United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2017
Cancer Drug Coverage Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require group and individual health plans that cover anticancer medications administered by a health care provider to provide no less favorable cost sharing for patient-administered anticancer medications. This requirement applies to medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration that is prescribed based on a finding by the treating physician that the medication is medically necessary for cancer treatment and is clinically appropriate in terms of type, frequency, extent site, and duration. To comply with this requirement, health plans may not, for anticancer medications: (1) change or replace benefits to increase out-of-pocket costs; (2) reclassify benefits to increase costs; or (3) apply more restrictive limitations to orally administered medications than to intravenously administered or injected medications.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2017
This bill: (1) repeals the regulatory requirement for a state Medicaid program to ensure necessary transportation to and from providers, and (2) specifies that title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act does not require a program to provide such transportation.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 2017
Horse Protection Amendments Act This bill amends the Horse Protection Act to replace the Designated Qualified Persons program responsible for inspecting horses for soring with a new inspection system. (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 must establish a single Horse Industry Organization (HIO) in order to establish a formal affiliation with the management of each horse sale, horse exhibition, and horse sale or auction, appoint inspectors to conduct inspections, and otherwise ensure compliance with the Horse Protection Act. The Commissioners of Agriculture for Tennessee and Kentucky must appoint individuals to the HIO. Those individuals must appoint individuals representing the Tennessee Walking Horse industry.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2017
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue not more than 50,000 $5 coins, 400,000 $1 coins, and 750,000 half-dollar coins in recognition and celebration of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The coins shall be in the shape of a dome, and the design on the common reverse of the coins shall depict a basketball. Treasury shall hold a competition to determine the design of the common obverse of the coins, which shall be emblematic of the game of basketball. The bill requires all sales of such coins to include specified surcharges, which shall be paid by Treasury to the Hall to fund an endowment for increased operations and educational programming.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2017
Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to replace the authorization for a National Congenital Heart Disease Surveillance System with a requirement for the Department of Health and Human Services, regarding congenital heart disease, to enhance and expand research and surveillance infrastructure, and plan and implement a public outreach and education campaign. (Congenital heart disease is a condition caused by a heart defect that is present at birth.) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must award grants to nonprofit entities to conduct: (1) a study of congenital heart disease, from birth to adulthood, that considers health care utilization, demographic factors, and outcomes; and (2) an awareness, outreach, and education campaign regarding congenital heart disease. Data from the study must be made available to the public. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute must report on its ongoing research efforts regarding congenital heart disease, future plans for such research, and areas of greatest need for such research.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2017
This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal to Edwin Cole "Ed" Bearss in recognition of his contributions to the preservation of American Civil War history and his continued efforts to bring our nation's history alive for new generations through his interpretive storytelling.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 2017
Burial Rights for America's Veterans' Efforts Act of 2017 or the BRAVE Act of 2017 This bill increases the amounts payable through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for: (1) burial and funeral expenses of certain veterans, and (2) such expenses in connection with a veteran's death due to a service-connected disability. The VA shall increase such amounts each fiscal year by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 2017
Social Security Fairness Act of 2017 This bill amends title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to repeal the "government pension offset" and the "windfall elimination provision." Under current law, those provisions reduce OASDI benefits for individuals who receive a pension based on earnings in government employment that was not covered under the Social Security program.
