United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2023
Access Business Credit Act of 2023 or the ABC Act of 2023 This bill excludes from the gross income of certain banks, for income tax purposes, interest received on small business loans of up to $5 million. The exclusion does not apply to interest received after 2027. The bill applies to loans that are (1) secured by land situated in the United States that is used or held by the small business in connection with the active conduct of a farming business, or (2) incurred in the ordinary course of the trade or business of the small business. To be eligible for the exclusion, a bank must have less than $50 billion in assets at the close of the preceding taxable year.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 2023
College Transparency Act This bill requires the National Center for Education Statistics to establish a secure and privacy-protected data system that contains information about postsecondary students. Specifically, the data system must evaluate student enrollment patterns, progression, completion, and postcollegiate outcomes, and higher education costs and financial aid; provide complete and customizable information for students and families making decisions about postsecondary education; reduce the requirements for reporting by institutions of higher education; and periodically match with other federal systems of data. The bill also establishes a postsecondary student data system advisory committee.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 2023
Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act or the PRIME Act This bill exempts from federal inspection requirements animals and meats that are slaughtered and prepared at custom animal slaughter facilities for distribution within the state. Under current law, a custom slaughter exemption applies if the meat is slaughtered exclusively for personal, household, guest, or employee uses. Specifically, the bill expands the federal inspection exemption to include the slaughter of animals or the preparation of carcasses, meat, and meat food products that are slaughtered and prepared at a custom slaughter facility in accordance with the laws of the state where the facility is located; and prepared exclusively for distribution to household consumers in the state or restaurants, hotels, boarding houses, grocery stores, or other establishments in the state that either prepare meals served directly to consumers or offer meat and food products for sale directly to consumers in the state. The bill does not preempt any state law concerning (1) the slaughter of animals or the preparation of carcasses, meat, and meat food products at a custom slaughter facility; or (2) the sale of meat or meat food products.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 2023
Save Local Business Act This bill provides that a person may be considered a joint employer in relation to an employee under federal labor law only if such person directly, actually, and immediately (and not in a limited and routine manner) exercises significant control over the essential terms and conditions of employment. Such control may by demonstrated by hiring and discharging employees, determining individual employee rates of pay and benefits, day-to-day supervision of employees, assigning individual work schedules, positions, and tasks, and administering employee discipline.
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 2023
Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Roddie Edmonds in recognition of his achievements and heroic actions during World War II.
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 2023
Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking Act or the FIGHT Act This bill expands protections of animals provided under the Animal Welfare Act, including by prohibiting any (1) broadcasts from international, interstate, or intrastate sources of animal fighting ventures in the United States or U.S. territories; and (2) shipments or transport of certain mature roosters.
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 2023
Fair Access to Banking Act This bill places restrictions on certain banks, credit unions, and payment card networks if they refuse to do business with a person who complies with the law. Restrictions include prohibiting the use of electronic funds transfer systems and lending programs, termination of an institution's depository insurance, and specified civil penalties. Banks and other specified financial institutions are allowed to deny financial services to a person only if the denial is justified by a documented failure of that person to meet quantitative, impartial, risk-based standards established in advance by the institution. This justification may not be based upon reputational risks to the institution. Banks may also deny services to a person who engaged in rude or harassing conduct toward an employee of the bank. The bill establishes the right for a person to bring a civil action for a violation of this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 2023
American Innovation and R&D Competitiveness Act of 2023 This bill eliminates the five-year amortization requirement for research and experimental expenditures, thus allowing continued expensing of such expenditures in the taxable years in which they are incurred.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2023
Safe Schools Act This bill allows state and local educational agencies to use certain COVID-19 emergency relief funds to carry out school security measures (e.g., trainings and security assessments).
