United States · United States Congress · 23 February 2010
Supports the goals and ideals of National Engineers Week. Declares that the House of Representatives continues to work with the engineering community to ensure that the creativity and contributions made by engineers can be expressed through research, development, standardization, and innovation.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 2010
Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act - Amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act to provide that nothing in that Act shall modify, impair, or supersede the operation of any of the antitrust laws with respect to the business of health insurance. Applies prohibitions against using unfair methods of competition to the business of health insurance without regard to whether such business is carried on for profit.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 2010
Manufacturing Modernization and Diversification Act of 2010 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to certify special purpose vehicles (SPVs) created by a state to take part in a program to carry out collateral support and loan participation programs for the benefit of qualified manufacturers (manufacturers with less than $50 million in annual revenue and less than $50 million in assets). Outlines SPV application requirements. Allows, under the collateral support program, a qualified manufacturer that wishes to receive a bank loan but has insufficient collateral to ask the bank to seek collateral loan support from the SPV. Prohibits an SPV from providing more than $20 million in collateral support to any one manufacturer. Requires manufacturers to be charged a fee for such support. Allows, under the loan participation program, a qualified manufacturer that wishes to receive a bank loan but would not otherwise qualify for the loan to ask the bank to seek participation for such loan from the SPV. Prohibits an SPV from providing more than $20 million in participation support to any one manufacturer. Requires manufacturers to be charged a fee for such support. Requires: (1) periodic reports from such banks to participating SPVs; and (2) quarterly reports from the Secretary to Congress on participants in and impacts of the support and participation programs.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 2010
Recognizes the importance of the 2010 Census and encourages full participation. Encourages each community within Indian Country to name an elder to be the first member of that community to answer the Census.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 2010
International Violence Against Women Act of 2010 - Directs the Secretary of State to establish the Office for Global Women's Issues, to be headed by the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, to coordinate efforts regarding gender integration and empowerment of women in U.S. foreign policy. Establishes an Office for Women's Global Development (intended to replace the Office of Women in Development) in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to be headed by the Director of Women's Global Development, to coordinate USAID efforts to integrate gender in U.S. foreign assistance programs and policies. Directs the Secretary and the Administrator of USAID to develop a comprehensive five-year strategy for programs to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in countries with severe levels of such violence. Directs the Ambassador-at-Large and the Director to seek to coordinate efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls internationally into existing foreign assistance programs. Authorizes funds to be awarded to community-based women's nongovernmental organizations and community-based organizations in recipient countries to carry out such efforts. Authorizes the Secretary to provide guidance to the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to: (1) incorporate training on prevention and response into the basic training curricula of foreign military and police forces and judicial officials; and (2) ensure that U.S. assistance to units involved in regional or multilateral peacekeeping operations includes such training. Authorizes the Ambassador-at-Large to provide guidance to the Administrator and the Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict settings. Authorizes the Secretary to provide guidance on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls to the Secretary of DOD when U.S. military personnel, military contractors, and military observers are to be deployed in humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict settings. Authorizes the Secretary and the Secretary of DOD to: (1) provide training in prevention and response to violence against women and girls internationally to U.S. military forces; (2) establish mechanisms for reporting incidences of violence against civilian women and girls committed by U.S. military forces; and (3) establish related public outreach efforts. Urges the Secretary to make U.S. financial, material, human, and other resources available to assist U.N. efforts to: (1) implement training programs in prevention and response to violence against women and girls for peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel; (2) enhance the deployment of military and civilian women in peacekeeping missions; and (3) improve protection mechanisms at U.N. managed refugee and internally displaced persons camps. Urges the Secretary to identify and take emergency measures to respond to critical outbreaks of violence against women and girls in situations of armed conflict.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 2010
Keeping Faith With the Greatest Generation Military Retirees Act of 2010 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to waive the monthly part B premium (Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits for the Aged and Disabled) with respect to: (1) an individual who is entitled to military retired or retainer pay based upon service that began before December 7, 1956; and (2) the spouse, widow, or widower of such individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2010
Emergency Jobs Program and Assistance for Families Extension Act - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act to extend for one year the Emergency Contingency Fund for State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Programs. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make a grant from the Fund for each calendar quarter in FY2010 or FY2011 to each requesting state whose total expenditures for work support services in the quarter, whether under the state program funded under TANF or as qualified state expenditures, exceeds the state's total such expenditures in the corresponding quarter in its emergency fund base year. Requires a grant to equal 80% of such excess.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2010