United States · United States Congress · 17 February 2017
Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow tax-exempt charitable or educational organizations to make collegiate housing and infrastructure grants to certain tax-exempt social clubs (e.g., college fraternities and sororities) which apply such grants to their collegiate housing property. A "collegiate housing and infrastructure grant" is a grant to provide, improve, operate, or maintain collegiate housing property that may involve more than incidental social, recreational, or private purposes. The grant must be for purposes that would be permissible for a dormitory or other residential facility of the college or university with which the collegiate housing property is associated. The grant may not be used to provide physical fitness facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 2017
Taking Account of Institutions with Low Operation Risk Act of 2017 or the TAILOR Act of 2017 This bill requires federal financial regulatory agencies to: (1) tailor any regulatory actions so as to limit burdens on the institutions involved, with consideration of the risk profiles and business models of those institutions; and (2) report to Congress on specific actions taken to do so, as well as on other related issues. The bill's tailoring requirement applies not only to future regulatory actions but also to regulations adopted within the last seven years.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 2017
Furthering Access to Stroke Telemedicine Act of 2017 or the FAST Act of 2017 This bill specifies that, under Medicare, telehealth services include telehealth-eligible stroke services provided to an individual soon after the onset of acute-stroke symptoms. Certain originating-site requirements applicable to telehealth services under Medicare shall not apply with respect to such stroke services.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 2017
Working Families Flexibility Act of 2017 This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to authorize employers to provide compensatory time off to private employees at a rate of not less than 1 1/2 hours for each hour of employment for which overtime compensation is required, but only if it is in accordance with an applicable collective bargaining agreement or, in the absence of such an agreement, an agreement between the employer and employee. The bill prohibits an employee from accruing more than 160 hours of compensatory time. An employer must provide monetary compensation for any unused compensatory time off accrued during the preceding year. The bill requires an employer to give employees 30-day notice before discontinuing compensatory time off. The bill prohibits an employer from intimidating, threatening, or coercing an employee in order to: (1) interfere with the employee's right to request or not to request compensatory time off in lieu of payment of monetary overtime compensation, or (2) require an employee to use such compensatory time. The bill makes an employer who violates such requirements liable to the affected employee in the amount of the compensation rate for each hour of compensatory time accrued, plus an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, reduced for each hour of compensatory time used.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 2017
Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2017 This bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide for the establishment and governance of association health plans (AHPs), which are group health plans sponsored by business associations. The bill establishes requirements for AHPs relating to certification, sponsors and boards of trustees, participation and coverage, nondiscrimination, contribution rates, and voluntary termination. AHPs offering benefits that are not health insurance must: (1) establish and maintain sufficient reserves and stop-loss insurance to cover those benefits, and (2) make annual payments to a fund to be used to pay for stop-loss insurance for such AHPs for which there is a reasonable expectation that claims would not be satisfied without such insurance. AHPs that fail to meet these requirements are subject to termination. The Department of Labor must establish a Solvency Standards Working Group. States may tax contributions to AHPs, with certain conditions. The bill preempts state laws that preclude health insurers from: (1) offering health insurance in connection with a certified AHP; or (2) offering health insurance of the same policy type to other employers in the state that are eligible for coverage under AHPs. The bill establishes criminal penalties for willfully making false representations regarding an AHP.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 2017
Pre-existing Conditions Protection Act of 2017 This bill sets forth amendments that would take effect in the case of the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 and the restoration of the provisions amended by those provisions. If the amendments take effect, the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and Internal Revenue Code are revised to maintain PPACA consumer protections. Specifically, the bill would maintain the: requirement for health insurance to cover preexisting conditions, requirement for health insurers to accept every employer and every individual applying for coverage, prohibition against health insurers discriminating against individuals based on health status factors, prohibition against collecting genetic information in connection with issuing health insurance, and requirements for workplace wellness programs connected to health insurance.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 2017
FDA Deeming Authority Clarification Act of 2017 This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to: (1) revise premarket review and reporting requirements for products newly deemed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be tobacco products; and (2) grant the FDA the authority to regulate vapor products, which include products that produce vapor with nicotine (e.g., e-cigarettes) and nicotine intended to be used with such a product (e.g., nicotine cartridges). A product is not subject to premarket review by the FDA if it is marketed before it is deemed a tobacco product. The bill delays deadlines for reports to the FDA on products similar to a marketed product that are introduced to market less than 21 months after that type of product is deemed a tobacco product. The bill grants the FDA regulatory authority over vapor products that is in addition to the FDA's existing authority to regulate vapor products as tobacco products. Provisions of the FFDCA applicable to tobacco product components also apply to vapor product batteries. The FDA must establish standards for vapor product batteries. Vapor products first marketed not later than 24 months after enactment of this bill are not subject to premarket review or reporting requirements based on changes to the product's battery to conform to standards. Vapor products may not be advertised in publications, except publications with adult readership. Vapor products may be sold only face-to-face, through vending machines in facilities where only adults are permitted, or by mail order. Vapor products must be labeled with their nicotine content and specified phrases. Retailers of vapor products must register with the FDA.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 2017
