United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2017
Email Privacy Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to revise provisions that limit an electronic communication service (ECS) or remote communication service (RCS) provider from disclosing the contents of a wire or electronic communication that is in electronic storage. Additionally, it revises the standards for the government to compel an ECS or RCS provider to disclose contents of a wire or electronic communication or noncontent records or information pertaining to a subscriber or customer. An ECS or RCS provider may notify a subscriber or customer of the receipt of a warrant, court order, subpoena, or request, unless the government obtains an order for delayed notification. The bill revises the process for obtaining a delayed notification order and lengthens the maximum duration of a delayed notification order.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2017
Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act of 2017 This bill requires the President and Vice President to submit to Congress and the Office of Government Ethics a disclosure of financial interests. Among the contents of such disclosure, the President and Vice President shall: (1) include a detailed description of each financial interest of the President and Vice President, the spouse of the President and Vice President, or a minor child of the President and Vice President; and (2) include the tax returns filed by or on behalf of the President and Vice President for the three most recent taxable years. The President, the Vice President, the spouse of the President or Vice President, and any minor child of the President or Vice President must divest any financial interest posing a potential conflict of interest by transferring such interest to a qualified blind trust. Within a reasonable period of time after such financial interest is transferred to a qualified blind trust, the trustee of such trust shall: (1) sell the financial interest; and (2) use the proceeds from the sale of the financial interest to purchase conflict-free holdings. The Office of Government Ethics shall submit to Congress, the President, and the Vice President an annual report regarding the financial interests of such officials, their spouses, and any of their minor children. The Attorney General, the attorney general of any state, or any person aggrieved by a violation of divestiture requirements posing a potential conflict of interest may seek declaratory or injunctive relief if: (1) the Office of Government Ethics is unable to issue a report indicating whether the President or Vice President is in substantial compliance with such divestiture requirements; or (2) there is probable cause to believe the President or the Vice President has not complied with such requirements. The bill amends the federal criminal code to require the recusal of presidential appointees from decisions affecting the financial holdings of a President or the spouse of a President. Prohibitions pertaining to contracts entered into by Members of Congress are extended to contracts by the President or Vice President. The bill amends the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require the disclosure of tax returns by the incumbent President and presidential nominees of a major political party for the three most recent taxable years. The bill declares the sense of Congress that a violation of the divestiture requirements of this bill or the Ethics in Government in Government Act of 1978 by the President or the Vice President would constitute a high crime or misdemeanor.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2017
Shareholder Protection Act of 2017 This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require shareholder authorization with respect to certain political expenditures by an issuer. A violation of this requirement shall be considered a breach of fiduciary duty, and the officers and directors who authorized the expenditure shall be subject to joint and several liability. The Securities and Exchange Commission must direct the national securities exchanges and associations to prohibit the listing of any equity security of an issuer whose corporate bylaws do not require a board vote with respect to political expenditures in excess of $50,000. An issuer must, within 48 hours, make publicly available the individual votes of each board member with respect to such expenditures. The bill establishes various reporting requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2017
Encourages public schools with automated external defibrillators (AEDs), during time allocated under state law for training personnel in emergency first aid and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), to train personnel in the use of AEDs.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2017
Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act of 2017 or the RPM Act of 2017 This bill amends the Clean Air Act to allow the modification of a vehicle's air emission controls if the vehicle is used solely for competition.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2017
Protecting Our Democracy Act This bill establishes in the legislative branch the National Commission on Foreign Interference in the 2016 Election to examine any attempts or activities by the Russian government or other governments, persons or entities associated with such governments, or persons or entities within Russia to use electronic means to influence, interfere with, or sow distrust in elections for public office held in the United States in 2016.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2017
Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2017 This bill states that: the President may not prohibit or otherwise regulate travel to or from Cuba by U.S. citizens or legal residents, or any of the transactions incident to such travel, including banking transactions; any regulation in effect on the date of enactment of this Act prohibiting or otherwise regulating such travel or transactions incident to such travel shall cease to have any force or effect; but the prohibitions and requirements of this Act shall not apply if the United States is at war with Cuba, armed hostilities between the two countries are in progress, or there is imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety of U.S. travelers.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2017