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Conservation and Recreation Act - Designates specified lands and inland waters within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan as wilderness and as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System, to be known as the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Wilderness. Sets forth requirements for the administration of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Wilderness, including with respect to road maintenance, hunting, fish and wildlife, watercraft, and buffer zones.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2010
Veterans Pensions Protection Act of 2010 - Excludes from annual income, for purposes of eligibility for pensions for veterans and their surviving spouses and children, reimbursements resulting from: (1) any accident; (2) any theft or loss; (3) any casualty loss; (4) medical expenses resulting from any such accident, theft, or loss; and (5) pain and suffering (including insurance settlement payments and general damages awarded by a court) related to such accident, theft, or loss.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2010
Elizabeth A. Connelly Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Public Health Service Act, the Health Professions Education Partnership Act of 1968, the National Sickle Cell Anemia Act, Cooley's Anemia, Tay-Sachs, and Genetic Diseases Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000, and other federal enactments and regulations to change references to mental retardation to references to an intellectual disability.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2010
Requires a restroom in a public building to be a family restroom (e.g., specifically equipped to accommodate use by men and women for the purpose of changing the diaper of a child and aiding a child in the restroom) or otherwise to be equipped with baby changing facilities that the Administrator of General Services (GSA) determines are physically safe, sanitary, and appropriate. Makes this requirement inapplicable to a restroom that: (1) is not available for public use; or (2) contains clear and conspicuous signage indicating where a family restroom is located within the same section or corridor of such building.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2010
Student Nondiscrimination Act of 2010 - Prohibits public school students from being excluded from participating in, or subject to discrimination under, any federally-assisted educational program on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or that of their associates. Considers harassment to be a form of discrimination. Prohibits retaliation against anyone for opposing conduct they reasonably believe to be unlawful under this Act. Authorizes federal departments and agencies to enforce these prohibitions by cutting off the educational assistance of recipients found to be violating them. Allows an aggrieved individual to assert a violation of this Act in a judicial proceeding and recover reasonable attorney's fees should they prevail. Deems a state's receipt of federal educational assistance for a program to constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity for conduct prohibited under this Act regarding such program.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2010
Expresses: (1) condolences and sympathy for the horrific loss of life and the physical and psychological damage caused by the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti; and (2) solidarity with Haitians, Haitian-Americans, and all those who have lost loved ones or have otherwise been affected by the tragedy. Commends the assistance efforts of: (1) the people of the United States, including the Haitian-American community; and (2) the men and women of USNS Comfort and the U.S. Navy.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 2010
Prohibiting Foreign Influence in American Elections Act - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to apply the ban on contributions and expenditures by foreign nations in connection with a federal, state, or local election to domestic corporations with respect to which: (1) one or more foreign principals serves on the board of directors; (2) one or more foreign principals directly or indirectly has an ownership interest; or (3) one or more foreign principals directly or indirectly holds debt or other obligations. Applies the ban to domestic corporations that are subsidiaries of foreign corporations.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 2010
Wildlife and Zoological Veterinary Medicine Enhancement Act of 2010 - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to wildlife or veterinary institutions to create additional clinical and research positions for wildlife and zoological veterinarians, with preference to institutions that will create positions in areas of need, including wildlife disease research and training, disease surveillance, ecology and wildlife population management, and conservation and management of the health of endangered, threatened, and sensitive species. Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) the Wildlife and Zoological Veterinary Workforce Loan Repayment Program to repay educational loans of applicants who have received, in the previous ten years, a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine or a graduate degree in veterinary medicine after receiving such doctoral degree, or who are enrolled in an accredited school or college of veterinary medicine program that leads to such a degree, and who agree to serve for at least four consecutive years at a wildlife or veterinary institution as a wildlife or zoological veterinarian; and (2) the Wildlife and Zoological Veterinary Workforce Scholarship Program to award students enrolled in an accredited school or college of veterinary medicine scholarships for up to four years in exchange for entering a contract to serve for at least four consecutive years as wildlife or zoological veterinarians at wildlife or veterinary institutions beginning no later than four years after graduation. Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish a pilot program to award competitive grants to accredited schools and colleges of veterinary medicine to develop and provide new or existing curricula that specialize in wildlife or zoological veterinary medicine; and (2) award competitive grants to eligible wildlife or veterinary institutions to establish or expand training programs (i.e., externship, internship, fellowship, or residency programs) in veterinary medicine for wildlife or zoological populations, under which financial assistance will be provided to traineeship candidates (i.e., individuals who hold, or who are enrolled in a program leading to, a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine).
