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![Official portrait of Rep. Larson, John B. [D-CT-1]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/l000557_200.jpg)
United States · Official source
4,617 records where Rep. Larson, John B. [D-CT-1] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 2017
National Health Service Corps Strengthening Act of 2017 This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to extend through FY2022 and make appropriations for enhanced funding for the National Health Service Corps.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2017
We the People Democracy Reform Act of 2017 This bill amends various provisions related to elections, including by: expanding the ban on election contributions by foreign nationals to include corporations subject to specified levels of ownership or control by foreign nationals or governments; expanding and otherwise revising various disclosure and reporting requirements related to campaign communications; imposing penalties for willfully violating limits related to campaign contributions for coordinated expenditures; revising notification requirements for campaign contributions of $1,000 or more from any contributor during a calendar year; replacing the Federal Election Commission with the Federal Election Administration, which shall enforce specified election-related laws and formulate related policies; imposing restrictions on covered financial-services regulators, such as by prohibiting them from using their position to influence any matter that provides a direct and substantial pecuniary benefit to certain former employers or clients; requiring the President and Vice President to disclose financial interests, including tax returns, to Congress and the Office of Government Ethics; modifying the system for the public financing of presidential elections, including by providing for 600% matching funds for smaller campaign contributions and requiring a candidate who accepts public financing to agree not to accept certain bundled contributions; requiring each state to conduct redistricting through a plan developed by an independent commission or, if such a commission plan is not enacted, a plan developed and enacted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; and directing states to permit same-day voter registration.
United States · United States Congress · 21 September 2017
Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma Working Family Tax Relief Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain individuals affected by Hurricanes Harvey or Irma to elect to use earned income from the preceding year for the purpose of determining earned income for the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit. The bill applies to an individual: (1) whose principal place of abode on specified dates was located in the Hurricane Harvey disaster area or the Hurricane Irma disaster area, (2) who was displaced from the place of abode due to the disaster, and (3) who performed substantially all employment services in the disaster area and was so employed on the specified date. The Department of the Treasury must pay to each U.S. possession with a tax system that mirrors federal tax law (mirror code tax system) amounts equal to the loss to the possession due to this bill. For U.S. possessions that do not have a mirror code tax system, Treasury must pay an amount equal to the aggregate benefits that would have been provided to residents of the possession due to this bill if a mirror code tax system had been in effect.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2017
Child Care for Working Families Act This bill provides additional grant funding for child care and preschool programs. It also modifies various requirements for the programs, including policies regarding compensation and training for employees.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2017
Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage Family Caregivers Act of 2017 or the RAISE Family Caregivers Act This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and make publicly available a National Family Caregiving Strategy that identifies recommended actions for recognizing and supporting family caregivers in a manner that reflects their diverse needs. HHS shall convene a Family Caregiving Advisory Council to advise the department on recognizing and supporting family caregivers. The council shall terminate after five years.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2017
Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence Act of 2017 This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to extend through FY2022 and make appropriations for enhanced funding for the community health centers program.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2017
Medicare Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2017 This bill makes a series of changes relating to health insurance options and costs. Among other things, the bill establishes a Medicare buy-in option for individuals aged 50 to 64, requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to negotiate drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries, and establishes an individual market reinsurance fund.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 2017
This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to prohibit the application of Medicare competitive acquisition rates to complex, rehabilitative, manual wheelchairs and accessories. (A competitive bidding program has replaced the use of established fee schedule amounts to determine payments under Medicare for certain durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 September 2017
Addiction Treatment Access Improvement Act of 2017 This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to revise the qualifications required for a practitioner to administer, dispense, or prescribe narcotic drugs for maintenance or detoxification treatment in an office-based opioid treatment program. It increases the maximum patient limit for a qualifying practitioner who meets certain requirements. The maximum patient limit is the maximum number of patients a qualifying practitioner can treat at one time. The bill expands qualifying practitioners to include additional nonphysician practitioners: clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse midwives. It makes permanent the authorization for certain nonphysician practitioners to become qualifying practitioners.
