United States · United States Congress · 19 October 2017
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation Improvement Act of 2017 This bill increases monthly rates for veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation payable to surviving spouses through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA shall pay to an individual who is eligible for dependency and indemnity compensation predicated on the death of a veteran before January 1, 1993, monthly dependency and indemnity compensation that is the greater of the amount in effect either before or after enactment of this bill. The bill makes VA dependent and survivor income benefits payable to a surviving spouse who remarries after age 55.
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 2017
Honest Ads Act This bill expands source disclosure requirements for political advertisements by (1) establishing that paid internet and paid digital communications may qualify as “public communications” or “electioneering communications” that may be subject to such requirements, and (2) imposing additional requirements relating to the form of such source disclosures and the information contained within. The bill also requires certain online platform companies to maintain publicly available records about qualified political advertisements that have been purchased on their platforms.
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2017
Small Business and Family Health Tax Relief Act of 2017 This bill suspends the annual fee imposed on health-insurance providers under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for 2019 and makes the fee tax-deductible beginning in 2020.
United States · United States Congress · 16 October 2017
IRS Data Verification Modernization Act of 2017 This bill requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to implement a program to ensure that disclosures of tax returns or return information by the IRS to a person verifying the income of a taxpayer for a legitimate business purpose are: (1) fully automated and accomplished through the Internet, and (2) accomplished in as close to real-time as is practicable. The IRS must assess and collect a fee for the disclosures described above at rates that are sufficient to recover the costs related to implementing the program not later than five years after the costs are paid or incurred.
United States · United States Congress · 16 October 2017
Condemns the attack at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 1, 2017, and honors the memory of the victims killed. Expresses hope for the recovery of those injured, and applauds the efforts of law-enforcement and counterterrorism officials and emergency-medical and healthcare professionals in response to the attack.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 2017
Savanna's Act This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to update the online data entry format for federal databases relevant to cases of missing and murdered Indians to include a new data field for users to input the victim's tribal enrollment information or affiliation. In addition, DOJ must: make standardized law enforcement and justice protocols that serve as guidelines for law enforcement agencies with respect to missing and murdered Indians, develop protocols to investigate those cases that are guided by the standardized protocols, meet certain requirements to consult with Indian tribes, and provide tribes and law enforcement agencies with training and technical assistance relating to the development and implementation of the law enforcement and justice protocols. Federal law enforcement agencies that investigate and prosecute crimes related to missing and murdered Indians must modify their law enforcement and justice protocols to comply with the standardized protocols.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 2017
Department of Veterans Affairs Financial Accountability Act of 2017 This bill expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the normal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) budget process should be grounded in sound actuarial analysis based on accurate demand forecasting, (2) the regular VA budget process should be the norm, and (3) supplemental requests for appropriations should be used sparingly and for unforeseen demand or natural occurrences. The VA shall contract with an independent third party to: (1) to review and audit the VA's financial processes, including reporting structures and actuarial and estimation models; (2) develop recommendations to improve such structures; and (3) complete such review and development within 180 days of entering into the contract. The VA shall submit an implementation plan to Congress within 60 days after completion of the review and development. The VA shall appoint one individual within the Office of the VA Secretary to monitor the implementation of third party recommendations. Whenever the VA submits to Congress a request for supplemental appropriations or other appropriation outside the standard budget process the VA shall submit a justification for the request within 45 days before the date that such budgetary issue would affect a program or service. Concurrent with the President's annual budget request to Congress the VA Chief Financial Officer shall submit to Congress: (1) an assurance that budgetary financial projections are sufficient to provide VA benefits and services, and (2) an attestation of collaboration with the financial officers of the concerned facilities and components.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 2017
Wildfire Mitigation Assistance Act This bill amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize the President, whether or not a major disaster is declared, to provide hazard mitigation assistance in any area or related area affected by a fire for which fire management assistance was provided under such Act. The President may establish a minimum amount of hazard mitigation assistance to be provided for a wildfire or fire complex. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) shall submit an annual report on projects carried out, and funding provided, pursuant to this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 2017
Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence Act of 2017 This bill amends the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 to extend through FY2022 and make appropriations for enhanced funding for the community health centers program and the National Health Service Corps.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 2017
Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2017 This bill provides federal housing assistance to Indians, including Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, including by: amending the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA) to reauthorize through FY2022 and revise the Indian Housing Block Grant and the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant; amending the United States Housing Act of 1937 to authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to implement a supportive housing and rental assistance program for the benefit of Native Americans; amending the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to authorize HUD through FY2022 to guarantee housing loans for Native Americans and Native Hawaiians; extending from 50 years to 99 years the limit on the lease of Native American trust or restricted lands for housing purposes; and establishing a demonstration program that requires a participating Native American tribe, with an investor partner, to develop and implement a HUD-approved plan to address the tribe's housing needs.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2017
Securing Urgent Resources Vital to Indian Victim Empowerment Act or the SURVIVE Act This bill amends the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 to require the Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime to make grants to Indian tribes for programs and services for crime victims, such as domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, child abuse programs, child advocacy centers, elder abuse programs, medical care, legal services, relocation, and transitional housing. In addition, the bill makes 5% of the Crime Victims Fund available for these grants.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2017
Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2017 This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) cover marriage and family therapist services and mental health counselor services under Medicare, (2) exclude such services from the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system, and (3) authorize marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors to develop discharge plans for post-hospital services.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 2017
This bill delays by three years the date by which manufacturers, owners, and operators of new residential wood heaters, including residential hydronic heaters (wood-fired boilers) and forced-air furnaces, must comply with emission standards promulgated under the Clean Air Act.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 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 · 19 September 2017
Volunteer First Responder Housing Act This bill expands eligibility for assistance under the Department of Agriculture Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program and the Department of Housing and Urban Development Good Neighbor Next Door Sales Program with respect to qualified volunteer first responders.
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 2017
Keep Kids' Insurance Dependable and Secure Act of 2017 or the KIDS Act of 2017 This bill amends titles XI (General Provisions), XIX (Medicaid), and XXI (Children's Health Insurance Program) (CHIP) of the Social Security Act to extend funding for CHIP through FY2022 and otherwise revise provisions related to CHIP and Medicaid. The bill also extends funding through FY2022 for: the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund, the Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project, the Pediatric Quality Measures Program, and specified outreach and enrollment grants. In addition, the bill reauthorizes through FY2022: the qualifying-states option (which allows states that provided coverage to now CHIP-eligible children prior to CHIP's enactment to continue to provide such coverage), and the express-lane eligibility option (which allows states to use eligibility findings from other public benefit programs to determine children's eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP). Beginning in FY2020, the bill allows state child-health plans to adopt more restrictive eligibility standards with respect to children in families whose income exceeds 300% of the poverty line. Current law provides states with an enhanced Federal Matching Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for child-health assistance through FY2019. The bill maintains the enhanced FMAP in FY2020, but halves the percentage-point increase.
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 2017
Commemorates the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Air Force as an independent military service. Honors and commends the achievements of the Air Force in serving and defending the United States through global vigilance, global reach, and global power.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2017
Federal Perkins Loan Program Extension Act of 2017 This bill amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend the Federal Perkins Loans program through September 30, 2019.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2017
Declares that the Senate has heard with profound sorrow and deep regret the announcement of the death of Pete V. Domenici, former member of the U.S.Senate. Declares that when the Senate adjourns September 13, 2017, it stand adjourned as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late Senator Domenici.
United States · United States Congress · 7 September 2017
Rural Veterans Travel Enhancement Act of 2017 This bill requires Vet Centers (centers for readjustment counseling and related mental health services for veterans) to be treated as Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities for purposes of payment of medical-related expenses or allowances for travel to or from a VA facility. The bill makes permanent VA authority to transport individuals to and from VA facilities in connection with vocational rehabilitation or counseling or for examination, treatment, or care. The Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010 is amended to reauthorize through FY2020 grants to state veterans service organizations to assist veterans in highly rural areas to travel to VA medical centers. The VA shall: (1) establish a national protocol to administer medical examinations for volunteer drivers to participate in the veterans transportation program, and (2) implement the protocol by first conducting a one-year pilot program. The Government Accountability Office shall report to Congress on such program.
United States · United States Congress · 6 September 2017
This joint resolution condemns the racist violence and domestic terror attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, and rejects white nationalism, white supremacy, and neo-Nazism sentiments as antithetical to U.S. values. Congress offers condolences to the families of those who died in Charlottesville and sympathy and support for those injured, and expresses support to the Charlottesville community. Congress urges the President and the Administration to speak out against hate groups and use all available resources to address the growing prevalence of domestic hate groups.
