United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2015
This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish processes under which: (1) an entity seeking to develop patient experience data may submit initial research concepts for feedback; (2) the FDA may request or receive from such an entity draft guidance documents, data, and summaries and analyses of data; and (3) patient experience data may be considered in the risk-benefit assessment of a new drug. “Patient experience data” is data collected by patients or others that is intended to facilitate the FDA's risk-benefit assessments, including information about the impact of a disease or a therapy on patients' lives. The FDA must convene workshops and publish guidance on the patient experience data processes described above.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2015
This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to replace the requirement that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prioritize review of breakthrough medical devices with a requirement that the FDA establish a program to provide priority review for breakthrough medical devices. Prior to submitting an application for approval, a medical device sponsor may request that the FDA designate the medical device for priority review. The FDA must provide a summary of the basis for its determination regarding designation. To expedite the development and review of designated medical devices, the FDA must: assign a team of staff for each device, adopt an efficient process for dispute resolution, provide for interactive communication with the device sponsor, expedite review of manufacturing and quality systems compliance, disclose to the sponsor in advance the topics of any consultation between the FDA and external experts or an advisory committee and provide the sponsor the opportunity to recommend external experts, assign staff to address questions by institutional review committees concerning investigational use of the device. The FDA may: (1) coordinate with the sponsor regarding early agreement on a data development plan; (2) take steps to ensure that the design of clinical trials is as efficient as practicable; (3) utilize timely postmarket data collection; and (4) agree to clinical protocols, subject to an FDA determination that changes are required to prevent an unreasonable risk to the public health or that a substantial scientific issue is essential to the safety or effectiveness of the device.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2015
Expresses the sense of Congress that: the National Institutes of Health (NIH) should encourage a global pediatric clinical trial network through the allocation of grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to supplement the salaries of new and early investigators who participate in it; NIH grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements should be awarded to participating entities, solely for the purpose of supplementing the salaries of such investigators; and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should engage the European Medicines Agency and other foreign regulatory entities during the formation of such network to encourage their participation and should continue to engage such entities, once such network becomes operational, to encourage and facilitate their participation with the goal of enhancing the network's global reach.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 2015
World Press Freedom Protection Act of 2015 This bill authorizes the President to impose U.S. admissibility sanctions against a foreign person who: is responsible for severe restrictions on the freedom of expression or freedom of the press; or has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, such an activity. The President may waive such sanctions if in U.S. national security interests, and terminate them under specified conditions. Sanctions shall not apply if necessary to comply with the Agreement between the United Nations (U.N.) and the United States regarding the U.N. Headquarters or other applicable international obligations of the United States. The President shall report to Congress annually regarding each foreign person sanctioned, and the dates and reason for the imposition of any sanctions. It should be U.S. policy to respond strongly to the growing number of restrictions, arrests, killings, and visa delays or denials faced by foreign journalists and their domestic employees. An executive of a foreign state-owned media organization who is applying for a nonimmigrant I-visa (foreign media representative) shall be refused the visa if any U.S. journalist or news organization personnel were expelled, had visas denied, or faced violence in the course of working in such foreign state during the previous fiscal year. Annual country reports of human rights practices under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 shall now include information about the country's practices with respect to foreign journalists and their domestic personnel. It is the sense of Congress that: restrictions on journalists and media websites and Internet censorship are significant foreign trade barriers; the United States Trade Representative should include a list of blocked U.S. websites in its annual report on foreign trade barriers; and the United States should pursue disputes to end foreign blockage of U.S. websites at the World Trade Organization.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2015
Girls Count Act of 2015 Authorizes the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development to: (1) support programs that will contribute to improved civil registration and vital statistics systems with a focus on birth registration; and (2) support programs that build the capacity of developing countries' national and local legal and policy frameworks to prevent discrimination against girls in gaining passport access and help increase property rights, social security, land tenure, economic opportunities, and inheritance rights for women. Authorizes the Secretary and the Administrator to cooperate with multilateral organizations and private sector and civil society organizations to promote such programs.
United States · United States Congress · 23 April 2015
Condemns the government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights. Calls on the government of Iran to release the 7 imprisoned Baha'i leaders, the 12 imprisoned Baha'i educators, and all other prisoners held on account of their religion. Urges the President and the Secretary of State to utilize available authorities, including the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, to impose sanctions on officials of the government of Iran and other individuals directly responsible for serious human rights abuses, including abuses against the Baha'i community.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 2015
This bill amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to prohibit the assessment of penalties against employers for non-willful, unrepeated, or non-serious violations of occupational safety and health standards during the time period fixed for abatement of such a violation in any citation or final order. Furthermore, no penalty shall be assessed for a violation if it shall be abated by the employer in accordance with the citation or order before the end of that period.
