United States · United States Congress · 16 March 2017
This bill amends the Securities Act of 1933 to modify the definition of "accredited investor" for purposes of participating in private offerings to include: an individual whose net worth, or joint net worth with their spouse, exceeds $1 million, excluding their primary residence; an individual whose income over the last two years exceeded $200,000, or joint spousal income exceeded $300,000; an individual who holds a state-issued financial services license; and an individual determined by the Securities and Exchange Commission to have qualifying education or experience.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 2017
Mary Jo Lawyer Spano Mesothelioma Patient Registry Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to develop a patient registry to collect data on mesothelioma. The agency must use the registry to: enhance and expand infrastructure and activities for tracking the epidemiology of mesothelioma patients; collect, consolidate, and report on health information on mesothelioma patients; describe the incidence and prevalence of mesothelioma in the United States; facilitate research on mesothelioma; examine factors that may be associated with mesothelioma; outline key demographic factors associated with mesothelioma; and make information available to the public to facilitate and enhance research on, and the prevention and treatment of, mesothelioma.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2017
Financial Transparency Act of 2017 This bill amends the Financial Stability Act of 2010, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, and other laws to require federal financial regulatory agencies to adopt specified data standards with respect to format, searchability, and transparency.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 2017
Making Online Banking Initiation Legal and Easy Act of 2017 or the MOBILE Act of 2017 This bill authorizes a financial institution, with an individual's consent, to record personal information from a swipe or copy of an individual's driver's license or personal identification card and store the information electronically for the purpose of verifying the authenticity of the driver's license or identification card, verifying the identity of the individual, or complying with legal requirements. Financial institutions must not sell, rent, transfer, or make such information available to another person, other than an affiliate.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2017
EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act of 2017 This bill amends the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978 to revise the process of selecting members of the Science Advisory Board, guidelines for participation in board advisory activities, and terms of office. The board provides scientific advice to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This bill requires the board to independently provide that advice. Registered lobbyists may not be appointed to the board. Board members may not have current grants or contracts from the EPA and may not apply for them for three years following the end of their board term. The EPA must provide draft risk or hazard assessments in its regulatory proposals and documents to the board. The board's advice and comments must be included in the record regarding those proposals and published in the Federal Register. The board's member committees and investigative panels must operate in accordance with the membership, participation, and policy requirements contained in this bill, including new requirements for public participation in advisory activities of the board. The board must: (1) strive to avoid making policy determinations or recommendations, (2) communicate uncertainties, (3) encourage dissenting members to make their views known, (4) conduct periodic reviews to ensure that its activities address the most important scientific issues affecting the EPA, and (5) respond to Congress fully and in a timely manner. This bill may not be construed as supplanting the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act or the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2017
Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act of 2017 or the HONEST Act This bill amends the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978 to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from proposing, finalizing, or disseminating a covered action unless all scientific and technical information relied on to support such action is the best available science, specifically identified, and publicly available in a manner sufficient for independent analysis and substantial reproduction of research results. A covered action includes a risk, exposure, or hazard assessment, criteria document, standard, limitation, regulation, regulatory impact analysis, or guidance. Personally identifiable information, trade secrets, or commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential must be redacted prior to public availability.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2017
Bring Small Businesses Back Tax Reform Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish new maximum individual tax rates for qualified business income that does not exceed $1 million (i.e., small business income). The maximum rates are: (1) 12% of such income not exceeding $150,000, and (2) 25% for income that exceeds $150,000 and is not more than $1 million. The rates apply to up to $1 million of qualified business income that is: (1) gross earnings derived by an individual from any active trade or business carried on by the individual, excluding deductions attributable to the trade or business; or (2) the taxpayer's distributive or pro rata share of pass-through income from entities such as a partnership or S corporation. Qualified business income does not include capital gains, interest, dividends, or royalties. For taxpayers that are not a corporation or a partnership with a corporation as a partner, the bill repeals the annual limitation on the election to expense certain depreciable business assets. The bill also permits certain small businesses whose average gross receipts do not exceed $25 million (currently, $5 million) to use the cash accounting method without limitations and exempts such businesses from inventory rules.
