United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2015
Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend to all domestic corporations, including S corporations, provisions allowing deferral of tax on gain from the sale of employer securities to an S corporation-sponsored employee stock ownership plan (ESOP); and (2) allow a tax deduction for 50% of the interest incurred on loans to S corporation-sponsored ESOPs for the purchase of employer securities. Directs the Department of the Treasury to establish the S Corporation Employee Ownership Assistance Office to foster increased employee ownership of S corporations. Amends the Small Business Act to define "ESOP business concern" and allow such a concern to continue to qualify for loans, preferences, and other programs under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 2015
Equitable Access to Care and Health Act or the EACH Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the religious conscience exemption under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to exempt individuals who rely solely on a religious method of healing and for whom the acceptance of medical health services would be inconsistent with their religious beliefs from the requirement to purchase and maintain minimum essential health care coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 2015
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act for 2016 and 2017 Authorizes appropriations for FY2016-FY2017 for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Authorizes programs, activities, and reports for NASA, including those relating to human exploration of space, the Space Launch System, the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle, space radiation, the International Space Station, the commercial crew program, radioisotope power systems, extrasolar planet exploration, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, near-Earth objects, astrobiology, space weather, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, Venture class missions, aeronautics research (including transformative aeronautics research), science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, project and program reserves, orbital debris mitigation, remote satellite robotic servicing demonstrations, and astronaut occupational health care. Directs NASA to report to Congress on the proposed Asteroid Retrieval Mission. Directs NASA to utilize the International Space Station and commercial services for space technology demonstration missions in low-Earth orbit whenever it is practical and cost effective to do so. Establishes a space technology program. Directs NASA to: (1) enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Public Administration to assess the effectiveness of the NASA Advisory Council, (2) enter into an arrangement with the National Academies for a review of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, and (3) revise the NASA Supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to address the detection and avoidance of counterfeit electronic parts. Directs NASA to develop a policy on the use of operational commercial reusable suborbital flight vehicles for carrying out scientific and engineering investigations and educational activities.
United States · United States Congress · 23 April 2015
Regulatory Review and Sunset Act of 2015 Requires federal agencies to review their covered rules and modify, consolidate, or terminate such rules on a periodic basis. Defines "covered rule" to include a significant rule that is likely to result in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or any other rule designated by an agency or the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) of the Office of Management and Budget for sunset review. Allows a person adversely affected by a rule that is not a significant rule to submit a public petition for sunset review of such rule. Provides for sunset review of a rule upon the request of a congressional committee or a majority of the members of such committee. Requires the OIRA to: (1) conduct an inventory of existing rules and deadlines for their sunset review; (2) prioritize rules for sunset review based on specified criteria, including the cost of the rule and the burden of reviewing it; (3) group related rules for simultaneous sunset review; (4) provide guidance to agencies for conducting sunset reviews; and (5) provide feedback to agencies on sunset reviews and results. Sets forth review deadlines for existing and new significant rules. Requires each agency to designate a Regulatory Review Officer with responsibility for implementation of this Act. Provides for judicial review of a denial or substantial inexcusable delay in granting or denying a public petition for sunset review of a rule. Terminates this Act 10 years after its enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 2015
Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act Amends the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act of 1978 to require a federal financial institutions regulatory agency to make a final examination report to a financial institution within 60 days after the later of: (1) the exit interview for an examination of the institution, or (2) the provision of additional information by the institution relating to the examination. Sets a deadline for the exit interview if a financial institution is not subject to a resident examiner program. Prescribes examination standards for financial institutions that: prescribe requirements and prohibitions for the treatment of certain commercial loans, prohibit a federal financial institution regulatory agency from requiring a well-capitalized financial institution to raise additional capital in lieu of certain actions prohibited with respect to such commercial loans, and require federal financial institutions regulatory agencies to develop and apply identical definitions and reporting requirements for non-accrual loans. Establishes in the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (Council) the Office of Independent Examination Review, headed by a Director appointed by the Council, but independent from any member agency of the Council. Entitles a financial institution to appeal a material supervisory determination contained in a final report of examination. Requires the Director to determine the merits of the appeal either on the record, or, at the election of the financial institution, refer the appeal to an administrative law judge. Declares the decision by the Director on an appeal to: (1) be the final agency action, and (2) bind the agency whose supervisory determination was the subject of the appeal and the financial institution making the appeal. Grants a financial institution the right to petition for judicial review of the Director's decision. Prohibits a federal financial institutions regulatory agency from: retaliating against a financial institution, including service providers, or any institution-affiliated party, for exercising appellate rights under this Act; or delaying or denying any agency action that would benefit a financial institution or any institution-affiliated party on the basis that an appeal under this Act is pending. Amends the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 to require: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to establish an independent intra-agency appellate process in connection with the regulatory appeals process, and safeguards to protect an insured depository institution or insured credit union from retaliation by any federal banking agency for exercising its rights.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 2015
