United States · United States Congress · 29 July 2015
School Food Modernization Act This bill amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to direct the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue loan guarantees to local educational agencies (LEAs), school food authorities, and other eligible entities to finance infrastructure improvements or equipment purchases to facilitate their provision of healthy meals through the school lunch program. USDA must give preference to applicants that demonstrate a substantial or disproportionate need for food service infrastructure or durable equipment, and shall establish fees for the loan guarantee program that are sufficient to cover the federal government's administrative costs in operating the program. USDA must also award competitive matching grants to assist LEAs, school food authorities, and other eligible entities in purchasing the durable equipment and infrastructure they need to serve healthier meals and improve food safety. In doing so, USDA must give grant priority to applicants that: (1) have identified and are reasonably expected to meet an unmet local or community need, and (2) are located in states that have enacted funding measures to assist them with such purchases. In addition, USDA must award competitive matching grants to experienced third-party training institutions to provide school food service personnel with the training and technical assistance they need to: (1) meet school lunch program nutrition standards, and (2) improve the efficacy and efficiency of the school lunch and breakfast programs. The bill authorizes these grant and loan programs through FY2021 and, as an offset, rescinds $35 million of the Department of Education's unobligated balance available for administrative expenses. USDA must complete a study on the use of state administrative expense funds.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 2015
Seniors Have Eyes, Ears, and Teeth Act This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to expand Medicare coverage to include eyeglasses, hearing aids, and dental care.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 2015
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: all efforts to improve Medicare and Medicaid under titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act must support and build upon President Johnson's vision "to assure the availability of and accessibility to the best health care to all Americans, regardless of age or geography or economic status"; Medicare should not be transformed into a voucher program, leaving seniors and people with disabilities vulnerable to higher out-of-pocket costs; and Medicaid should not be dismantled by policies that slash funding, shift costs to states, reduce benefits, and erode the safety net relied on by over millions of individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2015
DXM Abuse Prevention Act of 2015 This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit the sale of a drug containing dextromethorphan (DXM) to an individual under age 18 unless the individual has a prescription or is actively enrolled in the military. Civil monetary penalties that escalate upon repeated violation are imposed. To possess or receive unfinished DXM, a person must be registered with the Department of Health and Human Services as a producer of a drug or medical device or otherwise allowed to engage in the practice of pharmacy, pharmaceutical production, or manufacture or distribution of drug ingredients. Unfinished DXM may be distributed only to these authorized persons. Common carriers distributing unfinished DXM between authorized persons are exempted. Civil monetary penalties are imposed for possession and distribution violations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2015
This bill amends part A (General Provisions) of title XI of the Social Security Act to authorize the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to waive applicable general and Medicaid requirements of the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) in order to conduct demonstration projects through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMS Innovation Center) that involve PACE. HHS may not, as part of a CMS Innovation Center demonstration, waive: (1) the requirement to offer items and services under Medicare and Medicaid without limitation to PACE program enrollees, and (2) certain requirements regarding enrollment in and disenrollment from PACE programs.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2015
Prevent All Soring Tactics Act of 2015 or the PAST Act This bill amends the Horse Protection Act to establish a new system for inspecting horses for soring, revise penalties for violations of the Act, and modify enforcement procedures. The soring of horses is any of various actions taken on a horse's limb to produce a higher gait that may cause pain, distress, inflammation, or lameness. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) must establish requirements to license, train, assign, and oversee persons hired by the management of horse shows, exhibitions, sales, or auctions to detect and diagnose sore horses. A license may not be issued to a person with conflicts of interest, and USDA must give preference to veterinarians. USDA may revoke a license for unsatisfactory performance. USDA must assign licensed inspectors after receiving notice that management intends to hire the inspectors. An inspector must issue a citation for violations and notify USDA of violations. USDA must publish information on violations of this bill and disqualify a horse that is sore. The bill prohibits a person in any horse show, exhibition, sale, or auction from causing or directing a horse to become sore for the purpose of showing, exhibiting, selling, or auctioning the horse. The bill prohibits the use of specified devices on a Tennessee Walking, a Racking, or a Spotted Saddle horse at a show, exhibition, sale, or auction. The bill increases the maximum criminal and civil liability penalties for certain violations. USDA may disqualify violators from specified activities related to horse shows, exhibitions, sales, and auctions.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2015
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 836 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, California, as the "Special Warfare Operator Master Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Louis 'Lou' J. Langlais Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2015
Homeless and Foster Youth Achievement Act This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require a state to include additional information in its annual state report card. Under current law, a state must include data regarding student achievement on state academic assessments, both in the aggregate and disaggregated by race, ethnicity, disability status, migrant status, English proficiency, and status as disadvantaged. For purposes of a state's annual report card, the bill expands those categories to include homeless status and status as a child in foster care. Graduation rates for secondary school students must be reported by the same categories by which student achievement data is reported.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2015
Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act This bill amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to modify loan counseling requirements for an institution of higher education (IHE) that participates in federal student aid programs. Currently, an IHE must provide entrance counseling to a student who is a first-time federal student loan borrower. This bill replaces required entrance counseling with required annual counseling. Also, it expands the required recipients of such annual counseling to include, in addition to student borrowers, Federal Pell Grant recipients and parent PLUS Loan borrowers. Each annual counseling recipient must receive comprehensive information on the terms, conditions, and responsibilities with respect to a grant or loan and general information on a typical student budget, the right to request an annual credit report, average income and employment data, and financial management resources. Additionally, the bill revises, expands, or establishes specific annual counseling information requirements for student borrowers, Pell Grant recipients, or parent PLUS Loan borrowers. The legislation revises and expands exit counseling information requirements to include an outstanding loan balance summary, the anticipated monthly payments under standard and income-based repayment plans, an explanation of the grace period preceding repayment, the option to pay accrued interest before it capitalizes, the right to request an annual credit report, and loan servicer contact information. It directs ED to maintain a consumer-tested online counseling tool that provides annual and exit counseling. The Institute of Education Sciences must study the impact and effectiveness of exit counseling, annual counseling, and the online counseling tool.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2015
Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act This bill amends title I (General Provisions) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to modify consumer information disclosure requirements related to college costs and student characteristics. Specifically, it eliminates the existing restriction that limits calculations of cost of attendance, net price, and tuition and fees to first time students only. Additionally, it eliminates provisions that require the Department of Education (ED) to make publicly available the following: (1) college affordability and transparency lists, (2) annual summaries of institutional reports, (3) state higher education spending charts; and (4) a multi-year tuition and fees calculator. The bill directs ED to develop, annually update, and make publicly available a College Dashboard website to replace the College Navigator website. It revises the consumer information ED must make publicly available regarding an institution that participates in title IV federal student aid programs. ED must also publish and link to the College Dashboard website additional information regarding student enrollment, completion rates, costs, use of financial aid, and faculty. The bill establishes certain minimum requirements for an institution's net price calculator, including website location and information provided. Sale or distribution of personally identifiable information collected by a net price calculator is prohibited.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2015
