Education

GREAT Teachers and Principals Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Growing Education Achievement Training Academies for Teachers and Principals Act or the GREAT Teachers and Principals Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award grants to states to: (1) create or approve teacher or principal preparation academies and create or designate authorizers of those academies; (2) support the creation and operation of such academies; and (3) award subgrants to nonprofit entities to establish or expand such academies, measure their effectiveness, or recruit enrollees who have demonstrated strong potential to be effective teachers or principals. Requires each academy to enter into a charter with an authorizer that specifies the goals and outcomes expected of the academy and the obligations of the authorizer. Prohibits authorizers from renewing an academy's charter if it fails to produce the minimum number or percentage of effective teachers or principals specified in its charter. Requires each academy to provide: (1) enrollees with a significant portion of their training through clinical preparation that partners them with successful teacher or principal mentors, and (2) certificates of completion only to graduates who demonstrate a track record of success in preparing students for college and careers. Requires state grantees to recognize a certificate of completion from an academy as at least the equivalent of a master's degree in education for the purposes of teacher or principal hiring, retention, compensation, and promotion in the state. Directs the Secretary to enter into an interagency agreement with the Corporation for National and Community Service under which the Corporation approves national service positions for candidates at each teacher or principal preparation academy receiving financial assistance under this Act.

English Learning and Innovation Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

English Learning and Innovation Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to award renewable, competitive grants to states, local educational agencies (LEAs), and public charter schools or charter school management organizations to carry out activities that result in English learners becoming proficient in English so that they can access the knowledge needed to meet state academic content standards and be ready for postsecondary education and careers (innovation grants). Includes among those activities: (1) improving instructional programs, including through the use of dual-language or bilingual education; (2) ensuring that English learners are taught by effective teachers at schools administered by effective principals; (3) increasing the ability of the families of English learners to engage in their child's education and development; and (4) expanding best practices to other schools or LEAs. Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive capacity building grants to states and LEAs that have experienced a significant increase in English learners for use in building their capacity to provide quality instruction to English learners and their parents and become competitive in applying for an innovation grant. Directs the Secretary to establish indicators to measure the success of this Act's grant programs. Requires this Act's grantees to: (1) develop, and submit for the Secretary's approval, quantifiable benchmarks for evaluating their grant activities; and (2) provide the Secretary with an annual report on their progress toward those benchmarks.

Foreign Language Education Partnership Program Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Foreign Language Education Partnership Program Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to replace the program providing incentive payments to public elementary schools for foreign language instruction with a partnership program in foreign languages that provides matching grants to partnerships composed of state or local educational agencies and institutions of higher education. Requires such partnerships to establish, improve, or expand model programs of foreign language learning from kindergarten through grade 12 that increase the number of high school graduates who attain advanced proficiency in at least one foreign language. Requires each model program to have a dimension allowing the student to gain an understanding of the historic, geographic, cultural, economic, and other contextual factors of countries whose people speak the language studied. Conditions a partnership's continued funding for two additional five-year periods, after an initial four-year funding period, on its demonstrating its program's effectiveness based on nationally recognized standardized foreign language assessments. Directs the Secretary of Education to collect and analyze data on such programs annually and disseminate aggregated program data nationally, as well as information on successful programs and practices.

