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United States · Official source
4,396 records where Rep. Brownley, Julia [D-CA-26] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2015
VA Regional Office Accountability Act Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include in a required annual report on Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) expenditures and activities a report on each VA regional office that failed to reach administrative goals concerning the timeliness and accuracy of veterans' claims adjudication.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2015
Makes eligible for beneficiary travel through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) a veteran whose travel to a specialized outpatient or residential program at a VA facility is in connection with treatment or care for military sexual trauma.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2015
Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act Directs the President to impose U.S. entry and property sanctions against any foreign person (or entity) who: is responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals in any foreign country, especially those persons seeking to expose illegal activity carried out by government officials, or to obtain, exercise, or promote human rights and freedoms; acted as an agent of or on behalf of a foreign person in such activities; is a government official (or senior associate of such official) responsible for, or complicit in, ordering or otherwise directing acts of significant corruption or the facilitation or transfer of the proceeds of corruption to foreign jurisdictions; or has materially assisted or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, such activities. Prescribes related penalties. Authorizes the President, with regard to such sanctions, to: waive their application, with prior congressional notification, if in U.S. national security interests; and terminate them under specified conditions. States that sanctions shall not apply if necessary to comply with the Agreement between the United Nations (U.N.) and the United States regarding the U.N. Headquarters, or other applicable international obligations of the United States. Directs the President to report to Congress annually regarding each foreign person sanctioned, the type of sanctions imposed, and the reason for their imposition. Directs the Comptroller General to assess for Congress: (1) the process to determine whether a foreign person has engaged in a sanctionable activity, whether sanctions should be imposed, and whether the identity of a sanctioned foreign person should be classified; and (2) implementation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2015
Steve Gleason Act of 2015 This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover as durable medical equipment any eye tracking and gaze interaction accessories for speech generating devices furnished to individuals with a demonstrated medical need for them. Payment for speech generating devices or accessories shall be made on a rental basis, or in a lump-sum amount for the purchase of the item, without a cap on the amount.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2015
Medicare Home Infusion Site of Care Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to authorize Medicare coverage of home infusion therapy and home infusion drugs. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement the Medicare home infusion therapy benefit in a manner that ensures that: (1) Medicare beneficiaries have timely and appropriate access to infusion therapy in their homes, and (2) there is rapid and seamless coordination between drug coverage under Medicare part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) and home infusion therapy services coverage under Medicare part B (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to avoid the filing of duplicative or otherwise improper claims.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2015
Help Hire our Heroes Act Amends the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 to extend, from March 31, 2014, to 180 days after this Act's enactment, the veterans retraining assistance program. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to transfer funds for such program from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2015
Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover pharmacist services.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2015
Expresses support for efforts to: (1) provide protections and supports for sexually exploited and trafficked girls in the United States, and (2) create criminal or civil penalties for anyone who buys or sells a child through a system of child trafficking.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2015
Government Waste Reduction Act of 2015 Establishes the Independent Government Waste Reduction Board, the membership of which shall include individuals with national recognition for expertise in agencies, waste reduction, finance and economics, and actuarial sciences. Sets forth the duties of the Board, including: (1) analyzing organizational practices and management challenges of agencies; (2) assessing federal programs for economy, efficiency, and effectiveness and identifying best practices of agencies, and (3) submitting to Congress and the President a report on specific implementation of the recommendations from Government Accountability Office reports issued in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 on reducing duplication in government programs. Sets forth procedures for congressional consideration of the Board's recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2015
Prevent Interruptions in Physical Therapy Act of 2015 Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require physical therapists furnishing outpatient physical therapy services to use specified locum tenens arrangements for payment purposes in the same manner as such arrangements are used to apply to physicians furnishing substitute physicians services for other physicians. (Locum tenens [place holder], or substitute, physicians usually assume professional practices in the absence of a regular physician for reasons such as illness, pregnancy, vacation, or continuing medical education.)