United States · United States Congress · 6 September 2017
ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2017 This bill amends the AMERICA Competes Act to declare that the following categories of information collected by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) from recipients of ARPA-E financial assistance awards are considered privileged and confidential and not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act: plans for the commercialization of technologies that have been developed under the award, investments provided to an awardee from third parties, additional financial support that the awardee plans to invest or has invested into the technology developed under the award or that the awardee is seeking from third parties, and revenue from the licensing or sale of new products or services resulting from the research that was conducted under the award. The bill reauthorizes the ARPA-E through FY2022.
United States · United States Congress · 5 September 2017
National Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide tax relief for federally-declared disasters in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. For individuals and businesses located in or investing in the affected areas, the bill allows: expensing of certain disaster expenses, increased deductions for charitable contributions for disaster relief, modifications to rules regarding the deduction of losses attributable to disasters, waivers of certain mortgage revenue bond requirements, an extension of the additional depreciation allowance for business property (bonus depreciation), an increased new markets tax credit limitation, penalty-free distributions from retirement plans, an additional tax exemption for individuals who are displaced, an exclusion from gross income for certain cancellations of indebtedness, a modified rule for determining the earned income of individuals for the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, an increased rehabilitation tax credit for buildings, additional advance refundings of certain tax-exempt bonds, disaster area recovery bonds, additional low-income housing tax credit allocations, payments of disaster assistance to tax-exempt mutual ditch or irrigation companies without affecting their tax-exempt status, an exclusion from gross income for disaster mitigation payments received from state and local governments, a deduction for payments to a tax-exempt natural disaster fund, a five-year replacement period for property for purposes of the exclusion of gain from an involuntary conversion, a tax credit for a portion of the wages paid to employees, and an enhanced deduction for medical expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 18 August 2017
Censures and condemns President Trump for his inadequate response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017, for his failure to condemn the White supremacist groups responsible for actions of domestic terrorism, for asserting that "both sides" were to blame and excusing the violent behavior of participants in the Unite the Right rally, and for employing people with ties to White supremacist movements in the White House. Urges President Trump to fire all White House advisors who have urged him to cater to the White supremacist movement.
United States · United States Congress · 15 August 2017
Special Counsel Independence Protection Act This bill sets forth requirements and limitations with respect to the removal from office of a special counsel appointed by the Attorney General, or of another official appointed by the Attorney General who exercises a similar degree of independence from the Department of Justice (DOJ) chain of command. Specifically, a special counsel or other appointed individual may be removed only if: (1) the Attorney General files an action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and files a contemporaneous notice of the action with Congress; and (2) the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issues an order finding misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, including violation of DOJ policies.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2017
Free File Permanence Act of 2017 This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to continue to operate the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Free File Program. The program must work with state government agencies to enhance and expand the use of the program, while continuing to: provide free commercial-type online individual income tax preparation and electronic filing services to the lowest 70% of taxpayers by income; provide all taxpayers (regardless of income) with a basic, online electronic fillable forms utility; and work with the private sector to provide the free tax preparation and electronic filing services. Treasury must work with the private sector through the program to identify and implement innovative new program features to improve and simplify the taxpayer's experience with completing and filing individual income tax returns. The IRS and members of the tax software and electronic industry involved in the program must support and promote improvements within the program by mutually testing, piloting, and offering innovative solutions to: simplify the tax system, reduce compliance and reporting burdens, increase tax return accuracy through financial data authentication, strengthen the tax system against fraud through cybersecurity collaboration, avoid duplication, and maximize the use of electronic technology. The Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee must report annually to Congress regarding the program, including website statistics, cybersecurity standards, demographic information, marketing and education efforts, simplifications and innovations, and state and local participation.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
American Hope Act of 2017 This bill amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to allow a state to extend higher-education benefits to state residents regardless of whether they are lawfully present in the United States. In addition, the bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to cancel the removal, and adjust the status, of certain residents who entered the United States as children prior to 2017. An individual whose status has been so adjusted shall be considered to have obtained conditional permanent-resident status, valid for a period of eight years and subject to termination on the basis of specified deportable conduct. In order for an individual's conditional status to become permanent, the individual must timely file with DHS a petition indicating, among other specified information, that the individual has maintained conditional permanent-resident status for at least three years. Any period of time in which the individual was granted deferred action pursuant to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy shall count toward this three-year period. Information furnished by an individual in such a petition may not be used by an officer or employee of the United States to initiate removal proceedings. The bill also: (1) allows DHS to establish a competitive grant program for the provision of nonprofit assistance to eligible applicants for conditional permanent-resident status; (2) establishes the Presidential Award for Business Leadership in Promoting American Citizenship; (3) allows the Department of Education to develop an open-source, electronic English-learning program; (4) specifies requirements related to federal higher-education assistance for individuals with conditional permanent-resident status; and (5) requires the Government Accountability Office to report on specified data related to the bill.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Home Visiting Works Act of 2017 This bill reauthorizes through FY2022 the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration. In addition, the bill increases, from 3% to 6%, the percentage of program funds set aside for Indian tribes and tribal organizations. Finally, the bill amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to exempt the program from sequestration.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Background Check Completion Act of 2017 This bill amends the federal criminal code to prohibit a licensed gun dealer from transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person prior to completion of a background check. (Current law permits a licensed gun dealer to transfer a firearm to an unlicensed person if a submitted background check remains incomplete after three business days.)
