United States · United States Congress · 26 February 2013
Directs the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to arrange for the award, on behalf of Congress, of six gold medals in honor of the members of the 17 Bombardment Group (Medium), who became known as the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, in recognition of their military service during World War II. Requires: (1) five of the medals to be given to the five surviving members of the April 18, 1942, Tokyo bombing mission; and (2) the remaining medal to be given to the National Museum of the United States Air Force for display. Expresses the sense of Congress that such Museum should make the medal available for display elsewhere, particularly at locations and events associated with the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 2013
Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require all election-related designations, statements, and reports required to be filed under the Act to be filed directly with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2013
Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act of 2013 - Establishes the Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Management Area in Montana. Designates specified land within the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana as wilderness and as additions to existing components of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to prepare a comprehensive management strategy for the prevention, control, and eradication of noxious weeds in the Rocky Mountain Ranger District of Lewis and Clark National Forest. Authorizes such Secretary to conduct a study for improving nonmotorized recreation trail opportunities, including mountain bicycling, on land within the District that is not designated as wilderness.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2013
Public Lands Service Corps Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 to rename: (1) the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 as the Public Lands Service Corps Act of 1993, and (2) the Public Lands Corps as the Public Lands Service Corps (the Corps). Permits Corps participants to work in the National Marine Sanctuary System, coral reefs, and other coastal, estuarine, and marine habitats, and other lands and facilities administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Requires the: (1) establishment of a department-level office within the Department of the Interior, Forest Service, and NOAA for the coordination of Corps activities; and (2) designation of a Corps coordinator for each agency within the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce that administers such activities. Establishes an Indian Youth Service Corps liaison. Expands those authorized to be in the Corps to permit the enrollment of consulting interns. Permits enrollment for a term of up to two years. Requires: (1) a recruitment program for the Corps, and (2) a training program at residential conservation centers or at other sites to provide training for Corps participants. Describes the types of natural and cultural resources conservation projects that may be carried out by the Corps. Authorizes: (1) the Corps to provide certain visitor and interpretation services, (2) establishing residential conservation centers, and (3) individual placements of consulting interns to perform management analysis activities for agencies under the Secretary's jurisdiction carrying out appropriate natural and cultural resources conservation projects. Authorizes cooperative agreements and competitive grants for Indian tribes and qualified youth or conservation corps to establish Indian Youth Service Corps programs. Requires the Secretary to issue management guidelines for programs of the Corps.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2013
Land and Water Conservation Authorization and Funding Act of 2013 - Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to make permanent the authorization for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Makes monies covered into the Fund available for expenditure to carry out the purposes of the Act without further appropriation. Requires not less than 1.5% of the annual authorized funding amount to be made available for projects that secure recreational public access to existing federal public land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 2013
Postal Service Protection Act of 2013 - Sets forth rules for the recalculation of annuities for employees of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and for the redetermination of surplus or supplemental liabilities under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). Prescribes the "average pay" to be used in calculating annuities and surplus amounts. Authorizes the transfer of surplus postal retirement contributions in FY2013 to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund, the Postal Service Fund, and the Employees' Compensation Fund under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) and to USPS for payment of its debt obligations. Eliminates the requirement for pre-funding of the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund. Sets forth criteria for the closing or consolidation of postal facilities. Allows USPS to provide any nonpostal service or product in a manner consistent with the public interest. Provides for the mailing of wine and beer sent by a licensed winery or brewery in accordance with the laws of the state, territory, or district where the addressee or agent takes delivery. Establishes in USPS the position of the Chief Innovation Officer who shall have proven expertise and success in the postal and shipping industry and in innovation, marketing, technology, and management. Establishes a Postal Innovation Advisory Commission. Requires the Postmaster General to report to specified congressional committees and the Postal Regulatory Commmission on a comprehensive strategy for maximizing USPS revenue through innovative postal and nonpostal products and services. Prohibits USPS from reducing the frequency of mail delivery to fewer than six days each week or from increasing the expected delivery time for market-dominant products.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 2013
Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2013 or the ABLE Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish tax-exempt ABLE accounts to assist an individual with a disability in building an account to pay for qualified disability expenses. Defines "qualified disability expenses" to include expenses for education, including higher education expenses, a primary residence, transportation, obtaining and maintaining employment, health and wellness, and other personal support expenses. Treats a qualified ABLE program and an ABLE account in the same manner as a qualified tuition program for income tax purposes (i.e., allowing a tax exemption for such program and an exclusion from gross income of amounts attributable to a contributor to or a beneficiary of a program account). Defines "qualified ABLE program" as a program established and maintained by a state agency under which a person may make contributions to an ABLE account established to pay for qualified disability expenses. Requires amounts in ABLE accounts to be disregarded in determining eligibility for Medicaid and other means-tested federal programs. Suspends the payment of supplemental security income benefits under title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act to an individual during any period in which such individual has excess resources attributable to an ABLE account.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 2013
Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act of 2013 - Amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require amounts received through FY2020 (currently, through FY2010) from leases under the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to be available to the Secretary of the Interior for implementing the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as well as the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to: (1) prepare and publish a notice of intent to prepare a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to analyze the potential impacts of a program to develop solar and wind energy on National Forest System land and any necessary amendments to land use plans for such land, and (2) amend such plans to provide for the development of renewable energy on completion of the programmatic EIS. Requires the Secretary of Defense (DOD), for states that have not completed such an analysis, to submit a report that: (1) identifies locations on land withdrawn from the public domain and reserved for military purposes that could be developed for renewable energy production, and (2) describes the administration of public land withdrawn for military purposes for the development of commercial-scale renewable energy projects. Requires the Secretary of the Interior to establish a wind and solar leasing pilot program on public land administered by the Secretary. Requires the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) make a joint determination on whether to establish such program within two years on all covered land, (2) establish such program unless they determine that the program is not in the public interest and does not provide an effective means of developing such energy, and (3) require as a condition for any authorization for the development of such energy on such land the payment of a royalty. Defines "covered land" as: (1) public land administered by the Secretary or National Forest System land administered by the Secretary of Agriculture; and (2) land not excluded from the development of solar or wind energy under a land use plan established under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the National Forest Management Act of 1976, or other law. Establishes in the Treasury the Renewable Energy Resource Conservation Fund to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior in regions impacted by the development of wind or solar energy for addressing and offsetting the impacts of such development on federal land, securing recreational access to federal land to provide enhanced public access to existing federal land that is inaccessible or significantly restricted, and carrying out activities authorized under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965. Requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to determine the feasibility of carrying out a conservation banking program. Prohibits wind or solar generation projects with a capacity of 20 megawatts or more that are issued a lease, right-of-way, permit, or other authorization from being subject to the rental fee exemption for rights-of-way under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2013
North Fork Watershed Protection Act of 2013 - Withdraws federally owned land or interest in land within the North Fork Lands Withdrawal Area in Montana from: (1) all forms of location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (2) disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2013
Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians Restoration Act of 2013 - Extends federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana. Makes the Tribe and each member eligible for all services and benefits provided by the United States to Indians and federally recognized Indian tribes, without regard to the existence of a reservation for the Tribe or the location of the residence of any member on or near an Indian reservation. Considers the federal service area of the Tribe to be the area comprised of Blaine, Cascade, Glacier, and Hill Counties, Montana. Directs the Tribe, as a condition of receiving recognition, services, and benefits pursuant to this Act, to submit to the Secretary of the Interior a membership roll consisting of the name of each individual enrolled as a member of the Tribe. Requires the Tribe to maintain such membership roll. Directs the Secretary to acquire, for the benefit of the Tribe, trust title to 200 acres of land within the Tribe's service area to be used for a tribal land base.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 2013
Paycheck Fairness Act - Amends the portion of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) known as the Equal Pay Act to revise remedies for, enforcement of, and exceptions to prohibitions against sex discrimination in the payment of wages. Revises the exception to the prohibition for a wage rate differential based on any other factor other than sex. Limits such factors to bona fide factors, such as education, training, or experience. States that the bona fide factor defense shall apply only if the employer demonstrates that such factor: (1) is not based upon or derived from a sex-based differential in compensation, (2) is job-related with respect to the position in question, and (3) is consistent with business necessity. Makes such defense inapplicable where the employee demonstrates that: (1) an alternative employment practice exists that would serve the same business purpose without producing such differential, and (2) the employer has refused to adopt such alternative practice. Revises the prohibition against employer retaliation for employee complaints. Prohibits retaliation for inquiring about, discussing, or disclosing the wages of the employee or another employee in response to a complaint or charge, or in furtherance of a sex discrimination investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, or an investigation conducted by the employer. Makes employers who violate sex discrimination prohibitions liable in a civil action for either compensatory or (except for the federal government) punitive damages. States that any action brought to enforce the prohibition against sex discrimination may be maintained as a class action in which individuals may be joined as party plaintiffs without their written consent. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to seek additional compensatory or punitive damages in a sex discrimination action. Requires the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to train EEOC employees and affected individuals and entities on matters involving wage discrimination. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to eligible entities for negotiation skills training programs for girls and women. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Education to issue regulations or policy guidance to integrate such training into certain programs under their Departments. Directs the Secretary to conduct studies and provide information to employers, labor organizations, and the general public regarding the means available to eliminate pay disparities between men and women. Establishes the Secretary of Labor's National Award for Pay Equity in the Workplace for an employer who has made a substantial effort to eliminate pay disparities between men and women. Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require the EEOC to collect from employers pay information data regarding the sex, race, and national origin of employees for use in the enforcement of federal laws prohibiting pay discrimination. Directs: (1) the Commissioner of Labor Statistics to continue to collect data on woman workers in the Current Employment Statistics survey, (2) the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to use specified types of methods in investigating compensation discrimination and in enforcing pay equity, and (3) the Secretary to make accurate information on compensation discrimination readily available to the public. Directs the Secretary and the Commissioner [ sic ] of the EEOC jointly to develop technical assistance material to assist small businesses to comply with the requirements of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 2013
Forest Jobs and Recreation Act of 2013 - Establishes the Montana Forest Jobs and Restoration Pilot Initiative under which the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA), through the Chief of the Forest Service, shall implement authorized forest and watershed restoration projects and other land management projects on certain eligible lands within the Beaverhead-Deerlodge and Kootenai National Forests in Montana to achieve the specified purposes of the Initiative and specified performance requirements. Permits the inclusion of the Seeley Ranger District of the Lolo National Forest within the Initiative. Requires the identification of one or more collaborative groups or resource advisory committees for each national forest within the Initiative. Requires the Secretary to: (1) annually implement one or more authorized forest and watershed restoration projects on the eligible lands; (2) implement, in one or more certain watershed areas, those projects that provide landscape-scale work in order to minimize watershed entries; and (3) enter into stewardship contracts or agreements to carry out authorized forest and watershed restoration projects. Designates specified lands administered by the Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Montana as wilderness areas and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). Releases: (1) certain BLM wilderness study areas from further study for designation as wilderness, and (2) the Sapphire and West Pioneer Wilderness Study Areas from further study for inclusion as components of the NWPS. Designates specified federal lands in Montana as special management or recreation management areas. Requires a specified all-terrain vehicle study and report.
![Official portrait of Sen. Walsh, John E. [D-MT]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/w000818_200.jpg)