Securities and Exchange Commission Overpayment Credit Act This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offset future fees and assessments otherwise due from a national securities exchange or national securities association if it is informed within 10 years that the entity has overpaid past fees and assessments. This requirement applies to any fees and assessments paid before, on, or after the enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 2015
Air Traffic Controllers Hiring Act of 2015 Directs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in appointing individuals to the position of air traffic controller, to give preference to: an individual who has successfully completed air traffic controller training and graduated from an institution participating in the Collegiate Training Initiative program (the program) and who has received from the institution either an appropriate recommendation or an endorsement certifying that the individual would have met the requirements in effect as of December 31, 2013, for an appropriate recommendation; a qualified individual who is eligible for a veterans recruitment appointment; a qualified individual who is an eligible veteran maintaining aviation experience obtained in the course of the individual's military experience; a preference eligible veteran; and a qualified individual maintaining practical air traffic control experience obtained at civilian installations of the Department of Defense, FAA air traffic control facilities, or contract towers of the FAA. Allows the FAA to consider additional applicants only after completing consideration of such preferred applicants. Provides that a preferred applicant shall not be subject to any biographical assessment as part of FAA hiring practices that apply to applicants for the position of air traffic controller. Directs the FAA to revise its hiring practices to eliminate the use of any biographical assessment that unduly disqualifies applicants. Provides for reconsideration of individuals who applied in response to the FG-01 vacancy announcement of February 10, 2014, who were disqualified on the basis of such an assessment. Requires (currently, allows) the FAA to maintain the program by making new agreements and continuing existing agreements with institutions of higher education under which the institutions prepare students for the position of air traffic controller. Directs the FAA to take into consideration any training initiatives for air traffic controllers that are locally developed at institutions of higher education participating in the program for use in establishing best practices nationwide.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 2015
Encourages North Korea to allow Korean Americans to meet with their family members from North Korea. Calls on North Korea to take steps to build goodwill that is conducive to peace on the Korean Peninsula.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 2015
PTC Elimination Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to phase out and eventually eliminate the tax credit for production of electricity from renewable resources. The bill repeals the inflation adjustment for current recipients of the tax credit and modifies the "beginning of construction" requirement to require that construction of an eligible project is continuous and makes significant progress. The credit is repealed in its entirety after December 31, 2025. The bill expresses the sense of Congress that the credit should be allowed to expire and should not be extended beyond its expiration date. The bill also reduces the corporate income tax by an applicable percentage based on increases in revenues resulting from this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 2015
Recognizes the Khmer, Laotian, Hmong, and Montagnard Freedom Fighters and the people of Cambodia and Laos for their support and defense of the U.S. Armed Forces and freedom in Southeast Asia.
United States · United States Congress · 16 April 2015
Real Unemployment Calculation Act Treats the measure of unemployment issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (known as U5) as the official and primary measure of unemployment in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 16 April 2015
Stop Motorcycle Checkpoint Funding Act Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation from providing grants or funds to a state, county, town, or township, Indian tribe, municipal, or other local government for use in any program to check helmet usage or create checkpoints for a motorcycle driver or passenger. Repeals the authority of the Secretary to make grants to states that have a law which makes it unlawful for any individual on an operating motorcycle to be without a motorcycle helmet. Revises grant eligibility requirements to eliminate the requirement that states achieve a certain rate of compliance with such law.
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 2015
Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act of 2015 Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a demonstration program for states with a shortage of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to streamline state requirements and procedures to assist veterans who completed military EMT training to meet state EMT certification, licensure, and other requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 2015
America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015 Establishes, revises, and extends specified science and technology and energy research programs and activities. Authorizes appropriations for FY2016-FY2017 for: (1) the National Science Foundation (NSF), (2) the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), (3) the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and (4) the Department of Energy (DOE) for activities of the Office of Science and the Office of Electricity. Directs the NSF to: (1) review its education programs, and (2) support research activities related to the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative. Directs the President to establish or designate a STEM Education Advisory Panel. Requires the NSF Director to establish a STEM Education Coordinating Office to support the Committee on STEM Education, the Advisory Panel, and federal agencies with STEM education programs. Requires OSTP to establish a body under the National Science and Technology Council to identify and coordinate international science and technology cooperation that can strengthen U.S. science and technology enterprise, improve economic and national security, and support U.S. foreign policy goals. Directs specified federal science agencies to conduct pilot programs to validate alternative research funding models. Directs NIST to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive review of NIST's laboratory programs. Calls on NIST to continue its role as facilitator of scientific collaborations between Israel and U.S. states, cities, businesses, academic institutions, and scientific foundations. Directs the DOE Office of Science to establish an initiative to sustain and advance global leadership of light source user facilities. Directs NIST to establish a nuclear energy standards committee to facilitate and support the development or revision of technical standards for new and existing nuclear power plants and advanced nuclear technologies. Directs DOE to carry out the Agreements for Commercializing Technology pilot program.