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Make Identifiable Criminal Rounds Obvious Act or the MICRO Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to require that certain semiautomatic pistols manufactured, imported, or sold by federal firearms licensees be capable of microstamping ammunition. A pistol is capable of microstamping if it can copy certain characters identifying the make, model, and serial number of the firearm onto the cartridge case of the ammunition. This rule only applies to semiautomatic pistols manufactured or imported into the United States after the date of enactment of this bill. The bill establishes fines for violation of the microstamping requirement. It shall also be unlawful to alter the microstamping capability of a firearm that has been transported in interstate or foreign commerce. Violators of this prohibition are subject to fines and suspension or revocation of any firearms license.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Care Corps Demonstration Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to implement a local care corps program through which eligible volunteers perform care services for individuals with a disability or individuals who have difficulty with self-care or living independently.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2017
Dream Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to cancel removal and grant lawful permanent resident status on a conditional basis to an alien who is inadmissible or deportable or is in temporary protected status who: (1) has been continuously physically present in the United States for four years preceding this bill's enactment; (2) was younger than 18 years of age on the initial date of U.S. entry; (3) is not inadmissible on criminal, security, terrorism, or other grounds; (4) has not participated in persecution; (5) has not been convicted of specified federal or state offenses; and (6) has fulfilled specified educational requirements. DHS shall cancel the removal of, and adjust to the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence on a conditional basis, an alien who was granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status unless the alien has engaged in conduct that would make the alien ineligible for DACA. DHS may not: (1) grant conditional permanent resident status without the submission of biometric and background data, and completion of background and medical checks; and (2) disclose or use information provided in applications filed under this bill or in DACA requests for immigration enforcement purposes. The bill prescribes the conditions under which DHS: (1) may terminate a person's conditional permanent resident status, and (2) shall adjust a person's conditional status to permanent resident status. The bill: (1) sets forth documentation requirements for establishing DACA eligibility, and (2) repeals the denial of an unlawful alien's eligibility for higher education benefits based on state residence.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2017
Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education Extension Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to extend and expand funding through FY2020 for graduate medical education programs at teaching centers (which train medical residents in primary care specialties). The bill allows funds to be used for maintaining, expanding, and establishing graduate medical residency programs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids Act or the ACE Kids Act This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to establish a state Medicaid option to provide for medical assistance with respect to coordinated care provided through a health home (i.e., a designated provider or team of health-care professionals) for children with medically complex conditions. A state shall make payments for such health-home services regardless of whether they are provided through a fee-for-service or managed-care system. For an initial period of eight fiscal-year quarters, the federal matching rate applicable to such payments shall be increased by 20 percentage points, not to exceed 90%. A state that exercises this option shall specify its methodology for determining payment and evaluating quality of care, in accordance with requirements established by the bill. In addition, the state must meet specified requirements regarding hospital referrals, out-of-state providers, education and outreach, data collection, and reporting. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must issue guidance on best practices for using out-of-state providers to provide care to children with medically complex conditions. The Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Payment and Access Commission must report to Congress and to the Department of Health and Human Services on specified matters related to children with medically complex conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2017 This bill amends the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 to impose specified sanctions on: (1) foreign persons that knowingly assist in or provide support for fund raising or recruitment activities for Hizballah; (2) agencies of foreign governments that provide Hizballah with financial support, arms, or other assistance (export license requirements are included in addition to sanctions if such government is a state sponsor of terrorism); and (3) Hizballah, including by reason of Hizballah's significant transnational criminal activities. The bill expresses the sense of Congress that sanctions should be placed on financial institutions that serve Lebanese government officials affiliated with Hizballah. The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 is amended to sanction foreign financial institutions that facilitate efforts by Iran or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to aid Hizballah. The bill prescribes reporting requirements or reporting modifications with respect to: (1) foreign persons that knowingly assist or provide significant financial, material, or technological support for foreign persons assisting Hizballah; (2) financial institutions that are owned or organized under the laws of state sponsors of terrorism; (3) Hizballah's racketeering activities; (4) combating illicit tobacco trafficking networks used by Hizballah and other foreign terrorist organizations to finance their operations; (5) the estimated net worth of senior Hizballah officials and how these funds were acquired and used; and (6) countries that support Hizballah or in which Hizballah maintains important logistics networks or financial networks and steps such countries are taking to disrupt such networks.