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of Defense (DOD) for FY2014. Authorizes appropriations to DOD for: (1) procurement, including aircraft, missiles, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, shipbuilding and conversion, other procurement, and purchases under the Defense Production Act of 1950; (2) research, development, test, and evaluation; (3) operation and maintenance; (4) active and reserve military personnel; (5) the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund; (6) Working Capital Funds; (7) the National Defense Sealift Fund; (8) the Joint Urgent Operational Needs Fund; (9) chemical agents and munitions destruction; (10) drug interdiction and counter-drug activities; (11) the Defense Inspector General; (12) the Defense Health Program; (13) the Armed Forces Retirement Home; (14) overseas contingency operations, including the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Fund; (15) the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Security Investment Program; (16) Guard and reserve forces facilities; and (17) base closure and realignment activities. Sets forth provisions or requirements concerning: (1) military personnel policy, including education and training; (2) military pay and allowances; (3) military health care; (4) acquisition policy and management; (5) DOD organization and management; (6) financial matters, including counter-drug activities; (7) civilian personnel matters; (8) matters relating to foreign nations, including assistance and training; and (9) matters relating to military construction and military family housing. Directs the Secretary of the Navy to establish southern sea otter military readiness areas. Provides procedures for the judicial review of decisions concerning the correction of military personnel records. Provides civil remedies for DOD and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for losses resulting from the submission of false or fraudulent claims and statements. Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to operate the Inter-European Air Forces Academy. Revises or adds overseas servicemember voting rights and authorities under the Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act. Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 - Authorizes appropriations for FY2014 for military construction for the Armed Forces and defense agencies. Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 2013 - Establishes the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission to provide a process for the closure and realignment of U.S. military installations.

FIT Kids Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Fitness Integrated with Teaching Kids Act or FIT Kids Act - Requires the Secretary of Education to award grants to states to implement comprehensive programs to promote physical activity, education, and fitness and nutrition that are based on scientifically valid research, and an analysis of need that considers, at a minimum, physical education indicators. Limits a grant award to a maximum of five years. Prescribes certain activities under a grant, including that states must: (1) develop and implement a physical education indicators measurement system; (2) collect and publish information on physical activity, education, and fitness and nutrition at the school level; (3) use indicators to identify and address student needs; (4) encourage local education agencies to integrate physical activity, education, and fitness into a range of subjects throughout the school day and locations within schools; and (5) award sub-grants based on identified needs. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, to establish program performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of the grant program's activities. Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require the compact with parents under the school-level parental involvement policy to include a description of the school's responsibility to support their children in leading a healthy and active life, such as by providing health meals and snacks, encouraging participation in physical education, and sharing in physical activity outside the school day to support successful academic achievement. Amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to require the Secretary to promote equal opportunities for students with disabilities to be included and participate in physical education and extracurricular athletics implemented in, or in conjunction with, elementary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education, by ensuring the provision of appropriate technical assistance and guidance for schools and institutions and their personnel.