Aged Distilled Spirits Competitiveness Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude the aging period from the production period for distilled spirits that are fit to be used as a beverage, for purposes of determining whether a taxpayer can expense, rather than capitalize, interest costs paid or incurred during the production period.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 2017
Medicaid Home Owner Maximum Equity Improvement Act or the Medicaid HOME Improvement Act This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to disallow a state from using, for purposes of determining Medicaid eligibility for long-term care assistance, a home equity limit that exceeds the statutory minimum. Current law allows a state Medicaid program to set its maximum home equity limit at any amount between a specified range. The bill disallows a program from setting its limit above the amount that represents, under current law, the bottom of that range.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 2017
Biennial Budgeting and Enhanced Oversight Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Congressional Budget Impoundment and Control Act of 1974, and the Rules of the House of Representatives to change the process for the President's budget submission, congressional budget resolutions, appropriations bills, and government strategic and performance plans from the current annual process to a biennial process, in which a biennium is the two consecutive fiscal years beginning on October 1 of any odd-numbered year. The House Budget Committee must use the second session of each Congress to study issues with long-term budgetary and economic implications. The bill creates a point of order in the House and Senate against authorizations of appropriations that do not include specific authorizations covering at least each fiscal year in one or more bienniums.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2017
Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act of 2017 or the STOP Act of 2017 This bill amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to make the Postmaster General the consignee (i.e., the entity financially responsible for the receipt of a shipment) for merchandise, excluding documents, imported through the mail into the United States. The Postmaster General must designate licensed customs brokers to file required documents or information for such shipments. The bill amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to impose a customs user fee on postal shipments or any other item valued at $2,000 or less arriving at an international mail facility. The bill amends the Trade Act of 2002 to direct the Department of the Treasury to require the Postmaster General to provide for the advanced electronic transmission to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection of certain information for all postal shipments made by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), including postal shipments it receives from foreign postal operators. The Postmaster General: shall be liable for civil penalties for postal shipment violations committed by a foreign postal operator or the USPS; may be directly or indirectly responsible for discrepancies resulting from omissions made or false information provided by a foreign postal operator or the USPS; and shall ensure that all costs and penalties associated with complying with this bill are recouped from foreign shippers, foreign postal operators, or U.S. ultimate consignees.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2017
Concrete Masonry Products Research, Education, and Promotion Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Commerce to issue orders applicable to U.S. manufacturers of concrete masonry products. Any such order must provide for the establishment of a Concrete Masonry Products Board to carry out a program of generic promotion, research, and education regarding concrete masonry products. An order must also provide that assessments be paid by concrete masonry product manufacturers for concrete masonry products manufactured and marketed in the United States. At least 50% of the assessments paid by a manufacturer must be used to support research, education, and generic promotion programs and projects in support of the geographic region of the manufacturer. During the 60-day period preceding the proposed effective date of an order, Commerce shall conduct a referendum for order approval among manufacturers. The bill allows petition and review of an order, and order enforcement through U.S. district courts. The bill requires a study and a report by: (1) the Government Accountability Office on how the board spends assessments collected, the impact of board activities, and other matters relating to the demand for concrete masonry products; and (2) Commerce on the appropriateness and effectiveness of applying the commodity check-off program model to a nonagricultural industry.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 2017
This joint resolution nullifies the rule submitted by the Office of Natural Resources Revenue titled "Consolidated Federal Oil & Gas and Federal & Indian Coal Valuation Reform." The rule published in the Federal Register on July 1, 2016, addresses royalties generated from oil, gas, and coal production.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2017
Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of 2017 This bill requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop and maintain a voluntary registry of firefighters to collect history and occupational information that can be linked to existing data in state cancer registries. The registry must be used to improve monitoring of cancer among firefighters and to collect and publish epidemiological information regarding cancer among firefighters. The CDC should seek to include specified information in the registry, including the number and type of fire incidents attended by an individual. To collect information for the registry, the CDC may incorporate questions into existing public health surveys, questionnaires, and other databases. The CDC must: (1) develop a strategy to maximize participation in the registry; (2) develop guidance for states and firefighting agencies regarding the registry; (3) encourage inclusion in the registry of data on minority, female, and volunteer firefighters; and (4) seek feedback on the registry from nonfederal experts. The CDC must develop a process for making registry data available for research without a fee if findings or publications from the research are made public or available to stakeholders.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2017
Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2017 This bill amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency or a state from requiring a permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for a discharge of a pesticide from a point source into navigable waters if the discharge is approved under FIFRA. Point source pollution is waste discharged from a distinct place, such as a pipe, channel, or tunnel. The bill establishes exemptions from this prohibition.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2017
Lymphedema Treatment Act This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover certain lymphedema compression treatment items as durable medical equipment under Medicare. (Lymphedema is a condition of localized fluid retention and tissue swelling that is caused when the lymphatic system is damaged or blocked.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2017
Medicaid Third Party Liability Act This bill alters provisions related to third-party liability for medical assistance paid under the Medicaid program. Specifically, with respect to such liability, the bill: expands the definition of "responsible third party" to include, among other health insurers, the TRICARE program; eliminates special rules with respect to certain services provided to children; requires the inclusion, in a contract between a state Medicaid program and a health insurer, of certain information regarding whether the state is delegating or transferring to the insurer a right of third-party recovery; provides for the treatment as overpayment of reimbursements made by a responsible third party to a health insurer; disallows a responsible third party from denying a state's claim solely on the basis of a failure to obtain a prior authorization; imposes a timeline for a responsible third party to respond to a state's inquiry regarding a claim for payment; provides for reductions to a state Medicaid program's federal matching rate if the state fails to comply with third-party insurance requirements; and modifies other provisions related to third-party liability under the Medicaid program. Third-party liability requirements applicable under Medicaid shall also apply under the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must: publish on its website, and annually update, best practices for assessing third-party liability; monitor and analyze efforts to assess that liability; in consultation with states, develop and make available a model uniform reporting field for identifying information related to responsible third parties; and provide other specified information and guidance to states.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2017
Medicare Advantage Quality Payment Relief Act of 2017 This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to disregard the application of certain percentage quality increases when calculating the maximum payment that may be made to a Medicare Advantage organization.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 2017
Military Injury Surgical Systems Integrated Operationally Nationwide to Achieve ZERO Preventable Deaths Act or the MISSION ZERO Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response to award grants to certain trauma centers to enable military trauma care providers and trauma teams to provide trauma care and related acute care at those trauma centers. Funds may be used to train and incorporate military trauma care providers into the trauma center, including expenditures for malpractice insurance, office space, information technology, specialty education and supervision, trauma programs, and state license fees. Grantees must allow the military trauma care providers to be deployed for military operations, training, or response to a mass casualty incident.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 2017
Global War on Terrorism War Memorial Act This bill allows the Global War on Terror Memorial Foundation to establish the National Global War on Terrorism Memorial as a commemorative work on federal land in the District of Columbia to commemorate and honor the members of the Armed Forces who served on active duty in support of the Global War on Terrorism.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 2017
Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act of 2017 This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to terminate the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Under PPACA, the IPAB is tasked with developing proposals to reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 2017
Agency Accountability Act of 2017 This bill requires any agency that receives a fee, fine, penalty, or proceeds from a settlement to deposit the amount in the general fund of the Treasury. The funds may not be used unless the funding is provided in advance in an appropriations bill. Any amounts deposited during the fiscal year in which this bill is enacted may not be obligated during the fiscal year and must be used for deficit reduction. The bill includes an exception for funds to be paid to an individual entitled to receive the funds as a whistle-blower, including funds received as a percentage of amounts received by the government pursuant to a judgment or settlement agreement. The bill amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require offsetting receipts and collections to be treated as revenue. (Offsetting receipts and collections are funds collected by agencies from other government accounts or from the public in businesslike or market-oriented transactions. Under current law, the collections are treated as negative budget authority and outlays rather than revenue and may be used to offset spending for budget enforcement purposes.) The requirements of the bill do not apply to the U.S. Postal Service or the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the USPTO must submit annually to Congress a report describing any fee, fine, penalty, or proceeds from a settlement collected by the USPTO during the previous year.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 2017
Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act This bill: (1) repeals certain provisions that require the offset of amounts paid in dependency and indemnity compensation from Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities for the surviving spouses of former military personnel who are entitled to military retired pay or who would be entitled to retired pay except for being under 60 years of age, (2) prohibits requiring repayment of certain amounts previously paid to SBP recipients in the form of a retired pay refund, and (3) requires (current law authorizes) the Secretary of the military department concerned to pay an annuity to a member's dependent children when there is no eligible surviving spouse. The Secretary concerned shall restore annuity eligibility to a surviving spouse who earlier agreed to transfer such eligibility to the surviving child or children of a member.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 2017
Medicaid Tax Fairness Act of 2017 This bill incrementally lowers, from 6.0% to 5.5% of net patient revenues, the maximum threshold used to determine acceptable provider taxes for purposes of state Medicaid program financing.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2017
Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research Act of 2017 or the Childhood Cancer STAR Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide support to collect the medical specimens and information of children, adolescents, and young adults with selected cancers that have the least effective treatments in order to achieve a better understanding of these cancers and the effects of treatment. The national childhood cancer registry is reauthorized through FY2022 and revised to authorize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to award grants to state cancer registries to improve tracking of childhood cancers. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may: (1) support pilot programs to develop or study models for monitoring and caring for childhood cancer survivors throughout their lives, (2) establish a task force to develop and test standards for high-quality childhood cancer survivorship care, and (3) carry out a demonstration project to improve care coordination as childhood cancer survivors transition to adult care. HHS must convene a Workforce Development Collaborative on Medical and Psychosocial Care for Pediatric Cancer Survivors. The NIH may support research on: (1) outcomes for, and barriers faced by, pediatric cancer survivors within minority or medically underserved populations; and (2) follow-up care for pediatric cancer survivors, including research on the late effects of cancer treatment and long-term complications. The Government Accountability Office must make recommendations to address barriers to childhood cancer survivors obtaining and paying for adequate medical care.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 2017
Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017 This bill amends the Clean Air Act by revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) program, including by: (1) delaying the implementation of the ozone NAAQS that were published in 2015; (2) changing the review cycle for criteria pollutant NAAQS from a 5-year review cycle to a 10-year review cycle; and (3) prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from completing its next review of ozone NAAQS before October 26, 2025. The EPA may consider, as a secondary consideration, likely technological feasibility in establishing and revising NAAQS for a pollutant if a range of air quality levels for such pollutant are requisite to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety. Prior to establishing or revising NAAQS, the EPA must obtain advice from its scientific advisory committee. The EPA must publish regulations and guidance for implementing NAAQS concurrently with the issuance of a new or revised standard. New or revised NAAQS may not apply to preconstruction permits for constructing or modifying a stationary source of air pollutants until those regulations and guidance have been published. The bill provides that in extreme ozone nonattainment areas, contingency measures are not required to be included in nonattainment plans. Technological achievability and economic feasibility must be taken into consideration in plan revisions for milestones for particulate matter nonattainment areas.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 2017
Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act of 2017 This bill repeals existing caps on Medicare payment for certain outpatient physical-therapy services and speech-language pathology services. Under current law, annual payment for such services is capped at $1,980 in 2017, with specified percentage increases to that limit in subsequent years.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 2017
This joint resolution nullifies the "Teacher Preparation Issues" rule finalized by the Department of Education on October 31, 2016. The rule implements requirements related to assessing the quality of teacher preparation programs under title II (Teacher Quality Enhancement) of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 2017
This joint resolution initiates the process to terminate the Independent Medicare Advisory Board, which issues annual recommendations for reducing growth in Medicare expenditures. Under current law, the enactment of a such a joint resolution is required in order to terminate the board.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2017
This joint resolution nullifies a Department of Health and Human Services rule regarding subrecipients of family planning grants. (Under the rule, grant recipients may prohibit an entity from receiving a subaward only for reasons related to the entity's ability to provide family planning services.)
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2017
This joint resolution nullifies the “Implementation of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 ” rule finalized by the Social Security Administration on December 19, 2016. The rule implements a plan to provide to the National Instant Criminal History Background Check System the name of an individual who meets certain criteria, including that benefit payments are made through a representative payee because the individual is determined to be mentally incapable of managing them. (Current law prohibits firearm sale or transfer to and purchase or possession by a person who has been adjudicated as a mental defective.)