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2023
Federal Firearms Licensee Protection Act of 2023 This bill modifies criminal penalties for an offense involving the theft of a firearm from a licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer, or from their business premises. Specifically, the bill does the following: increases from 10 to 20 years the maximum prison term, and creates a 3- or 5-year mandatory minimum prison term for an offense that occurs during the commission of a burglary or robbery. An attempt to commit an offense is subject to the same penalties as a substantive offense.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2023
Safeguarding Women's and Children's Health Act of 2023 This bill imposes reporting requirements relating to abortion drugs. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must require health care practitioners to report (1) any death or adverse event associated with the use of an abortion drug, whether or not the adverse event is considered drug-related; and (2) each time the practitioner prescribes, dispenses, or administers such a drug. The FDA must establish online portals for health care practitioners to report such information and for patients to self-report adverse events. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must aggregate the collected information and annually publish data about such drugs, including the number of prescriptions and adverse events occurring within 120 days of use.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 2023
Freedom of Association in Higher Education Act of 2023 This bill addresses freedom of association protections for college students in single-sex social organizations. Specifically, the bill gives students (or groups of students) enrolled at institutions of higher education (IHEs) the right to form or join social organizations, including single-sex social organizations. Additionally, the bill prohibits IHEs that participate in federal student-aid programs from taking adverse actions against single-sex social organizations or students who are members or prospective members of such organizations based solely on the practice of limiting membership to only individuals of one sex; taking actions that require or coerce members or prospective members of such organizations to waive protections provided under the bill, including as a condition of enrolling in the IHE; or imposing a recruitment restriction on a single-sex social organization that is not imposed upon other student organizations, unless the organization and IHE have entered into a written agreement allowing the restriction.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 2023
Covenant School Heroes Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the award of Congressional Gold Medals to Officer Michael Collazo and Officer Rex Englebert of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department in recognition of their exceptional bravery and valor in confronting an active shooter at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2023
National Plan to End Parkinson's Act This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to carry out a project to prevent and cure Parkinson's disease (a progressive brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements) and related conditions. Among other components of the project, HHS must (1) implement and periodically update a national plan to coordinate and guide efforts to prevent, slow the progression of, and cure the disease; and (2) improve diagnosis, treatment, and care of those with the disease. HHS must also annually assess the preparations for and response to the increased burden of Parkinson's disease. In addition, the bill establishes a council, comprised of federal and nonfederal stakeholders, to advise HHS on and make recommendations concerning the prevention and treatment of Parkinson's disease. The provisions of the bill terminate at the end of calendar year 2035.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2023
This concurrent resolution directs the President to remove all U.S. Armed Forces from Somalia, other than those assigned to protect the U.S. embassy in Somalia, within 365 days of the adoption of this concurrent resolution.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2023
Aviation Workforce Development Act This bill expands the qualified tuition program (commonly referred to as 529 plans) to allow distributions to pay education-related expenses required for participation in certain aviation maintenance and commercial pilot courses.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2023
FBI Washington Field Office House Arrest Act This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that no money should be appropriated for the General Services Administration or the Federal Bureau of Investigation to either plan to, or acquire property for, a new, consolidated headquarters outside the District of Columbia.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2023
Bipartisan Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act of 2023 This bill prohibits Members of Congress and their spouses from owning or trading stocks, bonds, commodities, futures, or any other form of security. Each current Member must divest within 180 days after the bill is enacted and each new Member must divest within 180 days after becoming a Member. However, Members and their spouses have 5 years to divest from specified complex investment vehicles. The bill does not apply to certain investments, such as investments in widely held investment funds that are diversified and do not present a conflict of interest and investments held in government employee retirement plans. A Member or spouse who violates the bill may be subject to a fine of up to $50,000 for each violation. The bill permits a Member or spouse who is required to divest property under the bill to avoid recognizing gain for income tax purposes from the sale of that property to the extent that the Member or spouse purchases permitted bonds or diversified investment funds within 60 days of the divestiture.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 2023
This joint resolution nullifies the rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives titled Factoring Criteria for Firearms With Attached "Stabilizing Braces" and published on January 31, 2023. The rule establishes criteria for determining whether a firearm equipped with an attached stabilizing brace that facilitates shoulder fire is a rifle subject to regulation (e.g., registration) under the National Firearms Act.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 2023
Save Our Gas Stoves Act This bill places limits on energy conservation standards for kitchen ranges or ovens under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The Department of the Energy (DOE) may not prescribe or amend energy conservation standards for kitchen ranges or ovens if they would result in the unavailability of a product on account of the type of fuel the range or oven uses. In addition, DOE may not finalize, implement, or enforce the proposed rule titled Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Conventional Cooking Products issued on February 1, 2023, or any substantially similar rule. The proposed rule prescribes energy conservation standards for consumer conventional cooking tops, including electric cooking tops, gas cooking tops, electrical ovens, and gas ovens.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2023