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 · 2 March 2017
This bill nullifies the Federal Highway Administration's and the Federal Transit Administration's rule published on December 20, 2016, that revises transportation planning regulations with regard to the alignment of planning regulations with statutory provisions relating to the establishment of metropolitan planning area boundaries and the designation of metropolitan planning organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 2017
Encouraging Employee Ownership Act of 2017 This bill requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to increase, from $5 million to $10 million, the 12-month sales threshold beyond which an issuer is required to provide investors with additional disclosures related to compensatory benefit plans.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 2017
Legacy IRA Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the tax exclusion for distributions from individual retirement accounts (IRAs) for charitable purposes. The bill increases from $100,000 to $400,000 the annual limit on the aggregate amount of distributions for charitable purposes that may be excluded from the gross income of a taxpayer. The bill permits tax-free distributions from IRAs to a split-interest entity until December 31, 2021. A split-interest entity is exclusively funded by charitable distributions and includes: a charitable remainder annuity trust, a charitable remainder unitrust, or a charitable gift annuity. A charitable gift annuity must commence fixed payments of at least 5% no later than one year from the date of funding. A distribution to a split-interest entity may only be treated as a qualified charitable distribution if: (1) no person holds an income interest in the entity other than the individual for whose benefit the account is maintained, the spouse of such individual, or both; and (2) the income interest in the entity is nonassignable. The bill limits the exclusion annually to: $100,000 for distributions to charitable organizations, and $400,000 for distributions to split-interest entities. Tax-free distributions to a split-interest entity may be made when the account beneficiary attains age 65. (Under current law, the beneficiary must attain the age of 70-1/2 for IRA distributions to a charitable organization.)
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 2017
Helping Veterans Exposed to Burn Pits Act This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a center of excellence in the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, and rehabilitation of health conditions relating to exposure to burn pits and other environmental exposures in Afghanistan or Iraq. The VA shall, in selecting the center's site, consider entities that: are equipped with the specialized equipment needed to study, diagnose, and treat health conditions relating to such exposure; have a track record of publishing information on post-deployment health exposures among veterans who served in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom; have access to animal models and in vitro models of dust immunology and lung injury consistent with the injuries of members of the Armed Forces who served in support of such operations; and have expertise in allergy, immunology, and pulmonary diseases. The VA shall ensure that the center collaborates with the Department of Defense (DOD), institutions of higher education, and other appropriate public and private entities to: provide for dissemination within the VA of best practices for the treatment of such conditions and the training of health professionals, provide guidance for the VA and DOD health systems in determining the personnel required to provide quality health care for members of the Armed Forces and veterans with such conditions, establish, and oversee a program to train VA and DOD health professionals in the treatment of such conditions, facilitate advancements in the study of the short-term and long-term effects of such exposure, conduct basic science and translational research on such conditions for the purposes of understanding the etiology of such conditions and developing preventive interventions and new treatments, and provide medical treatment to veterans diagnosed with medical conditions specific to exposure to burn pits and other environmental exposures. The center shall have access to and make use of the data accumulated by the burn pits registry.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 2017
Transparency in Student Lending Act This bill amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand disclosure requirements for an institution of higher education (IHE) that participates in the Direct Loan program. Specifically, it requires an IHE to disclose, prior to disbursement, the annual percentage rate applicable to a Direct Loan.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 2017
Securities and Exchange Commission Overpayment Credit Act This bill requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offset future fees and assessments due from a national securities exchange or association that: (1) has previously overpaid such fees and assessments, and (2) informs the SEC of the overpayment within 10 years.
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 · 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 · 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
United States and Israel Space Cooperation Act This bill directs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to continue to work with the Israel Space Agency in identifying and cooperatively pursuing peaceful space exploration and science initiatives in areas of mutual interest.