Flexible Pell Grant for 21st Century Students Act This bill amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to allow an eligible student to receive more than one Federal Pell Grant award in a single award year. An eligible student is a student who: (1) has already received a Pell Grant during an award year and is enrolled in an eligible program for one or more additional payment periods (e.g., a summer term) during the same award year, (2) continues to meet Pell Grant program eligibility requirements, and (3) is accelerating progress toward a degree or certificate. An eligible student's total Pell Grant amount must not exceed 150% of the annual maximum Pell Grant for that award year. An institution must notify a student that any period of additional Pell Grant receipt counts toward that student's lifetime Pell Grant eligibility period (currently 12 full-time semesters). If an additional Pell Grant spans two award years, then an institution must determine the award year to which such Pell Grant applies. The Department of Education must provide to each Pell Grant recipient an annual status report that includes certain information related to such student's remaining lifetime Pell Grant eligibility period.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2015
Simplifying the Application for Student Aid Act This bill amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Department of Education to provide for the use of tax information from the second preceding tax year (the "prior, prior year") to determine a student's financial aid eligibility. It requires data sharing between the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Education, pursuant to taxpayer consent.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2015
Equality Act Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation in places of public accommodation. Defines: "sex" to include a sex stereotype, sexual orientation or gender identity, and pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition; "sexual orientation" as homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality; and "gender identity" as gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or characteristics, regardless of the individual's designated sex at birth. Expands the categories of public accommodations to include places or establishments that provide: exhibitions, recreation, exercise, amusement, gatherings, or displays; goods, services, or programs, including a store, a shopping center, an online retailer or service provider, a salon, a bank, a gas station, a food bank, a service or care center, a shelter, a travel agency, a funeral parlor, or a health care, accounting, or legal service; or transportation services. Prohibits "establishment" from being construed to be limited to a physical facility or place. Authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to bring a civil action if it receives a complaint from an individual who claims to be: denied equal utilization of a public facility owned, operated, or managed by a state (other than public schools or colleges) on account of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity; or denied admission to, or not permitted to continue attending, a public college by reason of sexual orientation or gender identity, thereby expanding DOJ's existing authority to bring such actions for complaints based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Revises public school desegregation standards to provide for the assignment of students without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. Prohibits programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance from denying benefits to, or discriminating against, persons based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity, subject to the same exceptions and conditions that currently apply to unlawful employment practices based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Requires employers to recognize individuals in accordance with their gender identity if sex is a bona fide occupational qualification that is reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise. Provides government employees with protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Authorizes DOJ to intervene in equal protection actions in federal court on account of sexual orientation or gender identity. Requires protections against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin to include protections against discrimination based on: (1) an association with another person who is a member of such a protected class; or (2) a perception or belief, even if inaccurate, that an individual is a member of such a protected class. Prohibits the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 from providing a claim, defense, or basis for challenging such protections. Prohibits an individual from being denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual's gender identity. Amends the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and jury selection standards to add sexual orientation and gender identity as classes protected against discrimination under such laws.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 2015
Affordability Is Access Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require health insurance and group health plans to cover, as preventive care for women, over-the-counter oral contraceptives for daily use, regardless of whether an enrollee has a prescription for the contraceptive. (Insurers and plans cannot impose cost sharing for preventive care.)
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 2015
Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants or contracts for Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers. These Centers must improve the training of health professionals in palliative care and establish traineeships for individuals preparing for advanced education nursing degrees, social work degrees, or advanced degrees in physician assistant studies in palliative care. HHS may make grants to, and enter into contracts with, schools of medicine, schools of osteopathic medicine, teaching hospitals, and graduate medical education programs to support the training of physicians who plan to teach palliative medicine. HHS must: (1) provide Palliative Medicine and Hospice Academic Career Awards to individuals to promote their career development; (2) award grants or contracts to entities that operate a Palliative Care and Hospice Education Center; (3) award incentive grants or contracts to advanced practice nurses, social workers, physician assistants, pharmacists, chaplains, or students of psychology pursuing an advanced degree in palliative care or related fields; and (4) award grants to schools of nursing, health care facilities, or programs leading to certification as a nurse assistant to train individuals in providing palliative care. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality must provide for a national education and awareness campaign to inform patients, families, and health professionals about the benefits of palliative care. The National Institutes of Health must expand national research programs in palliative care.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 2015
This bill amends the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 to increase the limit from $18.75 billion to $23.5 billion for FY2015 commitments for general business loans authorized under the Small Business Act for a combination of amortizing term loans and the aggregated maximum line of credit provided by revolving loans.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 2015
Schedules That Work Act Grants an employee the right to request that his or her employer change the terms and conditions of employment relating to: the number of hours or times the employee is required to work or be on call; the location; the amount of notification he or she receives of work schedule assignments; and minimizing fluctuations in the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Requires the employer, if the request is made, to engage in a timely, good faith interactive process with the employee that includes a discussion of potential schedule changes that would meet his or her needs. Outlines the process for either granting or denying a change. Requires the employer to grant a request, unless there is a bona fide business reason for denying it, if the request is made because of the employee's serious health condition, his or her responsibilities as a caregiver, or enrollment in a career-related educational or training program, or if a part-time employee requests such a change for a reason related to a second job.++_ Authorizes an employer, if an employee requests a change for any other reason, to deny it for any reason that is not unlawful. Requires the employer to give the employee the reason for the denial, including whether it was a bona fide business reason. Outlines employer requirements for paying reporting time and split shift pay and for giving advance notice of work schedules to retail, food service, or cleaning employees, or the Department of Labor's (DOL) designated employees, except for those in bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacities. Makes it unlawful for any employer or other person to: (1) interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise or the attempt to exercise any right of an employee specified in this Act; (2) retaliate against an individual for exercising his or her rights, or (3) interfere with proceedings or inquiries with respect to violation of an individual's rights. Sets forth administrative enforcement procedures and civil remedies for violation of these prohibitions. Directs DOL to give information and technical assistance to employers, labor organizations, and the general public concerning compliance with this Act. Directs DOL, acting through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of the Census to: (1) include in the Current Population Survey questions on, among other things, the amount of fluctuation in the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis; and (2) conduct at regular intervals the Contingent Worker Supplement, the Work Schedules and Work at Home Supplement, and other relevant supplements to the Current Population Survey. Makes this Act inapplicable to any employee covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement if its terms govern work scheduling practices.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 2015