United States · United States Congress · 5 September 2017
Student Testing Improvement and Accountability Act This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to reduce the required frequency of student achievement tests in mathematics and reading or language arts. Currently, students must be tested in those areas against state academic content and achievement standards in each of grades three through eight. This bill instead requires that those tests be administered at least once during: (1) grades 3 through 5, (2) grades 6 through 8, and (3) grades 9 through 12.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 2017
Training the Next Generation of Primary Care Doctors 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 · 3 August 2017
Medicare Home Infusion Therapy Access Act of 2017 This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to temporarily provide for transitional Medicare payment with respect to certain home infusion services furnished on or after January 1, 2019. Under current law, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services is required to establish a permanent payment system with respect to such services furnished on or after January 1, 2021.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 2017
Reach Every Mother and Child Act of 2017 This bill directs the President to: establish a five-year strategy to achieve, with target countries and donors, the goal of ending preventable child and maternal deaths globally and ensure healthy and productive lives by 2030; and provide assistance to implement the strategy. The President shall designate a current U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employee serving in the Senior Executive Service or at the level of a Deputy Assistant Administrator or higher to serve concurrently as the Maternal and Child Survival Coordinator, who shall be responsible for: overseeing such strategy, and all U.S. government funds appropriated or used for international maternal and child health and nutrition programs. Strategy grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements shall include targets for increased implementation of high-impact, evidence-based interventions and strengthening health systems. The President shall report to Congress annually for six years regarding progress made toward achieving the strategy and ending preventable child and maternal deaths.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 2017
United States Optimal Use of Trade to Develop Outerwear and Outdoor Recreation Act or the U.S. OUTDOOR Act This bill amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to provide for the duty-free treatment of certain recreational performance outerwear. The bill establishes the Sustainable Textile and Apparel Research Fund (STAR Fund). The Department of the Treasury must impose and collect, with specified exceptions, a fee of 1.5% of the appraised value of imported recreational performance outerwear and to deposit amounts collected into the STAR Fund. The Department of Commerce must make quarterly distributions from the STAR Fund to one or more appropriate organizations to conduct applied research, development, and education activities to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. businesses in clean, eco-friendly apparel, other textile and apparel products, and sewn-product design and manufacturing.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 2017
Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to change provisions that refer to married couples to make such provisions equally applicable to legally married same sex couples.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2017
Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017 This bill amends the Communications Act of 1934 to specify that communications decency provisions protecting providers from liability for the private blocking or screening of offensive material shall not be construed to impair the enforcement of, or limit availability of victim restitution or civil remedies under, state or federal criminal or civil laws relating to sex trafficking of children or sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. The bill amends the federal criminal code to specify that the violation for benefiting from "participation in a venture" engaged in sex trafficking of children, or by force, fraud, or coercion, includes knowing conduct by any person or entity by any means that assists, supports, or facilitates the violation.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2017
Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum Act or the AIRWAVES Act This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to complete auctions during each of the next three calendar years that will grant new broadcast licenses for specified frequency spectrum bands. The FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration are directed to identify frequencies in specified spectrum bands that may be utilized for: (1) non-federal unlicensed use; and (2) commercial licensed use. The FCC must allocate 10% of proceeds from each of the spectrum band auctions specified in the bill to expand wireless infrastructure in rural areas that are underserved or unserved. The FCC shall conduct a study on how unlicensed frequency spectrum bands can be utilized for: (1) the provision of healthcare in rural areas, (2) distance learning, and (3) facilitating innovations in agriculture.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Foreclosure Relief and Extension for Servicemembers Act of 2017 This bill amends the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 to make permanent the extended one-year period after a servicemember's military service during which: (1) a court may stay proceedings to enforce an obligation on real or personal property owned by the servicemember prior to such military service; and (2) the sale, foreclosure, or seizure of such property is invalid without a court order or agreement. (The extended one-year period expired on December 31, 2014, and returned to a nine-month period under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.)