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2015
Honoring Our WWII Merchant Mariners Act of 2015 Establishes in the Treasury the Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund from which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs is to make one payment of $25,000 to each individual who, between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946, was a documented member of the U.S. merchant marine (including the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service) serving as a crewmember of a vessel that was operated in U.S. waters by the War Shipping Administration or the Office of Defense Transportation and under contract to, or the property of, the United States. Requires such individuals to: (1) apply for such benefit within one year after the enactment of this Act, and (2) not have received benefits under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. Requires the Secretary to include, in annual budget documents submitted to Congress, detailed information on the Fund's operation.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2015
Action for Dental Health Act 2015 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize oral health promotion and disease prevention programs through FY2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may award grants or enter into contracts to obtain portable or mobile dental equipment and pay operational costs for the provision of free dental services to underserved populations. The CDC may also award grants or enter into contracts to collaborate with state, county, or local public officials and other stakeholders to develop and implement initiatives to: (1) improve oral health education and dental disease prevention; (2) make the health care delivery system providing dental services more accessible and efficient through the development and expansion of outreach programs that facilitate the establishment of dental homes; (3) reduce geographic, language, cultural, and similar barriers in the provision of dental services; (4) reduce the use of emergency departments by those who seek dental services more appropriately delivered in a dental primary care setting; or (5) facilitate the provision of dental care to nursing home residents who are disproportionately affected by lack of care.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2015
Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids Act of 2015 or the ACE Kids Act of 2015 Amends titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (Children's Health Insurance) (CHIP) of the Social Security Act to allow a state, at its option, to elect to provide medical assistance for items and services furnished to eligible children with medically complex conditions enrolled in a Medicaid Children's Care Coordination (MCCC) program. Requires an MCCC program, among other things, to coordinate, integrate, and provide for the furnishing of the full range of MCCC program services to enrolled children, as well as designate pediatric care management services and pediatric focused care coordination and health promotion. Requires a state to enroll eligible children prospectively in an MCCC program through an initial 90-day assignment to a nationally designated children's hospital network, unless the child opts not to participate in any MCCC program.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2015
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the U.S. Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to restore mail delivery service standards in effect as of July 1, 2012.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 2015
STEM Opportunities Act of 2015 Directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to provide federal science agencies with guidance on establishing specified policies to accommodate the needs of caregiver researchers who receive their research awards. Requires each federal science agency to annually collect and submit to the National Science Foundation (NSF) institution-level data on demographics, primary field, award type, review rating (as practicable), budget request, funding outcome, and awarded budget for all applications for merit-reviewed research and development grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) and federal laboratories. Requires NSF to publish a statistical summary of that data. Directs OSTP, in collaboration with NSF, to identify and disseminate to federal science agencies information and best practices useful in educating program officers and members of standing peer review committees at federal science agencies about: (1) research on implicit gender, race, or ethnic bias; and (2) methods to minimize the effect of such bias in federal research grant reviews. Requires federal science agencies to maintain or develop and implement policies and practices to minimize the effects of implicit bias in federal research grant reviews. Directs NSF, within three years of this Act's enactment and at least every five years thereafter, to conduct a survey to collect institution-level data on the demographics of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty, by broad fields of STEM, at different types of IHEs. Requires NSF to publish a statistical summary of that data. Requires NSF to develop written guidance for IHEs on the best practices for: (1) conducting periodic campus culture surveys of STEM departments; and (2) educating STEM faculty and administrators about implicit bias in recruiting, evaluating, and promoting STEM students and faculty. Directs NSF to broadly disseminate that guidance to IHEs that receive federal research funding. Directs OSTP to develop written guidance for federal laboratories to develop and implement practices and policies to: (1) conduct periodic laboratory-wide culture surveys of research personnel at all levels; and (2) educate STEM research personnel about implicit bias in recruiting, evaluating, and promoting researchers at federal laboratories. Requires federal science agencies to maintain or develop and implement such policies for their laboratories. Directs NSF to recommend a uniform policy for federal science agencies to carry out workshops to educate STEM department chairs at IHEs, senior managers at federal laboratories, and other federally funded researchers about methods of minimizing the effects of implicit bias in the career advancement of academic and federal STEM researchers. Requires NSF to award research grants and conduct dissemination activities consistent with this Act's goal of ensuring that federal science agencies and IHE research grant recipients are fully engaging their talent pool. Directs NSF to award competitive grants to IHEs to develop innovative reform efforts designed to increase the recruitment, retention, and advancement of individuals from underrepresented minority groups in academic STEM careers. Requires NSF to award competitive grants to IHEs to implement or expand research-based reforms in undergraduate STEM education to recruit and retain minority students who are underrepresented in STEM fields, with a priority focus on the natural science and engineering fields. Requires each grant to include an education research component so that reform efforts can be evaluated and, if shown to be effective, replicated to improve the participation of minority students in STEM fields at other schools.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 2015