United States · United States Congress · 14 April 2015
James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization Act Amends the Public Health Service Act to extend the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program Fund indefinitely and index appropriations to the medical care component of the consumer price index for urban consumers. Makes funding available for: a quality assurance program for services delivered by health care providers, the WTC Program annual report, WTC Health Program Steering Committees, and contracts with Clinical Centers of Excellence. Amends the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act to make individuals (or relatives of deceased individuals) who were injured or killed in the rescue and recovery efforts after the aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001, eligible for compensation under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. Allows individuals to file claims for compensation under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 anytime after regulations are updated based on the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010. Removes the cap on payments under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. Adds the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and World Trade Center Health Program Fund to the list of accounts that are not subject to budget sequestration.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2015
Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act Declares without force or effect Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Bulletin 2013-02 (Indirect Auto Lending and Compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act), published March 21, 2013. Amends the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to direct the CFPB, when proposing and issuing guidance primarily related to indirect auto financing, to: provide for a public notice and comment period before issuing the guidance in final form; make publicly available all information relied on by the CFPB; redact any information exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act; consult with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice; and study the costs and impacts of the guidance to consumers and women-owned, minority-owned, and small businesses.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat membership in a tax-exempt health care sharing ministry as coverage under a high deductible health plan for purposes of the tax deduction for contributions to a health savings account.
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 2015
Encouraging Employee Ownership Act of 2015 Directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to revise regulations to require an issuer to furnish investors with additional specified disclosures regarding compensatory benefit plans if the aggregate sales price or amount of securities sold during any consecutive 12-month period exceeds $10 million (currently $5 million), indexed for inflation every five years.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 2015
Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and Public Health Service Act to include employers with 51 to 100 employees as large employers for purposes of health insurance markets. States have the option to treat these employers as small employers. Currently under PPACA, employers with 51 to 100 employees are small employers, but before January 1, 2016, states have the option to treat them as large employers. (Under PPACA, health insurance offered in the small group market must meet certain requirements that do not apply to the large group market, including the requirement to cover the essential health benefits.)
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 2015
Biennial Budgeting and Enhanced Oversight Act of 2015 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 · 24 March 2015
Global Food Security Act of 2015 This bill requires the President to coordinate the development and implementation of a comprehensive strategy to accomplish the objectives of promoting global food security, resilience, and nutrition consistent with national food security investment plans. The President must coordinate the efforts of relevant departments and agencies in implementing the Global Food Security Strategy by establishing monitoring and evaluation systems, coherence, and coordination across relevant departments and agencies; and platforms for regular consultation and collaboration with key stakeholders. By October 1, 2016, the President must submit the strategy to Congress, including a detailed description of how the United States intends to advance the objectives and agency-specific implementation plans. The bill authorizes the President to provide foreign assistance to implement the strategy and prevent or address food shortages. The President must ensure that assistance to implement the strategy is provided under established parameters for a system to monitor and evaluate the progress and impact of the strategy, including by providing specified reports to Congress and the public.
