United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2015
Tiahrt Restrictions Repeal Act Amends the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012, to repeal prohibitions on using appropriated funds: (1) to disclose contents of the Firearms Trace System database maintained by the National Trace Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or any information required to be kept by firearms dealers except as specified in such Act; (2) to promulgate or implement any rule requiring a physical inventory of any firearms business; or (3) for any background check system that does not require the destruction of identifying information submitted for a transferee within 24 hours after the system advises a federal firearms licensee that the transferee's receipt of a firearm is not prohibited.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2015
Social Security Fraud and Error Prevention Act of 2015 Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to appropriate from the Social Security Trust Funds to the Social Security Administration for each fiscal year beginning FY2016 amounts for specified fraud and error prevention activities. Prescribes a formula for the calculation of such amounts, which include fines and civil monetary penalties recovered. Directs the Commissioner of Social Security to: (1) report to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a plan for conducting fraud and error prevention activities; (2) take any necessary actions to ensure that cooperative disability investigations (CDI) units have been established for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories; (3) conduct quality reviews in certain cases with respect to decisions in connection with the application for benefits under this title and SSAct title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI), in a sufficient number to ensure compliance with laws, regulations, and other guidance issued by the Commissioner; (4) report annually to Congress the total number of cases selected for such quality review, the number of such cases in which a decision is remanded, and the number of such cases in which a decision is modified or reversed; and (5) report annually to Congress on the number of work-related continuing disability reviews conducted. Allows the Commissioner to submit a combined annual report to specified congressional committees of certain information relating to disability benefits. Increases civil and criminal penalties for specified persons in positions of trust in certain cases of fraud, and requires inflation adjustments every four years for certain civil penalties. Prohibits the Commissioner, in making any determination with respect to whether an individual is or continues to be under a disability, from considering (except for good cause) any evidence furnished by a physician or other health care provider who has been barred from practice, has been assessed a penalty for the submission of false evidence, or is excluded from participation in any federal health care program.. Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to repeal program integrity adjustments after FY2014 to budget authority for continuing disability reviews and redeterminations.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2015
Medicare CGM Access Act of 2015 - This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare coverage of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices furnished to a CGM qualified individual. The Department of Health and Human Services must establish a fee schedule and ensure that CGM qualified individuals are furnished with appropriate device components.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2015
Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act Establishes the Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave within the Social Security Administration (SSA), to be headed by the Deputy SSA Commissioner. Entitles every individual to a family and medical leave insurance (FMLI) benefit payment for each month beginning on the first day of the first month in which the individual meets the criteria specified below and ending 365 days later (benefit period), not to exceed 60 qualified caregiving days per period. Qualifies for such a benefit payment any individual who: is insured for disability insurance benefits under the Social Security Act at the time his or her application is filed; has earned income from employment during the 12 months before filing it; has filed an application for a FMLI benefit in accordance with this Act; and was engaged in qualified caregiving (any activity, except regular employment, for a reason entitled to leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993), or anticipates being so engaged, during the 90-day period before the application is filed or within 30 days after. Prescribes a formula for determination of an individual's monthly FMLI benefit payment, as well as for the maximum and the minimum monthly benefit amounts. Requires a FMLI benefit payment to be coordinated with any periodic benefits received from temporary disability insurance or family leave insurance programs under any state law or plan, local government, or an instrumentality of two or more states. Prescribes criteria that makes an individual ineligible for a FMLI benefit payment. Specifies prohibited acts by an employer, and penalties for violations. Establishes the Federal Family and Medical Leave Insurance Trust Fund in the Treasury. Requires FMLI benefit payments to be made only from this Fund. Prohibits the use of amounts from the Social Security Trust Fund or appropriated to the SSA to administer Social Security programs for FMLI benefits or administration. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a tax on every individual and employer, all self-employment income, and every railroad employee, employee representative, or railroad employer to finance the Federal Family and Medical Leave Insurance Trust Fund in the Treasury for FMLI benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2015
Recognizes that all families need to be economically secure to create opportunities for their children and the nation's next generation. Recognizes that wealth and income inequality hurt economic growth and risks economic security for individual families, our communities, and the nation as a whole. Supports the elimination of the wealth gap and the racial wealth gap as national economic security priorities. Acknowledges that Congress has a responsibility to implement thoughtful, proven and pragmatic policy strategies to eliminate the wealth gap and the racial wealth gap.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2015