Child Sexual Abuse Awareness and Prevention Act This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to: (1) authorize the use of grants to local educational agencies for carrying out child sexual abuse awareness and prevention programs and activities, (2) establish periodic evaluation requirements for such grant programs and activities, and (3) establish principles of effectiveness applicable to these grant programs and activities as well as to those aimed at reducing the impact of domestic violence on schoolchildren.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 2015
Generating Renewal, Opportunity, and Work with Accelerated Mobility, Efficiency, and Rebuilding of Infrastructure and Communities throughout America Act or the GROW AMERICA Act Prescribes requirements for environmental reviews with respect to state and federal agency engagement, obstruction of navigation, historic sites, categorical exclusion of multimodal projects from environmental review, and creation in the Department of Transportation (DOT) of an Interagency Infrastructure Permitting Improvement Center. Directs DOT to establish a multimodal freight incentive grant program and a National Freight Infrastructure Program. Redesignates the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways as the National Highway System and the National Freight Network. Requires the federal long-range transportation plan to include a transportation system resilience assessment. Prescribes criteria for high performing metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) representing urbanized areas with populations of over 200,000. Removes the congestion management process from the transportation planning process for MPOs. Directs DOT to establish a pilot program for up to 10 MPOs to improve multimodal connectivity and increase connections for disadvantaged Americans and neighborhoods with limited transportation options. Revises requirements with respect to congestion mitigation and air quality improvement, including electric vehicle charging stations and commercial motor vehicle anti-idling facilities in rest areas along the Interstate System. Establishes in DOT: a discretionary TIGER Infrastructure Grant Program for various transportation projects; and a discretionary FAST Grant Program to reform the way surface transportation investments and decisions are made, implemented, and funded to achieve national transportation outcomes. Revises requirements for the funding of railroad rehabilitation and improvement financing, the state infrastructure bank program, toll roads, bridges, tunnels, and ferries. Establishes within DOT the position of Assistant Secretary for Innovative Finance. Reauthorizes the federal-aid highway and related programs through FY2021, including revised obligation limitation and apportionment requirements. Directs DOT to: establish a nationally significant federal lands and tribal projects program to fund construction, reconstruction, or rehabilitation of nationally significant federal lands and tribal transportation projects; carry out a broadband infrastructure deployment initiative; create a program to make critical and immediate improvements to infrastructure and highway safety; set-aside specified funds for states for highway safety data improvement activities on public roads; and create and maintain data sets and data analysis tools to assist MPOs, states, and the DOT in carrying out performance management analyses. Federal Public Transportation Act of 2015 Revises fixed guideway capital investment grants requirements. Authorizes grants to state and local governments for very small starts projects. Revises requirements for formula grants for enhanced mobility and for rural areas, workforce development programs, and the public transportation safety program. Requires recipients of transportation assistance to meet certain standards for hiring locally. Reauthorizes specified public transportation assistance programs through FY2021. Authorizes DOT to make competitive grants to state and local governmental entities for bus rapid transit projects. Authorizes appropriations for specified highway safety programs through FY2021, and revises related requirements. Revises criteria for state graduated driver licensing incentive grants. Adds a 24-7 sobriety program to criteria for state repeat offender and open container laws. Authorizes specified amounts of grant funds to states for distracted driving enforcement. Authorizes appropriations for specified motor vehicle safety programs through FY2021, and increases penalties for safety violations. Revises certain reporting requirements for tire manufacturers. Requires DOT to conduct a pilot grant program to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness for a state process for informing consumers of open motor vehicle recalls at the time of motor vehicle registration. Revises specified requirements for commercial motor vehicle and commercial driver safety. Requires disqualification to operate a commercial motor vehicle for anyone who fails to pay an assessed civil penalty for a motor vehicle safety violation. Revises certain medical and registration requirements for commercial motor vehicle operators. Revises requirements for the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program. Directs DOT to administer a High Priority Program, an innovative technology deployment grant program, and a Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators Grant Program. Authorizes DOT to establish: a motor carrier safety facility working capital fund, and a financial assistance program for commercial driver's license program implementation. Directs DOT to maintain for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration a motor carrier safety advisory committee. Revises requirements for the Unified Carrier Registration System plan. Repeals the authorization for self-insurance by motor carriers. Prescribes notice requirements relating to decisions that electronic logging devices fail to comply with standards. Authorizes DOT to issue regulations: governing contractors that exercise control over motor carrier operations; and requiring motor vehicle employers to track and compensate employees for on-duty, not-driving time. Authorizes DOT, with respect to unsafe conditions or practices in the transportation of hazardous materials (hazmat transportation), to order necessary: operational controls, restrictions, and prohibitions without prior notice or an opportunity for a hearing; and removal, remediation, or disposal of hazardous materials causing unreasonable risk of death, personal injury, or significant harm to the property or the environment. Authorizes DOT to collect reasonable fees for the administration of the special permits and approvals for deposit into a Hazardous Materials Approvals and Permits Fund. Revises requirements for planning and training grants under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986. Reauthorizes the program for regulating hazmat transportation through FY2021. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through FY2023 specified highway-related taxes as well as requirements for expenditures from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. Replaces the Highway Trust Fund with a Transportation Trust Fund, and authorizes appropriations to it through FY2021. Directs DOT to establish and support a National Cooperative Freight Transportation Research Program and a Priority Multimodal Research Program. Revises the competitive selection process for the university transportation centers consortia program. Requires the Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) to create data sets and data analysis tools for intermodal transportation data. Establishes in the BTS a National Transportation Library. Authorizes the BTS Director to establish a Port Performance Statistics Program to provide nationally consistent measures of performance of the nation's maritime ports. Revises requirements for the intelligent transportation system (ITS) program. Includes as an ITS program goal the development and deployment of automated vehicles in all modes of surface transportation. Prescribes requirements for the use of funds to develop ITS infrastructure, equipment, and systems. Rail for America Act Directs DOT to facilitate by financial assistance the establishment of a National High-Performance Rail System of integrated passenger and freight rail services, including a Current Passenger Rail Service Program and a Rail Service Improvement Program. Authorizes appropriations through FY2021 for the System and for the planning, development, construction, and implementation of rail corridors and related infrastructure improvements. Requires Amtrak to submit to the Secretary draft 5-year business line plans and draft 5-year capital asset plans. Authorizes DOT to establish Regional Rail Development Authorities, including a Regional Committee, to facilitate the development of multi-state