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 2010
Marianas Trench Marine National Monument Management Enhancement Act of 2010 or Bonitan Tasi - Directs the Secretaries of the Interior and of Commerce to treat the government of Guam as a cooperating agency and as substantially similar to the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, including in: (1) the implementation of management plans and management regulations affecting the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument; (2) the identification of indigenous persons for whom traditional access for cultural and religious uses within the National Monument is otherwise required; (3) carrying out a comprehensive program to assess and promote National Monument-related living and non-living natural resource exploration and research, tourism, and recreational and economic opportunities; and (4) the appointment of the members of the Mariana Monument Advisory Council. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) expand and enhance visitor services programs at Guam National Wildlife Refuge; and (2) initiate the comprehensive program. Permits, under the expansion and enhancement of such programs and the comprehensive program, the inclusion of activities for: (1) improvement of the conservation of coral reef ecosystems of Guam; and (2) construction or lease of a facility for a multipurpose center in Guam to facilitate marine and coastal fish and wildlife research and conservation, to facilitate environmental education, and to preserve specified natural and historical artifacts and information.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 2010
Amends the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to direct the Secretary of Education to reserve 1% to 5% of the amount reserved from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund for the State Incentive Grant program for a FY2010 grant to the Bureau of Indian Education of the Department of the Interior to carry out activities for Indian children that are consistent with that program. (That program makes incentive grants to states that make significant progress in addressing inequities in teacher distribution, establishing longitudinal education data systems, improving educational standards and assessments, and ensuring the improvement of failing schools.) Requires the Secretary to reserve 1% to 5% of the amount reserved from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund for the creation of an Innovation Fund for an award to the Bureau of Indian Education to carry out activities for Indian children that are consistent with the objectives of the Innovation Fund. (The Innovation Fund rewards certain educational entities that make significant progress in closing student achievement gaps.)
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 2010
Close All Routes and Prevent Asian Carp Today Act of 2010 - Requires the Secretary of the Army to take actions to ensure: (1) the immediate closure and ceasing of operation of the locks at the O'Brien Lock and Dam and the Chicago Controlling Works until a strategy relating to controlled lock operations is developed; (2) the installation of structures in the North Shore Channel and the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet Rivers to prevent the migration of bighead and silver carps into Lake Michigan; (3) the installation of interim barriers in the Chicago waterway system between the Des Plaines River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent bighead and silver carps from entering the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal during a flood event; (4) the operation of the Electrical Disbursal Barrier System at optimal operating power and the expedited completion of proposed barrier IIB of such system; (5) the comprehensive monitoring of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and all connected waterways for the presence and location of bighead and silver carps; (6) the eradication of any bighead or silver carps discovered in the Chicago waterway system; (7) the upgrading and making permanent of barrier I of the Electrical Disbursal Barrier System in a location and with the features and operations determined to be the most effective; (8) the implementation of measures recommended in the efficacy study authorized under the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 or provided in related interim reports; (9) the implementation of emergency measures to prevent bighead and silver carps from dispersing into the Great Lakes; and (10) the acquisition of real estate necessary for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Electrical Disbursal Barrier System. Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on strategies for addressing any effects with respect to commerce and flood control resulting from such actions.
United States · United States Congress · 12 January 2010
Wall Street Bonus Tax Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) impose a tax on current or former employees of recipients of financial assistance under the Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP) for 50% of any bonus exceeding $50,000 paid to them during 2010; and (2) establish in the Treasury the Small Business Growth Fund to hold revenues from such tax. Requires the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish and carry out a program to make loans directly to small business concerns. Makes amounts from such Fund available to carry out such program.