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 2015
No Bonuses for Tax Delinquent IRS Employees Act of 2015 Prohibits the payment of any performance award (including, but not limited to, bonuses, step increases, and time off) to an employee of the Internal Revenue Service who owes an outstanding federal tax debt.
United States · United States Congress · 14 April 2015
Congress disapproves the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving Section 3(a) of the Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014 (D.C. Act 20-605), signed by the Mayor of the District on January 25, 2015, and transmitted on March 6, 2015, to Congress pursuant to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. Section 3(a) repeals the exemption allowing religiously-affiliated educational institutions to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. D.C. Act 20-605: amends the Office of Human Rights Establishment Act of 1999 to require the Director of the Office of Human Rights to have a demonstrated professional background in human rights law, amends the Human Rights Act of 1977 (HRA of 1977) to require the annual report by the Mayor to the District Council to include information on investigations and inquiries undertaken by the Director or the Office, repeals the exemption allowing religiously-affiliated educational institutions to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, and makes inapplicable to HRA of 1977 claims that required specified written notice to the Mayor regarding claims against the District for unliquidated damages.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2015
Fair Play Fair Pay Act of 2015 Amends federal copyright law to extend a sound recording copyright owner's rights to include the exclusive right to perform or authorize the performance of the recording publicly by means of any audio transmission, thereby requiring terrestrial AM/FM broadcast radio stations that play copyrighted sound recordings to pay royalties for the non-digital audio transmissions of the recordings. (Currently, sound recording copyright owners have a performance right that applies only to digital transmissions by cable, satellite, and Internet radio stations.) Requires the Copyright Royalty Judges (CRJs) to commence a proceeding to determine royalty rates and terms for nonsubscription broadcast transmissions. Directs the CRJs, in determining royalty rates for statutory licensing of such digital or non-digital transmissions, to: (1) distinguish among different types of services, and (2) include a minimum fee for each type of service. Allows differences to be based on the quantity and nature of the use of sound recordings and the degree to which use of the service may substitute for or promote consumer purchases of phonorecords. Requires the CRJs to establish rates that most clearly represent the rates and terms that would have been negotiated in the marketplace between a willing buyer and a willing seller. Directs the CRJs to base their decision on economic, competitive, and programming information presented by the parties, including: (1) the sound recording copyright owner's other streams of revenue from the recordings; and (2) the relative creative contribution, technological contribution, capital investment, cost, and risk of the copyright owner and the transmitting entity. Caps the annual royalty rate at: (1) $500 for small commercial broadcast stations with less than $1 million in revenues for the calendar year, and (2) $100 for public broadcasting stations. Exempts religious service broadcasts or incidental uses of music from royalty payment requirements. Requires proceeds for direct licenses of transmissions otherwise licensable under the statutory license to be distributed in the same manner as statutory license proceeds. Requires payment of 45% to featured artists, 2.5% to nonfeatured musicians, and 2.5% to nonfeatured vocalists. Makes such distribution the sole payments to which featured and nonfeatured artists are entitled under a direct license. Requires payment of performance royalties for sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, in the same manner as royalties are paid for sound recordings fixed after such date. Requires a collective designated by the CRJs to implement a policy to accept instructions (referred to as a "letter of direction") from a sound recording copyright owner, or from a recording artist, to distribute a portion of performance royalty payments to a producer, mixer, or sound engineer who was part of the creative process behind the sound recording. Requires the collective to adopt special procedures for a producer, mixer, or sound engineer to receive a portion of royalties for recordings fixed before November 1, 1995, by certifying that a reasonable effort has been made to obtain a letter of direction from an artist who owns the right to receipts payable with respect to the sound recording.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2015
Congress disapproves the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014 (D.C. Act 20-593), signed by the Mayor of the District on January 25, 2015, and transmitted on March 6, 2015, to Congress pursuant to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. D.C. Act 20-593: amends the Human Rights Act of 1977 to protect individuals from discrimination by an employer, employment agency, or labor organization, based on an individual's or dependent's reproductive health decisions; and defines reproductive health decisions to include a decision by an employee, his or her dependent, or the employee's spouse related to the use or intended use of a particular drug, device, or medical service, including the use or intended use of contraception or fertility control or the planned or intended initiation or termination of a pregnancy.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2015
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat membership in a tax-exempt health care sharing ministry as coverage under a high deductible health plan for purposes of the tax deduction for contributions to a health savings account.