Condemns the Dog Meat Festival in Yulin, China, because it: (1) is a spectacle of extreme animal cruelty, (2) is a commercial activity not grounded in Chinese history, (3) is opposed by a majority of the Chinese people, and (4) threatens global public health. Urges: the government of China and the Yulin authorities to ban the killing and eating of dogs as part of Yulin's festival and to enforce China's food safety laws regulating the processing and sale of animal products and the 2011 Agriculture Ministry of China Regulation on the Quarantine of Dogs at the Place of Origin requiring one certificate for one dog on trans-provincial transport trucks, and the National People's Congress of China to enact an animal anticruelty law that bans the dog meat trade. Affirms the commitment of the United States to the protection of animals and to the progress of animal protection.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2017
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the U.S. Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to restore mail delivery service standards in effect as of July 1, 2012.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017 This bill 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 · 5 January 2017
Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act of 2017 This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to direct the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to register an emergency medical services (EMS) agency to administer controlled substances if the agency submits an application demonstrating that it is authorized to conduct such activity in the state in which the agency practices. The DEA may deny an application if it determines that the registration is inconsistent with the public interest. An EMS agency may obtain a single registration in each state instead of a separate registration for each location. A registered EMS agency may deliver, store, and receive controlled substances, subject to specified conditions. An EMS professional of a registered EMS agency may administer controlled substances in schedules II, III, IV, or V outside the physical presence of a medical director if such administration is authorized under state law and pursuant to a standing or verbal order, subject to specified conditions. The bill specifies that a hospital-based EMS agency (i.e., an EMS agency owned or operated by a hospital) may continue to administer controlled substances under the hospital's DEA registration.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
Presidential Tax Transparency Act This bill amends the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require the President and certain candidates for President to disclose federal income tax returns for the three most recent taxable years in reports filed with either the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) or the Federal Election Commission (FEC), in the case of a candidate. The OGE or the FEC must make the disclosed tax returns publicly available after making appropriate redactions. If the income tax returns are not disclosed as required by this bill, the OGE or the FEC must request the returns from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the IRS, upon receiving a written request from the FEC or the OGE, to provide any income tax return that is required to be disclosed under this bill. The bill also establishes civil and criminal penalties for failing to file or falsifying income tax returns that are required to be disclosed pursuant to this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act This bill amends federal military retired pay provisions to: (1) permit veterans with a service-connected disability of less than 50% to concurrently receive both retired pay and disability compensation; (2) eliminate provisions requiring a phase-in between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2013, of concurrent receipt of retired pay and disability compensation; (3) eliminate a phase-in of concurrent receipt of retired pay and disability compensation for disabled veterans determined to be individually unemployable; and (4) require a limited reduction in retired pay for qualified disability retirees with less than 20 years of retirement-creditable service.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
Retired Pay Restoration Act This bill: (1) allows the receipt of both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation with respect to any service-connected disability (currently, only for a disability rated at 50% or more), and (2) repeals provisions phasing in the full concurrent receipt of such pay through December 31, 2013. Individuals who were retired or separated from military service due to a service-connected disability shall be eligible for the full concurrent receipt of both veterans' disability compensation and either military retired pay or combat-related special pay.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of State shall provide assistance: (1) to address the health care needs of covered individuals, (2) to institutions in Vietnam that provide health care to such individuals, (3) to repair and rebuild substandard homes in Vietnam for covered individuals and their families, and (4) to remediate geographic areas of Vietnam that contain high levels of Agent Orange. A "covered individual" is defined as an individual who is a Vietnam resident and who: (1) is affected by health issues related to Agent Orange exposure which took place between January 1, 1961, and May 7, 1975; (2) lives or had lived in or near geographic areas in Vietnam that continue to contain high levels of Agent Orange; or (3) is the child or descendant of such an individual and is affected by such health issues. State and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) shall provide assistance to support research relating to health issues of individuals affected by Agent Orange. The Department of Health and Human Services shall: (1) make grants to appropriate public health organizations and Vietnamese-American organizations to conduct a broad health assessment of Vietnamese-Americans who may have been exposed to Agent Orange and their children or descendants; and (2) establish centers in U.S. locations where large populations of Vietnamese-Americans reside to provide assessment, counseling, and treatment for conditions related to Agent Orange exposure. The bill amends veterans benefits provisions to provide benefits to the children of male (currently only female) Vietnam veterans who are affected by certain birth defects. The VA shall require any health care provider with whom the VA enters into a contract for the provision of health care to such children to provide the VA access to the medical records of such children for research into the intergenerational effects of Agent Orange exposure.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
