United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2007
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the same level of tax withholding for tax deductible payments made between persons who are members of the same foreign controlled group of entities as would be required if such payments were made directly to the foreign parent corporation of such entities.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2007
Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2007 - Amends the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act to require: (1) states to use grants for safe and drug-free schools to collect and report information on the incidence of bullying and harassment; and (2) local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools to use subgrants to prevent and respond to incidents of bullying and harassment. Requires such LEAs or schools to: (1) notify parents and students annually of conduct prohibited in their school discipline policies, that now must include bullying and harassment; and (2) establish grievance procedures for students and parents to register complaints regarding such conduct. Includes bullying and harassment within the the Act's definition of violence.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2007
Recognizes the dedication and devotion of former Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown to public service. Commends his actions and achievements and his inspiring example to the African-American community.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2007
National Women's Rights History Project Act - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to designate a vehicular tour route, to be known as the Votes for Women History Trail Route, to link properties in New York State that are historically and thematically associated with the struggle for women's suffrage in the United States. Requires the National Park Service to administer the Trail through the Women's Rights National Historical Park (established under prior law). Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) enter into cooperative agreements and memorandums of understanding with, and provide technical and financial assistance to, other federal agencies, the State of New York, localities, regional governmental bodies, and private entities; (2) make annual grants to state historic preservation offices for up to five years for assistance in surveying, evaluating, and nominating women's rights history properties to the National Register of Historic Places; and (3) make matching grants and give technical assistance for development of a network of governmental and nongovernmental entities providing interpretive and educational program development of national women's rights history, including historic preservation.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2007
Fairness for Homeowners Act of 2007 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit any creditor or mortgage broker from making, providing, or arranging for any consumer credit transaction secured by a consumer's principal dwelling without verifying the consumer's reasonable ability to make the scheduled payments of principal, interest (including variable interest), real estate taxes, homeowner's insurance, assessments, and mortgage insurance premiums. Prescribes criteria for determining the reasonable ability to make such payments. Prohibits steering (arranging for a lower investment grade credit transaction if the consumer qualifies for a higher investment grade transaction) and prepayment penalties for adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) that are not jumbo mortgages. Limits financed points, finance charges, and fees to 5% of a transaction's principal, unless the transaction is ensured or guaranteed by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or the Farmers Home Administration. Specifies duties of agency for mortgage brokers acting to obtain or arrange for any consumer credit transaction secured by the consumer's principal dwelling. Requires creditors and mortgage brokers to obtain independent verification that a borrower seeking to refinance a special mortgage has received counseling on the transaction's advisability. Defines "special mortgage" as one that: (1) was originated, subsidized, funded, or guaranteed by or through a state, tribal, or local government, or nonprofit organization; and (2) bears one or more specified nonstandard payment terms which substantially benefit the consumer. Prescribes minimum financial requirements for mortgage brokers. Excludes reverse mortgages from coverage by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2007
Expresses disapproval of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's issuance of a permit allowing BP to increase their daily dumping of ammonia and total suspended solids into Lake Michigan. Urges Indiana to reconsider issuance of such permit. Calls for Congress to take action to protect and restore the Great Lakes. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) actions in the Great Lakes basin should be consistent with the goal of preserving and restoring the Great Lakes; and (2) EPA should not allow increased dumping of chemicals and pollutants into the Great Lakes.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2007
Return of the Lost Boys and Lost Girls of Sudan Act - Requires the Director of Foreign Assistance to establish and carry out a program to assist eligible Sudanese refugees in the United States known as the "Lost Boys and Lost Girls of Sudan" to voluntarily return to southern Sudan to assist in reconstruction efforts. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Director should: (1) review similar programs for purposes of replicating best practices; (2) consult with the Lost Boys/Lost Girls Organization in the United States to identify interested and eligible program candidates; (3) seek cooperation with local and international organizations in southern Sudan to identify appropriate sectors, programs, and projects; and (4) seek to ensure that program participants retain their U.S. immigration status.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2007
Recognizes the importance of the Gulf Coast region to the U.S. economy, as well as the cultural contributions of its people. Expresses the support of the House of Representatives for all individuals still affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita two years after these terrible natural disasters struck.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2007
Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the Robert T. Matsui Center for Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Health Care. Provides for health care workforce diversity activities, including the establishment of: (1) a technical clearinghouse on health workforce diversity; and (2) Regional Minority Centers of Excellence Programs. Requires health-related programs of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to collect data on race, ethnicity, and primary language. Directs each federal health agency to implement a strategic plan to eliminate disparities and improve the health and health care of minority populations. Requires the Secretary to establish: (1) an Office of Health Disparities within the Office of Civil Rights; and (2) civil rights compliance offices in each HHS agency that administers health programs. Reestablishes the Indian Health Service as an agency within the Public Health Service of HHS to be administered by an Assistant Secretary of Indian Health. Requires the establishment of an Office of Minority Health within specified agencies. Directs the President to execute, administer, and enforce provisions to address environmental justice in minority and low-income populations. Provides for the establishment of health empowerment zone programs in communities that disproportionately experience disparities in health status and health care. Requires the Secretary to designate centers of excellence at public hospitals and other health systems that demonstrate excellence in providing care to minority populations and reducing health disparities. Makes immigrants from certain U.S. territories and possessions eligible for specified federal programs. Requires the Secretary to expand the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative. Provides for grants for strategies to eliminate racial and ethnic health and health care disparities. Requires the Secretary to establish the Rural Health Quality Advisory Commission.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2007
Authorizes the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to make appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to comedian Jerry Lewis in recognition of his outstanding service to the Nation.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2007
21st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act - Requires the Secretary of Education to make grants in each fiscal year to local educational agencies (LEAs) in each state for the construction, modernization, or repair of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools to make them safe, healthy, high-performing, and technologically up-to-date. Gives priority to LEAs serving a high number or percentage of disadvantaged children and those whose public schools are in relatively poor condition. Requires LEAs to contribute funds toward the costs of the program, but uses a sliding scale that factors in the relative poverty of an LEA's service area. Requires the Secretary to make low-interest loans to LEAs in each fiscal year for the same purposes and with the same priorities given in the distribution of the grants. Establishes the School Construction, Modernization, and Repair Revolving Fund consisting of amounts derived from the low-interest loans and appropriations made to the Fund by this Act. Amends part D of title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize and make appropriations for educational technology.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2007
Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007 - Declares that no predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable if it requires arbitration of: (1) an employment, consumer, or franchise dispute, or (2) a dispute arising under any statute intended to protect civil rights or to regulate contracts or transactions between parties of unequal bargaining power. Declares, further, that the validity or enforceability of an agreement to arbitrate shall be determined by a court, under federal law, rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunction with other terms of the contract containing such agreement. Exempts arbitration provisions in collective bargaining agreements from this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2007
Supports the designation and goals of "National 9-1-1 Education Month." Requests that the President issue a proclamation designating such a month and calling for appropriate ceremonies, training events, and activities.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2007
Global Resources and Opportunities for Women to Thrive Act of 2007 or GROWTH Act of 2007 - Targets assistance for women in developing countries with respect to: (1) microenterprises; (2) small and medium enterprises; (3) private property rights and land tenure security; (4) employment access; (5) trade benefits; (6) exchanges with U.S. entrepreneurs; (7) Millennium Challenge Account assistance; and (8) indigenous women's organizations. Directs the Secretary of State to establish the Global Resources and Opportunities for Women to Thrive (GROWTH) Fund to enhance economic opportunities for very poor, poor, and low-income women in developing countries with a focus on: (1) increasing women-owned enterprise development; (2) increasing property rights for women; (3) increasing women's access to financial services; (4) increasing women in leadership in implementing organizations, such as indigenous nongovernmental organizations, community-based organizations, and regulated financial intermediaries; (5) improving women's employment benefits and conditions; and (6) increasing women's ability to benefit from global trade.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Graduation Promise Act of 2007 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for differentiated high school improvement systems targeting support to schools with low student achievement and graduation rates after the school fails for two consecutive years to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) pursuant to state academic performance standards. Requires LEAs also to use funds to: (1) improve feeder middle schools; and (2) identify and support struggling students before they reach high school. Requires state grantees to establish comprehensive school performance indicators and minimum annual improvement benchmarks for use, in addition to current AYP measures, in analyzing school performance and determining the improvement category into which a school is placed. Directs LEA subgrantees to convene a local school improvement team for each school placed in an improvement category that will use performance indicators to conduct a school needs assessment and develop a multiyear school improvement plan tailored to the school's need categorization. Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive grants to: (1) LEAs, nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher education to develop and implement, or replicate, effective school models for struggling students and dropouts; and (2) states to adjust their policies to allow for educational innovations that improve high school graduation rates while ensuring rigorous education content standards and assessments, if such states implement differentiated high school improvement systems and statewide longitudinal student data systems.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
State and Local Education Flexibility Act of 2007 - Amends part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to revise requirements for determining whether states, local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools are making adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward state academic performance standards. Provides for state and local flexibility, under specified conditions, to: (1) exclude from AYP and academic assessments the performance of certain limited English proficient students; (2) include in favorable AYP graduation rates certain students who require extra time to graduate due to exceptional circumstances or disability; (3) modify academic content and achievement standards in the individual education plans of students with disabilities; (4) develop assessments locally and use multiple assessments; and (5) have alternative qualification requirements for special education teachers and rural teachers. Subjects social studies teachers to ESEA competence requirements. Treats teacher competence in general science or social sciences as competence in those subjects' subdisciplines. Directs the Comptroller General to study the adequacy of ESEA school improvement funds. Allows states, which meet certain requirements, to measure AYP using individual growth models measuring individual student progress from grade to grade. Requires that each school be given a grade based on the percentage of AYP factors it has attained. Gives grade A schools greater flexibility in the use of school improvement funds and states and LEAs greater flexibility in choosing the ESEA intervention they consider appropriate for lower-graded schools that fail to make AYP for two years. Requires schools to provide parents with student progress report cards showing the school's AYP grade. Requires states to include their performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress on schoolwide and statewide progress report cards.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Declares that it is the policy of the United States not to: (1) establish any military installation or base for providing for the permanent stationing of U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq; and (2) exercise U.S. control over Iraqi oil resources. Prohibits any funds made available by any Act of Congress from being obligated or expended to: (1) establish any military installation or base for providing for the permanent stationing of U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq; or (2) exercise U.S. economic control of the oil resources of Iraq.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Star-Spangled Banner and War of 1812 Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Act - Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue $1 coins in commemoration of the bicentennial of the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner and the War of 1812. Requires a coin design emblematic of the War of 1812, particularly the Battle for Fort McHenry that formed the basis for the Star-Spangled Banner . Authorizes the Secretary to issue the coins only during the calendar year beginning on January 1, 2012. Requires specified surcharges in sales of the coin, which shall be paid to the Star-Spangled Banner and War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission for: (1) the purpose of supporting bicentennial activities; and (2) preservation and improvement activities relating to the sites and structures relating to the War of 1812.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007 - Amends the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to establish in the Treasury a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund available to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide assistance to states, Indian tribes, insular areas, and participating local jurisdictions to increase the supply of decent quality affordable housing, especially for low-income, extremely low-income, and very poor families.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act of 2007 - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to expand the authority of the administering authority or the International Trade Commission (ITC) to impose countervailing duties on products from a nonmarket economy country that have been provided a countervailable subsidy. Requires, when measuring subsidy benefits, the use of benchmarks outside of a nonmarket economy country when benchmarks in such a country are not available or are inappropriate. Includes fundamental and actionable misalignment of a currency (undervaluation of a foreign currency) by a foreign country as a countervailable subsidy. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) to: (1) report annually to Congress on international monetary policy and currency exchange rates (including fundamentally misaligned currencies); (2) analyze semiannually the prevailing real exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies and to designate fundamentally misaligned foreign currencies for priority action; and (3) seek bilateral consultations with fundamentally misaligned currency countries designated for priority action to eliminate such misalignment. Requires the United States to inform the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of countries that fail to eliminate fundamentally misaligned currencies designated for priority action and to request the IMF Managing Director to consult with such countries regarding their observance of the IMF Articles of Agreement and to report the results of such consultations to the IMF Executive Board. Prohibits the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) from, and instructs multilateral banks to oppose, financing projects in countries that issue fundamentally misaligned currencies designated for priority action. Requires: (1) the Secretary to take certain actions with respect to countries that fail to eliminate fundamentally misaligned currencies designated for priority action; and (2) the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to request consultations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) with such countries regarding the consistency of their actions with regard the WTO Agreement. Establishes an Advisory Committee on International Exchange Rate Policy. Repeals the Exchange Rates and International Economic Policy Coordination Act of 1988.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Medicare Access to Community Health Centers (MATCH) Act of 2007 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise the definition of "federally qualified health center services" to include ambulatory services furnished by a federally qualified health center (FQHC) for which payment may otherwise be made under Medicare if such services were furnished by a non-FQHC health care provider or health care professional employed by or under contract with an FQHC. Permits payment for hospital-based services. Provides for a Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for Medicare-covered services provided by FQHCs.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Urges the United States to: (1) honor U.S. commitments made in the 2001 World Trade Organization Doha Declaration on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and Public Health, which allows World Trade Organization (WTO) members to fully use the flexibilities in the TRIPS Agreement to protect public health and promote access to medicines for all; (2) not place countries on the "Special 301" Priority Watch List for exercising such flexibilites, such as issuing compulsory licenses to obtain generic medicines; (3) not ask developing countries that are trading partners to adopt measures to protect public health intellectual property rights in excess of protections required in the TRIPS Agreement; and (4) support new global norms for promoting medical research and development.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2007
Recognizes: (1) the importance of the federal government's continued support of Diamond-Blackfan Anemia (DBA) research; and (2) that federal support of comprehensive centers for rare disease patients enhances the ability for experienced doctors to provide the most complete care for each patient. Commends: (1) Schneider Children's Hospital for providing the first DBA Comprehensive Clinical Care Center and developing the DBA Patient Registry; and (2) the Daniella Maria Arturi Foundation and the Diamon-Blackfan Anemia Foundation for their efforts to facilitate collaboration among the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to achieve a successful multidisciplinary approach aimed at shortening the life cycle of success realized between the laboratory and applied patient care. Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the government has a responsibility to encourage further efforts to clarify the natural history of DBA, continue efforts to raise awareness and ease access to information about DBA, encourage research efforts that will advance treatment options and seek a cure, encourage NIH to develop a cross-institutional research initiative to study ribosomal protein deficiencies in rare inherited disease, and encourage continued federal support of the DBA Comprehensive Clinical Care Centers.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2007
Recognizes and congratulates Malaysia on its 50th anniversary of independence. Supports a strong bilateral relationship between the United States and Malaysia and continued cooperation in such important areas as counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, and trade.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2007
Improving Classroom Learning and Student Performance Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of Education to award five-year grants to states that receive funds under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to enable them to: (1) collaborate with institutions of higher education, other research institutions, and other organizations to improve the quality, validity, and reliability of state and local academic assessments, including performance assessments that evaluate the application of knowledge to real-world tasks; (2) develop the capacity of local education agencies (LEAs) to assess student academic achievement using multiple measures, including school-based performance assessments; and (3) develop, together with LEAs, the capacity of teachers and school leaders to develop, use, and reliably evaluate the results of locally-administered performance assessments. Requires state grantees to ensure that state and local assessments are aligned to learning standards, unbiased, valid for the purposes for which they are used, reliably scored, and meet professional standards.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2007
Authorizes the Secretary of State to provide compensation to relatives of U.S. citizens who were killed in the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa on August 7, 1998.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2007
Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to declare that an unlawful employment practice occurs when a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is adopted when an individual becomes subject to the decision or practice, or when an individual is affected by application of the decision or practice, including each time compensation is paid. Allows a person filing an action to challenge similar or related instances of compensation discrimination after an aggrieved person filed a charge without filing another charge. Accrues liability, and an aggrieved person may obtain relief including recovery of back pay for up to two years preceding the filing of the charge, where the unlawful employment practices that have occurred during the charge filing period are similar or related to practices that occurred outside the time for filing a charge. Applies the amendments of this paragraph to claims of compensation discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Amends the Age Discrimination Act of 1967 to declare that an unlawful practice occurs when a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is adopted, when a person becomes subject to the decision or other practice, or when a person is affected by the decision or practice, including each time compensation is paid. Allows a person filing an action to challenge similar or related instances of compensation discrimination after an aggrieved person filed a charge without filing another charge with the Secretary.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2007
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 326 South Main Street in Princeton, Illinois, as the "Owen Lovejoy Princeton Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2007
Local Community Radio Act of 2007 - Repeals provisions in the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, that required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to: (1) modify rules authorizing the operation of low-power FM radio stations to prescribe minimum distance separations for third-adjacent channels; (2) prohibit applicants who have engaged in the unlicensed operation of any station from obtaining a low-power FM license; and (3) conduct a program to test whether low-power FM radio stations will result in harmful interference to existing FM radio stations if minimum distance separations for third-adjacent channels are not required. Requires the FCC to modify its rules to eliminate third-adjacent minimum distance separation requirements between specified stations. Requires the FCC to retain rules that provide third-adjacent channel protection for full-power noncommercial FM stations that broadcast radio reading services via a subcarrier frequency from potential low-power FM station interference. Requires the FCC when licensing FM translator stations to ensure: (1) that licenses are available to both FM translator stations and low-power FM stations; and (2) that such decisions are made based on the needs of the local community.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2007
Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations for FY2009-FY2013 for: (1) type I diabetes research; and (2) diabetes prevention and treatment through Indian health facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2007
Northern California Ocean and Coastal Protection Act - Prohibits oil and gas preleasing, leasing, and related activities in areas of the outer Continental Shelf located off the coast of Mendocino, Humboldt, and Del Norte Counties in the state of California. Amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to exclude such areas from a mandatory inventory of reserves in the Outer Continental Shelf.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2007
Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act - Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 with respect to hours-of-service requirements airline flight crews must meet to qualify for leave under such Act. Declares that a flight attendant or flight crewmember will be considered to meet such requirements if he or she has been paid for or has worked 60% of the employer's monthly hour or trip guarantee, or the equivalent annualized over the preceding 12-month period.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2007
Expresses support for the goals and ideals of National HIV/AIDS Testing Day. Encourages the use of rapid test kits approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for HIV testing.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2007
Motor Vehicle Owners Right to Repair Act of 2007 - Requires the manufacturer of a motor vehicle sold, leased, or otherwise introduced into U.S. commerce to: (1) provide to the vehicle owner and service providers all information necessary to diagnose, service, maintain, or repair the vehicle; (2) offer for sale to consumers and service providers any related tool or equipment; and (3) provide the information necessary to enable aftermarket tool companies to manufacture tools with the same functional characteristics. Exempts trade secrets, so long as the information is not disclosed to authorized dealers or service providers. Authorizes enforcement of this Act by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and civil actions by state attorneys general, consumers, and service providers.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2007
College Affordability and Accountability Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to require state maintenance of effort in providing funding to public institutions of higher education (IHEs). Requires all IHEs to plan, engage in, and report on cost containment strategies. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to conduct research on such strategies. Directs the Secretary to publish an annual report on college affordability and to disseminate certain data, including the net price tuition index (NTPI) for each IHE through a college price calculator on an enhanced college opportunities on line (COOL) website. Establishes a Pell Plus program to provide an increased award to each Pell Grant recipient at IHEs that maintain specified types of: (1) low tuition; (2) guaranteed tuition; or (3) affordable tuition. Establishes a program of grants for cooperative education for IHEs that restrain tuition increases. Authorizes grants and contracts for cooperative education demonstration and innovation projects, training and resource centers, and research. Directs the Secretary to commission the National Research Council to study the viability of developing and implementing standards in environmental, health, and safety areas to provide for differential regulation of: (1) industrial laboratories and facilities; and (2) research and teaching laboratories. Authorizes the Secretary to select IHEs, IHE systems, or IHE consortia for voluntary participation in an articulation agreement demonstration program to specify the acceptability of courses in transfer toward meeting specific degree requirements, as a means to lower tuition prices for students. Directs the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance to convene a task force of experts to: (1) determine the best methods to finance higher education in the long-term; (2) help public institutions utilize long-term budgeting; (3) review the trends of financing of higher education; and (4) define the role played by the states, the federal government, families, and outside entities in financing higher education, and determine the best methods to strengthen this partnership.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2007
Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a grants program to reduce class size through the use of fully-qualified teachers. Allots funds to states and local educational agencies to recruit, hire, and train additional teachers, in order to: (1) reduce class sizes nationally, in grades one through three, to an average of 18 students per classroom; and (2) improve teaching in those grades so that all students can learn to read independently and well by the end of the third grade.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2007
Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2007 - Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to prohibit a person from possessing a firearm unless that person has been issued a firearm license under this Act or a state system certified under this Act and such license has not been invalidated or revoked. Prescribes license application, issuance, and renewal requirements. Prohibits transferring or receiving a qualifying firearm unless the recipient presents a valid firearms license, the license is verified, and the dealer records a tracking authorization number. Prescribes firearms transfer reporting and record keeping requirements. Directs the Attorney General to establish and maintain a federal record of sale system. Prohibits: (1) transferring a firearm to any person other than a licensee, unless the transfer is processed through a licensed dealer in accordance with national instant criminal background check system requirements, with exceptions; (2) a licensed manufacturer or dealer from failing to comply with reporting and record keeping requirements of this Act; (3) failing to report the loss or theft of the firearm to the Attorney General within 72 hours; (4) failing to report to the Attorney General an address change within 60 days; or (5) keeping a loaded firearm, or an unloaded firearm and ammunition for the firearm, knowingly or recklessly disregarding the risk that a child is capable of gaining access, if a child uses the firearm and causes death or serious bodily injury. Prescribes criminal penalties for violations of firearms provisions covered by this Act. Directs the Attorney General to: (1) establish and maintain a firearm injury information clearinghouse; (2) conduct continuing studies and investigations of firearm-related deaths and injuries; and (3) collect and maintain current production and sales figures of each licensed manufacturer. Authorizes the Attorney General to certify state firearm licensing or record of sale systems.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2007
340B Program Improvement and Integrity Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to expand the drug discount program to allow participation as a covered entity by certain: (1) children's hospitals; (2) critical access hospitals; (3) entities providing maternal and child health services, community mental health services, or treatment services for substance abuse; (4) Medicare-dependent, small rural hospitals; (5) sole community hospitals; and (6) rural referral centers. Prohibits enrolled hospitals from obtaining covered outpatient drugs through a group purchasing arrangement. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish reasonable exceptions to such requirements, including for drugs unavailable through the program and to facilitate generic substitution when a generic covered drug is available at a lower price. Expands the program to include a drug used in connection with an inpatient or outpatient service by enrolled hospitals. (Currently, only outpatient drugs are covered under the program.) Requires hospitals enrolled in the 340B drug discount program to provide to each state a credit on the estimated annual costs to such hospital of single source and innovator multiple source drugs and noninnovator multiple source drugs provided to Medicaid recipients for inpatient use. Sets forth a formula for calculating the credit. Allows a hospital to avoid paying such credits under certain circumstances. Requires the Secretary to: (1) carry out activities to improve compliance by manufacturers and covered entities with the requirements of the drug discount program; and (2) establish an administrative process for resolving claims by covered entities and manufacturers of violations of such requirements. Requires manufacturers to offer each covered entity covered drugs for purchase at or below the applicable ceiling price if such a drug is made available to any other purchaser at any price.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2007
Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation of 2007 - Amends the International Financial Institutions Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury, within the Paris Club of Official Creditors, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), and other international financial institutions, to: (1) provide for debt cancellation of eligible low-income countries (as defined by this Act) to such institutions and to the United States; (2) provide for establishment of frameworks for creditor transparency and responsible lending; and (3) provide that such debt cancellation is not conditioned on harmful economic or environmental conditions. Directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the debt portfolios of previous governments in certain countries, including South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2007
United Nations Population Fund Women's Health and Dignity Act - Authorizes the President to make a voluntary contribution on a grant basis to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to: (1) provide and distribute equipment, medicine, supplies, and expertise to ensure safe childbirth and emergency obstetric care; (2) make contraceptives available for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; (3) reduce abortion and related maternal mortality; (4) reduce and eliminate coercive family planning practices; (5) reduce and eliminate sex selection; (6) prevent and treat cases of obstetric fistula; (7) promote abandonment of harmful traditional practices, including female genital cutting and child marriage; (8) reestablish maternal health services in areas where medical infrastructure has been destroyed by natural disasters; and (9) promote the access of unaccompanied women and other vulnerable people to vital services, including access to water, sanitation facilities, food, and health care, in emergency situations.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2007