Student Loan Interest Deduction Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase the maximum tax deduction for interest paid on any qualified education loan to $5,000 ($10,000 for married couples filing a joint tax return), and (2) repeal the limitation on such deduction based upon modified adjusted gross income.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 2015
This bill directs the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to arrange for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal to the Foot Soldiers who participated in Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, or the final Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March during March of 1965, which served as a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 2015
Shareholder Protection Act of 2015 Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require that any solicitation of a proxy, consent, or authorization with respect to any security of an issuer: (1) describe the specific nature (to the extent known) and total amount of expenditures proposed for political activities for the forthcoming fiscal year but not yet authorized by a vote of the issuer's shareholders, and (2) provide for a separate shareholder vote to authorize such proposed expenditures. Prohibits an issuer from making an expenditure for political activities in any fiscal year unless: (1) such expenditure is of the nature of those proposed by the issuer according to the requirements of this Act, and (2) authorization for such expenditure has been granted by votes representing a majority of outstanding shares. Deems a violation of this requirement to be a breach of the fiduciary duty of the officers and directors who authorized such expenditure. Subjects officers and directors who authorize the expenditure without prior shareholder authorization to joint and several liability to any shareholder or class of shareholders for the amount of such expenditure. Requires certain institutional investment managers to disclose annually in mandatory reports how they voted (proxies) in certain shareholder votes. Prohibits any person from bringing any civil, criminal, or administrative action against an institutional investment manager, or any of its employees, officers, or directors, based solely upon the investment manager's decision to divest from, or not to invest in, securities of an issuer because of expenditures for political activities made by that issuer. Requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to direct the national securities exchanges and national securities associations to prohibit the listing of any equity security of an issuer whose corporate bylaws do not expressly provide for a vote of the issuer's directors on any individual expenditure for political activities in excess of $50,000. Requires an issuer to make public, within 48 hours, the individual votes of the directors regarding any such expenditure. Directs the SEC to: (1) require issuers to disclose expenditures for political activities made during the preceding quarter and the individual votes by board members authorizing such expenditures, and (2) make such reports publicly available through the SEC website. Requires the SEC to make annual assessments of the compliance by public corporations and their management with the reporting and disclosure requirements of this Act, and the Comptroller General to evaluate periodically the effectiveness of SEC oversight of these requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 2015
Reducing Barriers for Veterans Education Act of 2015 Makes an individual who is eligible for educational assistance under the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance program eligible for assistance with the fees for applying to institutions of higher education (IHEs). Sets the amount of such assistance payable to an individual at the lesser of: (1) the total application fees charged to the individual by the IHEs, or (2) $750.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 2015
Expanding Care for Veterans Act Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop a plan to expand the scope of VA's research and education on, and delivery and integration of, complementary and alternative medicine services. Requires the Secretary to carry out, through VA's Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation, a three-year program to: (1) assess the feasibility and advisability of integrating the delivery of complementary and alternative medicine services selected by the Secretary with other VA health care services for veterans, and (2) identify and resolve barriers to providing such services and integrating them with other VA health services. Requires such program to be conducted, at not fewer than 15 VA medical centers, by integrating the provision of complementary and alternative medicine services with other VA health care services provided to veterans who have a mental health condition, experience chronic pain, or have a chronic condition. Requires veterans' participation to be voluntary. Directs the Secretary to contract with a qualified independent entity for comprehensive studies of the barriers encountered by veterans in receiving, and by administrators and clinicians in providing, complementary and alternative medicine services through VA. Provides for the conduct of such studies through surveys of veterans and VA administrators and clinicians. Requires the Secretary to carry out a three-year program awarding grants to public or private nonprofit entities to assess the feasibility and advisability of using wellness programs to complement the provision of mental health care to veterans and family members who are eligible for readjustment counseling from VA.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 2015