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Strengthening Taxpayer Rights Act of 2017 This bill modifies requirements for the preparation of tax returns and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) procedures for the collection of taxes. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to: apply tax preparer penalties for the understatement of a taxpayer's liability and other violations to other submissions to the IRS, in addition to tax returns or refund claims; increase tax preparer penalties for gross misconduct and other violations; require identifying numbers to be included for all submissions to the IRS by tax return preparers (limited to tax returns or refund claims under current law); limit the disclosure of taxpayer information to the express purpose for which the taxpayer granted consent; provide for de novo review by the Tax Court of IRS innocent spouse relief determinations; specify that the determination of whether or not a debt has been discharged may not be based solely on a nonpayment period; and restrict the authority of the IRS to use a levy after the collection period has expired. The bill amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to reduce from seven years to two years the period that a tax lien may appear on a taxpayer's credit report.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2017
Wounded Officers Recovery Act of 2017 This bill authorizes the Capitol Police Board to make payments from the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund to employees of the U.S. Capitol Police who have sustained serious line-of-duty injuries. The board is required to issue specific regulations governing the fund's use for making such payments. These regulations shall ensure that the payments are in addition to, and do not otherwise affect, other forms of compensation payable to the employee, including worker's compensation benefits. The bill requires amounts received by the board in response to the shooting incident at the practice for the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity on June 14, 2017, to be deposited into the fund.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2017
President John F. Kennedy Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue not more than 500,000 $1 silver coins in commemoration of President John F. Kennedy. The bill requires all sales of such coins to include a surcharge of $10 per coin, which shall be paid by Treasury to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation to support the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 2017
Marketplace Certainty Act This bill expands eligibility for additional cost-sharing reductions that apply to certain enrollees of qualified health plans.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 2017
Teachers and Parents at the Table Act This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to establish: (1) a Teacher Advisory Committee to monitor the effects of the ESEA in classrooms, and (2) a Parents and Families Advisory Committee to monitor the effects of the ESEA on children and families and to review and analyze the implementation of various family engagement activities.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Do No Harm Act This bill makes the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) inapplicable to federal laws (or implementations of laws) that: protect against discrimination or the promotion of equal opportunity, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, Executive Order 11246 (concerning equal employment opportunity), the Violence Against Women Act, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) rules entitled "Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity"; require employers to provide wages, other compensation, or benefits, including leave; protect collective activity in the workplace; protect against child labor, abuse, or exploitation; or provide for access to, information about, referrals for, provision of, or coverage for, any health care item or service. Under current law, RFRA prohibits the government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest when using the least restrictive means. The bill makes RFRA inapplicable to: (1) terms requiring goods, services, functions, or activities to be performed or provided to beneficiaries of government contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or awards; or (2) denials of a person's full and equal enjoyment of a government-provided good, service, benefit, facility, privilege, advantage, or accommodation. To assert a RFRA claim or defense in a judicial proceeding, the government must be a party to the proceeding.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Refund Equality Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt certain same-sex couples who were legally married under state law from the three-year time limitation for filing: (1) a claim for a credit or refund of an overpayment of any tax, or (2) an election to file jointly after having filed separate returns. Certain legally married same-sex couples who were first treated as married for federal tax purposes by the application of the holdings of Revenue Ruling 2013-17 may file amended returns for previous years until the due date for the return for the year in which this bill is enacted. The bill applies only to amended returns and claims for a credit or refund that relate to a change in the marital status of the spouses. (In Revenue Ruling 2013-17, the Internal Revenue Service adopted a general rule recognizing, for federal tax purposes, the validity of a same-sex marriage that was valid in the state where it was entered into, regardless of the married couple's place of domicile.)