States' Medical Marijuana Property Rights Protection Ac t This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to exempt real property from civil forfeiture due to medical marijuana-related conduct that is authorized by state law.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
Constitutional Amendment This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment requiring the President and Vice President to be elected directly by the people of the states and the District of Columbia.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
Peace Corps Stamp Act This bill directs the U.S. Postal Service to issue a Peace Corps Semipostal Stamp for 10 years to afford the public with a convenient way to help fund the Peace Corps' Global Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the U.S. Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of door delivery for all businesses and residential customers.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 2017
Declares that a viable and sustainable two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Calls for the United States to continue to: support a durable and sustainable two-state solution; oppose, and if necessary, veto future United Nations Security Council resolutions that seek to impose solutions to final status issues or that are one-sided and anti-Israel; and work with Israelis and Palestinians to create the conditions for successful final-status peace negotiations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2017
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Act of 2017 This bill redesignates the Martin Luther King, Junior, National Historic Site in the state of Georgia as the "Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park." The bill replaces the current boundary map with a map of a proposed boundary revision dated June 2015.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2017
Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act This bill amends the Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act to authorize the National Science Foundation to encourage its entrepreneurial programs to recruit and support women to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and into the commercial world.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2017
Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2017 This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies regarding prices for drugs covered under the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Current law prohibits CMS from doing so.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2017
Trust Returned to the United States Taxpayer Act or the TRUST Act This bill denies retirement benefits under the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System to a Member of Congress who is convicted of any crime committed after the enactment of this bill that is a felony under federal or state law (currently, limited to specified felonies under federal law).
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2017
Restoring Education And Learning Act of 2017 or the REAL Act of 2017 This bill amends title IV (Student Aid) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to eliminate the provision that prohibits Pell Grant eligibility for individuals incarcerated in a federal or state penal institution and for sex offenders subject to civil commitment following incarceration.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2017
Calls upon President-elect Donald J. Trump to: (1) follow the precedent established by prior Presidents and convert his assets to conflict-free holdings, adopt blind trusts, or take other equivalent measures to ensure compliance with the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution; and (2) not use the powers or opportunities of his position as President-elect or President of the United States for any purpose related to the Trump Organization. Declares that in the absence of such actions or specific authorization by Congress, Congress regards dealings that Donald Trump, as President, may have through his companies with foreign governments or entities owned or controlled by foreign governments to be potential violations of such clause.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Summer Meals Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to redefine "areas in which poor economic conditions exist," where the summer food service program for children may operate, as areas in which at least 40% (currently, 50%) of the children have been determined to be eligible for free or reduced price school meals under the school lunch and breakfast programs. The bill reimburses service institutions (other than school food authorities) for up to one meal and one snack per child each day during after-school hours, weekends, and school holidays during the regular school calendar. (Currently, such institutions are reimbursed for meals and snacks served to children over the summer months or to children who are on vacation under a continuous school calendar.) The Department of Agriculture may award competitive grants to service institutions to increase participation in the summer food service program for children at congregate feeding sites through innovative approaches to limited transportation and mobile meal trucks. Service institutions that are participating in the summer food service program for children may serve up to three meals, or two meals and one snack, during each day of operation. (Currently, this option is reserved for camps and service institutions that serve meals primarily to migrant children.)