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2017
Recreation Not Red-Tape Act This bill amends the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act to require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service to review the process for the issuance and renewal of special recreation permits, including for cross-jurisdictional trips, with respect to outfitters and guides. The Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) shall: (1) coordinate with states to allow the purchase of federal and state recreation passes at federal and state facilities in the same transaction, and (2) sell National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Passes, and make payment of entrance and standard amenity recreation fees available, through federal websites. Interior and USDA should work with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that service members and veterans have access to outdoor recreation and to outdoor-related volunteer and wellness programs. The Forest Service, BLM, and National Park Service may develop management plans for extending the recreation season or increasing recreation use during the offseason. The Forest Service and BLM shall evaluate land managers based on the achievement of applicable agency recreational and tourism goals. The Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Department of Transportation shall consider how land and water management decisions can enhance recreation opportunities and the recreation economy. The bill amends the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to establish the Ski Area Fee Retention Account. A specified portion of rental charges for ski area permits on a Forest Service unit shall be deposited in such account, and a specified portion of such amounts shall be available to such unit for ski area administration, improvements, and visitor services. The bill establishes a National Recreation Area System to be comprised of existing National Recreation Areas and new units designated after enactment of this bill. Interior and USDA shall: (1) develop initiatives to enhance private-sector volunteer programs, actively promote private-sector volunteer opportunities, and provide outreach and coordination to the private sector to carry out projects and programs for the stewardship of federal land; and (2) establish an interagency trail management plan under which federal land management agencies shall coordinate so that trails that cross jurisdictional boundaries between those agencies are uniformly managed and maintained.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2017
Javier Vega, Jr. Memorial Act of 2017 This bill designates the checkpoint of the U.S. Border Patrol located on U.S. Highway 77 North in Sarita, Texas, as the "Javier Vega, Jr. Border Patrol Checkpoint."
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2017
Bob Dole Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Bob Dole in recognition for his service to the nation as a soldier, legislator, and statesman.
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; and (3) Hizballah by reason of its narcotics trafficking and significant transnational criminal activities. 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 their funds were acquired and used; and (6) revenue from Hizbollah's global logistics networks and legal measures available to target such networks.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Burial Rights for America's Veterans' Efforts Act of 2017 or the BRAVE Act of 2017 This bill increases the amounts payable through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for: (1) burial and funeral expenses of certain veterans, and (2) such expenses in connection with a veteran's death due to a service-connected disability. The VA shall increase such amounts each fiscal year by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 This bill revises education and related benefits provided to veterans, service members, dependents, and survivors. The bill amends the Post-9/11 veterans' educational assistance program to: remove certain time restrictions on program use; increase assistance for reservists, guardsmen, dependents, and surviving spouses and dependents; provide full eligibility for Post-9/11 Purple Heart recipients and certain reservists and guardsmen; provide an extra academic years' worth of benefits for STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) degree candidates; establish a five-year pilot program for high technology courses; restore eligibility for service members whose school closes in the middle of a semester; authorize funding to improve claims processing; permit assistance to be used at certain institutions that are not institutions of higher education; and pro-rate the housing stipend for reservists called to active duty. The bill authorizes the Edith Nurse Rogers STEM Scholarship to help veterans complete STEM degrees. The Yellow Ribbon program is extended to Fry Scholarship recipients (surviving dependents of service members who died on active duty) and certain Purple Heart recipients. (The Yellow Ribbon program helps veterans pay for higher education tuition and fee costs not covered by the Post-9/11 program.) The bill: (1) extends the Advisory Committee on Education, (2) increases survivors' and dependents' educational assistance, and (3) extends funding for state educational program approving agencies. The bill provides statutory authority for the veterans success of campus program which provides veterans with on-campus educational and vocational counseling. The Department of Veterans Affairs shall: (1) make a new determination regarding each denied veteran's claim for disability compensation in connection with full-body exposure to mustard gas or Lewisite at specified locations during World War II, and (2) presume such exposure unless there is affirmative evidence otherwise.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2017
Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea (BRINK) Act of 2017 This bill requires the President to: (1) submit to Congress a list of financial institutions that are providing financial or banking support to the government of North Korea; (2) impose specified financial and asset blocking sanctions on an institution that has knowingly engaged in such conduct, and (3) impose specified civil penalties upon a U.S. institution based upon whether it has taken steps to prevent a recurrence of such conduct. The President: (1) may suspend, renew, or terminate sanctions subject to prior congressional notification and review; and (2) may not take an action if Congress enacts a joint resolution of disapproval of such action. The President shall prohibit, with specified exceptions, transactions involving the manufacture, sale, purchase, transfer, import, or export of certain North Korean goods, services, or technology (covered property) by a U.S. person or such transactions that are conducted in the United States. The President may impose specified sanctions with respect to: (1) persons providing specialized financial messaging services to North Korean financial institutions or sanctioned persons, and (2) governments that fail to take specified actions against North Korean financial institutions or persons designated under a United Nations Security Council resolution. A state or local government may divest its assets from, or prohibit investment of its assets in, any person engaging in investment activities involving North Korean covered property valued at more than $10,000. The bill expresses the sense of Congress with respect to: (1) blocking of property of North Korean officials, (2) divestiture of certain employee benefit plan funds involving North Korean covered property, and (3) the Kaesong Industrial Complex and North Korean nuclear disarmament.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2017
Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend to all domestic corporations, including S corporations, provisions allowing deferral of tax on gain from the sale of employer securities to an S corporation-sponsored employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The Department of the Treasury must establish the S Corporation Employee Ownership Assistance Office to foster increased employee ownership of S corporations. The bill also amends the Small Business Act to define "ESOP business concern" and allow such a concern to continue to qualify for loans, preferences, and other programs under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2017
Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act of 2017 or the DISCLOSE Act of 2017 This bill amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) to ban campaign contributions and expenditures by corporations that are controlled, influenced, or owned by foreign nationals. The bill redefines the term "independent expenditure" to include an expenditure that is the functional equivalent of express advocacy because it can be interpreted by a reasonable person only as advocating the election or defeat of a candidate. The bill expands the period during which certain communications are treated as electioneering communications. The bill prescribes disclosure requirements for campaign-related disbursements by corporations, labor organizations, and other entities, including a political committee with an account established for the purpose of accepting donations or contributions that do not comply with the contribution limits or source prohibitions under FECA.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2017
Paperwork Reduction for Farmers Act This bill directs the Department of Labor to establish a process for filing petitions for nonimmigrant temporary agricultural workers (H-2A visa) that ensures that: (1) petitions may be filed through Labor's website or in a paper format, and (2) any technical deficiency in the petition will be indicated to the petitioner before submission. An employer that has received a request for evidence from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) may request that such evidence request be delivered in an online format. CIS, within 10 days of the employer's submission of evidence, shall: (1) provide an online response indicating whether the evidence is sufficient; and (2) if the evidence is insufficient, provide the employer with an opportunity to address the deficiencies. The Immigration and Nationality Act is amended to include year-round equine or livestock workers (including dairy or poultry workers) within the H-2A visa category. The requirement that apple pressing be performed on a farm in order to qualify for H-2A status is eliminated. The bill permits multiple employers to submit a joint petition to import nonimmigrant H-2A visa temporary agricultural workers. Upon approval of such petition, each joint employer shall be subject to the Act's H-2A provisions with respect to each alien listed in the petition. An employer seeking to rehire H-2A workers who previously worked for the employer as H-2A workers at any time may submit a simplified petition, to be developed by CIS, which shall include a certification that the employer complies with all applicable employment requirements. Such petitions shall be approved upon completion of applicable security screenings. An employer seeking to hire H-2A workers during different time periods in a given fiscal year may submit a single petition to CIS detailing each alien's employment period.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2017
Industrial Hemp Water Rights Act This bill specifies that the owner of an absolute or conditional water right, or an entity that receives or distributes water contracted from the federal government, may use or sell the water for the cultivation of industrial hemp if the growth or cultivation of industrial hemp is otherwise authorized under the laws of the state in which the use occurs. The bill applies regardless of whether the water has passed through a federal water project.