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 2015
Sugar Reform Act of 2015 This bill revises the Department of Agriculture (USDA) sugar program to decrease price support levels and make other modifications. The bill amends the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to decrease the rate for price support loans to processors of domestically grown sugarcane and sugar beets. The loan rate is the price level at which processors can take out loans. The bill amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to require USDA to set the marketing allotments at a level appropriate to maintain adequate domestic supplies at reasonable prices. The allotments limit the amount of sugar that each processor may sell. The allotments may be suspended or modified based on: (1) the interests of consumers, workers, businesses, and agricultural producers; and (2) the relative competitiveness of domestically produced and imported foods containing sugar. In setting import quotas necessary to comply with trade agreements, USDA must: set the quotas at no less than the minimum level necessary for compliance, adjust the quotas to provide adequate domestic supplies at reasonable prices, establish and adjust quotas so that the ratio of sugar stocks to total sugar use at the end of the year will be approximately 15.5% or the target necessary to prevent unreasonably high prices or forfeitures, and permit the temporary transfer of quotas between countries. The bill amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to repeal the Feedstock Flexibility Program for Bioenergy Producers, which requires USDA to purchase sugar from domestic processors and sell it to bioenergy producers for biofuel production.
United States · United States Congress · 24 March 2015
Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to: (1) remove sustainable growth rate (SGR) methodology from the determination of annual conversion factors in the formula for payment for physicians' services, and (2) revise the update in rates for 2015 and subsequent years. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Merit-based Incentive Payment (MIP) system under which eligible professionals (including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and certified registered nurse anesthetists) shall receive annual payment increases or decreases based on their performance. Requires specified incentive payments to eligible participants in an alternative payment model. Requires the Secretary to: (1) draft a plan for development of quality measures to assess professionals, including non-patient-facing professionals; and (2) make payments for chronic care management services. Expands the kinds of uses of Medicare data available to qualified entities. Directs the Secretary to provide Medicare data to qualified clinical data registries to facilitate quality improvement or patient safety. Declares it a national objective to achieve widespread exchange of health information through interoperable certified electronic health records technology nationwide by December 31, 2018. Extends through calendar 2017 specified elements of Medicare funding. Prescribes requirements for reasonable cost reimbursement contracts that may no longer be extended or renewed. Amends SSAct title XIX (Medicaid) to extend permanently the qualifying individual program and the transitional medical assistance program. Amends the Public Health Service Act to extend certain special diabetes programs. Amends SSAct title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to extend: (1) abstinence education; (2) personal responsibility education program; (3) family-to-family health information centers; and (4) maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting programs. Amends SSAct title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance Program) (CHIP) to extend the CHIP program through FY2017. Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) deny Medigap policies to Medicare beneficiaries newly eligible on or after January 1, 2020; and (2) set 1% market basket percentage increases or annual updates for hospice, long-term care hospital, and other providers. Revises or sets the aggregate reductions in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital allotments for FY2018-FY2025. Prohibits the inclusion of Social Security numbers on Medicare cards. Directs the Secretary to establish procedures to ensure that Medicare payments are not furnished to incarcerated individuals, individuals not lawfully present in the United States, and deceased individuals. Requires the use of Medicare beneficiary smart cards, subject to certain conditions. Requires valid prescriber national provider identifiers on pharmacy claims. Requires medical review of spinal subluxation services by a chiropractor. Eliminates the availability of certain funds for the Medicare Improvement Fund. Amends the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 to extend through FY2015 the two-midnight rule regarding certain medical patient status review activities. (The two-midnight rule allows Medicare coverage of only hospital stays for which a physician admits to a hospital a beneficiary expected to require care that crosses two midnights, but generally denies coverage of care expected to require less than a two-midnight stay.) Requires bid surety bonds and state licensure for entities submitting bids under a competitive durable medical equipment and prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies acquisition program. Prohibits the Secretary from implementing the final rule requiring the transition of all 10-day and 90-day global surgical packages to 0-day global periods. Extends through FY2015 the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2015
Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance Act of 2015 Authorizes a Wall of Remembrance, as part of the previously authorized Korean War Veterans Memorial, to include: (1) a list by name of members of the U.S. Armed Forces who were killed in action; (2) the number of members who were wounded, listed as missing in action, or prisoners of war; and (3) the number of members of the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, and the other nations of the United Nations (U.N.) Command who were killed, wounded, missing, or prisoners. Prohibits using any federal funds to construct the Wall.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2015
No Taxpayer Bailouts for Unsustainable State and Local Pensions Act This bill prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from providing loans, grants, or other forms of financial assistance to state and local government pension plan funds.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2015