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Home Foreclosure Reduction Act of 2017 This bill amends federal bankruptcy law governing a Chapter 13 debtor (adjustment of debts of an individual with regular income) to exclude from the computation of debts the secured or unsecured portions of: (1) debts secured by the debtor's principal residence if the value of the residence is less than the applicable maximum amount of noncontingent, liquidated, secured debts; or (2) debts secured or formerly secured by the debtor's principal residence that was either sold in foreclosure or surrendered to the creditor if the property's value was less than the applicable maximum amount of noncontingent, liquidated, secured debts. The bill applies the credit counseling requirement to a Chapter 13 debtor who certifies receipt of notice that the holder of a claim secured by the debtor's principal residence may commence a foreclosure on it. Courts must disallow a claim that is subject to any remedy for rescission under the Truth in Lending Act, notwithstanding the prior entry of a foreclosure judgment. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan may modify the rights of claim holders with respect to a claim for a loan originated before the effective date of this bill and secured by a security interest in the debtor's principal residence that is the subject of a foreclosure notice The bill authorizes reduction of a claim secured by the debtor's principal residence, but only in specified circumstances, particularly if the debtor sells the residence. A debtor is not liable for certain fees and charges incurred while the bankruptcy case is pending and arising from a debt secured by the debtor's principal residence, unless the claim holder observes specified requirements. The bill adds to conditions for court confirmation of a plan in bankruptcy that: (1) the holder of a claim secured by the debtor's principal residence retain the lien securing the claim until the later of the payment of the claim as reduced and modified, completion of all payments under the plan, or the discharge of a debtor from all debts; and (2) the plan modifies the claim in good faith and the court does not find that the debtor has been convicted of obtaining by actual fraud the extension, renewal, or refinancing of credit that gives rise to a modified claim. Upon request, the court may confirm a plan proposing a reduction in the interest rate on the loan secured by such security interest and that does not reduce the principal, if certain requirements are met. The bill excludes from the final discharge of a debtor from all debts any unpaid portion of such a claim as reduced. The federal judicial code is amended to prescribe standing trustee fees regarding certain payments received under a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act of 2017 This bill amends federal bankruptcy law to modify provisions related to Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which typically involves the reorganization of a debtor company's assets and debts. Specifically, the bill modifies provisions governing: (1) employee and retiree recoveries and losses, and (2) executive compensation programs. With respect to employee and retiree recoveries and losses, the bill: increases the maximum value and age of specified wage and benefit claims entitled to priority payment; allows certain claims for losses related to defined contribution plans, if the employer or plan sponsor has committed fraud or otherwise breached its fiduciary duty; allows, as an administrative expense of the estate, severance pay owed to employees; establishes certain restrictions regarding the rejection or amendment of a collective bargaining agreement; revises specified procedures related to the reduction or denial of retiree benefits; requires a court, in approving a sale of business assets, to consider the extent to which a bidder has offered to maintain existing jobs and assume benefit obligations; and modifies other provisions. With respect to executive compensation, the bill: establishes specified limitations related to executive compensation enhancements, prohibits executives from receiving certain retiree benefits if such benefits were reduced or eliminated for other employees or retirees, and revises other requirements related to court approval of such compensation. In addition, the bill grants creditor status to labor organizations for purposes of filing a proof of claim.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Stopping Abusive Student Loan Collection Practices in Bankruptcy Act of 2017 This bill amends the federal bankruptcy code to allow an individual whose student loan debt is discharged due to undue hardship to recover court costs and attorney's fees for the discharge proceeding if the court finds that the position of the creditor opposing the discharge was not substantially justified.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act This bill establishes the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans to examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Veterans' Access to Child Care Act This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide child care assistance to an eligible veteran for any period that the veteran: (1) receives covered health care services at a VA facility, and (2) is required to travel to and return from such facility for the receipt of such services. The bill defines: (1) "covered health care services" to mean regular mental health care services, intensive mental health care services, or such other intensive health care services to which the VA determines that provision of child care assistance would improve the veteran's access; and (2) "eligible veteran" as a veteran who is the primary caretaker of a child and who is receiving covered health care services from the VA or who is in need of, and who would receive, such services from the VA but for lack of child care. Included among child care assistance to be provided under this bill are: a stipend for the payment of the full cost of child care offered by a licensed child care center, which shall be modeled after the VA's Child Care Subsidy Program; direct provision of child care at an on-site VA facility; a payment made directly to a private child care agency; and collaboration with a facility or program of another federal department or agency.