Calls on the President to work toward: (1) equitable and durable Armenian-Turkish relations based upon Turkey's acknowledgment of the facts and consequences of the Armenian Genocide, and (2) a comprehensive international resolution of this crime against humanity.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 2015
Veteran Education Empowerment Act Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of Education to award up to 30 four-year grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) or consortia of IHEs to establish, maintain, and improve Veteran Student Centers. Permits a grantee to use a portion of the grant to provide veteran students with supportive instruction services. Requires a grantee to be an IHE or consortium that: (1) enrolls in undergraduate or graduate courses a significant number or percentage of veterans or members of the Armed Forces, and (2) presents a sustainability plan demonstrating that its Veteran Student Center will be maintained and will continue to operate after the grant ends. Defines a "Veteran Student Center" as a dedicated space on a campus that provides students who are veterans or members of the Armed Forces with: (1) a lounge or meeting space for themselves, their spouses or partners, and veterans in the community; (2) a centralized office for veteran services that is staffed by trained employees and volunteers and serves as a single point of contact to coordinate veterans support services; and (3) comprehensive academic and tutoring services to veterans. Requires that office to provide such students with assistance in: transitioning from the military to student life, transitioning from the military to the civilian workforce, networking with other veteran students and veterans in the community, understanding and obtaining benefits provided by the IHE and federal and state government for which they may be eligible, understanding how to succeed in the IHE, and understanding their disability-related rights and protections under specified federal laws. Requires the Secretary to develop and implement a website for veteran student services at IHEs, which details best practices for serving veteran students at IHEs.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 2015
Social Security 2100 Act Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to: increase the primary insurance amount formula factor from 90% to 93% for all eligible beneficiaries, beginning in 2016; revise computation of cost-of-living adjustments to use the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers; increase the special minimum primary insurance amount for lifetime low earners based on years in the workforce. Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to increase the gross income threshold for taxation of Social Security benefits from $25,000 to $50,000 for single taxpayers and from $32,000 to $100,000 for married taxpayers filing joint returns, beginning in 2016. Amends the IRC and SSAct title II to impose the employment tax on all wage income above $400,000, effective in 2016. Requires incremental increases, up to 15.3% in 2084, in the employment and self-employment taxes. Amends SSAct title II to include 2% of an individual's excess average indexed monthly earnings (over $400,000 per annum) in the formula for determining primary insurance amounts. Amends IRC to increase the Social Security tax rate on employees and employers and with respect to self-employment income. Requires reallocation of a portion of employment tax revenues from the OASDI Trust Fund to the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund for wages paid after 2014.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 2015
Social Security and Marriage Equality Act Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act with respect to the determination of a valid marriage to account for marriages in jurisdictions other than a state. Authorizes the courts of any state to find that an OASDI benefit applicant and an insured individual were validly married in a jurisdiction other than a state at the time the applicant files a benefit application or, if the insured individual is dead, at the time the individual died.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 2015
Expanding Nutrition's Role in Curricula and Healthcare Act or the ENRICH Act This bill requires the Health Resources and Services Administration to establish a program of three-year competitive grants to accredited medical schools for the development or expansion of an integrated nutrition and physical activity curriculum. The curriculum must: (1) be designed to improve communication and provider preparedness in the prevention, management, and reversal of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer; and (2) address additional topics regarding individuals in at-risk populations, as practicable, including physical activity and training programs, food insecurity, and malnutrition.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 2015
Honor America's Guard-Reserve Retirees Act Honors as a veteran any person who is entitled to retired pay for nonregular (reserve) service or who, but for age, would be so entitled. Provides that such person shall not be entitled to any benefit by reason of such recognition.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 2015
Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish a medallion or other device to signify the veteran status of a deceased individual, to be attached to a headstone or marker furnished at private expense, regardless of the date of death of such individual.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 2015
Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young Jr., Social Work Reinvestment Act This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the Social Work Reinvestment Commission to provide independent counsel to Congress and the Secretary on policy issues related to recruitment, retention, research, and reinvestment in the profession of social work. The Commission shall study issues facing the social work profession, including: (1) fair market compensation, high educational debt, social work workforce trends, translating social work research to practice, and social work safety; and (2) state-level social work licensure policies and reciprocity agreements for providing services across state lines. The Secretary is directed to award grants to four eligible entities, including at least two agencies of state or local governments, to assist them in carrying out a workplace improvement program to address concerns for the social work profession. The Secretary shall also award grants to: (1) 25 social workers who hold a doctoral degree in social work for postdoctoral research in social work, (2) 20 eligible institutions of higher education to support the recruitment and education of social work students in advanced degree programs and the professional development of social work faculty, and (3) six eligible covered entities to test and replicate effective social work interventions. The Secretary shall contract with a national social work entity that serves as a coordinating center to: (1) engage in activities to build on the efforts of the National Association of Social Workers National Center for Workforce Studies; (2) collect, coordinate, monitor, and distribute data and information on best practices and findings regarding grant-funded activities; (3) report to the Secretary recommendations on the need to recruit new social workers, retain current social worker, conduct social worker research, and reinvest in the profession of social work; and (4) select research topics to further the goals of this Act. The Secretary must develop and issue public service announcements that advertise and promote the social work profession.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 2015
Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act of 2015 Directs the Consumer Product Safety Commission to promulgate a rule requiring liquid nicotine containers to be designed with special packaging that is difficult for children under five years of age to open or to obtain harmful contents from. Requires the rule to be treated as a standard applicable to a household substance under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2015
Women Veterans Access to Quality Care Act of 2015 Directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) establish standards to ensure that all VA medical facilities have the structural characteristics necessary to adequately meet the gender-specific health care needs of veterans at such facilities, including privacy, safety, and dignity; (2) integrate such standards into its prioritization methodology with respect to requests for funding major medical facility projects and major medical facility leases; and (3) report on such standards, including regarding the facilities that fail to meet such standards and the costs of projects and leases required to meet them. Requires the VA to: (1) use health outcomes for women veterans furnished health care by the the VA in evaluating the performance of VA medical center directors, (2) publish on its website information on such performance and on health outcomes for women veterans for each VA medical facility, (3) ensure that every VA medical center has a full-time obstetrician or gynecologist, and (4) carry out a pilot program to increase the number of residency program positions and graduate medical education positions for obstetricians and gynecologists at VA medical facilities in not less than three Veterans Integrated Service Networks. Directs the VA to develop procedures to share information that includes military service and separation data, personal email addresses and telephone numbers, and mailing addresses of veterans with state veterans agencies in electronic format as a means of facilitating the furnishing of assistance and benefits to such veterans. Allows a veteran to elect to prevent their information from being shared. Directs the Government Accountability Office to carry out an examination of whether VA medical centers are able to meet the health care needs of women veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2015
Permanently Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2015 This bill amends the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 to repeal its sunset date December 31, 2014 (thus making the Act permanent). This bill restores and revives such Act, the provisions of law amended or repealed by it, and any regulations promulgated pursuant to it, as were in effect on December 31, 2014, as if the sunset had not taken effect.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2015
Dignified Interment of Our Veterans Act of 2015 Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to study and report to Congress on matters relating to the interring of veterans' unclaimed remains in national cemeteries under the control of the National Cemetery Administration, including: the scope of the issues relating to veterans' unclaimed remains, including the estimated number of such remains; the effectiveness of VA procedures for working with persons or entities having custody of unclaimed remains to facilitate the interment of such remains in such cemeteries; state and local laws that affect the Secretary's ability to inter unclaimed veterans' remains in such cemeteries; and recommendations for appropriate legislative or administrative action.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2015
International Violence Against Women Act of 2015 Directs the Secretary of State to establish an Office of Global Women's Issues which shall be headed by an Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. Establishes in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) a Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment who shall direct USAID activities, policies, programs, and funding relating to gender equality and women's empowerment. Directs the Ambassador-at-Large to: (1) develop or update annually for five years (after the 2012 United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally which shall be deemed to be the first required strategy) a U.S. global strategy to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, and (2) coordinate U.S. government efforts regarding gender integration and advancing the status of women and girls in U.S. foreign policy. Directs the Ambassador-at-Large and Senior Coordinator to: (1) include in each strategy an analysis of best practices for preventing and addressing violence against women and girls internationally; and (2) develop a plan for monitoring programs, projects, and activities carried out under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2015
Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise conditions of and limitations on payment for home health care services. Allows payment for home health services to Medicare beneficiaries by: (1) a nurse practitioner, (2) a clinical nurse specialist working in collaboration with a physician in accordance with state law, (3) a certified nurse-midwife, or (4) a physician assistant under a physician's supervision.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act of 2015 This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish the Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Program to provide grants in each of FY2016-FY2020 for programs or projects to increase the resiliency or adaptability of water systems to any ongoing or forecasted changes to the hydrologic conditions of a U.S. region. A water system is a community water system, a treatment works, a decentralized wastewater treatment system for domestic sewage, a groundwater storage and replenishment system, a system for transport and delivery of water for irrigation or conservation, or a natural or engineered system that manages floodwaters. The EPA must give priority to owners or operators of water systems that are at the greatest and most immediate risk of facing significant negative impacts due to changing hydrologic conditions. The EPA must ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that the list of grant applications funded includes a substantial number that propose to utilize innovative approaches that meet at least one of these goals: promote more efficient water use, conservation, reuse, or recycling; use decentralized, low-impact development technologies and nonstructural approaches; reduce stormwater runoff or flooding by protecting or enhancing natural ecosystem functions; modify, upgrade, enhance, or replace existing water system infrastructure in response to changing hydrologic conditions; improve water quality or quantity for agricultural and municipal uses; and provide multiple benefits, including water supply enhancement or demand reduction, water quality protection or improvement, increased flood protection, and ecosystem protection or improvement.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Social Impact Partnership Act Amends title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services and Elder Justice) of the Social Security Act to add a new part C (Social Impact Partnerships). Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to publish in the Federal Register a request for proposals from states or local government for social impact partnership projects which produce measurable, clearly defined outcomes that result in social benefit, such as employment for the unemployed, high school graduation, and reduction of teen and unplanned pregnancies as well as incidences and adverse consequences of child abuse and neglect. Requires applications to include a feasibility study, funded under this Act, which contains specified information. Requires the Director to decide whether to enter into such a contract within six months after receiving an application. Requires independent evaluation to determine whether the state or local government project has met an outcome specified in the contract in order for such governments to receive outcome payments. Makes appropriations for 10 years to carry out this Act. Establishes the Federal Interagency Council on Social Impact Partnerships. Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to require the appropriate federal financial supervisory agency to consider, in assessing and taking into account the record of a financial institution in meeting the credit needs of its entire community, its investments in social impact partnership projects.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Concussion Awareness and Education Act of 2015 Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to: (1) establish and oversee a national system to accurately determine the incidence of sports-related concussions among youth, and (2) begin implementation of such system within one year of this Act's enactment. Requires the data collected to include: the incidence of sports related concussions in individuals 5 through 21 years of age; demographic information of the injured individuals; pre-existing conditions of the injured individuals; the concussion history of the injured individuals; the use of protective equipment and impact monitoring devices; the qualifications of personnel diagnosing the concussions; and the cause, nature, and extent of the concussive injury. Requires the National Institutes of Health to conduct or support: research designed to inform the creation of guidelines for the management of short- and long-term sequelae of concussion in youth; research on the effects of concussions and repetitive head impacts on quality of life and the activities of daily living; research to identify predictors, and modifiers of outcomes, of concussions in youth; and research on age- and sex-related biomechanical determinants of injury risk for concussion in youth. Requires CDC to develop and disseminate to the public information regarding concussions. Establishes a Concussion Research Commission, which shall study the programs and activities conducted pursuant to this Act and formulate systemic recommendations to increase knowledge about, and change the culture surrounding, concussions.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Horse Transportation Safety Act of 2015 Prohibits a person from transporting a horse in interstate commerce in a motor vehicle (except a vehicle operated exclusively on rail or rails) containing two or more levels stacked on top of one another. Prescribes civil penalties for persons who knowingly violate such prohibition.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Child Tax Credit Permanency Act of 2015 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the child tax credit, to: (1) adjust the earned income threshold for determining the amount of the refundable portion of such credit, and (2) provide for an inflation adjustment to the $1,000 credit amount for calendar years after 2013.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 Directs the Federal Communications Commission to amend regulations concerning the height and dimensions of station antenna structures to prohibit a private land use restriction from applying to amateur service communications if the restriction precludes such communications, fails to accommodate such communications, or does not constitute the minimum practicable restriction to accomplish the legitimate purpose of the private entity seeking to enforce the restriction.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