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Authorized Rural Water Projects Completion Act This bill establishes the Reclamation Rural Water Construction and Settlement Implementation Fund, which shall consist of the Rural Water Project Account and the Reclamation Infrastructure and Settlement Implementation Account. The Department of the Treasury shall deposit into such accounts for each of FY2018-FY2038 specified revenues that would otherwise be deposited in the reclamation fund established by the Reclamation Act of 1902. The bill permits the Department of the Interior to use specified Rural Water Project Account funds to complete construction of rural water projects: (1) authorized before this bill's enactment, or (2) for which a feasibility study was submitted by February 27, 2015, pursuant to the Rural Water Supply Act of 2006 and for which Congress authorizes construction after enactment of this bill. Interior may not expend any amounts from the fund to carry this out until development of: (1) programmatic goals that would enable the completion of construction of the authorized rural water projects as expeditiously as practicable and that reflect the priorities identified in the laws authorizing the projects; and (2) funding prioritization criteria to serve as a methodology for distributing funds that take into account specified factors, including the need for potable water supplies in the affected rural and tribal communities. Interior shall use specified Reclamation Infrastructure and Settlement Implementation Account funds to: (1) provide authorized compensation to resolve all monetary claims of an Indian tribe against the United States relating to use of tribal land by the United States for the generation of hydropower; or (2) complete projects and implement provisions authorized by Congress that resolve litigation involving the United States and the water rights of Indian tribes or that implement approved agreements limiting such rights.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Care And Readiness Enhancement for Reservists Act of 2017 or the CARE for Reservists Act of 2017 This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide counseling without referral, which may include a comprehensive individual assessment, to any member of the reserve components of the Armed Forces who has a behavioral health condition or psychological trauma. Outpatient services shall also be available to such reservists. The VA shall evaluate current and future workloads to determine whether more Vet Centers, including mobile Vet Centers, are needed to handle an expansion of services resulting from such increased eligibility. If a Vet Center's workload treating members of the Armed Forces exceeds its workload treating veterans, the VA shall enter into discussions with the Department of Defense (DOD) to determine whether a reimbursable memorandum of understanding between the VA and DOD for the center's services is warranted. The VA may furnish mental health services to such reservists. Such reservists are included in the VA programs of: (1) comprehensive suicide prevention, and (2) mental health treatment for veterans who served in classified missions.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2017
Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act of 2017 This bill amends the federal criminal code to: state that the term "intimate partner" includes a dating partner and any other person subject to a protection order under state domestic or family violence law; and expand the term "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" to include the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, by a current or former intimate partner. The bill makes it a crime to knowingly sell or dispose of a firearm to a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of stalking. It also makes it a crime for such convicted stalker to receive or possess a firearm.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2017
States Achieve Medicaid Expansion Act of 2017 or the SAME Act of 2017 This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to provide the enhanced federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) to every state that expands Medicaid coverage for individuals who are newly eligible under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, regardless of when such expansion takes place. Under current law, the enhanced FMAP is equivalent to 100% in 2014 through 2016, 95% in 2017, 94% in 2018, 93% in 2019, and 90% thereafter. The bill retains this enhanced FMAP, but bases it on a term of years rather than on specific dates. The bill applies retroactively.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2017
Furthering carbon capture, Utilization, Technology, Underground storage, and Reduced Emissions Act or the FUTURE Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend and modify the tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration. The bill modifies the credit to apply it to carbon oxide sequestration. (Carbon oxide refers to any of the three oxides of carbon: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and carbon suboxide.) The bill also: allows certain new industrial or direct air capture facilities to qualify for the credit if construction begins before January 1, 2024; allows qualified projects to claim the credit for 12 years, beginning on the date the equipment was originally placed in service; increases the separate credit amounts, with respect to projects placed in service upon or after the enactment of this bill, that apply to captured carbon oxide that is: (1) disposed of in secure geological storage, and (2) used as a tertiary injectant in an enhanced oil or natural gas recovery project and disposed of in secure geological storage; expands the purposes for which captured carbon oxide may be used; establishes separate carbon oxide capture thresholds for electricity generating facilities, direct air capture facilities, and facilities used for other purposes; specifies that the 75 million metric ton cap on the carbon dioxide that may qualify for the credit applies to carbon oxide and only to projects placed in service before the enactment of this bill; and allows the credit to be transferred from the entity that owns and uses the capture equipment to the entity that disposes of or uses the carbon oxide.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2017
Addressing Affordability for More Americans Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the health care premium assistance refundable tax credit, to: (1) expand eligibility for the credit by defining an "applicable taxpayer" as a taxpayer whose household income for the year does not exceed 800% of the federal poverty line (currently 400%), (2) specify the applicable premium percentages for the credit for taxpayers with incomes that are from 400% to 800% of the federal poverty line, and (3) specify the dollar limitations for the recapture of excess advance payments of the credit from such taxpayers.
![Official portrait of Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/t000464_200.jpg)