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Wildlife Veterinarians Employment and Training Act or the Wildlife VET Act This bill authorizes the Department of the Interior to award grants to wildlife or veterinary institutions to create additional clinical and research positions for wildlife and zoological veterinarians. Preference must be given to institutions that will create positions in areas of need, including wildlife disease research and training, disease surveillance, ecology and wildlife population management, and conservation and management of the health of endangered, threatened, and sensitive species. Interior must establish: (1) the Wildlife and Zoological Veterinary Workforce Loan Repayment Program to pay educational loans of eligible individuals for a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine or a graduate degree in veterinary medicine, and (2) the Wildlife and Zoological Veterinary Workforce Scholarship Program to award students enrolled in an accredited school or college of veterinary medicine scholarships. Those loans may be repaid and the awards may be given only if the recipient of the loan or the award agrees to serve for at least four consecutive years at a wildlife or veterinary institution as a wildlife or zoological veterinarian. Interior must also: (1) establish a pilot program to award grants to accredited schools and colleges of veterinary medicine to develop or improve new or existing curricula that specialize in wildlife or zoological veterinary medicine, and (2) award grants to eligible wildlife or veterinary institutions to establish or expand training programs that will enhance the ability of a trainee to practice as a wildlife or zoological veterinarian.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Safeguard American Food Exports Act of 2017 This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to deem equine (horses and other members of the equidae family) parts to be an unsafe food additive or animal drug. The bill prohibits the knowing sale or transport of equines or equine parts for human consumption.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Redistricting and Voter Protection Act of 2017 This bill requires a state that enacts a congressional redistricting plan prior to the next decennial census and apportionment of Representatives to obtain a declaratory judgment or preclearance from the Attorney General that such plan does not have the purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color or in contravention of the guarantees of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Protecting Employees and Retirees in Municipal Bankruptcies Act of 2017 This bill amends federal bankruptcy law to: (1) heighten criteria with respect to a municipality's eligibility for municipal bankruptcy, and (2) revise provisions related to judicial procedure and review in municipality bankruptcy cases. In addition, the bill expands protections for employees and retirees in cases of municipal bankruptcy. Specifically, if a municipal bankruptcy plan modifies a collective bargaining agreement or retiree benefit, the covered employees' authorized representative must agree to the plan as a condition of the plan's confirmation by the court. In general, the authorized representative shall be the labor organization that is signatory to the collective bargaining agreement. However, the bill establishes procedures for the court's appointment of a different representative under specified circumstances.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States can achieve a more perfect union: through avoidance of "government speech" (as the state of Texas did in Walker III v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. ) that promotes or displays symbols, signs, and vestiges of racism, oppression, and intimidation; by abating the use of government speech through signs, actions, and words that promote division and tear at the fabric of American society; and by taking actions to ensure that government speech does not foster division, disharmony, or intolerance through government-issued or sponsored flags, signs, images, or other symbol.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Honoring Our WWII Merchant Mariners Act of 2017 This bill establishes in the Treasury the Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund from which the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is to make one payment of $25,000 to each individual who, between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946, was a documented member of the U.S. merchant marine (including the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service) serving as a crewmember of a vessel that was operated in U.S. waters by the War Shipping Administration or the Office of Defense Transportation and under contract to, or the property of, the United States. Such individuals must: (1) apply for such benefit within one year after the enactment of this Act, and (2) not have received benefits under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. The VA shall include, in annual budget documents submitted to Congress, detailed information on the Fund's operation.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal, beginning with taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, the excise tax on employer-sponsored health care coverage for which there is an excess benefit (high-cost plans).