John Muir National Historic Site Expansion Act Authorizes the Department of the Interior to acquire by donation approximately 44 acres of land to include in the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, California.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Improving Veterans Access to Quality Care Act of 2015 Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to revive, for a three-year period, VA's Intermediate Care Technician Pilot Program that was carried out between January 2013 and February 2014. Requires VA to: (1) expand the pilot program to include at least 250 intermediate care technicians, and (2) give priority in assigning those technicians to VA facilities at which veterans have the longest wait times. Requires the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to transfer credentialing data regarding DOD health care providers that are hired by VA to VA. Authorizes VA to allow a covered nurse to practice to the full scope of the nurse's practice, as defined by the applicable national professional association, under a set of VA-approved privileges, regardless of the state in which VA employs the covered nurse. Defines a "covered nurse" as an advanced practice registered nurse who is employed by VA as: (1) a nurse midwife, (2) a clinical nurse specialist, (3) a nurse practitioner, or (4) a certified registered nurse anesthetist.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
World War II Merchant Mariner Service Act Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to accept additional documentation for verifying that an individual performed honorable service as a coastwise merchant seaman during the period beginning on December 7, 1941, and ending on December 31, 1946, for purposes of eligibility for veterans' benefits under the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977. Requires such documentation to include Social Security Administration records and validated testimony in the case of the absence of Coast Guard shipping or discharge forms, ship logbooks, documents, or other official employment records. Requires the Secretary, when determining whether to recognize service allegedly performed during such period, to recognize masters of seagoing vessels or other command officers who were authorized to document an individual for purposes of hiring for or discharging from the merchant marine. Considers any service so recognized as active-duty service for purposes of veterans' burial benefits. Makes such veterans eligible for any appropriate military medals, ribbons, and decorations. Requires the Secretary to verify that an individual performed such service under honorable conditions without regard to their sex, age, or disability during the service period.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act Revises the Department of Defense's (DOD's) authority to transfer excess personal property to federal and state law enforcement agencies. Removes DOD's authority to transfer property for counter-drug activities. Requires recipients of DOD property to certify that they: (1) have personnel, technical capacity, and training to operate the property; and (2) will return to DOD any property that is surplus to the recipient's needs. Requires recipients that are not federal agencies to certify that they have notified their local community of requests for DOD property with a notice on a publicly accessible Internet website and postings at prominent locations in the jurisdiction. Requires DOD to submit annually to Congress a description of property to be transferred along with a certification that the transfers are not prohibited by law. Prohibits transfers of: controlled (i.e., military grade) firearms, ammunition, grenades, and explosives; controlled vehicles, certain trucks, and other highly mobile or mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles; armored or weaponized drones; controlled aircraft that are combat configured or combat coded, or that have no established commercial flight application; silencers; long range acoustic devices; and items in the Federal Supply Class of banned items. Prohibits transfers conditioned upon the agency demonstrating the use of any small arms or ammunitions. Prohibits transfers of previously transferred DOD property from one federal or state agency to another such agency. Allows DOD to waive transfer prohibitions for certain trucks and vehicles (other than mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles) if necessary for disasters, rescues, or other purposes where life and public safety are at risk. Requires notice of such a waiver to be provided to Congress and the public. Permits DOD to exempt aircraft parts transferred for regular maintenance of aircraft in an existing fleet. Prohibits obligations or expenditures of appropriations to carry out DOD's property transfer program unless specified conditions have been met, including requirements to verify: (1) that in-person inventories of transferred property have been conducted at each agency, and (2) that 100% of such property was accounted for during the inventories or that agencies unable to account for such property have been suspended from the program. Prohibits federal or state agencies that receive controlled equipment from taking ownership of the property. Requires the Defense Logistics Agency to maintain an Internet website to make available to the public: (1) information on each transfer, broken down by state, county, and recipient; (2) during the 30-day period preceding the date on which any property is transferred, information on the property to be transferred and the recipient; and (3) information on any use of controlled equipment by the transfer recipient.