Disclosure of Information on Spending on Campaigns Leads to Open and Secure Elections Act of 2015 or the DISCLOSE 2015 Act Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to redefine the term "independent expenditure" as an expenditure by a person that, when taken as a whole, expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, or is the functional equivalent of express advocacy because it can be interpreted by a reasonable person only as advocating the election or defeat of a candidate, taking into account whether the communication involved mentions a candidacy, a political party, or a challenger to a candidate, or takes a position on a candidates, qualifications, or fitness for office. Expands the period during which certain communications are treated as electioneering communications. Prescribes: (1) disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, and certain other entities; and (2) disclaimer requirements for campaign-related disbursements and for certain communications. Requires any communication transmitted through radio or television to include an individual or organizational disclosure statement, together with: (1) the Top Two Funders List of the persons providing the largest and second largest aggregate payments of $10,000 or more for a radio communication, and (2) the Top Five Funders List of the five persons providing the largest aggregate payments of $10,000 or more for a television communication. Repeals the prohibition against political contributions by individuals age 17 or younger. Requires a covered organization which submits regular, periodic reports to its shareholders, members, or donors on its finances or activities to include in each report, in a clear and conspicuous manner, the information included in the statements it has filed about campaign-related disbursements the organization has made during the period covered by the report. Amends the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require semiannual reports on certain election campaign contributions filed with the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representatives by registered lobbyists (or persons or organizations required to register as lobbyists) to contain: (1) the amount of any independent expenditure of $1,000 or more made by each such person or organization, along with the name of each candidate being supported or opposed and the amount spent supporting or opposing that candidate; and (2) the amount of any electioneering communication of $1,000 or more made by such person or organization, along with the name of the candidate referred to in the communication and whether the communication involved was in support of or in opposition to the candidate.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 2015
Women's Health Protection Act of 2015 This bill prohibits any government from imposing on abortion services: a requirement that a medical professional perform specific tests or medical procedures; a requirement that the same clinician who performs a patient's abortion also perform additional tests, services or procedures; a limitation on an abortion provider's ability to prescribe or dispense drugs or provide services via telemedicine; a requirement or limitation concerning the physical plant, equipment, staffing, or hospital transfer arrangements of facilities where abortions are performed, or the credentials, hospital privileges, or status of personnel at those facilities; a requirement that, prior to obtaining an abortion, a patient make medically unnecessary in-person visits to any individual or entity; a limitation on medical training for abortion procedures; a prohibition prior to fetal viability; a prohibition after fetal viability when continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the woman's life or health; a restriction on a woman's ability to obtain an immediate abortion when a delay would pose a risk to the woman's health; or a restriction on obtaining an abortion prior to fetal viability based on a woman's reasons or perceived reasons or that requires her to state her reasons before obtaining an abortion. A measure or action that is similar to a requirement or limitation listed above is prohibited if it singles out abortion services or makes abortion services more difficult to access and does not significantly advance women's health or the safety of abortion services.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 2015
Government By the People Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to allow a refundable credit of 50% of qualified congressional House campaign contributions paid or incurred during the taxable year (contributions of cash by an individual to a House candidate or a political committee established and maintained by a national political party if the contribution is not prohibited under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 [FECA], to be known as "My Voice Federal" contributions). Directs the Government by the People Oversight Commission, established by this Act, to launch a pilot program under which it shall select three eligible states to operate a voucher pilot program. Requires a state under a voucher pilot program to provide each qualified individual during the election cycle, upon his or her request, with a "My Voice Voucher" worth $50, which will be assigned a routing number. Authorizes the individual to submit the My Voice Voucher to qualified federal election candidates, allocating a portion of its value in $5 increments. Requires the Commission to pay any candidate who transmits a My Voice Voucher that portion of its value which the individual allocated to the candidate. Considers this transaction a contribution by the individual to the candidate for purposes of FECA. Requires a state operating a voucher pilot program also to permit an individual to revoke a My Voice Voucher within two days after submitting it to a candidate. Requires such a state to establish a commission or designate an existing entity to oversee and implement the program in the state, except that no such commission or entity may be composed of elected officials. Amends FECA with respect to: benefits for participating House of Representatives candidates; Federal Election Commission (FEC) payments to such candidates; candidate use of payments; qualified small dollar contributions, expenditures, and fundraising requirements; certification of participating candidates; campaign administration; prevention of the unnecessary spending of public funds; establishment of the Freedom From Influence Fund in the Treasury and of a Government by the People Oversight Commission in the FEC; remittal of unspent funds to the Freedom From Influence Fund after an election; eligibility of participating candidates for additional payments; civil penalties for violation of contribution and expenditure requirements; a Commission action appeals process; and contributions and expenditures by multicandidate and political party political committees on behalf of participating candidates. Prohibits a certified participating candidate's authorized committee