities under the Violence Against Women Act that seek to prevent and respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. Among other things, the bill also authorizes new programs, makes changes to federal firearms laws, and establishes new protections to promote housing stability and economic security for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2018
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 445 Main Street in Laceyville, Pennsylvania, as the "Melinda 'Mindy' Gene Piccotti Post Office."
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act This bill establishes the National Park Service and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund and requires 50% of all energy development revenues for FY2019-FY2023 to be deposited into such fund. Amounts deposited in the fund must not exceed $1.3 billion for any fiscal year and must be used for meeting high-priority deferred maintenance needs of the National Park Service.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act of 2018 This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies regarding prices for drugs covered under the Medicare prescription drug benefit. (Current law prohibits the CMS from doing so.) The CMS must take certain factors into account during negotiations, including the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of the drug, the financial burden on patients, and unmet patient needs. If the CMS is unable to negotiate the price of a drug, such drug is subject to competitive licensing in order to further its sale under Medicare, notwithstanding existing government-granted exclusivities. Additionally, for one year after a drug is provided under a competitive license, such drug is also subject to specified price limitations; if the drug is not offered at such prices, the drug is subject to additional licensing that furthers its sale under any federal program (e.g., Medicaid).
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Stop the Tax Hike on Charities and Places of Worship Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the requirements for determining the unrelated business taxable income of tax-exempt organizations. The bill repeals a provision that requires unrelated business taxable income to be increased by the amount of expenses paid or incurred by a tax-exempt organization for certain fringe benefits for which a tax deduction is not allowed, including benefits relating to transportation, parking, or an on-premises athletic facility. The bill also increases the corporate tax rate from 21% to 22%.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Authorizes specified committees of the House of Representatives to intervene on behalf of the House in the case of Texas v. United States in order to defend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Authorizes the Office of General Counsel of the House, under the supervision of such committees, to represent them in the intervention.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2018
Integration of Baseball Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins in recognition and celebration of the 75th anniversary of the integration of the game of baseball. All sales of such coins shall include specified surcharges. All surcharges received by Treasury shall be distributed to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, with the understanding that the Hall of Fame shall work with the Jackie Robinson Foundation to develop and operate education programs about the integration of the game of baseball and to preserve artifacts related to the integration of the game.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2018
Federal Jobs Guarantee Development Act of 2018 This bill requires the Department of Labor to establish a pilot program to provide grants to eligible entities (i.e., political subdivisions of states and Tribal entities with a high unemployment rate) for programs to guarantee employment to individuals residing in the areas served by such entities.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2018
AG and Legal Workforce Act This bill establishes a new H-2C nonimmigrant visa for aliens coming temporarily to the United States to perform agricultural labor or services. In addition, the bill (1) directs the Department of Homeland Security to create an electronic employment-eligibility confirmation system modeled after the E-Verify system, and (2) mandates the use of such a system by employers.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2018
Advancing Youth Enrollment Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the premium assistance tax credits that are available to taxpayers with household members who are 18-34 years old. (The credit is available to eligible individuals and families to subsidize the purchase of health insurance plans on an exchange established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.) The bill allows increased tax credits for the taxpayers by reducing the maximum percentage of income that the taxpayers are required to pay for health insurance premiums. This percentage is used to calculate the amount of the credit.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2018
America's Natural Treasures of Immeasurable Quality Unite, Inspire, and Together Improve the Economies of States Act of 2018 or the ANTIQUITIES Act of 2018. This bill directs the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to administer each specified national monument under their joint or exclusive jurisdiction, including the Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Gold Butte, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monuments and the Rose Atoll and Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monuments in accordance with: (1) the one or more presidential proclamations that apply to the applicable covered monument; (2) any Act of Congress enacted before December 4, 2017, that provides for an adjustment to the boundary or administration of such monument; and (3) this bill. The bill establishes the National Monument Enhancement Fund to furnish funding: (1) to such federal agencies to develop management plans for their national monuments that were designated under current federal law, (2) for federal acquisition and development of certain land and other areas, and (3) to develop and enhance recreational infrastructure on such designated lands. The bill designates: (1) specified BLM lands within the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande del Norte National Monuments in New Mexico and in the Gold Butte National Conservation Area in Nevada as wilderness and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System; and (2) approximately 100 acres of BLM land in New Mexico as a potential wilderness area and, when specified conditions have been met, for incorporation into the Robledo Mountains Wilderness.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2018
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the U.S. Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the federal government and is not subject to privatization.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2018
Small Business Access to Capital and Efficiency Act or the Small Business ACE Act This bill amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to revise the loan amount above which a real estate appraisal is required for the commercial real property securing a Certified Development Company loan. Specifically, the bill ties the amount to the federal banking regulator appraisal threshold. (Currently, an appraisal is required for a loan of more than $250,000.)
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2018
7(a) Real Estate Appraisal Harmonization Act This bill amends the Small Business Act to revise the loan amount above which a real estate appraisal is required for a commercial real property securing a small business loan. Specifically, the bill ties the amount to the federal banking regulator appraisal threshold. (Currently, an appraisal is required for a loan of more than $250,000.)