SKILLS Visa Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Supplying Knowledge-based Immigrants and Lifting Levels of STEM Visas Act or SKILLS Visa Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to set worldwide employment-based immigration levels at: (1) 140,000 through FY2013, and (2) 235,000 beginning in FY 2014 reduced by the number of returned visas resulting from the elimination of the diversity immigrant program. Makes up to 55,000 (EB-6) visas, reduced by the number of returned visas resulting from the elimination of the diversity immigrant lottery, available in FY2014 and subsequent fiscal years to qualified immigrants who: (1) have a doctorate degree in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM degree) from a U.S. doctoral institution of higher education, or have completed a dental, medical, or veterinary residency program, have received a medical degree, a dentistry degree, a veterinary degree, or an osteopathic medicine/osteopathy degree; and (2) have taken all required courses, including courses taken by correspondence or by distance education, while physically present in the United States. Makes unused EB-1 (priority worker) and EB-6 visas available to (EB-7 visa) aliens who: (1) hold a master's degree in a STEM field from a U.S. doctoral institution of higher education that was either part of a master's program that required at least two years of enrollment or part of a five-year combined baccalaureate-master's degree program in such field; (2) have taken all master's degree courses in a STEM field, including all courses taken by correspondence or by distance education, while physically present in the United States; and (3) hold a baccalaureate degree in a STEM field. Prohibits the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) (Secretary) from approving an employer petition for an EB-6 or EB-7 alien unless the Secretary receives a Department of Labor determination that there are not sufficient American workers available for the job. Establishes: (1) an EB-8-1 immigrant visa for qualifying venture capital-backed start-up entrepreneurs and for self-sponsored start-up entrepreneurs who intend to engage in, or have engaged in, new commercial enterprises in the United States; and (2) an EB-8-2 immigrant visa for treaty trader nonimmigrants who have maintained such status for at least 10 years, have benefitted the U.S. economy, and have created full-time employment for at least 5 U.S. workers for at least 10 years. Grants such alien entrepreneur (and spouse and children) conditional permanent resident status. Requires termination of such status if the Secretary determines: (1) that the qualifying employment was intended as a means to evade U.S. immigration laws, or (2) other specified requirements were not met. Sets forth the conditions for an alien to petition for permanent resident status. Revises worldwide levels of employment- and family-based based immigrants. Makes the the EB-5 regional center program permanent. Eliminates: (1) the diversity immigrant program as of October 1, 2013, (2) the provision requiring the reduction of annual People's Republic of China immigrant visas to offset status adjustments under the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992, and (3) the per-country limit for employment-based immigrants. Increases, however, the per-country limit for family-based immigrants. Makes the J-1 visa waiver (Conrad state 30/medical services in underserved areas) program permanent. Increases the number of alien physicians that a state may be allocated from 30 to 35 per fiscal year. Provides up to three visa waivers per fiscal year per state for physicians in academic medical centers. Extends dual intent to aliens coming to the United States to receive graduate medical education or training, or to take examinations required for such education or training. Sets forth specified employment protections and contract requirements for alien physicians working in underserved areas. Excludes from numerical immigration limitations alien physicians who have completed national interest waiver requirements by working in a health care shortage area. Increases the H-1B (specialty occupation) nonimmigrant visa limitation to 155,000 per fiscal year beginning in FY2014. Replaces the current higher education degree exemption from H-1B limitations with an exemption for up to 40,000 aliens with a STEM master's or doctorate degree (EB-6 and EB-7 aliens). Directs the Secretary to verify the authenticity of foreign educational degrees. Authorizes a related employer fee. Establishes in the Treasury the H-1B Educational Credential Verification Account. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to issue subpoenas to employers of H-1B, H-1B1(specialty workers pursuant to agreements with Chile or Singapore), and E-3 (specialty worker pursuant to a treaty of commerce) nonimmigrants. Sets forth wage and working condition requirements for employers of: (1) Mexican or Canadian professionals, and (2) specialized knowledge L-visa aliens (intracompany transferees) who will be employed for more than six months over a three-year period. Provides portability for O-1 visa nonimmigrants (extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business, athletics, or the arts or films or television). Extends dual intent to foreign students who: (1) are coming to the United States to pursue STEM field degrees at institutions of higher education that have agreed to report the attendance of each nonimmigrant student to DHS, or (2) are engaged in temporary post graduation employment for optional practical training related to such study. Permits specified nonimmigrant aliens granted employment authorization to continue employment with the same employer for up to 240 days while an application for extension of stay is adjudicated. Increases H-1B employer fees. Obligates a part of such fees for STEM education and training. Establishes a fee for employment-based immigrant I-140 visa petitions. Obligates such fees for STEM education and training. Establishes the Promoting American Ingenuity Account to strengthen STEM education. Sets forth assistance allocation and state fund use provisions. Directs the Secretary of Labor to provide employers with a survey to determine the prevailing wage for each occupational classification. Establishes three wage levels commensurate with experience, education, and level of supervision. Directs the Secretary to establish a streamlined pre-certification procedure for employers who file multiple petitions for specified categories of immigrant workers.

Veterans Education Flexibility Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Veterans Education Flexibility Act - Provides that if an individual eligible for educational assistance under the all-volunteer force educational assistance program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is enrolled in an educational institution and the period of such individual's entitlement (ten years after discharge or release from active duty) would expire during a quarter or semester of enrollment, that period shall be extended to the end of that quarter or semester. Allows such an extension until the earlier of the end of the course or 12 weeks, in the case of an educational institution not regularly operated on a quarter or semester basis. Repeals the delimiting period for the use of assistance under the post-Vietnam era veterans' educational assistance program (generally 10 years after the veteran's last discharge or release from active duty). Applies the assistance extension provided under the all-volunteer force educational assistance program to the post-9/11 veterans' educational assistance program.