from establishing a joint fundraising committee with any political committee other than another authorized committee of the candidate. Prohibits a certified participating candidate from establishing, financing, maintaining, or controlling a leadership PAC (political action committee). Prohibits use of contributions by a participating candidate for any purposes other than an election campaign. Revises bundler disclosure requirements to repeal a specified exception and so require disclosure of persons who provided bundled contributions to the reporting committee. Amends FECA to empower the FEC to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to appeal a civil action to enforce the Act. Requires all political committee designations, statements, and reports required to be filed under FECA to be filed: (1) directly with the FEC; and (2) in electronic form accessible by computers. Reduces to 24 hours after their receipt the deadline for the FEC to make designations, statements, reports, or notifications available to the public in the FEC office and on the Internet. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to set a station's lowest unit price for preemptible use as the charge for a broadcast by the national committee of a political party for an affiliated candidate. Authorizes the FEC to revoke a broadcast station license or construction permit only for at least three willful failures to allow reasonable access to, or to permit purchase of reasonable amounts of time for the use of, a broadcasting station or cable system by a legally qualified candidate for federal office. Amends the IRC to allow taxpayers to designate overpayments of tax for contribution to the Freedom From Influence Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 2015
Constitutional Amendment - Authorizes Congress and the states to set reasonable limits on the raising and spending of money by candidates and others to influence elections. Grants Congress and the states the power to implement and enforce this amendment by appropriate legislation. Allows them to distinguish between natural persons and corporations or other artificial entities created by law, including by prohibiting such entities from spending money to influence elections. Declares that nothing in this amendment shall be construed to grant Congress or the states the power to abridge the freedom of the press.
United States · United States Congress · 14 January 2015
Manufacturing Jobs for Veterans Act Directs the Secretary of Labor, as part of the Veteran's Workforce Investment Program, to carry out a five-year pilot program (to be known as the Veterans Manufacturing Employment Program) to award competitive grants to three states for the establishment and administration of a State Manufacturing Employment Program to make grants to manufacturing employers and labor-management organizations that provide training, on-job training, apprenticeships, and certification classes to eligible veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 14 January 2015
Financial Literacy for Students Act Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education of 1965 (ESEA) to authorize the Secretary of Education to award matching grants to states to: (1) integrate financial literacy education into each of their public elementary and secondary schools that are eligible for school improvement funds under title I of the ESEA, and (2) train their secondary school financial literacy or entrepreneurship teachers to teach financial literacy in core academic subjects. Prohibits states from using over 20% of their grant funds to train those teachers, develop curricula, and evaluate the impact of financial literacy or personal finance education.
United States · United States Congress · 14 January 2015
Wounded Veterans Recreation Act Amends the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act to require the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass, which is made available for the lifetime of the passholder without charge to any U.S. citizen or person domiciled in the United States who has been medically determined to be permanently disabled, to be made available to any veteran with a service-connected disability.
United States · United States Congress · 14 January 2015
Responsible Body Armor Possession Act Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit the purchase, ownership, or possession of enhanced body armor, except: (1) by or under the authority of the United States or any state or political subdivision, or (2) enhanced body armor that was lawfully possessed before the effective date of this Act. Defines "enhanced body armor" to mean body armor, including a helmet or shield, the ballistic resistance of which meets or exceeds the ballistic performance of Type III armor, determined using National Institute of Justice Standard-0101.06.
United States · United States Congress · 14 January 2015
National Nurse Act of 2015 Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to designate the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service as the National Nurse for Public Health within the Office of the Surgeon General. Includes among the duties of this position: (1) providing leadership and coordination of Public Health Service nursing professional affairs for the Office of the Surgeon General and other agencies of the Public Health Service, (2) conducting outreach and education, and (3) providing guidance and leadership for activities that will increase public safety and emergency preparedness. Requires the National Nurse for Public Health to: (1) participate in identification of national health priorities, (2) encourage volunteerism of nurses and strengthen the relationship between government agencies and health-related national organizations, and (3) promote the dissemination of evidence-based practice in educating the public on health promotion and disease prevention activities.
United States · United States Congress · 14 January 2015
National Purple Heart Hall of Honor Commemorative Coin Act Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins emblematic of the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor. Limits the minting of such coins to the one-year period beginning on January 1, 2017. Prescribes surcharges for coin sales, which shall be paid to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, Inc., to help finance the construction of a new building and renovation of existing National Purple Heart Hall of Honor facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 14 January 2015
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the United States Postal Service should issue a postage stamp honoring the holiday of Diwali, and (2) the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.