United States · United States Congress · 24 March 2015
Protecting Religious Minorities Persecuted by ISIS Act of 2015 This bill directs the Secretary of State to establish or use existing refugee processing mechanisms in Iraq and in other countries through which aliens from Iraq or Syria who have been persecuted, or have a credible fear of being persecuted, by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL), or a similar group, based on gender or religious or ethnic membership may apply directly to the United States Refugee Admissions Program for priority 2 refugee admission to the United States. The processing mechanisms shall ensure that background and security checks are conducted, including the use of biographic and biometric data. The Secretary of State shall: (1) report to Congress a plan to expedite the processing of refugee admissions applications for such aliens, and (2) implement the plan within 180 days of enactment of this Act. It is U.S. policy that when conflict arises the United States should: undertake efforts with the international community to protect local populations and enable them to remain safely in their home countries or in neighboring host countries until they can be safely repatriated; and facilitate third country resettlement if necessary, including U.S. resettlement when such refugees are of special humanitarian concern to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 24 March 2015
Health Outcomes, Planning, and Education (HOPE) for Alzheimer's Act of 2015 This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover comprehensive Alzheimer's disease care planning services.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 2015
Small Bank Exam Cycle Reform Act of 2015 This bill amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to increase from $500 million to $1 billion the asset size of small insured depository institutions eligible for 18-month on-site examination cycles. Such an institution is also qualified for the 18-month cycle if its total assets are at most $200 million (currently $100 million) and the most recent examination found its composite condition to be good rather than outstanding. A federal banking agency is granted discretion to increase this assets ceiling amount from $200 million to $1 billion (currently from $100 million to $500 million) if that greater asset size would be consistent with the principles of safety and soundness.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 2015
Expresses the sense of Congress that specified memoranda issued by the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security regarding enforcement of immigration laws are unlawful notwithstanding the passage of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 2015
Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2015 This bill directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to increase the asset threshold under the Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement on Assessment of Financial and Managerial Factors from less than $1 billion to less than $5 billion. The Comptroller of the Currency, the Board, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) shall exempt community banks from regulations implementing the International Regulatory Framework for Banks (Basel III), and, as they determine appropriate, to adjust the related capital requirements. A community bank is defined as one whose consolidated assets are $50 billion or less. The bill also exempts from the internal control attestation requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 both an insured depository institution and a depository institution holding company with consolidated assets of less than $1 billion. Savings and loan associations meeting specified asset and equity security holder criteria shall be subject to security registration requirements. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is prohibited from adjusting under Regulation D the $1 million net worth threshold and $200,000 and $300,000 income thresholds that define a natural person as an accredited investor. The SEC shall increase from 35 to 70 the number of purchasers of securities in transactions deemed not to involve a public offering and so are exempt from regulation under the Securities Exchange Act of 1933. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is amended to: (1) subject a savings and loan holding company to registration requirements for securities whose issuer has total assets exceeding $10 million and a class of non-exempt equity security held of record by 2,000 or more persons; and (2) apply the automatic termination of registration, and suspension of the duty to file supplementary and periodic information, to a savings and loan holding company whose securities are found to be held by less than 1,200 persons.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2015
Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance Act of 2015 Authorizes a Wall of Remembrance, as part of the previously authorized Korean War Veterans Memorial, to include: (1) a list by name of members of the U.S. Armed Forces who were killed in action; (2) the number of members who were wounded, listed as missing in action, or prisoners of war; and (3) the number of members of the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, and the other nations of the United Nations (U.N.) Command who were killed, wounded, missing, or prisoners. Prohibits using any federal funds to construct the Wall.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2015
Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015 This bill requires the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to report on prenatal opioid abuse and neonatal abstinence syndrome (symptoms of withdrawal in a newborn). (An opioid is a drug with effects similar to opium, such as heroin or certain pain medications.) The report must include: an assessment of existing research on neonatal abstinence syndrome; an evaluation of the causes, and barriers to treatment, of opioid use disorders among women of reproductive age; an evaluation of treatment for pregnant women with opioid use disorders and infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome; and recommendations on preventing, identifying, and treating opioid dependency in women and neonatal abstinence syndrome. The Department of Health and Human Services must review its activities related to prenatal opioid use and neonatal abstinence syndrome and develop a strategy to address gaps in research and programs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must provide technical assistance to states to improve neonatal abstinence syndrome surveillance and make surveillance data publicly available.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2015
Taking Account of Bureaucrats' Spending Act of 2015 or the TABS Act of 2015 This bill amends the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to eliminate provisions that fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) using transfers from the earnings of the Federal Reserve System. The transfers under current law permit the CFPB to be funded outside of the annual appropriations process, and this bill brings the CFPB into the regular process.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2015
Policyholder Protection Act of 2015 This bill amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to declare that any action of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) that requires a bank holding company to provide funds or other assets to a subsidiary depository institution is neither effective nor enforceable with respect to a savings and loan holding company that is also an insurance company, an affiliate of an insured depository institution that is an insurance company, or any other company that is an insurance company and directly or indirectly controls an insured depository institution (entities) if: such funds or assets are to be provided by the entity, and the relevant state insurance authority determines that such an action would have a materially adverse effect on the entity's financial condition. The bill declares that requiring a bank holding company that is an insurance company to serve as a source of financial strength shall be deemed the kind of action of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System that requires a bank holding company to provide funds or other assets to a subsidiary depository institution for specified purposes of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is amended, with respect to systemic risk determination and the treatment of insurance companies and their subsidiaries, to authorize the FDIC to stand in the place of the appropriate regulatory agency and file a judicial action to place such companies into orderly rehabilitation under state law if the appropriate regulatory agency has not done so. The FDIC, when funding the orderly liquidation of an insurance company or its subsidiary, shall notify the relevant state insurance authority promptly of its intention to take a lien on the company's assets. The FDIC may not take such a lien, however, if the state insurance authority informs it that doing so would have a materially adverse effect upon the insurance company's policyholders.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2015