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Teacher Victims' Family Assistance Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Education to provide assistance to the immediate families of teachers or other elementary and secondary school employees who are killed by another person's violent act while performing school duties. Such assistance includes funeral assistance, a death benefit, living assistance, and undergraduate education assistance for dependents. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from income tax: (1) the victim's compensation from school employment in the year of death, and (2) the victim's family assistance. The bill also establishes the Teacher Victims' Family Trust Fund funded with an excise tax increase on ammunition.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Reforming Alternatives to Incarceration and Sentencing to Establish a Better Path for Youth Act of 2017 or the RAISE Act of 2017 This bill amends the federal criminal code to permit a court to impose a sentence below the mandatory minimum for certain nonviolent youth offenses if the mandatory minimum is unjust to the youth and not necessary to protect public safety. The term "youth" means an individual prosecuted or sentenced for a criminal offense committed at age 21 or younger. The bill requires the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to release early, subject to a period of pre-release custody, a nonviolent youth offender who has: (1) completed one half or more of his or her prison term, and (2) received no disciplinary violations for violent conduct in the last two years. A court may reduce the prison term of a youth who has completed 20 years of such prison term if: (1) compelling evidence warrants a sentence reduction, and (2) the youth poses no public safety danger. Additionally, a court must treat as discretionary a mandatory life prison term for a youth offender and impose an appropriate sentence after considering the youth's age. It limits to 30, 60, or 90 days the maximum prison term imposed on a defendant who commits a first, second, or third technical violation of a probation condition. The BOP must separately designate youth correctional facilities, minimize contact between youth and other offenders, and establish youth education, skills training, reentry, and mental and emotional health programs. The Department of Justice must establish pilot programs for diversion of high-risk, victimized, and primary caretaker youth. The BOP must establish pilot programs on youth mentorship, government service, and animal service. This bill's provisions apply to youth involved in the federal criminal justice system before, on, or after enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Fair Chance for Youth Act of 2017 This bill amends the federal criminal code to establish a process to expunge and seal certain youth criminal records. A youth is an individual who was arrested, prosecuted, or sentenced for a criminal offense committed at age 21 or younger. A youth may petition to expunge records related to: (1) a misdemeanor conviction, (2) a nonviolent felony drug conviction, (3) a conviction for any nonviolent offense committed prior to attaining age 18, or (4) an arrest or prosecution for a nonviolent offense that is disposed of. A youth may petition to seal records related to: (1) a nonviolent conviction, (2) a conviction for any offense committed prior to attaining age 18, and (3) an arrest or prosecution for a nonviolent offense that is disposed of. Each federal district court must establish a Youth Offense Expungement and Sealing Review Board to review, evaluate on the merits, and make recommendations to grant or deny expungement and sealing petitions. The Court must consider and decide each petition for which it receives a Review Board recommendation. The Department of Justice must report on the number of: (1) expungement and sealing petitions granted and denied, and (2) times a U.S. attorney supported or opposed an expungement or sealing petition. This bill's provisions apply to youth regardless of whether such youth became involved in the federal criminal justice system before, on, or after enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Accidental Firearms Transfers Reporting Act of 2017 This bill requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to submit a biannual report to Congress on the number of proposed firearm transfers where: (1) a licensed gun dealer submitted a background check through the National Instant Criminal History Background Check System (NICS), (2) NICS failed to respond to the licensed gun dealer within three business days, and (3) the licensed gun dealer completed the transfer. The FBI must also report on the procedures followed once the transferee is discovered to be ineligible.