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2017
Medicare Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit Act of 2017 This bill provides for Medicare coverage of dental, vision, and hearing care. With respect to such care, the bill establishes special payment rules, limitations, and coinsurance requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2017
America's Call To Improve Opportunities Now for National Service Act or the ACTION for National Service Act This bill amends the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to reestablish the Corporation for National and Community Service as an independent executive agency called the National and Community Service Administration. An individual who successfully completes a term of full-time national service shall be entitled to a national service educational award equal to twice the amount of tuition for the institution of higher education where the individual is enrolled, not to exceed twice the average in-state tuition. Current law limits the award's value to the maximum amount of a Federal Pell Grant that an individual is eligible to receive in the aggregate. Within the administration, the bill establishes an interagency working group to evaluate specified issues related to: (1) eligibility for tuition and student loan repayment assistance with regard to participation in certain national or volunteer service programs, (2) the advisability of granting federal hiring preference to certain volunteer program participants, and (3) methods for increasing the participation of seniors in national service programs. The National Service Foundation, a nonprofit corporation established by the bill, shall accept and administer gifts made in connection with the administration. The bill expresses support for the authorization of appropriations sufficient to provide, within 10 years, volunteer service opportunities for at least 1 million volunteers in full-time national service annually. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude AmeriCorps educational awards from gross income.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2017
Expresses support for: (1) equal rights and protections for all people, regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity; and (2) the designation of LGBT Equality Day on June 26 to commemorate Supreme Court decisions handed down on that day in 2003, 2013, and 2015. Acknowledges the need for further legislation to ensure that people in the United States are free from all forms of discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2017
Saving America's Pollinators Act of 2017 This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend the registration of members of the nitro group of neonicotinoid insecticides that are registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for use in seed treatment, soil application, or foliar treatment on bee-attractive plants, trees, and cereals until the EPA determines that the insecticides will not cause unreasonable adverse effects on pollinators. The determination must be based on: an evaluation of the published and peer-reviewed scientific evidence on whether the use or uses of those neonicotinoids cause unreasonable adverse effects on pollinators, including native bees, honeybees, birds, bats, and other species of beneficial insects; and a completed field study that meets the criteria required by the EPA and evaluates residues, chronic low-dose exposure, and cumulative effects of multiple chemical exposures. The EPA may not issue new registrations of the neonicotinoid pesticides for any seed treatment, soil application, and foliar treatment on bee-attractive plants, trees, and cereals under FIFRA until it has made the determination with respect to the insecticide. For purposes of protecting and ensuring the long-term viability of native bees and other pollinators, the Department of the Interior must: (1) regularly monitor the health and population status of native bees, (2) identify the scope and likely causes of unusual native bee mortality, and (3) submit to Congress and make public an annual report on the health and population status of native bees.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2017
Student Loan Interest Deduction Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase the maximum tax deduction for interest paid on any qualified education loan to $5,000 ($10,000 for married couples filing a joint tax return), and (2) repeal the limitation on such deduction based upon modified adjusted gross income.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2017
Philanthropic Enterprise Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt the holdings of a private foundation in any business enterprise that meets specified requirements relating to exclusive ownership, minimum distribution of net operating income for the charitable purpose (all profits to charity distribution requirement), and independent operation (not controlled by a substantial contributor or family members) from the excise taxes on excess business holdings.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2017
Honors the career of Major League Baseball player David Americo Ortiz Arias.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2017
Voter Empowerment Act of 2017 Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2017 This bill amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require states to make available online voter registration. The federal criminal code is amended to prohibit hindering, interfering with, or preventing voter registration. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 is amended to require states to promote access to voter registration and voting for individuals with disabilities. The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) must support pilot programs enabling individuals with disabilities to register and vote at their residences. The bill reauthorizes support for state and local governments to ensure voting access for individuals with disabilities. States must notify individuals convicted of a criminal offense under state law, upon release or upon sentence to probation, of their right to vote in federal elections. Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2017 This bill revises auditing requirements for voting systems. Voting systems must use individual, durable, voter-verified paper ballots. The National Science Foundation must support the study and development of accessible ballot voting and best practices to enhance the accessibility of voting for certain individuals. With exceptions, states must audit federal election results. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is amended to extend the guarantee of voting residency to family members of absent military personnel. The EAC must support poll-worker recruitment and training and develop materials for a model program. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 is amended to prohibit a chief state election administration official, unless the official or a family member is a candidate, from taking part in political management or in a political campaign for federal office over which the official has supervisory authority. The EAC is reauthorized and its exemption from certain contracting requirements is repealed.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2017