high-performance rail services, and to coordinate these investments with other rail, transit, highway, and aviation system services. Prescribes requirements for the standardization of passenger equipment and level-entry boarding platforms. Directs DOT to: evaluate the shared-use of right-of-way by passenger and freight rail systems and the operational, institutional, and legal structures that would best support improvements to both of these systems; and conduct a nationwide disparity and availability study to establish the availability and utilization of small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in publicly funded railroad projects. Requires DOT to complete a National Rail Development Plan meeting certain criteria, and facilitate development of Regional Rail Development Plans. Authorizes DOT to prescribe regulations or issue orders to require host railroads for joint operations that occur within a small geographic area to develop unified rules governing all operations within that area. Revises or prescribes requirements relating to positive train control, hours of service, maximum employee duty hours, safety appliances, locomotive inspections, noise emission standards, and damaged track inspection equipment. Authorizes federal agency heads to construct, install, operate, and maintain electric charging infrastructure for official agency vehicles. Stop Corporate Expatriation and Invest in America's Infrastructure Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise rules for the taxation of inverted corporations (i.e., U.S. corporations that acquire foreign companies to reincorporate in a foreign jurisdiction with income tax rates lower than the United States) to provide that a foreign corporation that acquires the properties of a U.S. corporation or partnership after May 8, 2014, shall be treated as an inverted corporation and thus subject to U.S. taxation if, after such acquisition: it holds more than 50% of the stock of the new entity (expanded affiliated group), or the management or control of the new entity occurs primarily within the United States and the new entity has significant domestic business activities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 2015
Restore Honor to Service Members Act Requires appropriate military record correction boards or discharge review boards to review the discharge characterization of any former members of the Armed Forces requesting a review who were discharged because of their sexual orientation. Permits such boards to change a characterization to honorable if such characterization is any characterization except honorable. Directs the Department of Defense to ensure that any such changes are carried out consistently and uniformly across the military departments using specified criteria, including that: (1) the original discharge was based on the policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell (as in effect before it was repealed pursuant to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010) or a similar earlier policy; and (2) the discharge characterization will be changed if, with respect to the original discharge, there were no aggravating circumstances, such as misconduct, that would have independently led to any discharge characterization except honorable. Prohibits "aggravating circumstances" from including: (1) an offense of sodomy committed by the member against a consenting person of the same sex; or (2) statements, consensual sexual conduct, or consensual acts relating to sexual orientation or identity, or the disclosure of such statements, conduct, or acts, that were prohibited at the time of discharge but that became permitted after such discharge. Directs the Secretary of each military department to ensure that oral historians of the department: (1) review discharges between World War II and September 2011 based on sexual orientation, and (2) receive oral testimony of individuals who personally experienced discrimination and discharge because of actual or perceived sexual orientation so that such testimony may serve as an official record of such discriminatory policies and their impact on American lives. Requires the reissuance of specified military personnel records and discharge forms in a manner that shall not reflect the sexual orientation of the member. Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice to remove from the offense of sodomy specified activity referred to as unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 2015
Financial Services Conflict of Interest Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to declare that any pension, retirement, group life, health or accident insurance, profit-sharing, stock bonus, or other employee welfare or benefit plan maintained by a federal employee's former private sector employer that makes payment of compensation contingent on accepting a position in the federal government shall not be considered exempt from certain conflict-of-interest restrictions. The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is amended with respect to a financial services regulator who occupies a specified supervisory position within a primary financial regulatory agency, including among specified others the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. A financial services regulator shall not make, participate in making, or in any way attempt to use his or her official position to influence a particular matter that provides a direct and substantial pecuniary benefit for a former employer or former client. The regulator must recuse himself or herself from any official action that would provide such a benefit. Moreover, the regulator may not knowingly participate in any matter which involves an individual or entity with which the regulator is negotiating prospective employment. If the regulator is negotiating future employment with another entity, that fact must be disclosed to the designated agency ethics official. The Director of the Office of Government Ethics must discharge certain recordkeeping duties to implement this Act, and refer any non-compliance to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. The bill subjects violators of this Act to specified federal civil and criminal penalties. The bill also increases from one to two years the period during which a former federal procurement officer responsible for a particular federal contract may not accept compensation from the contractor, including for lawyering or lobbyist services. This prohibition shall extend to accepting compensation from affiliates and subcontractors. Procurement officials must also disclose contacts with procurement bidders or offerors about possible non-federal employment for a relative. A federal employee may not be personally and substantially involved with the award or administration of a contract to a former employer for two years after leaving the employer. Federal criminal law is amended to prohibit compensation for a former regulator: for a one-year period for legal representation, lobbying, or assistance for any person (except the United States) in any judicial proceeding pending under his or her official responsibility as a regulator; or for a two-year period for similar activities on behalf of any person (except the United States) before any executive branch agency or Congress in connection with any pending matter. The Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) is amended to expand from one to two years the conflict-of-interest restrictions on federal examiners. These restrictions shall apply also to supervisors of up to five financial institutions. The FDIA subjects to specified penalties the supervisor of a large financial service regulatory agency as well as the supervisor of a senior examiner for knowingly accepting compensation during the prohibited two-year period after the individual's regulatory service ends.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 2015
Urges: (1) the Federation Internationale de Football Association to eliminate gender pay inequity and treat all athletes with respect and dignity; and (2) all other local, state, federal, and international organizations to eliminate gender pay inequity. Expresses support for an end to gender pay inequity in the workplace, including athletic competitions.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 2015
Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2015 This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to require each covered program to prohibit child abuse and neglect and meet specified minimum standards. A "covered program" is a facility of a program operated by a public or private entity that, with respect to one or more children who are unrelated to the program owner or operator, purports to provide treatment or modify behaviors in a residential environment. HHS shall: (1) implement a review process for overseeing, investigating, and evaluating reports of child abuse and neglect; and (2) establish a process to assist states in the oversight and enforcement of this Act. HHS must refer any violation of such standards to the Attorney General, who shall file a complaint on his or her own initiative regardless of whether such a referral has been made. The bill amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to establish additional eligibility requirements for grants to states to prevent child abuse and neglect at residential programs. States receiving grants must develop policies and procedures to prevent child abuse and neglect at covered programs, including standards that meet or exceed the standards required under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 2015
Background Check Completion Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to prohibit a licensed gun dealer from transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person prior to completion of a background check. (Current law permits a licensed gun dealer to transfer a firearm to an unlicensed person if a submitted background check remains incomplete after three business days.)