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
Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2017 This bill amends the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2008 to prohibit assistance from being provided to, or licenses for direct commercial sales of military equipment issued to, the government of a country whose police or other security forces recruit and use child soldiers. The Department of State shall include such countries in its annual trafficking in persons report. Specified other reporting requirements are revised.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 2017
Modernizing American Manufacturing Bonds Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to qualified small issue bonds for manufacturing purposes, to expand the definition of "manufacturing facility" to include a facility that: (1) is used in the creation or production of intangible property; or (2) is functionally related, subordinate to, and located on the same site as a facility used in the manufacturing or production of tangible personal property or in the creation or production of intangible property. The bill also increases from $10 million to $30 million the maximum bond limitation.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 2017
Establishes an ad hoc Joint Committee on the Organization of the Congress to study the organization, operations, functions, and relevant interactions of the Members of Congress and to make recommendations to: make such operations and organization more effective and efficient; make Congress and its Members more accountable; and improve the orderly, timely, and effective consideration and disposal of legislation; and improve the relationships between the Houses of Congress, with and among other branches of government, among elected Members and their staffs, and between Members and the citizens. The committee shall also study the role and effectiveness of the standing, select, and special committees in addressing legislative responsibilities, particularly the authorization of federal programs and agencies and the future fiscal impact of entitlement programs. Requires the committee to include in its report to both chambers at the end of a congressional session recommendations for its continuation or for designation of a similar entity to continue the pursuit of improvements in the congressional process.
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
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 · 14 February 2017
This joint resolution nullifies the rule finalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on November 22, 2016, relating to prepaid accounts under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and the Truth in Lending Act. The rule establishes various consumer protections with respect to prepaid accounts.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 2017
Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act of 2017 This bill waives Medicare coinsurance requirements with respect to colorectal cancer screening tests, regardless of the code billed for a resulting diagnosis or procedure.
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
Portable Fuel Container Safety Act of 2017 This bill requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to promulgate a final rule for flame mitigation devices in portable flammable liquid fuel containers that impede the propagation of flame into the container, unless the CPSC publishes a determination that a voluntary standard developed by a standard development organization meets the intent of this bill. Either the promulgated standard or the voluntary standard shall be treated as a consumer product safety rule. If a standard development organization subsequently revises a voluntary standard, the organization must notify the CPSC and the revision becomes enforceable unless, within 90 days after receiving notice, the CPSC determines that the revised standard does not meet this bill's requirements. The CPSC must undertake a campaign to educate consumers about dangers associated with portable fuel containers near an open flame or other source of ignition. The bill amends the Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act to extend child-resistance requirements for closures on portable gasoline containers to receptacles for gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel (including any spout, retrofit spout, cap, and other closure mechanism and component) produced or distributed for sale to, or use by, consumers for transport of, or for refueling of internal combustion engines with, gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2017
Pet and Women Safety Act of 2017 This bill amends the federal criminal code to broaden the definition of stalking to include conduct that causes a person to experience a reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury to his or her pet. Additionally, an interstate violation of a protection order includes interstate travel with the intent to violate a protection order against a pet that is included within the scope of the protection order. The bill specifies the applicable criminal penalty—a prison term of up to five years, a fine, or both—for a person who commits an interstate violation of a protection order against a pet. With respect to a defendant who commits a domestic violence offense or an interstate violation of a protection order, mandatory restitution in the "full amount of victim's losses" includes costs incurred for veterinary services related to the pet. The bill directs the Department of Agriculture to award grants for shelter and housing assistance and support services for domestic violence victims with pets. Finally, it expresses the sense of Congress that states should include, in domestic violence protection orders, protections against violence or threats against a person's pet.
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 · 2 February 2017
Beginning Agriculturalist Lifetime Employment Act of 2017 or the BALE Act of 2017 This bill amends the Agricultural Act of 1961 to revise the limits for the Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) conservation loan guarantee program. The bill replaces the existing 80% limit on the portion of a loan that USDA may guarantee with limits that range from 80%-90%, depending on the principal amount of the loan. For socially disadvantaged or beginning farmers or ranchers, the bill replaces the existing 90% limit with limits that range from 85%-95%, depending on the principal amount of the loan. USDA may not guarantee a loan under the program that exceeds $3.5 million. The bill also revises the limitations on the amount of farm ownership loans to prohibit USDA from making or insuring any loan that would cause the unpaid indebtedness of any one borrower to exceed the smaller of: (1) the value of the farm or other security; or (2) in the case of a loan other than a loan guaranteed by USDA, $600,000, with an adjustment for inflation beginning with FY2023.
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
Free Speech Fairness Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit a tax-exempt organization to make certain statements related to a political campaign without losing its tax-exempt status. An organization may not lose its tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) or be deemed to have participated in, or intervened in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office, solely because of the content of any statement that: (1) is made in the ordinary course of the organization's regular and customary activities in carrying out its exempt purpose, and (2) results in the organization incurring not more than de minimis incremental expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 2017
Anwar Sadat Centennial Celebration Act This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Anwar Sadat in recognition of his achievements and heroic actions to attain comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
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 "Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers" rule finalized by the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 27, 2016. (The rule, mandated under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, requires resource extraction issuers to disclose payments made to governments for the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals.)