Allocation for Music Producers Act or the AMP Act Amends federal copyright law to require a collective designated by the Copyright Royalty Judges to implement a policy providing for the acceptance of instructions (referred to as a "letter of direction") from a person who owns the exclusive right to publicly perform a sound recording by means of a digital audio transmission, or from a recording artist of a such a sound recording, to distribute a portion of royalty payments to a producer, mixer, or sound engineer who was part of the creative process behind the sound recording. Requires the collective to adopt special procedures for a producer, mixer, or sound engineer to receive a portion of royalties for recordings fixed before November 1, 1995, by certifying that a reasonable effort has been made to obtain a letter of direction from an artist who owns the right to receipts payable with respect to the sound recording.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2015
SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to: (1) remove sustainable growth rate (SGR) methodology from the determination of annual conversion factors in the formula for payment for physicians' services, and (2) revise the update in rates for 2015 and subsequent years. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Merit-based Incentive Payment (MIP) system under which eligible professionals (including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and certified registered nurse anesthetists) shall receive annual payment increases or decreases based on their performance. Requires specified incentive payments to eligible participants in an alternative payment model. Requires the Secretary to: (1) draft a plan for development of quality measures to assess professionals, including non-patient-facing professionals; and (2) make payments for chronic care management services. Expands the kinds of uses of Medicare data available to qualified entities. Directs the Secretary to provide Medicare data to qualified clinical data registries to facilitate quality improvement or patient safety. Declares it a national objective to achieve widespread exchange of health information through interoperable certified electronic health records technology nationwide by December 31, 2018.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2015
Amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to declare that nothing in those Acts shall be construed to preempt a law of any state, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia that prohibits, criminalizes, or creates a civil cause of action for identity theft or the release of an individual's personally identifiable information.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2015
Amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to declare that nothing in those Acts shall be construed to preempt a law of any state, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia that prohibits, criminalizes, or creates a civil cause of action for stalking, cyberstalking, or harassment.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2015
Dignified Interment of Our Veterans Act of 2015 Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to study and report to Congress on matters relating to the interring of veterans' unclaimed remains in national cemeteries under the control of the National Cemetery Administration, including: the scope of the issues relating to veterans' unclaimed remains, including the estimated number of such remains; the effectiveness of VA procedures for working with persons or entities having custody of unclaimed remains to facilitate the interment of such remains in such cemeteries; state and local laws that affect the Secretary's ability to inter unclaimed veterans' remains in such cemeteries; and recommendations for appropriate legislative or administrative action.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Shahbaz Bhatti International Religious Freedom Act of 2015 Amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include violations of religious freedom by non-state actors in the annual Department of State report to Congress on international religious freedom. Requires the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold hearings on specified Department and U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reports concerning the status of religious freedom. Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to require Foreign Service officers to receive training about the religious demography, status of religious freedom, and U.S. strategies for advancing religious freedom in their country of posting. Directs the Secretary of State to: (1) transmit to specified congressional committees certain lists of persons imprisoned, detained, or placed under house arrest; and (2) report to Congress on the best uses of foreign assistance to promote the goals of religious freedom and religious engagement. Directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress after the date on which the President designates countries as a country of particular concern for religious freedom on the lack of the President's designation of Pakistan and and any other countries recommended for such designation by the Commission. Directs the President to take specified actions in response to violations of religious freedom by non-state actors. Authorizes certain funds for democracy programs to be used to implement innovative uses of the Internet and other electronic methods to support freedom of religion or belief abroad.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act of 2015 Prohibits the federal government, and any state that receives federal funding for any program that provides child welfare services under part B (Child and Family Services) or part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSAct), from discriminating or taking an adverse action against a child welfare service provider that declines to provide, facilitate, or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts with the provider's sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions. Bars such prohibition from applying to SSAct requirements that forbid state entities from denying or delaying adoption or foster care placements on the basis of an adoptive parent's or a child's race, color, or national origin. Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to withhold 15% of the federal funds that a state receives for such programs if the state violates this Act. Allows an aggrieved child welfare service provider to assert such an adverse action violation as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and to obtain all appropriate relief (including declaratory relief, injunctive relief, compensatory damages, and reasonable attorney's fees and costs).