Black Vulture Relief Act of 2023 This bill allows livestock producers and their employees to take certain actions against black vultures to protect livestock. (Black vultures are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.) Specifically, livestock producers and their employees may (1) take (i.e., capture, kill, disperse, or transport) a black vulture that they reasonably believe will cause death, injury, or destruction to livestock; or (2) in the course of taking or attempting to take the black vulture, cause injury to the bird. Livestock producers and their employees must submit an annual report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on black vultures taken under this bill. The FWS must make this reporting form available on its website. Currently, the FWS has a permit process under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the taking of black vultures.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2023
Sultana Steamboat Disaster Commemorative Coin Act of 2023 This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue not more than 100,000 $5 gold coins, 500,000 $1 silver coins, and 750,000 half-dollar clad coins emblematic of the Sultana steamboat explosion that occured on April 27, 1865, on the Mississippi River. All surcharges received by Treasury from the sale of such coins must be paid to the Sultana Historical Preservation Society for the purpose of establishing, operating, and maintaining a museum.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 2023
Sunshine Protection Act of 2023 This bill makes daylight saving time the new, permanent standard time. States with areas exempt from daylight saving time may choose the standard time for those areas.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 2023
No Retaining Every Gun In a System That Restricts Your Rights Act This bill modifies the retention requirements for firearm transaction records of federal firearms licensees (FFLs) that go out of business. Current law generally requires FFLs that go out of business to deliver their firearm transaction records to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). This bill removes the requirement for FFLs that go out of business to deliver their firearm transaction records to the ATF. Further, the bill requires the ATF to destroy all out-of-business records it has collected from FFLs.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2023
Fair and Open Competition Act or the FOCA Act This bill prohibits federal construction contracts or controlling documents for federally supported construction projects from requiring or prohibiting project labor agreements. Such documents also may not discriminate against or give preference to a bidder or contractor who signs or refuses to sign a project labor agreement. An agency may exempt a project from this prohibition to avert an imminent threat to public health or safety or to serve the national security.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2023
National Right-to-Work Act This bill repeals those provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act that permit employers to make an agreement with a labor union to require employees to join such union as a condition of employment. Currently, at least 27 states have enacted laws prohibiting employers from compelling employees to become members of a union as a condition of employment.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 2023
This resolution asks the President to provide to the House of Representatives copies of all documents and other communications detailing expenditures of appropriated funds directed to Ukraine between January 20, 2021, and February 24, 2023. The resolution also directs the Department of Defense and the Department of State to provide such documents.
United States · United States Congress · 17 February 2023
250th Anniversary of the United States Marine Corps Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue not more than 50,000 $5 gold coins, 400,000 $1 silver coins, and 750,000 half-dollar clad coins emblematic of the 250th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps. All surcharges received by Treasury from the sale of such coins must be paid to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and shall only be used for the purposes of supporting the mission of the Marine Corps Heritage Center.
United States · United States Congress · 17 February 2023
Better Empowerment Now to Enhance Framework and Improve Treatments Act of 2023 or the BENEFIT Act of 2023 This bill requires the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider relevant patient experience data in the risk-benefit assessment framework used in the process for approving new drugs. After a new drug application has been approved, the FDA's public statement about how it used patient experience data shall include a description of how such data was considered in the risk-benefit assessment framework.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2023
761st Tank Battalion Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to the 761st Tank Battalion in recognition of their role in the success of Allied forces in Europe during World War II and for the example they set as the first Black soldiers to go to war as part of an American armored unit. Following the award of the gold medal, the gold medal shall be given to the National Museum of African American History and Culture where it shall be available for display and research.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2023
Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act This bill prohibits the Department of the Treasury from requiring a financial institution to report the transfers into and out of a financial account. This prohibition does not apply to laws or regulations in effect on January 1, 2023.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2023
Dustoff Crews of the Vietnam War Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the award of a single Congressional Gold Medal to Dustoff crews (helicopter air ambulance crews) of the Vietnam War in recognition of their heroic military service.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 2023
Patient Access to Higher Quality Health Care Act of 2023 This bill repeals provisions under the Stark law (i.e., the Physician Self-Referral Law) that limit, for purposes of Medicare participation, self-referrals by newly constructed or expanded physician-owned hospitals.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 2023
Guidance Out Of Darkness Act or the GOOD Act This bill establishes requirements concerning the posting of agency guidance documents. Specifically, an agency must publish guidance documents online on the dates they are issued, publish all of its guidance documents that are in effect in a single location on a designated website, display a hyperlink on its website that provides access to the guidance documents on such website, and indicate on such website if a guidance document has been rescinded. The documents must be categorized as guidance documents and further divided into subcategories.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 2023