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2017
This joint resolution nullifies the Stream Protection Rule finalized by the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement on December 20, 2016. The rule addresses the impacts of surface coal mining operations on surface water, groundwater, and the productivity of mining operation sites.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2017
Lower Drug Costs through Competition Act This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to revise provisions regarding review and approval of generic drug applications or supplements to generic drug applications for drugs: (1) for which there is a shortage, or (2) that have not been recently introduced to the market by more than one manufacturer and for which tentative approval has not been granted to more than two applications. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must prioritize the review of such submissions and act on them within 180 days. The FDA may expedite the inspection of a facility proposed to manufacture such a drug. Beginning FY2019, the FDA must award a transferrable generic drug priority review voucher to the sponsor of such an application once the drug has a sustained market presence. A voucher may be used to have the FDA review and take action upon a generic drug application within 180 days of submission. The FDA must establish an additional user fee for applications subject to a voucher. This voucher program is terminated at the start of FY2024. The FDA must periodically report on generic drug applications filed before FY2018 that are still pending. For a new drug application to be eligible for a priority review voucher as a tropical disease product application, the application must include new, essential clinical investigations. The Government Accountability Office must study the FDA's program for drug risk evaluation and mitigation strategies.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2017
This joint resolution nullifies a Department of Health and Human Services rule regarding subrecipients of family planning grants. (Under the rule, grant recipients may prohibit an entity from receiving a subaward only for reasons related to the entity's ability to provide family planning services.)
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2017
Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax treatment of certain alcoholic beverages, to: exclude the aging period from the production period for beer, wine, or distilled spirits for purposes of determining whether a taxpayer can expense, rather than capitalize, interest costs paid or incurred during the production period; reduce excise tax rates on beer and distilled spirits; modify the small wine producer tax credit to increase the amount of the credit, expand the producers that are covered, and specify an adjustment for hard cider; modify the alcohol content limitations that apply to certain wines for tax purposes; specify definitions for "mead" and "low alcohol by volume wine;" modify requirements for records, statements, and returns for certain breweries; and permit the transfer of beer between bonded facilities without payment of tax. The Department of the Treasury must amend applicable regulations with respect to the use of wholesome products suitable for human consumption in the production of fermented beverages.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2017
Building Rail Access for Customers and the Economy Act or the BRACE Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the tax credit for railroad track maintenance.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2017
Plan Verification and Fairness Act of 2017 This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require health insurance exchanges to verify an individual's eligibility for a special enrollment period before coverage is made effective. Individuals seeking coverage through an exchange during a special enrollment period must submit to the exchange the documents necessary to verify their eligibility for the special enrollment period. The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services must report on enrollment during special enrollment periods for plan year 2016. The report must include the number of individuals who: (1) sought to enroll during a special enrollment period but were prohibited, (2) were prohibited because they did not provide documentation supporting eligibility, and (3) were prohibited because they provided invalid documentation.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2017
Verify Eligibility Coverage Act The bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to allow a state to delay or deny an individual's initial eligibility for Medicaid benefits without providing a reasonable opportunity to submit evidence of a satisfactory immigration status or pending official verification of such status. A state that elects to provide a reasonable period for an individual to provide such evidence may not receive payment for amounts expended on the individual's medical assistance during that period. In FY2018-FY2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, using the Medicaid Improvement Fund, shall pay a 90% federal matching rate to eligible states for home- and community-based services furnished under a state Medicaid waiver to patients who had been on a waiting list for such services.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2017
Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act or the A PLUS Act This bill allows each state to receive federal elementary and secondary education funds on a consolidated basis and manage the funds to advance the educational policy of the state. A declaration of intent must be formulated by a combination of specified state officials or by referendum and must list the programs for which consolidated funding is requested. States may use such funds for any educational purpose permitted by state law, but must make certain assurances that they will use fiscal control and fund accounting procedures, abide by federal civil rights laws, advance educational opportunities for the disadvantaged, and use federal funds to supplement rather than supplant state funding. Each declaration state shall: (1) inform the public about its student achievement assessment system, (2) report annually on student progress toward the state's proficiency standards by specified student groups, and (3) provide for the equitable participation of private school children and teachers in the same manner as provided for under current law.
![Official portrait of Rep. Guthrie, Brett [R-KY-2]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/g000558_200.jpg)