Calls for an end to the dog and cat meat industry. Urges the governments of China, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, India, and all other nations to: (1) adopt and enforce laws banning the dog and cat meat trade, (2) increase efforts to prevent any leather or fur byproducts of such trade from entering international markets, and (3) use their food safety laws to crack down on the sale of dog and cat meat. Affirms the U.S. commitment to the protection of animals and to advancing the progress of animal protection around the world. Urges executive branch officials to include the dog and cat meat trade on the agenda for discussion with the officials of countries that have a dog or cat meat industry.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2017
This bill establishes a U.S. Green Bank that provides financial support to assist regional, state, and local institutions finance: (1) clean energy (e.g., solar or wind energy) projects, or (2) energy efficiency projects that reduce energy use or substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Department of the Treasury must issue green bonds to provide the bank with: (1) an initial capitalization of $10 billion; and (2) additional capitalization, upon the bank's request, of no more than $50 billion in aggregate at any one time. The bill also establishes in the Treasury a revolving Green Bank Establishment Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2017
Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2017 This bill amends the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to allow a representative official of an Indian tribe, with authorization from the governing body of the tribe, to request one or more polling places to be located on tribal lands. The state or political subdivision shall provide each requested polling place at no expense to the Indian tribe if certain criteria are met. A federal court shall retain jurisdiction to enforce constitutional voting guarantees, but also certain violations of the Act as well as of any federal prohibition against discrimination on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group, for an appropriate period to prevent commencement of new devices to deny or abridge the right to vote. Any state (and all of its political subdivisions) shall be subject to certain requirements for a 10-year period if: 15 or more voting rights violations occurred there during the previous 25 years; or 10 or more violations occurred during the previous 25 years, at least one of which was committed by the state itself (as opposed to a political subdivision within it). A state or political subdivision that obtains a declaratory judgment that it has not used a device to deny or abridge the right to vote shall be exempt from such requirements unlessas specified. This bill prescribes transparency requirements regarding any changes to specified matters. Department of Justice authority to assign observers receives new extensions. Courts shall grant preliminary injunctive relief if a complainant raises a serious question whether the challenged covered practice violates the Act or the Constitution and, on balance, the hardship imposed upon the defendant by the relief will be less than the hardship on the plaintiff if the relief were not granted.
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 2017
This bill amends the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 to temporarily allow loan originators that meet specified requirements to continue to originate loans after moving: (1) from one state to another, or (2) from a depository institution to a non-depository institution.
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 2017
To Offer Refugees College Help (TORCH) Act This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require states to charge in-state tuition rates to refugees, asylees, and special immigrant visa holders if they are lawfully in the United States. This requirement only applies to the first state where the individual lives after being admitted into the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 2017
Schedules That Work Act This bill grants an employee the right to request that the employee's employer change the terms and conditions of employment relating to: the number of hours or times the employee is required to work or be on call; the location; the amount of notification the employee receives of work schedule assignments; and minimizing fluctuations in the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The employer, if the request is made, shall engage in a timely, good faith interactive process with the employee that includes a discussion of potential schedule changes that would meet the employee's needs. The bill outlines the process for either granting or denying a change. The employer shall grant a request, unless there is a bona fide business reason for denying it, if the request is made because of the employee's serious health condition, the employee's responsibilities as a caregiver, or enrollment in a career-related educational or training program, or if a part-time employee requests such a change for a reason related to a second job. An employer, if an employee requests a change for any other reason, may deny it for any reason that is not unlawful. The employer shall give the employee the reason for the denial, including whether it was a bona fide business reason. The bill outlines employer requirements for paying reporting time and split shift pay and for giving advance notice of work schedules to retail, food service, or cleaning employees, or the Department of Labor's designated employees, except for those in bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacities. The bill makes it unlawful for any employer or other person to: (1) interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise or the attempt to exercise any right of an employee specified in this bill; (2) retaliate against an employee for exercising the rights granted employees by this bill; or (3) interfere with proceedings or inquiries with respect to violation of an individual's rights under this bill. The bill sets forth administrative enforcement procedures and civil remedies for violation of these prohibitions. Labor must give information and technical assistance to employers, labor organizations, and the general public concerning compliance with this bill. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of the Census shall: (1) include in the Current Population Survey questions on, among other things, the amount of fluctuation in the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis; and (2) conduct at regular intervals the Contingent Worker Supplement, the Work Schedules and Work at Home Supplement, and other relevant supplements to the Current Population Survey. This bill is inapplicable to any employee covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement if its terms govern work scheduling practices.