This bill makes Puerto Rico eligible to issue commercial driver's licenses. It also directs the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to work with Puerto Rico on obtaining full compliance with commercial driver's license requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 2023
Coffee Plant Health Initiative Amendments Act This bill expands the research and extension grant program for the coffee plant health initiative. Under current law, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) may provide competitive grants under the initiative to support research and extension activities to combat the insect known as the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei). Specifically, the bill authorizes USDA to provide competitive grants for developing and disseminating science-based tools and treatments to combat plant pests and noxious weeds that impact coffee plants; establishing an area-wide integrated pest management program in areas affected by, or at risk of being affected by, plant pests or noxious weeds that impact coffee plants; surveying and collecting data on coffee plant production and health; investigating coffee plant biology, immunology, ecology, genomics, and bioinformatics; and conducting research on various factors that may contribute to or be associated with coffee plant immune systems and other serious threats to coffee plants.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2023
This joint resolution nullifies a Department of Labor rule concerning the fiduciary duties with respect to employee benefit plans. Under the rule issued on December 1, 2022, plan fiduciaries may consider climate change and other environmental, social, and governance factors when they make investment decisions and when they exercise shareholder rights, including voting on shareholder resolutions and board nominations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2023
This resolution condemns Iranian state-sponsored terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens and officials and Iranian dissidents. The resolution also expresses support for the people of Iran who are legitimately defending their rights for freedom against repression and condemns the killing of Iranian protesters by the Iranian regime.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2023
Respect State Housing Laws Act This bill eliminates a provision that requires a 30-day notice period before a landlord may begin eviction proceedings against a tenant in federally assisted or federally backed housing.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2023
This joint resolution nullifies the rule titled Revised Definition of "Waters of the United States," which was submitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency on January 18, 2023. The rule specifies which bodies of water fall under the scope of the Clean Water Act and are thereby under federal jurisdiction. The 2023 rule replaced a 2020 rule that included a narrower definition of waters of the United States .
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 2023
Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People's Republic of China Act This bill requires the President to prohibit nonresident aliens, foreign businesses, and agents associated with China's government from (1) purchasing agricultural (including ranching) real estate located in the United States, or (2) participating in Department of Agriculture programs that are unrelated to food and safety regulatory requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 2023
Supply Chain Disruptions Relief Act This bill modifies the treatment of liquidations of new motor vehicle inventory as qualified LIFO (last in first out accounting method) inventory. It allows new motor vehicle dealers to elect to wait until the end of 2025 to replace their inventory for purposes of determining income attributable to the sale of such inventory during 2020 and 2021.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 2023
Sarah's Law This bill requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain a non-U.S. national ( alien under federal law) who is unlawfully present in the United States and has been charged with a crime that resulted in the death or serious bodily injury of another person. ICE must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the identity of any victims of the crimes for which the detained individual was charged or convicted. ICE shall provide the victim, or a relative or guardian of a deceased victim, with information about the detained individual, including name, date of birth, nationality, immigration status, criminal history, and a description of any related removal efforts.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2023
Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act or the MAHSA Act This bill requires the President to impose property- and visa-blocking sanctions on certain persons (individuals and entities) affiliated with Iran. The President must periodically make determinations about whether certain existing sanctions apply to specified persons and impose the applicable sanctions, including determinations concerning (1) the Supreme Leader of Iran and any official in the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran, (2) the President of Iran and any official in the Office of the President of Iran, and (3) any entity overseen by the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran which is complicit in supporting human rights abuses or terrorism.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 2023
Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to 60 diplomats posthumously in recognition of their brave and vital service of saving Jews during World War II.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 2023
Credit Union Board Modernization Act This bill revises the required frequency of meetings held by a credit union's board of directors. Specifically, new credit unions and credit unions with a low soundness rating must meet monthly. All other credit unions must hold at least six meetings annually, with at least one meeting held during each fiscal quarter. Currently, all credit union boards must meet at least once a month.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2023
Promoting Employment and Lifelong Learning Act or the PELL Act This bill expands student eligibility for Pell Grants by establishing the Workforce Pell Grants Program. Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Education (ED) to award Workforce Pell Grants to students enrolled in eligible short-term programs. Eligible programs are those that provide 150 to 600 clock hours of instructional time over a period of 8 to 15 weeks and meet other eligibility criteria. An accrediting agency or association recognized by ED must determine a program's eligibility based on several criteria, including that the program provides education aligned with the requirements of in-demand industry sectors and occupations and meets specified completion and job placement rates. ED must annually collect and publish information on the College Scorecard regarding each eligible program, including job outcomes. The College Scorecard is a comparison tool for information on school sizes, settings, graduation rates, average costs, and salary ranges per field of study.