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Pet and Women Safety Act of 2015 Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit threats or acts of violence against a person's pet under the offenses of stalking and interstate violation of a protection order. Defines "pet" to mean a domesticated animal that is kept for pleasure rather than for commercial purposes. Requires the "full amount of the victim's losses" for purposes of restitution in domestic violence and stalking offenses to include any costs incurred for veterinary services relating to physical care for the victim's pet. Directs the Department of Agriculture to award grants to eligible entities to carry out programs to provide specified housing assistance, support services, and training of relevant stakeholders to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking and their pets. Expresses the sense of Congress that states should encourage the inclusion of protections against violent or threatening acts against the pet of the person in domestic violence protection orders.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Saving America's Pollinators Act of 2015 This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend the registration of members of the nitro group of neonicotinoid insecticides that are registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for use in seed treatment, soil application, or foliar treatment on bee-attractive plants, trees, and cereals until the EPA determines that the insecticides will not cause unreasonable adverse effects on pollinators. The determination must be based on: an evaluation of the published and peer-reviewed scientific evidence on whether the use or uses of those neonicotinoids cause unreasonable adverse effects on pollinators, including native bees, honeybees, birds, bats, and other species of beneficial insects; and a completed field study that meets the criteria required by the EPA and evaluates residues, chronic low-dose exposure, and cumulative effects of multiple chemical exposures. The EPA may not issue new registrations of the neonicotinoid pesticides for any seed treatment, soil application, and foliar treatment on bee-attractive plants, trees, and cereals under FIFRA until it has made the determination with respect to the insecticide. For purposes of protecting and ensuring the long-term viability of native bees and other pollinators, the Department of the Interior must: (1) regularly monitor the health and population status of native bees, (2) identify the scope and likely causes of unusual native bee mortality, and (3) submit to Congress and make public an annual report on the health and population status of native bees.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the full realization of the rights of women is vital to the development and well-being of people of all nations; and (2) the Senate should, therefore, give its advice and consent to the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
National Health Service Corps Improvement Act of 2015 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to include optometry services in primary health services for purposes of the National Health Service Corps. Optometrists are eligible for the fellowship program for the delivery of primary health services in health professional shortage areas, the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program, and the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Expresses the sense of Congress that the U.S. Postal Service should issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring the 50th anniversary of the three civil rights marches from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
American Opportunity Tax Credit Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to replace the Hope Scholarship and Lifetime Learning tax credits with a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that: (1) allows an income tax credit of up to $2,500 of the qualified tuition and related expenses of a student who is carrying at least one half of a normal course load, (2) increases the income threshold for reductions in the credit amount based upon modified adjusted gross income, (3) allows a lifetime dollar limitation on such credit of $15,000 for all taxable years, and (4) makes a portion of such credit refundable. Allows an exclusion from gross income of any amount received as a Federal Pell Grant.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Commemorates the life and achievements of Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, who throughout his life displayed extraordinary commitment to social justice and the improvement of higher education.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 2015
Improving Access to Maternity Care Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Health Resources and Services Administration to designate maternity care health professional shortage areas and review these designations at least annually. The Department of Health and Human Services must collect and publish data on health professional shortage areas so availability of maternal health professionals can be compared by professional category and geographic region. A maternity care health professional shortage area is: (1) an area determined to have a shortage of providers of full scope maternity care health services or of hospital or birth center labor and delivery units, or (2) a population group determined to have a shortage of such providers or facilities. Full scope maternity care health services include care during labor, birthing, prenatal care, and postpartum care.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 2015
Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2015 Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to reauthorize for FY2016-FY2019 the grant program for improvements to the criminal history record system. Amends the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 to: (1) establish a four-year implementation plan to ensure maximum coordination and automation of reporting of records or making records available to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System; (2) direct the Attorney General to make grants to states, Indian tribal governments, and state court systems to improve the automation and transmittal of mental health records and criminal history dispositions; (3) provide for withholding grant funds from states that have not implemented a relief from disabilities program and the reallocation of such funds to states that are in compliance; (4) make federal court information available for inclusion in the System; and (5) allow the submission to the System of mental health records that would otherwise be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to: (1) expand the enforcement authority or jurisdiction of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; (2) allow the establishment, directly or indirectly, of a federal firearms registry; or (3) extend background check requirements to transfers of firearms other than those made at gun shows or over the Internet, or to temporary transfers for purposes including lawful hunting or sporting, or to temporary possession of a firearm for purposes of examination or evaluation by a prospective transferee. National Commission on Mass Violence Act of 2015 Establishes the National Commission on Mass Violence to study the availability and nature of firearms, including the means of acquiring firearms, issues relating to mental health, and the impacts of the availability and nature of firearms on incidents of mass violence or in preventing mass violence. Requires the Commission to conduct a comprehensive factual study of incidents of mass violence, including incidents not involving firearms, to determine the root causes of such mass violence.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 2015
Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act of 2015 This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to waive coinsurance for colorectal cancer screening tests (in order to cover 100% of their cost under Medicare part B [Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits for the Aged and Disabled]), regardless of the code billed for a diagnosis as a result of a test, or for the removal of tissue or other procedure furnished in connection with, as a result of, and in the same clinical encounter as the screening test.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 2015
Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act of 2015 Amends the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to direct the Secretary of Transportation to study and identify any potential threats to privacy protections posed by the integration of unmanned aircraft (drone) systems into the national airspace system, including any potential violations of privacy principles. Directs the Secretary to establish certain procedures to allow for civil operation in the national airspace system of small drone systems that do not meet expedited operational authorization requirements. Requires such procedures to ensure that the integration of drone systems into the national airspace system is done in compliance with privacy principles. Prohibits the Secretary from approving, issuing, or awarding any certificate, license, or other grant of authority to operate a drone system in the national airspace system unless the application for it includes a data collection statement, meeting certain requirements, that provides reasonable assurance that the applicant will operate the drone system in accordance with privacy principles. Applies the same privacy principles requirement to any drone system to be operated by a law enforcement agency or a law enforcement agency contractor or subcontractor, except that the application for it shall include a data minimization statement, meeting certain requirements, instead of a data collection statement. Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to make any approved certificate, license, or other grant of authority, plus other specified information, available in a searchable format on the public FAA website. Prohibits a governmental entity from using a drone system, or requesting information or data collected by another entity through use of a drone system, for protective activities, or for law enforcement or intelligence purposes, except pursuant to a warrant issued using the procedures described in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (or, in the case of a state court, issued using state warrant procedures) by a court of competent jurisdiction, or as permitted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. Makes an exception to this prohibition in exigent circumstances when a law enforcement entity reasonably believes there is: (1) an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury; or (2) a high risk of an imminent terrorist attack by a specific individual or organization, according to the Secretary of Homeland Security . Makes it unlawful to operate a drone system in a manner that is not in accordance with the terms of a data collection statement or in a manner violating any portion of the final rule for the procedures for civil operation of small drone systems required by this Act. Grants enforcement authority to the Federal Trade Commission . Authorizes a state to bring a civil action on behalf of state residents in state or U.S. district court for injunctive relief against violations of this Act or related regulations if the state attorney general has reason to believe that an interest of state residents has been or is threatened or adversely affected by a prohibited act or practice. Creates a private right of action in state or U.S. district court for persons injured by a prohibited act. Allows a suit against a governmental entity. Requires the FAA to revoke the certificate, license, or other grant of authority to operate a drone system operated in a prohibited manner. Declares that nothing in this Act may be construed to apply to model aircraft flown strictly for hobby or recreational purposes and meeting certain other criteria.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 2015
Gold Star Fathers Act Includes as a preference eligible for federal employment purposes a parent (currently, the mother only) of either an individual who lost his or her life under honorable conditions while serving in the Armed Forces during a war, in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized, or during the period beginning April 28, 1952, and ending July 1, 1955, or a service-connected permanently and totally disabled veteran, if: (1) the spouse of such parent is totally and permanently disabled; or (2) such parent, when preference is claimed, is unmarried or legally separated from his or her spouse.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 2015