United States · United States Congress · 13 January 2015
Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act Amends federal military retired pay provisions to: (1) permit veterans with a service-connected disability of less than 50% to concurrently receive both retired pay and disability compensation; (2) eliminate provisions requiring a phase-in between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2013, of concurrent receipt of retired pay and disability compensation; (3) eliminate a phase-in of concurrent receipt of retired pay and disability compensation for disabled veterans determined to be individually unemployable; and (4) require a limited reduction in retired pay for qualified disability retirees with less than 20 years of retirement-creditable service.
United States · United States Congress · 13 January 2015
Retired Pay Restoration Act Expresses the sense of Congress that military retired pay should not be reduced because a military retiree is also eligible for veterans' disability compensation awarded for a service-connected disability. Allows the receipt of both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation with respect to any service-connected disability (under current law, only a disability rated at 50% or more). Repeals provisions phasing in the full concurrent receipt of such pay through December 31, 2013. Makes eligible for the full concurrent receipt of both veterans' disability compensation and either military retired pay or combat-related special pay those individuals who were retired or separated from military service due to a service-connected disability.
United States · United States Congress · 13 January 2015
Veterans Medical Access Act Authorizes payment under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) beneficiary travel program of travel expenses in connection with medical examination, treatment, or care of a veteran with vision impairment, a spinal cord injury or disorder, or double or multiple amputations whose travel is in connection with care provided through a VA special disabilities rehabilitation program, if such care is provided: (1) on an inpatient basis, or (2) while a veteran is provided temporary lodging at a VA facility in order to make such care more accessible. Requires a report from the Secretary to the congressional veterans committees on the travel program.
United States · United States Congress · 13 January 2015
Advancing Research for Neurological Diseases Act of 2015 Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to: (1) enhance and expand infrastructure and activities to track the epidemiology of neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease; and (2) incorporate information obtained through those activities into a National Neurological Diseases Surveillance System. Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure that the System facilitates further research on neurological diseases. Requires HHS to provide for the collection and storage of information on neurological diseases, including the incidence, prevalence, and other information, to the extent practicable. Requires HHS to: (1) make information and analysis in the System available to federal agencies and to the public, including researchers; and (2) ensure that privacy and security protections applicable to the System are at least as stringent as the protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
United States · United States Congress · 13 January 2015
New Columbia Admission Act Sets forth procedures for admission into the United States of the state of New Columbia. Requires the Mayor of the District of Columbia to: (1) submit to the eligible voters propositions for statehood and adoption of a State Constitution, and (2) issue a proclamation for the first elections to Congress of two Senators and one Representative of New Columbia. Requires the President, upon adoption of such propositions and certification of such elections, to issue a proclamation announcing the results and admitting New Columbia into the Union. Provides for conversion of District government offices to state offices. Provides that New Columbia shall consist of all territory of the District as of the enactment of this Act, excluding land within specified metes and bounds that shall remain the District of Columbia and that shall include the principal federal monuments, the White House, the Capitol Building, the Supreme Court Building, the federal executive, legislative, and judicial office buildings located adjacent to the Mall and the Capitol Building, and certain military property. Prohibits New Columbia from imposing taxes on federal property except as provided by Congress. Maintains the applicability to New Columbia of current District laws and continues pending judicial proceedings. Maintains: (1) the District of Columbia as the seat of the federal government, and (2) the federal government's authority over military lands and specified other property. Requires each state that is the last place an individual resided before residing in the District of Columbia to permit such individual to vote in federal elections by absentee ballot. Sets forth a rule for expedited consideration of a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution to repeal the 23rd amendment (which provides for the appointment of electors for President and Vice President for the District).
United States · United States Congress · 12 January 2015
Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act of 2015 or the SAVE Act of 2015 Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit knowingly: (1) advertising commercial sex acts involving a minor or an individual engaged in such an act through force, fraud, or coercion; or (2) benefitting financially or otherwise from such advertising knowing that the individual involved was a minor or victim of force, fraud, or coercion.