United States · United States Congress · 19 December 2009
Expresses support for the designation of National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Recognizes the importance of preventing childhood obesity and decreasing its prevalence in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2009
Department of the Interior Tribal Self-Governance Act of 2009 - Amends the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to revise tribal self-governance requirements. Authorizes the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, through the Director of the Office of Self-Governance, to select up to 50 new Indian tribes per year from those eligible to participate in self-governance.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2009
Dr. Rita Hocog Inos Fellowship Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Dr. Rita Hocog Inos Fellowship Program to award local government and federal government fellowships to qualified students from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Defines a "qualified student" as a student who is a U.S. citizen, domiciled in that Commonwealth, and enrolled in a degree or certificate program at an institution of higher education. Allows a fellow to receive either a specified stipend or academic credit toward graduation for participating in an internship.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2009
Children's Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009 - Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) promote the use of salad or fruit and vegetable bars in schools participating in the school lunch program; (2) provide training and technical assistance to states and schools on how to do so; and (3) provide grants to states for a one-time payment to schools for the cost of setting up and operating salad or fruit and vegetable bars. Directs the Secretary to identify and remove barriers to the equitable purchase of fruits and vegetables within the Secretary's procurement and distribution systems. Authorizes the Secretary to use administrative funds under the Act's fresh fruit and vegetable program to provide program participants with technical assistance and national and regional training conferences that emphasize best practices. Directs the Secretary, within two years of receiving the findings of the National Academy of Sciences' review of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program Meal Patterns and Nutrient Standards, to promulgate a final rule updating the nutrition standards and meal requirements for school meal programs so they are consistent with such findings. Requires the Secretary to allocate funds to states, in proportion to each state's administrative expense allocation under the school lunch and breakfast programs, so they can award competitive grants to school food authorities for the equipment needed to prepare, process, and store food for the school lunch program. Directs the Secretary to provide competitive matching grants and technical assistance to schools and nonprofit entities to carry out farm-to-school programs that improve the access of school lunch and breakfast program participants to local foods.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2009
Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act - States that it is U.S. policy that all nonambulatory cattle in interstate and foreign commerce be immediately and humanely euthanized when such cattle become nonambulatory. Amends the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to promulgate regulations providing for the humane treatment, handling, and disposition of nonambulatory cattle by a covered entity, including a requirement that nonambulatory cattle be humanely euthanized. Requires an entity to: (1) humanely euthanize nonambulatory cattle (while not limiting the Secretary's ability to test nonambulatory cattle for disease, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy); and (2) not move nonambulatory cattle while such cattle is conscious, and ensure that such cattle remains unconscious until death. Prohibits an inspector at an establishment covered by the Federal Meat Inspection Act to pass nonambulatory cattle, carcass, or carcass parts through inspection. Requires an inspector or other employee at such establishment to label such material as "inspected and condemned."