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Financial Product Safety Commission Act of 2015 Amends the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to replace the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as an independent bureau within the Federal Reserve System, with an independent Financial Product Safety Commission that is to regulate the offering and provision of consumer financial products or services. States that the Commission shall be composed of five members with strong competencies and experiences regarding consumer financial products and services, each to serve for a term of five years, and appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Prohibits the Chair of the Commission from submitting requests for estimates related to appropriations without prior Commission approval.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 2015
Expresses the sense of Congress that the U.S. Postal Service should issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring the 50th anniversary of the three civil rights marches from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 2015
Internet Freedom Act Nullifies the rule adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 26, 2015, relating to the reclassification of broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service. Prohibits the FCC from reissuing such rule in substantially the same form, or from issuing a new rule that is substantially the same, unless the rule is specifically authorized by a law enacted after enactment of this Act. Exempts any rule that the FCC determines is necessary for national security, public safety, or assistance to law enforcement.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2015
Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2015 Amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) to locate the Office on International Religious Freedom in the Office of the Secretary of State. Directs the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom to seek to coordinate religious freedom policies and religious engagement strategies across all U.S. programs, projects, and activities. Specifies additional foreign government actions violating religious freedom for the Ambassador's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, including a Special Watch List of countries or violent nonstate actors that have engaged in or tolerated such violations but do not yet meet the criteria for designation as countries of particular concern for religious freedom. Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to direct the Secretary to develop a curriculum for, and the Director of the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center to begin, mandatory training on religious freedom for all Foreign Service officers. Amends IRFA to require the Commission on International Religious Freedom to compile and make publicly available regularly updated lists of persons imprisoned, detained, disappeared, placed under house arrest, tortured, or subject to forced renunciations of faith by: (1) a foreign government recommended for designation as a country of particular concern for religions freedom, or (2) a violent nonstate actor. Extends the Commission's termination date. Amends the National Security Act of 1947 to direct the President to appoint in the National Security Council a Special Adviser for Global Religion Engagement and International Religious Freedom (in lieu of the Special Adviser to the President on International Religious Freedom) who shall assist the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom to coordinate executive branch international religious freedom policies and global religion engagement strategies. Establishes within the National Security Council: (1) the Interagency Policy Committee on Religious Freedom and Engagement; and (2) the Interagency Policy Committee on Religion, International Religious Freedom, and National Security. Amends IRFA to revise requirements, including reporting requirements, for presidential actions with respect to country and violent nonstate actor designations, in particular those countries on the Special Watch List. Declares the sense of Congress that: ongoing and persistent waivers for designated countries, especially those engaging in particularly severe violations of religious freedom, do not fulfill IRFA purposes; and the President, the Secretary, and other executive branch officials, in consultation with Congress, should seek to find ways to address existing violations, on a country-by-country basis, through specified actions. Repeals the automatic termination of a presidential designation after two years. States that it should be U.S. policy that violent nonstate actors should be eligible for designation as countries of particular concern and that specified presidential actions should apply to them or individual members of such groups. Makes funds available for FY2016-FY2021 for the Human Rights and Democracy Fund. Establishes in the State Department the Religious Freedom Defense Fund, to be administered by the Ambassador at Large. Authorizes the President to take specified actions against foreign persons: (1) responsible for committing or supporting systemic violations of religious freedom, or (2) supporting violence or terrorist acts targeting members of religious groups. Declares the sense of Congress about: (1) adoption of codes of conduct by U.S. institutions of higher education outside the United States, and (2) national security strategy to promote religious freedom through U.S. foreign policy.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 2015
Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2015 Directs the Secretary of State to submit an annual, publicly-available report to Congress containing: (1) an assessment of the level of access Chinese authorities granted U.S. diplomats, journalists, and tourists to Tibetan areas in China; (2) a list of the persons in senior leadership positions in Tibet Autonomous Region and other specified provinces, prefectures, and autonomous entities; and (3) a list of the persons in senior leadership positions at the national and regional levels as defined by this Act. Makes certain listed persons ineligible for U.S entry under specified circumstances. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) reciprocity forms the basis of diplomatic law and the practice of mutual exchanges between countries; (2) consular access should be given on a reciprocal basis; and (3) the Secretary, when granting Chinese diplomats access to parts of the United States, should take into account the extent to which China grants U.S. diplomats access to parts of China, including the level of access to Tibetan areas.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 2015
Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to repeal the establishment of, and appropriation of funds to, the Prevention and Public Health Fund (a fund to provide for expanded and sustained national investment in prevention and public health programs to improve health and help restrain the rate of growth in private and public sector health care costs). Rescinds any unobligated balances appropriated to the Fund. Directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to post a notice of the rescission and the amounts of funds rescinded on the public HHS website within 10 days of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 2015