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2018
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights are human rights and protected by the U.S. Constitution; (2) LGBTQ Pride Month should be celebrated; and (3) all Americans should be treated equally regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2018
Family Unity Rights and Protection Act This bill requires the Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, State, and Defense to ensure that alien children (i.e., children under the age of 18 removed from their parents or legal guardians at or near a port of entry or within 100 miles of the U.S. border pursuant to a zero tolerance policy for criminal illegal reentry) are reunited at the earliest possible date with their parents and guardians from whom they were separated. It also requires notification of parents and guardians of procedures for reuniting with such children and for the location of such children. The bill requires the creation of an electronic registry for information used to locate such alien children and their parents and guardians. The information in such registry may only be used for locating such children and may not be used in any criminal prosecution or other immigration proceeding. The bill also sets forth conditions on the termination of parental rights in immigration proceedings and requires the consolidation of asylum and immigration proceedings involving alien children.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2018
Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act of 2018 or the DISCLOSE Act of 2018 This bill expands the ban on election contributions by foreign nationals to include corporations subject to specified levels of ownership or control by foreign nationals. The bill also expands (1) reporting requirements related to campaign contributions, and (2) disclosure requirements related to the funding sources of political advertisements.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2018
Sets forth the rule for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1902) to protect our Social Security system and improve benefits for current and future generations.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2018
Central America Family Protection and Reunification Act This bill states that it shall be: (1) U.S. policy to not separate immigrant families as a deterrent and to reunite families that were separated due to the criminal prosecution of parents for illegal entry, and (2) Department of State policy to prioritize supporting governments and citizens to facilitate reunification of such families. The State Department shall submit to Congress: reports concerning gender-based violence in the Northern Triangle (the region encompassing Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador); reports concerning gang and organized-crime related violence in the Northern Triangle; strategies to use portions of funds for the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America to combat gender-based violence in the Northern Triangle, as well as to address the damage to the health and well-being of children and caregivers caused by separating children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. The State Department shall establish an office to study serious crimes committed against aliens who were removed from the United States and against U.S. citizens who left the United States because of having an alien parent who was removed from the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2018
Minority Bank Advisory Committee Act of 2018 This bill establishes Minority Depository Institutions Advisory Committees at the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2018
Keep Families Together Act This bill prohibits an agent or contractor of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, or the Department of Health and Human Services from removing a child who is under the age of 18 and has no permanent immigration status from his or her parent or legal guardian at or near the port of entry or within 100 miles of the U.S. border unless: an authorized state court determines that it is in the child's best interests to be removed; a state or county child welfare official with expertise in child trauma and development determines that it is in the child's best interests to be removed because of abuse or neglect; or the Chief Patrol Agent or the Area Port Director authorizes separation based on a documented finding that the child is a trafficking victim or is at significant risk of becoming a victim, a strong likelihood exists that the adult is not the parent or legal guardian, or the child is in danger of abuse or neglect. A child may not be removed from a parent or guardian unless an independent licensed child welfare expert authorizes the separation within 48 hours of such removal. An agency may not remove a child from a parent or legal guardian solely for the policy goals of deterring migration to the United States or of promoting immigration law compliance. The bill sets forth presumptions: (1) in favor of family and sibling unity and parental rights, and (2) that detention is not in the best interests of families and children. The bill limits the prosecution of asylum seekers.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2018
Fairness and Accuracy in Employment Background Checks Act of 2018 This bill directs the Department of Justice to establish and enforce procedures to ensure the prompt exchange of accurate records and information for employment-related purposes through the Federal Bureau of Investigation background check system.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2018
Recognizes the historical significance and supports the continued celebration of Juneteenth Independence Day, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2018
Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act This bill specifies that individuals with metastatic breast cancer are not subject to certain waiting periods for disability insurance benefits under the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program and related Medicare coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2018
This bill specifies that an offense involving lynching is a hate crime act. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a prison term, a fine, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2018
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the War on Drugs has failed to achieve its goal of reducing drug use. Apologizes to those harmed through the War on Drugs.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2018
Counting Our Unexpected Natural Tragedies' Victims Act of 2018 or the COUNT Victims Act This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to contract with the National Academy of Medicine to conduct a study of matters concerning best practices in mortality counts as a result of a major disaster. A report on the study must be completed and transmitted to FEMA within two years after the contract date of September 30, 2018. The study shall address approaches to quantifying mortality and significant morbidity among populations affected by major disasters and shall include best practices and policy recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2018
International Human Rights Defense Act of 2018 This bill establishes in the Department of State a permanent Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex) Peoples who shall serve as the principal State Department advisor regarding human rights for LGBTI people and represent the United States in diplomatic matters relevant to the human rights of LGBTI people. The special envoy shall periodically provide Congress with a U.S. global strategy to prevent and respond to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTI people. The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development may provide assistance to prevent and respond to such activities against LGBTI people. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended to require that annual country reports on human rights practices include information on criminalization, discrimination, and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 2018
This joint resolution condemns the actions taken by Hamas in Gaza, supports Israel's right to defend itself, and urges the United Nations and U.S. allies to support Israel in its self-defense against Hamas. The joint resolution reaffirms U.S. concern with the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza caused by Hamas.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2018
Students Over Special Interests Act This bill terminates the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and forgives the outstanding balance of interest and principal due on federal student loans.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2018
Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections for Separated Children Act or the HELP Separated Children Act This bill sets forth Department of Homeland Security apprehension procedures with respect to children involved in immigration enforcement actions, including detention center access to courts, welfare agencies, and consular officials.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2018
Executive Branch Comprehensive Ethics Enforcement Act of 2018 This bill expands the duties and authorities of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). Among other things, the bill authorizes the OGE to do the following: issue subpoenas during investigations; and order corrective actions (e.g., divestiture) and issue administrative remedies (e.g., suspension or demotion).