Ensuring Access to Quality Complex Rehabilitation Technology Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover, as medical and other health services, complex rehabilitation technology (CRT) items designed or individually configured for a specific qualified individual to meet that individual's unique: (1) medical, physical, or functional needs related to a medical condition; and (2) capacities for basic activities of daily living (ADLs) or instrumental ADLs. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) designate CRT items (excluding adaptive equipment to operate motor vehicles or certain prosthetic devices and orthotics); and (2) establish eligibility criteria for them. Prescribes requirements for payments for CRT items. Directs the Secretary to establish standards for clinical conditions for CRT item payment as well as quality standards for suppliers of such items. Directs the Secretary to establish a formal process to allow submission of CRT code set modification requests by stakeholder groups for comprehensive coding changes related to entire policy groups. Requires payment for replacement of a CRT item (or any part of one), without regard to certain continuous use or useful lifetime restrictions established for items of durable medical equipment, if a qualified ordering practitioner determines that a replacement item (or part) is necessary.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2015
Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality and Access Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require alignment of updates for ambulatory surgical center (ASC) services under a revised prospective payment system (PPS) with updates for hospital outpatient department (OPD) services. Revises requirements for the reporting and applying of quality measure data by ASCs and hospital OPDs. Revises requirements for the composition of the expert outside advisory panel the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to consult during the annual review of the clinical integrity of the groups and payment weights in the PPS for OPD services. Requires the panel to include suppliers subject to the PPS as well as at least one ASC representative. Requires the Secretary, when excluding from a final rule updating ASC lists a procedure whose inclusion was requested during the public comment period, to cite in the final rule specific criteria based on which the procedure was excluded. Requires the Secretary also to identify the peer reviewed research or the evidence upon which the exclusion is based if certain of those criteria are cited for it. Prohibits the Secretary from using or citing as a criterion or a basis for an exclusion that the procedure can only be reported using a Current Procedural Terminology unlisted surgical procedure code.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 2015
American Jobs and Community Revitalization Act of 2015 Directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to establish an application process under which a person who lives or does business in a state may apply to have an area in the state identified as a rural area if it has not yet been so designated by the CFPB for purposes of federal consumer financial law. Prescribes criteria for the CFPB to consider when evaluating the application. Requires the CFPB to: (1) grant or deny the application within 90 days after the public comment period ends; and (2) publish the grant or denial in the Federal Register, including an explanation of the factors upon which the CFPB relied in making its determination. Amends the Truth in Lending Act to create a safe harbor from lawsuit for creditors that are depository institutions for any failure to comply with certain requirements with respect to a residential mortgage loan, and the banking regulators are required to treat such a loan as a qualified mortgage, if the creditor has, since the loan's origination, held it on its balance sheet and all prepayment penalties with respect to the loan comply with specified limitations. A safe harbor from lawsuit is also created for mortgage originators for steering a consumer to a residential mortgage loan if: (1) the creditor is a depository institution and has informed the mortgage originator that it intends to hold the loan on its balance sheet for the life of the loan, and (2) the mortgage originator informs the consumer that the creditor intends to do so. Requires the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, CFPB, the National Credit Union Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, before issuing a regulation or order, to assess other federal regulations and orders to determine whether the agency's proposal is in conflict with, is inconsistent with, or is duplicative of such other regulations or orders and whether such other federal regulations or orders are outdated. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to double the maximum asset size of certain small insured depository institutions that qualify for an onsite examination by the appropriate federal banking agency every 18 months instead of every 12 months. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue final rules to exempt depository institutions from reporting requirements with respect to a monetary instrument transaction involving a qualified customer. Requires the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to report annually to Congress on how the FinCEN data access service and the information it collects are used to detect and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. Directs the Secretary to establish operating procedures with respect to the government-wide data access service and the FinCEN financial crimes communications center which provide for appropriate metrics to monitor, track, assess, and report on access to information in the FinCEN data access service. Amends the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act to direct the appropriate federal banking agencies to issue final regulations authorizing S corporation banks to make dividend distributions under their capital conservation buffer for payment of taxes arising from bank activities.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 2015
Fairness for Farmers Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude nonimmigrant agricultural seasonal workers from the definition of "full-time employee" for purposes of the employer mandate to provide employees with minimum essential health care coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 2015
Clean Air, Strong Economies Act This bill prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from lowering its national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone until at least 85% of counties that are in nonattainment areas (counties that are exceeding the limit) have attained the standard. In promulgating a primary or secondary NAAQS for ozone, the EPA must: only consider a county to be a nonattainment area on the basis of direct air quality monitoring (rather than modeling); take into consideration feasibility and cost; and include in the regulatory impact analysis for the proposed and final rule at least one analysis that does not include any calculation of benefits resulting from reducing emissions of any pollutant other than ozone.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2015
Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise conditions of and limitations on payment for home health care services. Allows payment for home health services to Medicare beneficiaries by: (1) a nurse practitioner, (2) a clinical nurse specialist working in collaboration with a physician in accordance with state law, (3) a certified nurse-midwife, or (4) a physician assistant under a physician's supervision.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act of 2015 Prohibits the federal government, and any state that receives federal funding for any program that provides child welfare services under part B (Child and Family Services) or part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSAct), from discriminating or taking an adverse action against a child welfare service provider that declines to provide, facilitate, or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts with the provider's sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions. Bars such prohibition from applying to SSAct requirements that forbid state entities from denying or delaying adoption or foster care placements on the basis of an adoptive parent's or a child's race, color, or national origin. Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to withhold 15% of the federal funds that a state receives for such programs if the state violates this Act. Allows an aggrieved child welfare service provider to assert such an adverse action violation as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and to obtain all appropriate relief (including declaratory relief, injunctive relief, compensatory damages, and reasonable attorney's fees and costs).