Borderlands Conservation and Security Act of 2007 - Requires: (1) not later than May 30, 2008, development of a border protection strategy that supports U.S. border security needs in the manner that best protects units of the National Park System, National Forest System land, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) land, and other relevant land under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture; and (2) development of a border protection strategy for tribal lands along the U.S.-Mexico border. Requires provision of: (1) federal land resource training for Customs and Border Protection agents assigned to patrol protected land; and (2) cultural resource training for such agents assigned to patrol tribal lands. Requires: (1) the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to submit to the Secretary of Homeland Security an inventory of costs incurred related to illegal border activity and border enforcement activities, including the cost of identified items; and (2) the development of recommendations for a cost recovery mechanism related to such items. Establishes a program for: (1) providing financial assistance for projects to improve management of ecologically sensitive or listed species, improving wildlife habitat to aid in their management, and mitigating the impacts of border enforcement, human and drug smuggling, and unauthorized immigration on them; and (2) awarding grants to eligible organizations to promote conservation of such species. Establishes the Borderland Conservation Fund to carry out projects under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act - Identifies roadless areas within the National Forest System set forth in specified maps as National Forest Inventoried Roadless Areas, and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to manage such Areas to maintain their roadless character. Authorizes the Forest Service to modify such maps for the sole purpose of improving their accuracy or inclusiveness. Requires any substantial modification of those maps to be made through the national forest management planning process and documented in an environmental impact statement.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Protecting Our Children Comes First Act of 2007 - Amends the Missing Children's Assistance Act to reauthorize through FY2013, and revise requirements for uses of, the annual grant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to make available to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for programs, functions, and activities of the Veterans Health Administration for FY2008 130 percent of the amount obligated during FY2006. Adjusts the amount provided for fiscal years after FY2008 based on the number of enrolled veterans and the number of other persons eligible but not enrolled who are provided care, multiplied by the per capita baseline amount for FY2006, as increased by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index. Prohibits the availability of such funds for: (1) construction, acquisition, or alteration of veterans' medical facilities (other than for repairs provided for before the date of enactment of this Act); or (2) grants for the construction of state home facilities for the furnishing of veterans' domiciliary, nursing home, and hospital care.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
America's Better Classrooms Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for investment in qualified public school modernization bonds, defined to include: (1) bonds for the construction, rehabilitation, or repair of a public school facility or for the acquisition of land for such facility (qualified school construction bonds); and (2) bonds to finance certain academic programs below the postsecondary level in empowerment zones or enterprise communities (qualified zone academy bonds). Establishes a national limitation on the issuance of such bonds and provides for the allocation of bond amounts among the states according to a specified formula. Terminates the authority for issuance of such bonds after 2009. Amends the General Education Provisions Act to apply certain labor standards to public school construction projects financed by this Act. Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to require states to establish employment and training programs relating to the construction or reconstruction of public school facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Commends the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for working with leading scientists and researchers to organize the first NIH conference on hydrocephalus in September 2005 and the Inaugural Cerebellar Development: Bench to Bedside International Conference in November 2006. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Director of NIH should continue the current collaboration, with respect to Dandy-Walker syndrome, among the National Human Genome Research Institute, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the Office of Rare Diseases; (2) further research into such syndrome should be conducted and supported; (3) NIH should take the lead in sponsoring an annual workshop to increase awareness and set national research priorities for such syndrome and hydrocephalus; (4) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should form a coordinating committee for such syndrome and hydrocephalus research; and (5) public awareness and professional education regarding Dandy-Walker research should increase through partnerships between the federal government and patient advocacy organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2007
Same Day Voter Registration Act of 2007 - Amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require states to permit individuals to register to vote in an election for federal office on the date of the election.
![Official portrait of Rep. Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [D-IL-2]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/j000283_200.jpg)