Declares that Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over-the-air, or on any business for such public performance of sound recordings.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 2015
Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2015 Amends the federal criminal code to authorize a person who is not prohibited from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm under federal law, and who is carrying a valid, government-issued identification document containing that person's photograph and a valid permit issued by any state to carry a concealed firearm, to possess or carry a concealed handgun (other than a machine gun or destructive device) in any other state that permits residents to carry a concealed firearm, in accordance with the restrictions of that state. Makes presentation of facially valid documents prima facie evidence that the individual has a license or permit as required.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 2015
Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2015 Includes as part of the Republic of Vietnam its territorial seas for purposes of the presumption of service connection for diseases associated with exposure by veterans to certain herbicide agents while in Vietnam.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 2015
Health Care Conscience Rights Act Amends title I of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to declare that nothing in that title requires an individual to purchase individual health insurance coverage that includes coverage of an abortion or other item or service to which the individual has a moral or religious objection, or prevent an issuer from offering coverage excluding such item or service to that individual. Denies that title I requires a health plan sponsor or a health insurance issuer to cover an item or service to which the sponsor or issuer has a moral or religious objection. Denies also that title I authorizes imposition of a tax, penalty, fee, fine, or other sanction, or imposition of coverage of such an item or service, on health insurance coverage that excludes such an item or service. Amends the Public Health Service Act to codify the prohibition against any action by the federal government and any state or local government receiving federal financial assistance to subject a health professional, or health care facility, organization, or plan to discrimination on the basis that the entity refuses to participate in abortion-related activities. Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to designate the Director of the Office for Civil Rights of HHS to receive and investigate complaints alleging a violation of this abortion discrimination prohibition. Creates a cause of action for the Attorney General or any person or entity adversely affected to obtain equitable or legal relief for any violation of this abortion discrimination prohibition. Allows commencement of an action and the granting of relief without a prerequisite pursuit of administrative remedies. Allows such an action against a federal or state governmental entity.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 2015
Constitutional Amendment Marriage Protection Amendment Defines marriage in the United States as consisting only of the union of a man and a woman. Prohibits either the U.S. Constitution or the constitution of any state from being construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon any other union.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 2015
Boys Town Centennial Commemorative Coin Act Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue up to 50,000 $5 gold coins, 350,000 $1 silver coins, and 300,000 half-dollar clad coins to commemorate the centennial of the founding of Father Flanagan's Boys Town. Requires the design of the coins to be emblematic of the 100 years of Boys Town, one of the largest nonprofit child care agencies in the United States. Permits issuance of such coins only between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2017. Subjects all coin sales to specified surcharges, which shall be paid to Boys Town to carry out its cause of caring for and assisting children and families in underserved communities across America. Directs the Secretary to ensure that: (1) minting and issuing such coins will not result in any net cost to the federal government; and (2) no funds, including surcharges, will be disbursed to Boys Town until the total cost of designing and issuing all authorized coins is recovered by the Treasury.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 2015
Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act of 2015 Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to notify an individual within two business days after discovery of any breach of security of any system maintained by a health care exchange established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which is known to have resulted in the theft or unlawful access of the individual's personally identifiable information.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 2015
United States-Israel Trade and Commercial Enhancement Act This bill states that among the principal U.S. trade negotiating objectives for trade agreements with foreign countries regarding commercial partnerships are to: discourage actions by potential trading partners that discourage commercial activity solely between the United States and Israel; discourage politically motivated actions to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel and to seek the elimination of politically motivated non-tariff barriers on Israeli commerce; and seek the elimination of state-sponsored unsanctioned foreign boycotts against Israel or compliance with the Arab League Boycott of Israel. The President is directed to report annually to Congress on politically motivated acts of boycott, divestment from, and sanctions against Israel. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is amended to require a foreign issuer traded on the U.S. stock market to disclose in its quarterly or annual report: whether the issuer has discriminated against doing business with Israel in the last calendar year; whether the issuer has been advised by a foreign government or a non-member state of the United Nations (U.N.) to discriminate against doing business with Israel, entities owned or controlled by Israel, or entities operating in Israel or Israeli-controlled territory; and any instances where the issuer has learned that a person, foreign government, or a non-member state of the U.N. is boycotting the issuer, divesting itself of an ownership interest in the issuer, or placing sanctions on the issuer because of the issuer's relationship with Israel. No U.S. court may recognize or enforce any judgment by a foreign court against a U.S. person carrying out business operations in Israel or in any territory controlled by Israel, and on which is based a determination by the foreign court that the location in Israel, or in any territory controlled by Israel, of the facilities at which the business operations are carried out is sufficient to constitute a violation of law.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 2015