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Effective and Humane Treatment of Youth Act of 2017 or Kalief's Law This legislation amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to reauthorize the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant (JABG) program for FY2018-FY2022. It requires a state or local government that receives JABG funding to implement policies that, with respect to youth: (1) provide a right to speedy trial; (2) provide a right to timely bail consideration; and (3) restrict solitary confinement. The term "youth" means an individual who is 21 years of age or younger. Additionally, it requires a state or local government that receives funding under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program or the Community Oriented Policing Services program to implement policies and training on police-youth interaction. The legislation amends the federal criminal code to: (1) require youth custodial interrogations to be recorded; (2) prohibit youth solitary confinement, except as a temporary response to serious and harmful behavior; and (3) prohibit youth restraints during courtroom proceedings, except in certain circumstances. DOJ must report to Congress on youth solitary confinement, including: (1) types and conditions; and (2) number of instances broken down by age, race, ethnicity, gender, and unique circumstances. The bill directs DOJ to award grants to states and local governments to record youth custodial interrogations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Hire A Hero Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow small businesses a work opportunity tax credit for hiring a member of the Ready Reserve or the National Guard, and (2) make such credit with respect to the hiring of qualified veterans and members of the Ready Reserve and National Guard permanent.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Original Living Wage Act of 2017 This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the federal minimum wage to the minimum hourly wage sufficient for a person working for 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, to earn an annual income 15% higher than the federal poverty threshold for a four-person household, with two children under age 18, and living in the 48 contiguous states. The Department of Labor (DOL) shall determine the minimum wage rate by June 1, 2017, and review it every four years. DOL may not adjust the minimum wage to a lower rate.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Emergency Flood Control Supplemental Funding Act of 2017 This bill makes supplemental appropriations for FY2017 for the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control projects and storm damage reduction projects in areas affected by flooding in Houston, Texas, that have received a major disaster declaration pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2017
Encourage New Legalized Immigrants to Start Training Act or the ENLIST Act This bill authorizes the enlistment in the Armed Forces of aliens unlawfully present in the United States on December 31, 2012, who: (1) have been continuously present in the United States since such date; (2) were younger than 15 years of age when they initially entered the United States; and (3) are otherwise eligible for original enlistment in a regular component of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard. The Department of Homeland Security shall adjust the status of an alien enlisted under such authority to the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act applicable to aliens who entered the United States prior to January 1, 1972. The bill rescinds such lawful permanent resident status if the alien is separated from the Armed Forces under other than honorable conditions before serving the term of enlistment.
United States · United States Congress · 8 December 2016
Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act This bill amends the federal judicial code with respect to denial of a foreign state's sovereign immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. or state courts in commercial activity cases where rights in property taken in violation of international law are in issue and that property, or any property exchanged for it, is: (1) present in the United States in connection with a commercial activity carried on by the foreign state in the United States, or (2) owned by an agency or instrumentality of the foreign state and that agency or instrumentality is engaged in a commercial activity in the United States. The bill grants a foreign state or certain carriers immunity from federal or state court jurisdiction for any activity in the United States associated with a temporary exhibition or display of a work of art or other object of cultural significance if: the work of art or other object of cultural significance is imported into the United States from any foreign country pursuant to an agreement for its temporary exhibition or display between a foreign state that is its owner or custodian and the United States or U.S. cultural or educational institutions; and the President has determined that such work is culturally significant and its temporary exhibition or display is in the national interest. The bill denies immunity, however, in cases concerning rights in property taken in violation of international law in which the action is based upon a claim that the work was taken: (1) between January 30, 1933, and May 8, 1945, by the government of Germany or any government in Europe occupied, assisted, or allied by the German government; or (2) after 1900 in connection with the acts of a foreign government as part of a systematic campaign of coercive confiscation or misappropriation of works from members of a targeted and vulnerable group. For purposes of these denials of immunity, the court must determine that the activity associated with the exhibition or display is commercial and that determination must be necessary for the court to exercise jurisdiction over the foreign state. The Department of State must ensure that foreign states that apply for such temporary exhibition immunity are notified of the amendments made by this bill.
![Official portrait of Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/c001068_200.jpg)