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2009
Amends the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act to reduce the matching funds requirement for participants in the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program (providing services to small and mid-sized manufacturers) from not less than 50% of the costs incurred for the first three years and an increasing share for each of the last three years to no more than 50% of the costs incurred by a participating Regional Center for the Transfer of Manufacturing Technology. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish criteria to determine a Center's cost share.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2009
Minority Diabetes Initiative Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to public and nonprofit private health care providers to provide treatment for diabetes in minority communities. Requires the Secretary to ensure that such grants cover a variety of diabetes-related health care services, including routine care for diabetic patients, public education on diabetes prevention and control, eye care, foot care, and treatment for kidney disease and other complications of diabetes.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2009
Access to Nutritious Meals for Young Children Act of 2009 - Amends the the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to increase reimbursement rates for free, reduced price, and paid meals and snacks served under the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) at nonresidential child care centers and family or group day care homes. Allows such providers to be reimbursed for the service of three meals and a snack. (Currently, reimbursement is provided for two meals and a snack.) Lowers the percentage of children or school children in an area that must be eligible for free or reduced price meals under the school lunch or breakfast programs to make family or group day care homes in the area eligible for higher CACFP reimbursement rates as tier I homes. Increases the maximum monthly administrative payment per home provided to sponsors of family or group day care homes. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to improve the ability of the CACFP to reach low-income families by streamlining program and paperwork requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2009
Soledad Canyon High Desert, California Public Lands Conservation and Management Act of 2009 - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) cancel Bureau of Land Management (BLM) mineral contracts CA-20139 and CA-22901; and (2) withdraw the areas that were subject to such contracts from further mineral entry under all mineral leasing and sales authorities available to the Secretary. Requires the holder of such contracts to receive specified compensation for the cancellation. Deems: (1) any negotiated agreement between the Secretary and the contract holder as to the amount of compensation to be a compromise settlement of imminent litigation; and (2) judgment by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to be final. Directs the Secretary to offer for sale by competitive bidding specified lands identified for disposition near Victorville, California, and provides for the acquisition of environmentally sensitive land and interests with the proceeds of such sale.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 2009
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the December 31, 2009, sunset for reimbursement for all Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits for Aged and Disabled) services furnished by certain Indian hospitals and clinics. Makes such reimbursement requirement permanent.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 2009
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the guidelines of the United States Preventive Services Task Force would not prohibit an insurer from providing coverage for mammography services in addition to those recommended by the Task Force and should not be used by insurers to deny coverage for services that are not recommended on a routine basis; and (2) the National Cancer Institute should continue to invest and provide leadership regarding research to develop more effective breast cancer screening tools and strategies.
United States · United States Congress · 11 December 2009
New Deal for a New Economy Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, from unobligated funds under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), to make specified sums available for FY2010-FY2012 to the Secretary of Education, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Secretaries of Commerce, Labor, the Interior, and Agriculture. Requires: (1) the Secretary of Education to allocate, and each eligible local educational agency in the state to receive, funds in proportion to amounts received under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; and (2) a state to make and distribute the amount allocated to it within 90 days of receipt. Authorizes the use of funds to hire new employees, rehire employees laid off during the year prior to enactment, continue to employ employees scheduled to be laid off as a result of reduced budgets, and prevent furloughs scheduled as a result of reduced budgets. Directs: (1) the Attorney General to award grants to state, local, or tribal law enforcement agencies through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program to hire, rehire, continue to employ, and prevent furloughs of police officers; (2) the Secretary of DHS, through the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration, to award grants through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program to hire, rehire, continue to employ, and prevent furloughs of firefighters; (3) the Secretary of Commerce to award grants to states, cities or other political subdivisions or a consortium of such subdivisions, or Indian tribes, to assist in maintaining basic government services; and (4) the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to fund specific public works projects in national parks and through the National Forest Service, respectively. Establishes in the Department of Labor a New Economy Grant Program, to provide grants for the creation of new jobs on specific public works projects. Limits funding under this Act's Departments of Labor, the Interior, and Agriculture programs to individuals who meet specified criteria. Bars displacement of existing employees. Sets forth requirements regarding the use of funds, the maximum employment period, wages, reporting, and expedited administration.
United States · United States Congress · 11 December 2009
Mechanical Insulation Installation Incentive Act of 2009 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax deduction for a specified percentage of the cost, including labor costs, of installing and maintaining mechanical insulation property. Defines "mechanical insulation property" as insulation materials, facings, and accessory products placed in service in connection with a mechanical system which is utilized for thermal, acoustical, and personnel safety requirements for mechanical piping and equipment, hot and cold applications, and heating, venting and air conditioning applications which can be used in a variety of facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 10 December 2009
Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training Practices Act or BEST Practices Act - Requires the Secretary of Defense (DOD), no later than October 1, 2013, to only use human-based training methods for training members of the Armed Forces in the treatment of combat trauma injuries and the management of chemical and biological casualties. Prohibits the use of animals in such training.
United States · United States Congress · 10 December 2009
Ensuring All Students Year-round (EASY) Access to Meals and Snacks Act - Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to reimburse private nonprofit and local government service institutions (other than public schools) under the school lunch program for up to one meal and one snack per child each day during after-school hours, weekends, and school holidays during the regular school calendar. (Currently, such institutions are reimbursed for meals and snacks served to children over the summer months or to children who are on vacation under a continuous school calendar.)