National Diabetes Clinical Care Commission Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to establish within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the National Diabetes Clinical Care Commission to evaluate and recommend solutions regarding better coordination and leveraging of federal programs that relate to supporting appropriate clinical care for people with pre-diabetes, diabetes, and the chronic diseases and conditions that are complications of or caused by diabetes. The duties of the Commission include: evaluating HHS programs regarding the utilization of preventive health benefits, identifying current activities and critical gaps in federal efforts to support clinicians in providing integrated care, making recommendations regarding the development and coordination of federally funded clinical practice support tools, recommending clinical pathways for new technologies and treatments, evaluating and expanding education and awareness to health care professionals regarding prevention of diabetes, and reviewing and recommending appropriate methods for outreach and dissemination of educational resources. The Commission must submit an operating plan to HHS and Congress within 90 days of its first meeting.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 2015
Prohibits uniformed service agencies or the Department of Defense (DOD) from altering the amount of the locality-based travel and transportation per diem allowances or reimbursements to which certain uniformed service members or civilian DOD employees are entitled based on the duration of temporary duty assignments or official travel in a locality. Nullifies the DOD policy implemented on November 1, 2014, regarding reductions in per diem allowances based on the duration of temporary duty assignments or civilian travel.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 2015
Medicare Patient Access to Hospice Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to recognize attending physician assistants as attending physicians to serve hospice patients.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 2015
Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer Act of 2015 Directs the President to establish the Commission to Accelerate the End of Breast Cancer to help end breast cancer by January 1, 2020. Directs the Commission to: (1) identify opportunities and ideas within government and the private sector that are key components in achieving the end of breast cancer and which have been overlooked, yet are ripe for collaboration and investment; (2) recommend projects to leverage such opportunities and ideas in the areas of the primary prevention of breast cancer and the causes and prevention of breast cancer metastasis; and (3) ensure that its activities are coordinated with, and do not duplicate the efforts of, programs and laboratories of other government agencies. Directs the President to enter into an agreement with the Institute of Medicine for an evaluation of the Commission's progress. Terminates the Commission on June 1, 2020.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2015
Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad Act Amends the federal criminal code to authorize a governmental entity to require the disclosure by a provider of electronic communication service or remote computing service of the contents of a wire or electronic communication that is in electronic storage with or otherwise stored, held, or maintained by the provider only pursuant to a warrant issued by a court of competent jurisdiction. Authorizes such a warrant to require such disclosure regardless of where such contents may be in electronic storage or otherwise stored, held, or maintained by the provider if the holder of the account the contents of which are sought by the warrant is a U.S. person. Requires a court, on a service provider's motion, to modify or vacate such a warrant upon finding that it would require the provider to violate the laws of a foreign country. Sets forth requirements for government notification of provider customers or subscribers regarding the receipt of communication contents pursuant to such a warrant. Directs the Attorney General to: (1) establish a form for use by a foreign government filing a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) request; (2) establish an online docketing system for all MLAT requests; and (3) publish statistics annually on MLAT requests made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to foreign governments, and by foreign governments to DOJ, to obtain the contents of communications or other information or records from a provider of electronic communications or remote computing services. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) data localization requirements imposed by foreign governments on data providers are incompatible with the borderless nature of the Internet, an impediment to online innovation, and unnecessary to meet the needs of law enforcement; and (2) DOJ, the Department of State, and the U.S. Trade Representative should pursue open data flow policies with foreign nations.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2015
Urges the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and other relevant U.S. government agencies and officials to work with the European Union and European governments to encourage further efforts to address anti-Semitism.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 2015
Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training Practices Act or the BEST Practices Act Requires the Department of Defense (DOD), no later than: (1) October 1, 2018, to develop, test, and validate human-based training methods for training members of the Armed Forces in the treatment of combat trauma injuries, with the goal of replacing live animal-based training methods; and (2) October 1, 2020, to use only use human-based training methods for such purposes. Prohibits the use of animals in such training after the latter date. Requires DOD to submit an annual report to Congress regarding the development and implementation of the human-based training methods.
![Official portrait of Rep. McGovern, James P. [D-MA-2]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/117_rp_ma_2_mcgovern_james_200.jpg)