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 2015
Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2015 Amends part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate with pharmaceutical manufacturers the prices that may be charged to Medicare part D prescription drug plan (PDP) sponsors and MedicareAdvantage (MA) organizations for covered part D drugs for part D eligible individuals who are enrolled under a PDP or under an MA-Prescription Drug plan.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2015
California Water Recycling and Drought Relief Act This bill amends the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Department of the Interior to participate in the design, planning, and construction of recycled water system facilities in California in cooperation with: the cities of Benicia, Brentwood, Ceres, Fresno, Hayward, Modesto, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Pleasanton, Redwood City, Sunnyvale, and Turlock; the Dublin San Ramon Services District; the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District; the Delta Diablo; the Ironhouse Sanitary District; the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency; the Del Puerto Water District; Stanislaus County; the Santa Clara Valley Water District; the San Jose Water Company; the West Bay Sanitary District; and the town of Yountville. The federal share of each project is limited to 25%. Interior must enter into individual agreements to fund such projects and include in such agreements a provision for the reimbursement of design, planning, and construction costs, but may not provide funds for project operation and maintenance. The bill increases the authorization of appropriations for the Antioch, California, recycled water system facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2015
Reducing the Effects of the Cyberattack on OPM Victims Emergency Response Act of 2015 or the RECOVER Act Requires the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to provide each individual whose personally identifiable information was compromised during data breaches of personnel records of federal employees in a network maintained by the Department of the Interior or in OPM systems containing federal employee background investigations with comprehensive identity protection coverage that is effective for the life of the individual and that includes not less than $5 million in identity theft insurance.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2015
Merchant Marine of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill requires the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold medal to the U.S. Merchant Marine of World War II, in recognition of their dedicated and vital service during World War II.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2015
Water Recycling Acceleration Act of 2015 Amends the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to provide that any water recycling project for which funding may otherwise be available under such Act shall not be required to have been previously specifically authorized by law for such funding, if that project reclaims and reuses: (1) municipal, industrial, domestic, or agricultural wastewater; or (2) naturally impaired ground and surface waters. Requires the Department of the Interior to give funding priority to such projects: that are located in an area that has been identified by the U.S. Drought Monitor as experiencing severe, extreme, or exceptional drought at any time during the previous four-year period or that was designated as a disaster area by the state between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2018; that are likely to provide for a more reliable water supply and to protect, restore, and enhance river or estuarine ecosystems or their immediate tributaries; that are likely to improve water resource flexibility and reduce impacts on environmental resources; that are regional in nature; that have multiple stakeholders; that provide multiple benefits, including water supply reliability, ecosystem benefits, groundwater management and enhancements, and water quality improvements; and for which a feasibility study has been completed and any necessary environmental or public reviews have been initiated. Requires Interior to: (1) issue water recycling project solicitation and evaluation guidelines that include such criteria; (2) solicit water recycling project proposals; and (3) review each proposed water recycling project for the purpose of determining whether or not the proposal, and the process under which the proposal was developed, comply with federal law applicable to the development of water recycling projects. Terminates Interior's authority under this Act 10 years after its enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2015
America's College Promise Act of 2015 This bill authorizes the Department of Education (ED) to award grants to states and Indian tribes to waive tuition and fees at community colleges. To receive a grant, states and Indian tribes must agree to waive tuition and fees at all their community colleges and for all eligible students. An eligible student is a first-time student who: (1) qualifies for resident tuition; (2) enrolls at least half-time; (3) maintains satisfactory academic progress; and (4) enrolls in an academic program with credits that are fully transferable to any public institution of higher education in the state or enrolls in a training program that leads to credentials in an in-demand industry. The bill appropriates $1.4 billion in FY2016 and $79.7 billion over FY2016-FY2025 to make grants under this community college program. This bill also authorizes ED to award grants to four-year historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to waive or reduce tuition and fees for up to 60 credits for low-income students. HBCUs and MSIs that participate must: (1) enroll a student body that contains at least 35% low-income students; (2) maintain or adopt reforms and practices to improve completion rates and student outcomes; (3) set performance goals; and (4) execute an articulation agreement with community colleges, if accepting transfer students. It appropriates $55 million for FY2016 and $10.1 billion over FY2016-FY2025 to make grants under this HBCU/MSI program.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2015
Drought Recovery and Resilience Act of 2015 TITLE I--EMERGENCY DROUGHT RESPONSE APPROPRIATIONS FROM RECLAMATION FUND This bill provides emergency supplemental appropriations for FY2015 from the Reclamation Fund to the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Army Corps of Engineers for water projects, programs, grants, or loans in states impacted by drought. Interior is provided additional amounts for the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), including amounts for water reclamation and reuse projects, the WaterSMART program under the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991, and water acquisition, water conveyance, and facilities construction under the Refuge Water Supply Program. The EPA is provided additional amounts for cleanup of polluted groundwater supplies, capitalization grants for state water pollution control revolving funds and for drinking water treatment revolving loan funds, and loans under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014. USDA is provided additional amounts for: (1) the Rural Utilities Service for direct and guaranteed loans and grants for rural water, wastewater, and waste disposal programs; and (2) emergency grants, upon declaration of a natural disaster, to assist low-income migrant and seasonal farmworkers to address impacts of drought. Additional amounts are also provided to: DOJ for the Drug Enforcement Administration to assist state or local law enforcement agencies in the suppression of cannabis operations; the Army Corps to carry out the Water Resources and Development Act of 2007; and projects under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 in drought-affected states that reduce fire risk, improve water quality or downstream water quantity, or expand ground water recharge capacity. TITLE II--NEW WATER INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM AUTHORIZATIONS National Water Recycling and Reclamation Act of 2015 The EPA must establish a National Water Recycling and Reclamation Program to provide private or governmental entities with grants for up to 80% of the costs for water recycling and reclamation projects for which eligible costs are anticipated to exceed $1 million. Selection criteria for such grants include the extent to which projects address water demand and supply, environmental protection, and federal return on investment through renewable water supplies. Reclamation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act or RIFIA Interior may provide financial assistance, such as secured loans or loan guarantees, to private entities, state or local governments, irrigation districts, water users' associations, or other entities that contract with the United States under federal reclamation law to carry out water projects within the 17 western states served by Reclamation, other states where Reclamation is authorized to provide project assistance, Alaska, and Hawaii. Projects eligible for assistance include: reclamation and reuse of municipal, industrial, domestic, and agricultural wastewater and naturally impaired ground; water infrastructure projects that would contribute to a safe, adequate water supply for domestic, agricultural, environmental, or municipal and industrial use; new water conduits, pipelines, canals, pumping or power facilities; energy efficiency projects; accelerated repair and replacement of aging water distribution facilities; brackish or sea water desalination; or acquisition of real property or an interest therein for water storage, reclaimed or recycled water, or wastewater that is integral to an authorized project. Priority must be given to projects that promote wastewater recycling, agricultural or urban water conservation and efficiency, stormwater capture, or other innovations that reduce reliance on surface and groundwater supplies. To be eligible for assistance, eligible project costs of a project and other projects in a watershed must be reasonably anticipated to be at least $10 million. The interest of a secured loan may not be more than the yield on Treasury securities of a similar maturity. Interior may sell or reoffer into the capital markets a secured loan after the substantial completion of the project. The final maturity date of a secured loan may not be later than 35 years after the expected date of substantial completion of the underlying project. Interior may also enter into cost-shared financial assistance agreements with nonfederal entities in the 17 Reclamation-served western states or Hawaii to carry out the planning, design, and construction of any permanent water storage and conveyance facility used solely to regulate and maximize the water supply arising from a project that is eligible for assistance, including recycled water projects not congressionally authorized, to: (1) recycle wastewater or ground water, or (2) use integrated and coordinated water management on a watershed or regional scale. The federal share of the cost of such a project shall be: (1) nonreimbursable, and (2) the lesser of 50% of the total cost or $15 million (adjusted for inflation). Reclamation Title Transfer Act of 2015 Reclamation may establish a program that: (1) identifies and analyzes the potential for public benefits from the transfer of eligible facilities out of federal ownership, and (2) facilitates the transfer of such facilities to qualifying entities to promote more efficient management of water and water-related facilities. "Eligible facilities" is defined as reclamation projects or facilities (including dams and appurtenant works, infrastructure, recreational facilities, buildings, distribution and drainage works, and associated land or interests in land or water) for which the United States holds title and that meet the criteria for potential transfer. A "qualifying entity" is a state, local government, Indian tribe, municipal or quasi-municipal corporation, or other entity (such as a water district) that has the capacity to continue to manage the conveyed property for the same purposes that the property has been managed under the reclamation laws. Reclamation may convey an eligible facility to a qualifying