State Marriage Defense Act of 2015 Prohibits, in determining the meaning of any Act of Congress or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of U.S. administrative bureaus and agencies as applied with respect to individuals domiciled in a state or in any other territory or possession of the United States: (1) the term "marriage" from including any relationship that the state, territory, or possession does not recognize as a marriage; and (2) the term "spouse" from including an individual who is a party to a relationship that is not recognized as a marriage by that state, territory, or possession.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 2015
Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to repeal authority to restrict the export of: (1) coal, petroleum products, natural gas, or petrochemical feedstocks; and (2) supplies of materials or equipment necessary to maintain or further exploration, production, refining, or transportation of energy supplies, or for the construction or maintenance of energy facilities within the United States. Prohibits any federal official from imposing or enforcing any restriction on the export of crude oil. Requires the Secretary of Energy to study and make recommendations on the appropriate size, composition, and purpose of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 2015
Renewable Fuel Standard Elimination Act This bill amends the Clean Air Act to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency's renewable fuel program, which requires transportation fuel to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuel.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 2015
Short Line Railroad Rehabilitation and Investment Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for railroad track maintenance, to: (1) expand the types of maintenance expenditures eligible for such credit, and (2) extend such credit through 2016.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 2015
RFS Reform Act of 2015 This bill amends the Clean Air Act to revise the renewable fuel standard program. Beginning on January 1, 2015, the renewable fuel that is required to be blended into gasoline must be advanced biofuel, which cannot be ethanol derived from corn starch. This bill revises the renewable fuel standards by decreasing the total volume of renewable fuel that must be contained in gasoline sold or introduced into commerce for years 2015 through 2022. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must determine the target amount of cellulosic biofuel to be blended into transportation fuel based on the actual volume of cellulosic biofuel produced in the current year. The EPA must reduce the required volume of renewable fuel in transportation fuel by the same volume of cellulosic biofuel in the fuel. The EPA may not allow gasoline containing greater than 10% ethanol by volume to be introduced into commerce. Waivers that allow gasoline containing a greater percentage of ethanol are nullified.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 2015
Default Prevention Act This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to continue to borrow to pay the principal and interest on certain obligations if the debt of the United States exceeds the statutory limit. If the debt limit is exceeded, Treasury is required to issue obligations solely for the payment of the principal and interest on debt held by the public or the Social Security trust funds. The bill prohibits Treasury from using obligations issued under this Act to compensate Members of Congress. If Treasury exercises authority provided by this Act, a report must be submitted to Congress including an accounting of: (1) the principal on mature obligations and interest that is due or accrued, and (2) obligations issued under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 2015
Calls on the Department of State and the Administration to recognize officially the Taliban as a foreign terrorist organization. Requests the Secretary of State to designate the Taliban as a foreign terrorist organization and impose any and all applicable restrictions and sanctions.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 2015
Directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Riders in recognition of their contribution to civil rights, which inspired a movement to equality in interstate travel. Requires such medal to be given to the Smithsonian Institution to be available for display and research. Expresses the sense of Congress that the medal should be made available for display elsewhere, particularly at locations associated with the Freedom Riders.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2015
Improving Regulatory Transparency for New Medical Therapies Act Amends the Controlled Substances Act to require any proceedings for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule of the Attorney General for the classification of a controlled substance that are initiated at the request of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to control a drug or other substance not previously scheduled, where the Secretary has recommended the drug or other substance be placed in schedule II, III, IV, or V, to be commenced not later than 120 days after receipt of written recommendations from the Secretary. Requires the final rule to be issued not later than 60 days after the date on which both the public comment period has closed and the new drug is the subject of an approved new drug application, unless a hearing on the proposed rule is granted by the Attorney General. Directs the Attorney General, for the purposes of registration to manufacture a controlled substance in schedule III, IV, or V for use only in a clinical trial, to register an applicant, or serve upon the applicant an order to show cause why registration should not be denied, revoked, or suspended, not later than 180 days after receiving an application and all information necessary to make a determination about whether the issuance of such registration is inconsistent with the public interest. Directs the Attorney General, for the purposes of registration to manufacture a controlled substance in schedule I or II for use only in a clinical trial, to: (1) issue a notice of application not later than 90 days after receipt of an application and all necessary information to issue such notice; and (2) register an applicant, or serve upon the applicant an order to show cause why registration should not be denied, revoked, or suspended, within 180 days following the close of the comment period and receipt of all information necessary to make a determination about whether the issuance of such registration is consistent with the public interest and with U.S. obligations under international treaties in effect on May 1, 1971, unless a hearing on the application has been granted pursuant to a provision of the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act regarding emergency situations.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2015
Conservation Easement Incentive Act of 2015 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) make permanent the tax deduction for charitable contributions by individuals and corporations of real property interests for conservation purposes, and (2) allow Native Corporations an increased tax deduction for donations of conservation easements related to lands conveyed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2015
Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act Directs the President to impose U.S. entry and property sanctions against any foreign person (or entity) who: is responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals in any foreign country, especially those persons seeking to expose illegal activity carried out by government officials, or to obtain, exercise, or promote human rights and freedoms; acted as an agent of or on behalf of a foreign person in such activities; is a government official (or senior associate of such official) responsible for, or complicit in, ordering or otherwise directing acts of significant corruption or the facilitation or transfer of the proceeds of corruption to foreign jurisdictions; or has materially assisted or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, such activities. Prescribes related penalties. Authorizes the President, with regard to such sanctions, to: waive their application, with prior congressional notification, if in U.S. national security interests; and terminate them under specified conditions. States that sanctions shall not apply if necessary to comply with the Agreement between the United Nations (U.N.) and the United States regarding the U.N. Headquarters, or other applicable international obligations of the United States. Directs the President to report to Congress annually regarding each foreign person sanctioned, the type of sanctions imposed, and the reason for their imposition. Directs the Comptroller General to assess for Congress: (1) the process to determine whether a foreign person has engaged in a sanctionable activity, whether sanctions should be imposed, and whether the identity of a sanctioned foreign person should be classified; and (2) implementation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2015
Reform Exports and Expand the American Economy Act This bill amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to establish an Office of Ethics, headed by a Chief Ethics Officer, in the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The review of Bank fraud controls by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shall now be quadrennial instead of once only, and followed by reports to Congress. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall report to Congress: (1) semiannually on the terms and conditions (including interest rates, maturities, and credit standards) that private financial institutions apply in providing export finance; and (2) annually on the steps the Bank has taken to adjust the pricing of products offered, and the credit standards used, to avoid crowding out private export finance. The Bank's Board of Directors must include in their annual report to Congress any recommendations about countries with whom and in which it should not be doing business. The GAO must conduct annual audits of the Bank's loan, guarantee, insurance, and credit programs. The Chief Ethics Officer shall draft a Code of Ethics prescribing strict and definite standards of official conduct for all Bank directors, officers, and employees, including conflict-of-interest prohibitions. The Bank shall study the extent to which the products it offers are available and used by companies that export services and related goods. The Bank must also implement policies to accept: (1) electronic documents whenever possible, including copies of bills of lading, certifications, and compliance documents; and (2) electronic payments in all of its programs. If the Bank issues any report to Congress or any congressional committee containing accounting information that is not prepared using generally accepted accounting principles (GAAPs), the Bank must issue a second report with the same accounting information prepared using GAAPs. The Bank is made lender of last resort to privately owned foreign applicants (other than financial institutions), which must first try to obtain competitive financing for the transaction in question without support from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation or the Small Business Administration. Bank directors who are neither Chairman nor Vice Chairman of the Board shall constitute the Board's Audit Committee. The President of the United States (U.S. President) must report to specified congressional committees on Bank programs that may be fully or partially privatized. The Bank's Inspector General is directed to audit the Bank's portfolio risk management procedures, including its implementation of the duties assigned to the Chief Risk Officer (whose position is established by this Act). The Bank must retain at least 30% of total net earnings as a provision for possible losses. Two terms is made the term limit for any Bank President. The U.S. President must propose to Congress a strategy to pursue with other major exporting countries, over a 10-year period, elimination of all subsidized export-financing programs, tied aid, export credits, and all other forms of government-supported export subsidies. This shall also involve negotiations specifically with countries that are not members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to bring them into a multilateral agreement establishing rules and limitations on officially supported export credits. $130 billion is made the absolute limit, regardless of fiscal year, for the aggregate amount of outstanding Bank loans, guarantees, and insurance. The general duties of the Bank's Chief Risk Officer are specified. The Bank is required to develop and implement policies that incentivize transactions in which third parties, especially private sector lenders and exporters, share risks of loss with the Bank. The Bank is reauthorized and extended through FY2019, as well as its authority to finance export sales of nonlethal defense articles or services whose primary end (dual) use will be for civilian purposes. The Bank is directed to: study its programs, products, and policies supporting exports from small business concerns and medium-sized enterprises in the United States, including those involving the implementation of the export credit insurance program, delegated lending authority, and direct Bank loans; and determine the extent to which its policies adequately meet the needs of small business concerns and medium-sized enterprises in obtaining Bank financing to support jobs in the United States through exports. The denial of funding is continued through FY2019 with respect to the Bank's Supplemental Guidelines for High Carbon Intensity Projects. The figure of $10 million is increased to $25 million, subject to annual adjustments for inflation, in cases where: the Bank seeks to ensure that U.S. insurance companies are accorded a fair and open competitive opportunity to provide insurance for transactions involving a long-term loan or guarantee of this minimum amount, Bank procedures for public disclosure of environmental assessments and mandatory supplemental environmental reports apply to any transaction involving a project for which long-term support from the Bank is requested in at least this amount, or it is the sense of Congress that Bank policies and procedures should not prohibit small business specialists from approving applications for working capital loans, guarantees, and insurance in support of exports which have a value less than this amount.
![Official portrait of Rep. Pitts, Joseph R. [R-PA-16]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/p000373_200.jpg)