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2015 Amends the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to authorize the Financial Stability Oversight Council to subject a bank holding company to enhanced supervision and prudential standards by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, if the Council makes a final determination that either material financial distress at the bank holding company, or the nature, scope, size, scale, concentration, interconnectedness, or mix of its activities, could threaten the financial stability of the United States. Requires that final determination to be based upon specified factors, using an indicator-based measurement approach established by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to determine systemic importance. Deems any bank holding company designated as a Global Systemically Important Bank by the Financial Stability Board, as of the date of enactment of this Act, to have been the subject of a final determination that it could pose a threat to U.S. financial stability for any of those reasons. Prohibits the Council from making a final determination concerning a bank holding company under this Act before one year after its enactment. Deems a bank holding company to have been the subject of such a final determination during this one-year period, however, if its total consolidated assets are $50 billion or more.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Medical Freedom Act of 2015 This bill repeals provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 relating to health insurance, health savings accounts, and health flexible spending accounts, including provisions prohibiting annual or lifetime limits on benefits, requiring preventive care without cost sharing, requiring dependent coverage until age 26, prohibiting preexisting condition exclusions, guaranteeing availability and renewability of coverage, and prohibiting payments for over-the-counter medications from health savings accounts and health flexible spending arrangements. Provisions of law amended by those provisions are restored as if PPACA and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 had not been enacted. “Qualified health plan” is expanded to include any health plan. Currently, a health plan must provide essential health benefits and meet other requirements to be a qualified health plan. (Under PPACA, qualified health plans are sold on health insurance exchanges, are eligible for premium subsidies, and fulfill an individual's requirement to maintain minimum essential coverage.) A qualified health plan is allowed to provide coverage through any qualified direct primary care medical home plan. Currently, in such an arrangement, the qualified direct primary care medical home plan must coordinate its services with the qualified health plan and meet other requirements. Dental plans no longer need to provide pediatric dental benefits to be offered on a health insurance exchange.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Community Lending Enhancement and Regulatory Relief Act of 2015 or the CLEARR Act of 2015 This bill amends the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to exempt from its annual privacy policy notice requirement any financial institution which: (1) provides nonpublic personal information only in accordance with specified requirements, and (2) has not changed its policies and practices regarding disclosures of nonpublic personal information from those disclosed in the most recent disclosure sent to consumers. The federal banking agencies are directed to study jointly the appropriate capital requirements for mortgage servicing assets for nonsystemic banking institutions. Mortgage servicing assets are those resulting from contracts to service loans secured by real estate, where such loans are owned by third parties. A nonsystemic banking institution is any banking institution other than one identified by the Financial Stability Board as a global systemically important bank. Any regulatory implementation of either Basel III or National Credit Union Administration capital requirements about mortgage servicing assets for nonsystemic banking institutions is prohibited until six months after a report to Congress on the study. The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) is amended to direct the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve Board) to exempt from certain escrow or impound requirements a loan secured by a first lien on a consumer's principal dwelling if the loan is held by a creditor with assets of $10 billion or less. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau must provide either exemptions to or adjustments from the mortgage loan servicing and escrow account administration requirements of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 for servicers of 20,000 or fewer mortgage loans. The TILA is also amended to exempt from property appraisal requirements a higher-risk mortgage loan of $250,000 or less if it appears on the loan creditor's balance sheet for at least three years. The Federal Deposit Insurance Act is revised to direct federal banking agencies to issue regulations that allow a reduced reporting requirement for depository institutions meeting certain criteria when making the first and third report of condition for a year. If a depository financial institution receives an order to request a funds transfer (entry) via an automated clearing house, it shall not be required to verify that the entry is not a prohibited monetary transaction if the originating depository financial institution has warranted its compliance with the sanctions programs administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. The Federal Reserve Board must revise the Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement on the Assessment of Financial and Managerial Factors to raise its consolidated asset threshold from $1 billion to $5 billion. The TILA is again amended to create a safe harbor from lawsuit for creditors that are depository institutions for any failure to comply with certain requirements with respect to a residential mortgage loan, and the banking regulators are required to treat such a loan as a qualified mortgage, if the creditor has, since the loan's origination, held it on its balance sheet and all prepayment penalties with respect to the loan comply with specified limitations. A safe harbor from lawsuit is also created for mortgage originators for steering a consumer to a residential mortgage loan if: the creditor is a depository institution and has informed the mortgage originator that it intends to hold the loan on its balance sheet for the life of the loan, and the mortgage originator informs the consumer that the creditor intends to do so.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 2015
Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act This bill amends the Truth in Lending Act to create a safe harbor from lawsuit for creditors that are depository institutions for any failure to comply with certain requirements with respect to a residential mortgage loan, and the banking regulators are required to treat such a loan as a qualified mortgage, if the creditor has, since the loan's origination, held it on its balance sheet and all prepayment penalties with respect to the loan comply with specified limitations. A safe harbor from lawsuit is also created for mortgage originators for steering a consumer to a residential mortgage loan if: the creditor is a depository institution and has informed the mortgage originator that it intends to hold the loan on its balance sheet for the life of the loan, and the mortgage originator informs the consumer that the creditor intends to do so.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 2015
Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act of 2015 This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to waive coinsurance for colorectal cancer screening tests (in order to cover 100% of their cost under Medicare part B [Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits for the Aged and Disabled]), regardless of the code billed for a diagnosis as a result of a test, or for the removal of tissue or other procedure furnished in connection with, as a result of, and in the same clinical encounter as the screening test.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 2015
Condemns violence against religious minorities in the Middle East and actions that limit their practice of faith. Reaffirms the commitment of the United States to promoting religious freedom around the world and protecting religious minorities facing persecution. Calls on the governments of the Middle East to uphold the internationally recognized human right to freedom from religious persecution and to end violence and discrimination against religious minorities. Urges the Obama Administration to appoint a Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 2015
Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act of 2015 Repeals sections of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (and restores provisions of law amended by those sections) related to the establishment of an Independent Payment Advisory Board to develop proposals to reduce the per capita rate of growth in spending under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2015
Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2015 Amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) to locate the Office on International Religious Freedom in the Office of the Secretary of State. Directs the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom to seek to coordinate religious freedom policies and religious engagement strategies across all U.S. programs, projects, and activities. Specifies additional foreign government actions violating religious freedom for the Ambassador's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, including a Special Watch List of countries or violent nonstate actors that have engaged in or tolerated such violations but do not yet meet the criteria for designation as countries of particular concern for religious freedom. Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to direct the Secretary to develop a curriculum for, and the Director of the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center to begin, mandatory training on religious freedom for all Foreign Service officers. Amends IRFA to require the Commission on International Religious Freedom to compile and make publicly available regularly updated lists of persons imprisoned, detained, disappeared, placed under house arrest, tortured, or subject to forced renunciations of faith by: (1) a foreign government recommended for designation as a country of particular concern for religions freedom, or (2) a violent nonstate actor. Extends the Commission's termination date. Amends the National Security Act of 1947 to direct the President to appoint in the National Security Council a Special Adviser for Global Religion Engagement and International Religious Freedom (in lieu of the Special Adviser to the President on International Religious Freedom) who shall assist the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom to coordinate executive branch international religious freedom policies and global religion engagement strategies. Establishes within the National Security Council: (1) the Interagency Policy Committee on Religious Freedom and Engagement; and (2) the Interagency Policy Committee on Religion, International Religious Freedom, and National Security. Amends IRFA to revise requirements, including reporting requirements, for presidential actions with respect to country and violent nonstate actor designations, in particular those countries on the Special Watch List. Declares the sense of Congress that: ongoing and persistent waivers for designated countries, especially those engaging in particularly severe violations of religious freedom, do not fulfill IRFA purposes; and the President, the Secretary, and other executive branch officials, in consultation with Congress, should seek to find ways to address existing violations, on a country-by-country basis, through specified actions. Repeals the automatic termination of a presidential designation after two years. States that it should be U.S. policy that violent nonstate actors should be eligible for designation as countries of particular concern and that specified presidential actions should apply to them or individual members of such groups. Makes funds available for FY2016-FY2021 for the Human Rights and Democracy Fund. Establishes in the State Department the Religious Freedom Defense Fund, to be administered by the Ambassador at Large. Authorizes the President to take specified actions against foreign persons: (1) responsible for committing or supporting systemic violations of religious freedom, or (2) supporting violence or terrorist acts targeting members of religious groups. Declares the sense of Congress about: (1) adoption of codes of conduct by U.S. institutions of higher education outside the United States, and (2) national security strategy to promote religious freedom through U.S. foreign policy.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2015
Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome Act of 2015 or the SCRUB Act of 2015 Establishes the Retrospective Regulatory Review Commission to review the Code of Federal Regulations to identify, using specified criteria, rules and sets of rules that collectively implement a regulatory program that should be repealed to lower the cost of regulation to the economy, giving priority to major rules that: (1) have been in effect more than 15 years, (2) impose paperwork burdens that could be reduced substantially without significantly diminishing regulatory effectiveness, (3) impose disproportionately high costs on small business entities, and (4) could be strengthened in their effectiveness while reducing regulatory costs. Prohibits the reissuance of a rule similar to any rule that has been repealed or that results in the same adverse effects of a repealed rule. Requires the Commission to establish a public website to make regulatory information accessible to the public at no cost. Requires a federal agency that makes a new rule to: (1) repeal rules identified by the Commission to offset the cost to the economy of such new rule (cut-go procedures), and (2) include in the final issuance of such rule a plan for reviewing the rule not later than 10 years after it is promulgated. Requires the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget to review and certify the accuracy of agency determinations of the cost of new rules. Makes agency compliance with the requirements of this Act subject to judicial review.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2015
International Science and Technology Cooperation Act of 2015 Requires the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to establish a body under the National Science and Technology Council that has the responsibility of identifying and coordinating international science and technology cooperation that can strengthen U.S. science and technology enterprise, improve economic and national security, and support U.S. foreign policy goals. Requires the body to be co-chaired by senior level officials from OSTP and the Department of State. Requires the body to: (1) coordinate interagency international science and technology cooperative research and training activities and partnerships supported or managed by federal agencies, (2) establish federal priorities and policies for aligning such international science and technology cooperative research and training activities and partnerships with the foreign policy goals of the United States, (3) identify opportunities for new international science and technology cooperative research and training partnerships that advance science and technology and U.S. foreign policy priorities, (4) solicit recommendations from non-federal science and technology stakeholders, and (5) identify broad issues that influence the ability of U.S. scientists and engineers to collaborate with foreign counterparts.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2015
Department of Energy Laboratory Modernization and Technology Transfer Act of 2015 Amends the Department of Energy Organization Act to rename the Under Secretary for Science as the Under Secretary for Science and Energy. Directs the Secretary of Energy (DOE) to annually report on DOE's ability to improve the technology transfer and commercialization of energy technologies. Requires the Secretary to report on DOE's capabilities to authorize, host, and oversee privately funded fusion and non-light water reactor prototypes and related demonstration facilities at DOE-owned sites. Directs the Secretary to carry out the Agreements for Commercializing Technology pilot program in accordance with this Act, including by giving the contractors of the DOE nonmilitary national laboratories increased authority to negotiate contract terms and making every such national laboratory eligible for the program. Extends the pilot program until October 31, 2017. Requires the Secretary to delegate to the directors of the national laboratories signature authority with respect to specified agreements of less than $1 million. Permits the directors of national laboratories to use funds authorized to support technology transfer within DOE to carry out early-stage and pre-commercial technology demonstration activities to: (1) remove technology barriers that limit private sector interest, and (2) demonstrate potential commercial applications of any research and technologies arising from national laboratory activities. Amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to exempt institutions of higher education and nonprofit institutions from the cost-sharing requirements for research or development for six years. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to enable the participation of DOE researchers in the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program. Requires a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2015
Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act Amends the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 to direct the Secretary of State to report to Congress on conditions in Hong Kong that are of U.S. interest by March 31, 2015, and annually thereafter for 10 years or until the Secretary certifies that Hong Kong has held free and fair elections for 2 consecutive Chief Executive and 2 consecutive Legislative Council periods. Directs the Secretary to certify to Congress annually whether Hong Kong is sufficiently autonomous to justify separate treatment different from that accorded to China in any new laws, agreements, treaties, or arrangements entered into between the United States and Hong Kong. Authorizes the President to waive this certification requirement if: (1) waiver is in the U.S. national interest, and (2) Congress is given a justification of the waiver on or before the date it takes effect.
![Official portrait of Rep. Hultgren, Randy [R-IL-14]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/h001059_200.jpg)