entity if Congress is notified before the conveyance and does not disapprove. A right of first refusal is granted to a qualifying entity that is operating an eligible facility at the time conveyance is being considered. The bill terminates Reclamation's authority to carry out such conveyances 15 years after this Act's enactment. Innovative Stormwater Infrastructure Act of 2015 The EPA must provide grants to eligible higher education institutions and research institutions to establish and maintain between three and five centers of excellence for innovative stormwater control infrastructure. One of the centers must be the national electronic clearinghouse center and must operate a website and a public database on the infrastructure. The EPA must provide grants for innovative stormwater control infrastructure projects and must give priority to applications from: (1) a community that has combined storm and sanitary sewers in its collection system or is low-income or disadvantaged, or (2) an eligible entity that will use at least 10% of the grant for a low-income or disadvantaged community. The EPA must ensure that: (1) EPA offices promote the use of the infrastructure in, and coordinate its integration into, permitting programs, planning efforts, research, technical assistance, and funding guidance; and (2) the EPA's Office of Water supports establishing innovative financing mechanisms in the implementation of the infrastructure. The EPA must: (1) direct EPA regional offices to promote and integrate the use of the infrastructure, and (2) promote sharing information about the infrastructure approaches. The EPA must establish an innovative stormwater control infrastructure portfolio standard consisting of voluntary, measurable goals to increase the percentage of annual water managed by entities that use the infrastructure. TITLE III--IMPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE AND WATER MANAGEMENT Restoring America's Watersheds Act of 2015 The Forest Service must establish a Water Source Protection Program within the region of the National Forest System west of the 100th Meridian. USDA is authorized to enter into water source investment partnerships with specified end water users to protect and restore the condition of National Forest watersheds that provide water to nonfederal partners. The Forest Service must establish a Watershed Condition Framework within such region to: (1) identify for restoration up to five priority watersheds in each National Forest and up to two priority watersheds in each national grassland, and (2) develop and implement a watershed restoration action plan for each priority watershed. The Forest Service must also establish a Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Program within such region to: carry out critical maintenance and urgent repairs and improvements on National Forest System roads, trails, and bridges; restore fish and other aquatic organism passage by removing or replacing unnatural barriers to the passage of fish and other aquatic organisms; and decommission unneeded roads and trails. The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund is reauthorized through FY2024. Five Demonstrations of Advancing Yields by Fixing Operations of Reservoirs to Encompass Climatic and Atmospheric Science Trends Act The Department of the Army must establish up to five pilot projects to implement forecast-based reservoir operations in states with drought emergencies during water year 2015. Interior must establish a wind and solar energy leasing pilot program to conduct lease sales of certain sites located on Reclamation land for purposes of carrying out wind and solar energy projects. The bill sets forth procedures for qualified developers to bid on sites that Interior offers for lease. Interior, within five years after enactment of this Act, must determine whether to expand the pilot program to apply to all authorized Reclamation lands. The general term for issued leases is: (1) an initial term of 25 years, and (2) any additional period after the initial 25-year term during which electricity is being produced annually in commercial quantities from the lease. However, a lease term may not be more than 5 years for the placement and operation of a meteorological or data collection facility or for the development or demonstration of a new wind or solar energy technology. Interior must establish and require payment of a royalty as a condition of issued leases. The royalty must be a percentage of the gross proceeds from the sale of electricity produced on land that is the subject of the lease. Lease royalties and authorized bonuses collected by Interior must be distributed in a manner such that: 25% is paid to the states and 25% is paid to the counties within the boundaries of which the royalties or bonuses are derived; 25% is deposited into a Fish and Wildlife Restoration Fund for Interior to use or make payments to states, federal agencies, or others for protecting fish and wildlife in regions impacted by the development of hydropower by federal agencies and the development of wind or solar energy on Reclamation land; 15% is paid to state Reclamation offices during the first 15 years after enactment of this Act for purposes of reducing the number of renewable energy permits that have not been processed before the enactment of this Act; and the remainder is deposited into the general fund of the Treasury for purposes of reducing the annual federal budget deficit. The Safe Drinking Water Act is amended to require a state to operate an EPA-prescribed injection control program for underground wells if the EPA finds that the state improperly issued permits under the state's underground injection control program. DOJ must maintain a registry of incidents of cultivation of marijuana on government property or while intentionally trespassing on another's property. DOJ is authorized to use amounts from the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund to pay for costs incurred by state, local, or tribal governments in connection with the remediation of an area formerly used for the production or cultivation of marijuana in which such a government assisted in a federal prosecution related to marijuana. The bill requires court sentences for certain marijuana offenses to include an order requiring the defendant to reimburse federal, state, or local governments for costs incurred for cleanup associated with the cultivation of marijuana by the defendant or on premises or in property that the defendant owns, resides in, or does business in. The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 is amended to: (1) include "planning for or addressing the impact of drought" among the activities for which Reclamation may make grants and enter cooperative agreements for water management improvement, (2) include Hawaii among the states in which eligible grant and agreement applicants may be located, (3) reauthorize such grants and agreements for FY2015-FY2023, and (4) reauthorize the authority of the U.S. Geological Survey to provide grants to state water resource agencies under the national water availability and use assessment program for FY2014-FY2023. The Internal Revenue Code is amended to establish a refundable tax credit for the purchase and installation of a qualified water-harvesting system. The Reclamation Safety of Dams Act of 1978 is amended to authorize Interior, subject to feasibility studies and other specified conditions, to develop additional project benefits (such as additional conservation storage capacity) through the construction of new or supplementary works on a project in conjunction with its authority to modify Reclamation dams and related facilities to preserve their structural safety. Interior may expend available appropriated funds for construction of a project that meets certain environmental standards, but the bill prohibits the federal cost-share from exceeding 25% of the project costs. TITLE IV--PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE Water Innovation and Prize Competition Act of 2015 The Department of Energy must establish a program to award prizes for development of water desalination technologies. The Natural Resources Conservation Service must collaborate with Reclamation to provide assistance, upon request, to water or power delivery authorities for purposes of increasing water use efficiency and providing on-farm assistance to address water quantity and water quality conservation practices. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must prepare a California salmon drought plan. The President must update the National Response Plan and the National Disaster Recovery Framework to include a plan for catastrophic drought.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2015
Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2015 This bill makes it a crime to intentionally and willfully conceal knowledge of a security breach involving sensitive personally identifiable information (PII). If the breach results in economic harm of at least $1,000 to any individual, then a violator is subject to a fine and/or five years in prison. The legislation authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to seek a civil injunction to prevent ongoing conduct that damages 100 or more protected computers during any one-year period. A protected computer is a government computer, a bank computer, or a computer used in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or communication. It also authorizes DOJ to seek an injunction or restraining order to prevent disposition of property obtained as a result of such a violation. The legislation expands the list of money laundering predicate offenses to include financial transactions that involve proceeds of unlawful manufacturing, distribution, possession, and advertising of wire, oral, or electronic communication intercepting devices. This bill requires certain commercial entities to implement a comprehensive consumer privacy and data security program. Commercial entities must notify any U.S. resident whose PII has been, or is reasonably believed to have been, accessed or acquired. PII includes electronic or digital forms of personal, financial, health, and biometric data, geographic location, and password-protected photographs and videos. It sets forth provisions regarding: (1) methods and content of notification of a security breach; (2) entities exempt from notification requirements; and (3) notification to consumer credit reporting agencies, law enforcement entities, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It authorizes DOJ, the FTC, and states to enforce civil violations. DOJ and states may seek monetary or injunctive relief, and the FTC may seek monetary relief. The bill does not establish a private right of action.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2015
Protect Veterans from Financial Fraud Act This bill states that, in any case not involving negligent failure by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to investigate or monitor a fiduciary that results in fiduciary misuse of benefits, but in which any fiduciary misuses all or part of an individual's benefit paid to the fiduciary, the VA shall pay to the beneficiary or the beneficiary's successor fiduciary an amount equal to the amount of the misused benefit.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2015
Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act of 2015 This bill requires the federal government: (1) to ensure coverage for abortion care in public health insurance programs including Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program; (2) as an employer or health plan sponsor, to ensure coverage for abortion care for participants and beneficiaries; and (3) as a provider of health services, to ensure that abortion care is made available to individuals who are eligible to receive services in its own facilities or in facilities with which it contracts to provide medical care. The federal government may not prohibit, restrict, or otherwise inhibit insurance coverage of abortion care by state or local governments or by private health plans. State and local governments may not prohibit, restrict, or otherwise inhibit insurance coverage of abortion care by private health plans. The bill expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the federal government, acting in its capacity as an insurer, employer, or health care provider, should serve as a model for the nation to ensure coverage of abortion care; and (2) restrictions on coverage of abortion care in the private insurance market must end.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2015