United States · United States Congress · 12 January 2015
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the U.S. Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of door delivery for all businesses and residential customers.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2015
Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act Amends the Internet Tax Freedom Act to make permanent the ban on state and local taxation of Internet access and on multiple or discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2015
Affordability for Constant and Continual Education to Enhance Student Success Act or the All-Year ACCESS Act Directs the Secretary of Education to award an additional Pell Grant to an eligible student who: (1) has received a Pell Grant for an award year, and (2) is enrolled in a program of study for one or more additional payment periods during the same award year that are not otherwise covered by the Pell Grant. Requires such a student to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis for a period of more than one academic year, or more than the equivalent of two semesters, during a single award year. Limits the total amount of the Pell Grants awarded to such student for the award year to 150% of the maximum Pell Grant for such award year.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2015
Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act Designates approximately 1,559,538 acres of land within Alaska in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as wilderness and components of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2015
Copyright and Marriage Equality Act Amends federal copyright law to revise the definition of "widow" or "widower" for purposes of provisions concerning the transfer of a copyright to an author's spouse or other next of kin following the author's death. Declares that an individual is the widow or widower of an author if the courts of the state in which the individual and the author were married (or, if the individual and the author were not married in any state but were validly married in another jurisdiction, the courts of any state) would find that the individual and the author were validly married at the time of the author's death. (Currently, only the author's surviving spouse under the law of the author's domicile at the time of death is considered a widow.)
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2015
Amends the Missing Children's Assistance Act to include among the required uses of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's annual grant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children operation of a cyber tipline to provide online users and electronic service providers an effective means of reporting Internet-related child sexual exploitation in the area of child sex trafficking, including child prostitution (currently, in the area of child prostitution).
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2015
Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2015 Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) eliminate the per country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, and (2) increase the per country numerical limitation for family based immigrants from 7% to 15% of the total number of family-sponsored visas. Amends the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 to eliminate the provision requiring the reduction of annual Chinese immigrant visas to offset status adjustments under such Act. Sets forth the following transition period for employment-based second and third preference (EB-2 and EB-3) immigrant visas: for FY2015, 15% of such visas allotted to natives of countries other than the two countries with the largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining such visas in FY2011; for FY2016, 10% of such visas allotted in each category to natives of countries other than the two with the largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining such visas in FY2012; and for FY2017, 10% of such visas allotted in each category to natives of countries other than the two with the largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining such visas in FY2015. Sets forth the following per country distribution rules: (1) for transition period visas, not more than 25% of the total number of EB-2 and EB-3 visas for natives of a single country; and (2) for non-transition period visas, not more than 85% of EB-2 and EB-3 visas for natives of a single country. Provides that the amendments made by this Act will take place as if enacted on September 30, 2014, and shall apply beginning in FY2015.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2015
Keeping Guns from High Risk Individuals Act Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to prohibit the sale or other disposition of a firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person: (1) has been convicted of a crime of violence in the previous 10 years; (2) is under age 25 and has been adjudicated as having committed an offense that would have been a crime of violence if committed by an adult; (3) has been convicted on 2 separate occasions in any period of 3 consecutive years in the last 10 of an offense that has the possession or distribution of alcohol or a controlled substance as an element; or (4) has been convicted of stalking. Prohibits any such person from: (1) shipping or transporting in interstate or foreign commerce, or possessing in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or (2) receiving any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2015
Firearm Safety Act of 2015 Amends the Consumer Product Safety Act to remove from the definition of "consumer product" the exclusion for any article sold by a manufacturer, producer, or importer that would be subject to a firearms sales tax under the Internal Revenue Code for pistols, revolvers, and other firearms, including shells and cartridges, thereby permitting the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue safety standards for such articles.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2015
Requires the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service to report annually to Congress on the effects of gun violence on public health and the status of actions taken to address those effects.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2015
Respect for Marriage Act Amends the Defense of Marriage Act to repeal a provision that prohibited a state, territory, possession, or Indian tribe from being required to recognize any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other state, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a same sex marriage. Amends the federal rules of construction added by such Act concerning the definitions of "marriage" and "spouse" to provide that, for purposes of any federal law in which marital status is a factor, an individual shall be considered married if that individual's marriage is valid in the state where the marriage was entered into or, in the case of a marriage entered into outside any state, if the marriage is valid in the place where entered into and the marriage could have been entered into in a state. Removes the definition of "spouse" (currently, a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife).
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2015
No Budget, No Pay Act Prohibits the payment of any pay to any Member of Congress (excluding the Vice President): (1) if both houses of Congress have not approved a concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal year before October 1 of that fiscal year and have not passed all the regular appropriations bills for the next fiscal year by such date, or (2) until both houses of Congress approve such a budget resolution and pass all such appropriations bills. Prohibits any retroactive pay for such a period.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2015
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1103 USPS Building 1103 in Camp Pendleton, California, as the "Camp Pendleton Medal of Honor Post Office."