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 · 24 January 2017
Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to make it a crime to knowingly transport a minor across a state line to obtain an abortion without satisfying a parental involvement law in the minor's resident state. A parental involvement law requires parental consent or notification, or judicial authorization, for a minor to obtain an abortion. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, up to one year in prison, or both. The bill provides an exception for an abortion that is necessary to save the life of a minor whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or condition. This bill prohibits an individual who has committed incest with a minor from knowingly transporting the minor across a state line to receive an abortion. Additionally, this bill makes it a crime for a physician to knowingly perform or induce an abortion on an out-of-state minor without first complying with parental notification requirements, subject to specified exceptions. A physician violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, up to one year in prison, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2017
Life at Conception Act This bill declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual comes into being. Nothing in this bill shall be construed to authorize the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2017
ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 This bill requires the Disability Rights Section of the Department of Justice to develop a program to educate state and local governments and property owners on strategies for promoting access to public accommodations for persons with a disability. The program may include training for professionals to provide a guidance of remediation for potential violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The bill prohibits civil actions based on the failure to remove an architectural barrier to access into an existing public accommodation unless: (1) the aggrieved person has provided to the owners or operators a written notice specific enough to identify the barrier, and (2) the owners or operators fail to provide the person with a written description outlining improvements that will be made to improve the barrier or they fail to remove the barrier or make substantial progress after providing such a description. The aggrieved person's notice must specify: (1) the address of the property, (2) the specific ADA sections alleged to have been violated, (3) whether a request for assistance in removing an architectural barrier was made, and (4) whether the barrier was permanent or temporary. The Judicial Conference of the United States must develop a model program to promote alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve such claims. The model program should include an expedited method for determining relevant facts related to such barriers and steps to resolve accessibility issues before litigation.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2017
Urges Russian authorities to grant access to archival collections and to declassify and make publicly available all documents related to Raoul Wallenberg. Urges: (1) the Russian authorities to work with Wallenberg's family, the Swedish government, and Russian and international scholars, researchers, and archivists to resolve outstanding questions surrounding the circumstances of Wallenberg's arrest and death; and (2) the President, Secretary of State, and other high level U.S. government officials to raise the case of Wallenberg to their Russian counterparts and to request direct access to the original and unredacted documentation in the Russian archives. Emphasizes the need for independent verification of any information provided by Russian officials. Reaffirms Wallenberg's humanitarian spirit, personal courage, and nonviolent action in the face of enormous odds and commits to the continued pursuit of answers regarding Wallenberg's fate.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2017
Stopping EPA Overreach Act of 2017 This bill amends the Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride pollution from the scope of that Act. The bill declares that current law does not authorize or require the regulation of climate change or global warming and nullifies certain final rules relating to: (1) greenhouse gas and volatile organic compounds emissions, including methane emissions, from the oil and natural gas sector; and (2) carbon pollution emissions from the utility power sector. Before proposing or finalizing regulations or policies, the Environmental Protection Agency must analyze the net and gross impact of those regulations and policies on employment. Regulations and policies may not take effect if they have a negative impact on employment, unless they are approved by Congress and signed by the President.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2017
Conscience Protection Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to codify the prohibition against the federal government and state and local governments that receive federal financial assistance for health-related activities penalizing or discriminating against a health care provider based on the provider's refusal to be involved in, or provide coverage for, abortion. Health care providers include health care professionals, health care facilities, social services providers, health care professional training programs, and health insurers. The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Department of Justice (DOJ), must investigate complaints alleging discrimination based on an individual's religious belief, moral conviction, or refusal to be involved in an abortion. DOJ or any entity adversely affected by such discrimination may obtain equitable or legal relief in a civil action. Administrative remedies do not need to be sought or exhausted prior to commencing an action or granting relief. Such an action may be brought against a governmental entity.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2017
Death Tax Repeal Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) repeal the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, and (2) make permanent the maximum 35% gift tax rate and the lifetime gift tax exemption. The bill provides for an inflation adjustment to such exemption amount.
![Official portrait of Rep. Hultgren, Randy [R-IL-14]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/h001059_200.jpg)