Military Consumer Protection Act This bill amends the Consumer Financial Protection Act to extend Consumer Financial Protection Bureau oversight and protection to provisions under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act concerning: future financial transactions, excluding insurance; default judgments, excluding child custody proceedings; interest rates on pre-service debts; evictions; purchase or lease installment contracts; mortgages and trusts; motor vehicle leases; telephone service contracts; and waiver of rights pursuant to a written agreement, excluding bailments.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2015
Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act of 2015 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), the Social Security Act (SSAct), and other federal laws (including provisions concerning workers' compensation, retirement benefits, disability and death benefits, insurance, inheritances, or immigration) to replace: (1) references to "wife" or "husband" with references to "spouse"; and (2) references to "husband and wife" or "husband or wife" with references to "married couple" or " married person." For purposes of federal laws or regulations, "marriage" is defined as a legal union between two people as spouses. The bill eliminates a definition of "spouse" that refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife. Requirements concerning compensation to a surviving wife after the disability or death of a person employed at a military, air, or naval base outside the United States are revised to make surviving spouses eligible for such compensation. Under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, provisions concerning the amount of leave available to a husband and wife employed by the same employer are revised to apply to a married couple employed by the same employer. Requirements under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 that make disability and death benefits payable to the wife or widow of a miner are revised to make the benefits payable to the spouse or surviving spouse of a miner. IRC provisions that require a divorced wife's gross income to include the income of any trust she is entitled to receive that would otherwise be includible in the gross income of her husband, or vice versa, are revised to apply to the gross income of individuals who are divorced from their spouse. The bill revises title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the SSAct to consolidate separate provisions for a wife's insurance benefits and a husband's insurance benefits into a single standard for a spouse's insurance benefits. Criminal penalties that currently apply to persons who threaten to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon a former President's wife or widow are revised to apply to threats made to a former President's spouse or surviving spouse.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2015
Recognizes the accomplishments of Juan Felipe Herrera (the 21st Poet Laureate of the United States). Pledges to promote the legacy of Juan Felipe Herrera. Encourages the people of the United States to explore the impact that the creative arts and poetry have in their daily lives.
United States · United States Congress · 7 July 2015
Medicare Telehealth Parity Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to expand telehealth coverage in three phases. Extends the term "originating site," for telehealth service payment purposes, to additional sites, including any federally qualified health center and any rural health clinic, at which the eligible telehealth individual is located at the time the service is furnished via a telecommunications system. Prohibits application of the originating site facility fee to the additional sites. Authorizes additional telehealth providers, including a certified diabetes educator or licensed respiratory therapist, audiologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, or speech language pathologist. Authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop payment methods to apply in the case of anyone who would be an eligible telehealth individual except that the telehealth services are furnished at a site other than an originating site. Extends Medicare coverage to remote patient management services for certain chronic health conditions. Authorizes home telehealth sites as additional originating sites. Requires the monthly fee or other basis of payment for physicians' services to individuals with end stage renal disease (ESRD) to allow for a patient-specific waiver process to permit a physician, clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant to request a waiver of face-to-face visit requirements for home dialysis of ESRD patients. Requires all ESRD patients receiving home dialysis to receive a face-to-face examination at least once every three consecutive months and, in the intervening months, to receive a monthly clinical assessment which may be furnished, if the patient so chooses, via remote monitoring by a physician, clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant. Directs HHS, in determining the component of a physician's fee corresponding to practice expense relative value units for diagnostic tests provided remotely, to include in direct costs of supplies and equipment the costs of the diagnostic device, clinical systems (including hardware and software), information transmission, and device delivery and installation. Directs the Government Accountability Office to study the effectiveness of using specified telehealth services between therapy providers and patients, any associated savings, and the potential for greater use of telehealth services for other forms of therapy.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2015
Condemns the practice of state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China. Calls on China and the Communist Party of China to end the practice of organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience. Encourages the U.S. medical community to help raise awareness of unethical organ transplant practices in China. Demands an end to the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice and the release of all Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience. Calls on the Department of State to: (1) conduct a more detailed analysis on state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience in the annual Human Rights Report, and (2) report annually to Congress on implementation of the immigration provision prohibiting visas to Chinese and other nationals engaged in coerced organ or bodily tissue transplantation.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2015
Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2015 This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require states to direct their local educational agencies (LEAs) to establish policies that prevent and prohibit conduct, including bullying and harassment, that is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive to: (1) limit students' ability to participate in, or benefit from, school programs; or (2) create a hostile or abusive educational environment that adversely affects their education. LEAs shall also provide: (1) students, parents, and educational professionals with annual notice of the conduct prohibited in their discipline policies; (2) students and parents with grievance procedures that target such conduct; and (3) the public with annual data on the incidence and frequency of that conduct at the school and LEA level. The Department of Education must conduct, and report on, an independent biennial evaluation of programs and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elementary and secondary schools. The National Center for Education Statistics shall collect state data to determine the incidence and frequency of the conduct prohibited by LEA discipline policies.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2015
Supports: the designation of National Post-Traumatic Stress Awareness Month and National Post-Traumatic Stress Awareness Day; and efforts of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense, as well as the medical community, to educate members of the Armed Forces, veterans, their families, and the public about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of post-traumatic stress (PTS) injuries. Encourages Armed Forces commanders to support appropriate treatment of personnel diagnosed with PTS.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2015
Enforce Existing Gun Laws Act This bill amends several appropriations laws to remove limitations on the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to conduct activities related to the administration of federal firearms laws. The amended appropriations laws include: the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012; the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013; the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009; the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008; the Science, State, Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006; the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005; and the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003. The bill removes provisions from these laws that: prohibit the consolidation or centralization within the Department of Justice of firearms acquisition and disposition records maintained by federal firearms licensees; prohibit the imposition of a requirement that firearms dealers conduct a physical inventory; require instant background check records to be destroyed within 24 hours; limit the use of firearms tracing data; limit the processing of Freedom of Information Act requests in connection with arson or explosive incidents or firearm traces; limit denials of applications to import "curios or relics" firearms, parts, or ammunition; and prohibit denials of federal firearms licenses due to lack of business activity.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2015
End Purchase of Firearms by Dangerous Individuals Act of 2015 This bill requires each state to establish a reporting system through which mental health professionals may report information about an individual committed to a mental institution who poses a danger to himself/herself or others or an individual who communicates a serious threat of physical violence against another individual. The legislation requires states to provide mental health records to the National Instant Criminal History Background Check System (NICS) for use in determining whether a person is disqualified from possessing or receiving a firearm. It sets forth provisions to ensure maintenance and removal of records, inclusion of an appeals process, and re-evaluation of disqualifications for individuals under age 18. The bill also requires states to establish a process related to temporary involuntary commitment of individuals at mental health facilities. The Department of Justice (DOJ) must report annually to Congress on states' progress implementing the reporting systems. The bill authorizes DOJ to reduce a state's formula grant allocation under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Program for failing to comply. It directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish guidelines for state reporting systems and state processes regarding temporary involuntary commitment. HHS must also establish a process to certify state compliance. The bill amends the federal criminal code to expand the prohibition against selling firearms or ammunition to persons committed to any mental institution to include persons who communicate to a mental health professional a serious threat to commit an act of violence. Miscellaneous provisions clarify the treatment of individuals temporarily involuntarily committed by a state process, limit civil liability for mental health professionals who fail to report, establish criteria for determining dangerousness, and require a comprehensive study of state statutes that require mental health professionals to directly report certain individuals into state firearm prohibition databases. The bill replaces various statutory references to persons adjudicated as a "mental defective" with persons adjudicated as "ineligible due to disqualifying mental status."