United States · United States Congress · 10 December 2009
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the rate of the excise tax on beer produced within or imported into the United States for brewers who produce not more than 6 million barrels of beer a year.
United States · United States Congress · 9 December 2009
Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act - Directs the Secretary of Education (Secretary) to establish minimum standards that: (1) prohibit elementary and secondary school personnel from managing any student by using any mechanical or chemical restraint, physical restraint or escort that restricts breathing, or aversive behavioral intervention that compromises student health and safety; (2) prohibit such personnel from using physical restraint or seclusion, unless such measures are required to eliminate an imminent danger of physical injury to the student or others and certain precautions are taken; (3) require states and local educational agencies (LEAs) to ensure that a sufficient number of school personnel receive state-approved training and certification in first aid and certain safe and effective student management techniques; (4) prohibit physical restraint or seclusion from being written into a student's education plan, individual safety plan, behavioral plan, or individual education program as a planned intervention; and (5) require schools to establish procedures to notify parents in a timely manner if physical restraint or seclusion is imposed on their child. Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to states and, through them, competitive subgrants to LEAs to: (1) establish, implement, and enforce policies and procedures to meet such standards; (2) improve their capacity to collect and analyze data related to physical restraint and seclusion; and (3) implement school-wide positive behavior supports. Directs the Secretary to conduct a national assessment of this Act's effectiveness. Gives Protection and Advocacy Systems the authority provided under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 to investigate, monitor, and enforce this Act's protections for students. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish standards for Head Start agencies that are consistent with the minimum standards for the management of elementary and secondary school students. Authorizes the Secretary to allocate funds to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to assist Head Start agencies in establishing, implementing, and enforcing policies and procedures to meet such standards.
United States · United States Congress · 9 December 2009
Stop the Automatic Pay Raise for Members of Congress in Fiscal Year 2011 Act - Declares that no automatic pay adjustment shall be considered to have taken effect in FY2011 in the rates of basic pay for Members of Congress under the General Schedule (thus eliminating the pay adjustment for Members for such fiscal year).
United States · United States Congress · 9 December 2009
Congratulates the Great Lakes Bay Regional Convention and Visitors Bureaus for securing the 2012 Region II United States Youth Soccer Association tournament.
United States · United States Congress · 8 December 2009
Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Act of 2009 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award a five-year grant to an experienced nonprofit organization to establish a National Technical Assistance and Training Center for Social and Emotional Learning that provides training and technical assistance to states, local educational agencies (LEAs), and community-based organizations to identify, promote, and support evidence-based social and emotional learning standards and programming in elementary and secondary schools. Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive five-year grants to states and LEAs to work with the Center in developing and implementing such standards and programming in elementary and secondary schools. Gives grant priority to applicants that have a plan for sustaining the program beyond the grant period and serve schools that have high numbers or percentages of: (1) low-income students; and (2) students in schools identified as needing improvement, corrective action, or restructuring under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Directs the Secretary to conduct an independent evaluation of the activities funded by such grants to states and LEAs. Amends the ESEA to include: (1) programming that meets the social and emotional needs of students as part of the School Dropout Prevention program and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program; and (2) teacher and principal training in practices that address those needs as part of the Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund program.
United States · United States Congress · 3 December 2009
Authorizes the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to establish a commemorative work on federal land in the District of Columbia to commemorate the formation of the Peace Corps and to honor the ideals upon which it was founded. Prohibits the use of federal funds to pay any expense to establish the commemorative work.