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 2017
Reaffirms: (1) the bipartisan commitment of the United States to promote the safety, health, and well-being of refugees; and (2) the goals of World Refugee Day. Recognizes those who have risked their lives to provide life-saving assistance and to help protect people displaced by conflict. Calls upon the U.S. government to: uphold its international leadership role in responding to displacement crises with humanitarian assistance for, and protection of, the most vulnerable populations; work in partnership with the international community to find solutions to existing conflicts and to prevent new conflicts; continue to support the efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and to advance the work of nongovernmental organizations to protect refugees regardless of their country of origin or religious beliefs; and continue to mitigate, through humanitarian and development support, the burden placed on frontline refugee host countries that absorb the majority of the world's refugees.
United States · United States Congress · 16 June 2017
Expresses strong disapproval of the President's announcement to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Commends the group of states, cities, colleges and universities, businesses, investors, and individuals who have publicly expressed their support for such agreement. Urges the President to reverse his decision and maintain U.S. participation in such agreement.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2017
IDEA Full Funding Act This bill amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to reauthorize and make appropriations for the grant program to assist states and outlying areas in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities. The bill sets the amount to be appropriated for each fiscal year from FY2018-FY2026 as the greater of: (1) a specified amount, or (2) a specified percentage of an amount determined pursuant to a formula that multiplies the number of children receiving special education services by the average per-pupil expenditure in public elementary and secondary schools. The bill appropriates funds for FY2027 and each subsequent fiscal year equal to the greater of a specified amount or 40% of the amount determined using such formula. Amounts appropriated shall be expended consistent with pay-as-you-go requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2017
Wildfire Disaster Funding Act This bill amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to require specified adjustments to discretionary spending limits in FY2017-FY2026 to accommodate appropriations for wildfire suppression operations in the Wildland Fire Management accounts at the Department of Agriculture (USDA) or the Department of the Interior. If USDA or Interior determines that supplemental appropriations are necessary for wildfire suppression operations, the bill requires the relevant department to submit to Congress a request for the funding and a plan for obligating the funds. The bill also requires the President's budget to include the average costs for wildfire suppression over the previous 10 years.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2017
Combating BDS Act of 2017 This bill allows a state or local government to adopt and enforce measures to divest its assets from, prohibit investment of its assets in, or restrict contracting with: (1) an entity that engages in a commerce- or investment-related boycott, divestment, or sanctions activity targeting Israel; or (2) an entity that owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with such an entity. Such measures are not preempted by federal law. A state or local government that seeks to adopt or enforce such measures shall comply with specified requirements related to notice, timing, and opportunity for comment. In addition, the bill amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to prohibit a person from bringing any civil, criminal, or administrative action against a registered investment company based solely upon that company's divestment from securities issued by a person that engages in a commerce- or investment-related boycott, divestment, or sanctions activity targeting Israel.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2017
Research and Experimentation Advances Competitiveness at Home Act or the REACH Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for increasing research activities (known as the research and experimentation tax credit), to: increase the alternative simplified credit rate to match the rate of the regular credit; allow taxpayers to use reasonable estimation techniques in lieu of contemporaneous accounting to measure employee hours per business component; allow employees engaging in the direct supervision or direct support of research activities which constitute qualified research to be included in the research expense calculation without regard to the employee's position or management level; allow the credit to be used for research related to the adaptation of an existing business component to a particular customer's requirement or need, cost reduction, or obsolescence mitigation; and allow taxpayers to make an election for a reduced credit (in order to be allowed a full deduction for research expenses) on an amended tax return.