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2015
Carried Interest Fairness Act of 201 5 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) set forth a special rule for the inclusion in gross income of partnership interests transferred in connection with the performance of services, (2) treat as ordinary income the net capital gain with respect to an investment services partnership interest except to the extent such gain is attributable to a partner's qualified capital interest, (3) exempt income from investment services partnership interests from treatment as qualifying income of a publicly traded partnership, (4) exempt certain family partnerships from the application of this Act; (5) increase the penalty for underpayments of tax resulting from failure to treat income from an investment services partnership interest as ordinary income, and (6) include income and loss from an investment services partnership interest for purposes of determining net earnings from self-employment and applicable self-employment taxes. Defines "investment services partnership interest" as any interest in a partnership held by a person who provides services to a partnership by: (1) advising the partnership about investing in, purchasing, or selling specified assets; (2) managing, acquiring, or disposing of specified assets; or (3) arranging financing with respect to acquiring specified assets.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2015
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Act of 2015 Redesignates the Martin Luther King, Junior, National Historic Site in the state of Georgia as the "Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park." Replaces the current boundary map with a map of a proposed boundary revision dated June 2015.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2015
Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 This bill amends the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to allow a representative official of an Indian tribe, with authorization from the governing body of the tribe, to request one or more polling places to be located on tribal lands. The state or political subdivision shall provide each requested polling place at no expense to the Indian tribe if certain criteria are met. A federal court shall retain jurisdiction to enforce constitutional voting guarantees, but also certain violations of the Act as well as of any federal prohibition against discrimination on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group, for an appropriate period to prevent commencement of new devices to deny or abridge the right to vote. Requirements are revised for determining which states and political subdivisions are or are not covered by criteria for declaratory judgments that they have not used devices to deny or abridge the right to vote. Any state (and all of its political subdivisions) shall be subject to such requirements for a 10-year period if: 15 or more voting rights violations occurred there during the previous 25 years; or 10 or more violations occurred during the previous 25 years, at least one of which was committed by the state itself (as opposed to a political subdivision within it). Any specific political subdivision of a state shall also be subject to those requirements for a 10-year period if 3 or more violations occurred in it during the previous 25 calendar years. A state or political subdivision that obtains a declaratory judgment that it has not used a device to deny or abridge the right to vote shall be exempt from such requirements unless new violations occur after the declaratory judgment was issued. Each state and each political subdivision shall: (1) identify any newly enacted or adopted law, regulation, or policy that includes a voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or a voting-related standard, practice, or procedure (covered practice); and (2) ensure that no such covered practice is implemented unless or until the state or political subdivision complies with certain preclearance requirements. This bill prescribes transparency requirements, including reasonable public notice, regarding any changes to: (1) voting prerequisites, standards, or procedures; (2) polling place resources; or (3) demographics and electoral districts. Department of Justice authority to assign observers receives new extensions, including authority to assign observers to enforce bilingual election requirements. Courts shall grant preliminary injunctive relief if a complainant raises a serious question whether the challenged covered practice violates the Act or the Constitution and, on balance, the hardship imposed upon the defendant by the relief will be less than the hardship on the plaintiff if the relief were not granted.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2015
Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act of 2015 This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to analyze existing law enforcement accreditation standards, recommend additional areas for the development of national standards, recommend the adoption of additional standards, and adopt policies and procedures to encourage accreditation of law enforcement agencies. It authorizes DOJ to make grants to federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to obtain accreditation from certified organizations. The legislation authorizes DOJ to make grants to state, local, or tribal governments, public and private entities, or consortia to study law enforcement agency management and operations standards and to develop pilot programs to address law enforcement misconduct. DOJ must study the prevalence and effect of any law, rule, or procedure that allows a law enforcement officer to delay the investigation and prosecution of law enforcement misconduct. The legislation establishes the Task Force on Law Enforcement Oversight within DOJ to coordinate the detection and referral of complaints of alleged law enforcement misconduct. Law enforcement agencies must report data regarding practices on traffic violation stops, pedestrian stops, frisk and body searches, and use of deadly force. Data must include the number of incidents of each practice broken down by race, ethnicity, age, and gender of the officers, employees, and members of the public involved in the practice. DOJ must create a medallion for distribution to survivors of each law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty and memorialized on the wall of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2015
Keeping Guns From Criminals Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to modify the criminal liability standard for certain firearm sales or transfers. Current law makes it a crime for any person to knowingly sell or transfer a firearm to a prohibited person (i.e., a person who is prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm). This legislation eliminates the "knowingly" standard to impose criminal liability on any person who sells or transfers a firearm to a prohibited person, regardless of whether such seller or transferor knows that the buyer is a prohibited person. A defendant seller or transferor may assert as an affirmative defense against prosecution evidence to prove that the buyer or recipient passed a background check or possessed a valid concealed carry permit in the state of transfer. The affirmative defense does not apply if defendant knew or had reasonable cause to believe the buyer or recipient was a prohibited person.
![Official portrait of Rep. DeSaulnier, Mark [D-CA-10]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/115_rp_ca_11_desaulnier_mark_200.jpg)