United States · United States Congress · 2 December 2009
Helping Unemployed Workers Act - Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 with respect to the state-established individual emergency unemployment compensation account (EUCA). Extends the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program through March 31, 2011. Amends the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act to extend through April 1, 2011: (1) federal-state agreements increasing regular unemployment compensation payments to individuals; and (2) requirements that federal payments to states cover 100% of EUC. Requires the Secretary of Labor to establish a program under which the Secretary shall make payments to any state unemployment trust fund (including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) to be used for the payment of unemployment compensation if the Secretary approves an application to receive 100% reimbursement for up to 26 weeks for a short-time compensation program. Bars payments to a state for benefits paid to an individual who is employed by an employer: (1) whose workforce during the three months preceding the date of the submission of the employer's short-time compensation plan has been reduced by temporary layoffs of more than 20%; (2) on a seasonal, temporary, or intermittent basis; or (3) engaged in a labor dispute.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 2009
FVPSA Reauthorization Act of 2009 - Revises requirements for and reauthorizes the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act at increased levels for FY2010-FY2014. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish grant programs for: (1) specialized services for abused parents and their children; (2) domestic violence prevention enhancement and leadership through alliances; and (3) enhancement of culturally competent services for adult and youth victims of domestic violence from racial and ethnic minority groups.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 2009
Alzheimer's Treatment and Caregiver Support Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to public and nonprofit private health care providers to expand treatment services for patients with Alzheimer's disease and training and support services for families and caregivers of such patients.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 2009
Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2009 - Provides that if a veteran claimant submits evidence in support of a case for which a substantive appeal has been filed to the Board of Veterans' Appeals, such evidence shall be submitted directly to the Board and not to a regional office of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), unless the claimant requests that the evidence first be reviewed by the regional office. Empowers the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to affirm, modify, reverse, remand, or vacate and remand a decision of the Board after deciding all relevant assignments of error raised on appeal. Provides that whenever the Court reverses a decision on the merits of a particular claim and orders an award of benefits, the Court need not decide any additional assignments of error relating to that claim. Establishes the Veterans Judicial Review Commission to evaluate and make specific decisions to improve the administrative and judicial appellate review processes of veterans' and survivors' benefits determinations.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 2009
Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act of 2009 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to: (1) require states receiving Edward Byrne Memorial justice assistance grants to certify the implementation of a policy for requiring all rape kits (DNA evidence relating to sexual assault) to be sent to crime laboratories for forensic analysis: (2) adjust the amount of such grants based upon compliance and noncompliance with rape kit backlog reduction requirements under this Act; (3) eliminate rape kit repayment requirements for sexual assault victims; and (4) provide for sexual assault forensic medical personnel examiners to collect and preserve evidence, provide expert testimony, and provide treatment of trauma relating to sexual assault. Amends the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to: (1) authorize funding to eliminate rape kit backlogs and ensure that DNA analyses of samples from rape kits are carried out in a timely manner; and (2) require states and local governments to adopt performance measures for reducing rape kit backlogs. Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the availability of sexual assault nurse examiners and trained examiners at all Indian Health Service facilities operated under contracts.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 2009
Conflict Minerals Trade Act - States that it is U.S. policy to promote peace in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo by supporting efforts of the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, other governments in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, and the international community to: (1) stop commercial activities involving the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that contribute to armed groups and human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and (2) develop stronger governance and economic institutions to improve transparency in the cross-border trade of natural resources in order to reduce exploitation by armed groups and promote local and regional development. Directs the Secretary of State to: (1) produce a Congo Conflict Minerals Map of mineral-rich zones and areas under the control of armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and (2) submit a related report to the appropriate congressional committees. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce to provide guidance to commercial entities seeking to exercise due diligence to ensure that conflict minerals used in their products do not finance armed conflict, result in labor or human rights violations, or damage the environment. Directs the Secretary to: (1) submit a strategy to the appropriate congressional committees addressing linkages between human rights abuses, armed groups, and the mining of conflict minerals; (2) ensure that the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices relating to the Democratic Republic of the Congo or countries that share a border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo include a description of instances where the extraction and cross-border trade in conflict minerals has negatively affected human rights conditions; and (3) include in the annual report to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Investment Committee a description of efforts to ensure that enterprises under U.S. jurisdiction are exercising diligence to ensure that their purchases of minerals or metals are not originating from mines and trading routes that are used to finance armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) should expand programs to assist communities in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo whose livelihoods depend on the mineral trade. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to annually publish in the Federal Register a list of articles specified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States that should be identified as likely containing conflict minerals. Requires importers of articles specified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States that are included on the potential conflict goods list to certify on the importer's Customs declaration that such articles contain conflict minerals or are conflict mineral free. Sets forth: (1) penalties relating to the introduction of goods that contain conflict minerals into the United States; and (2) events that must prior to the expiration of this Act's provisions.