HIRE Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Helping Individuals Return to Employment Act or HIRE Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to award competitive grants to eligible entities to hire unemployed individuals age 16 and older to perform a minimum of 20 hours per week of work to benefit certain communities, including activities such as public works, beautification, historic restoration, tutoring, and adult education. Restricts such grants to eligible entities located in or primarily serving in a community designated either as a renewal community, an empowerment zone, or a historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone), if the unemployment rate in the area is higher than 7% during the 3-month period preceding award of the grant. Requires that priority in the award of grants be given to individuals who have been unemployed for more than a year. Prescribes certain grant limitations.

GREAT Teachers and Principals Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Growing Education Achievement Training Academies for Teachers and Principals Act or the GREAT Teachers and Principals Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award grants to states to: (1) create or approve teacher or principal preparation academies and create or designate authorizers of those academies; (2) support the creation and operation of such academies; and (3) award subgrants to nonprofit entities to establish or expand such academies, measure their effectiveness, or recruit enrollees who have demonstrated strong potential to be effective teachers or principals. Requires each academy to enter into a charter with an authorizer that specifies the goals and outcomes expected of the academy and the obligations of the authorizer. Prohibits authorizers from renewing an academy's charter if it fails to produce the minimum number or percentage of effective teachers or principals specified in its charter. Requires each academy to provide: (1) enrollees with a significant portion of their training through clinical preparation that partners them with successful teacher or principal mentors, and (2) certificates of completion only to graduates who demonstrate a track record of success in preparing students for college and careers. Requires state grantees to recognize a certificate of completion from an academy as at least the equivalent of a master's degree in education for the purposes of teacher or principal hiring, retention, compensation, and promotion in the state. Directs the Secretary to enter into an interagency agreement with the Corporation for National and Community Service under which the Corporation approves national service positions for candidates at each teacher or principal preparation academy receiving financial assistance under this Act.

Promise Neighborhoods Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Promise Neighborhoods Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Education to award competitive, matching Promise Neighborhood Partnership grants to nonprofit organizations that partner with a local educational agency (LEA) to implement a comprehensive continuum of supports and services that engage community partners in improving the academic achievement, health and social development, and college and career readiness of children who live in distressed neighborhoods with underperforming schools. Directs the Secretary to award competitive, matching Promise School grants to LEAs that partner with nonprofit organizations, and Indian or charter schools that partner with nonprofit organizations or institutions of higher education, to implement school-centered strategies and integrated student supports that leverage community partnerships to improve student achievement and development in schools with high concentrations of low-income children. Authorizes the Secretary to renew Promise Neighborhood Partnership grants and Promise School grants if the grantees demonstrate significant success in: (1) ensuring children's school readiness; (2) improving their academic outcomes; (3) increasing their college and career readiness; and (4) improving their health, mental health, and social and emotional well-being. Requires this Act's grantees to evaluate their programs continuously and improve them based on data and outcomes. Directs the Secretary to evaluate this Act's grant programs and disseminate research on best practices for improving the academic achievement of children living in our most distressed communities. Authorizes the Secretary to award matching planning grants to entities eligible for this Act's other grants.

WE CARE Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Working to Encourage Community Action and Responsibility in Education Act or the WE CARE Act - Amends title I (Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require states and local educational agencies (LEAs) to assess the nonacademic factors affecting student academic performance and work with other public, private, nonprofit, and community-based entities to address those factors. Requires the annual report cards issued by states and LEAs to include additional performance data, including information on their efforts to increase community and parental involvement in students' education. Establishes a new program requiring the Secretary of Education to award matching grants to LEAs for the development and implementation of community involvement policies that leverage the resources, services, and opportunities available from public, private, nonprofit, and community-based partners to address students' academic and nonacademic needs and thereby support their attainment of state academic performance standards.

FIT Kids Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Fitness Integrated with Teaching Kids Act or FIT Kids Act - Requires the Secretary of Education to award grants to states to implement comprehensive programs to promote physical activity, education, and fitness and nutrition that are based on scientifically valid research, and an analysis of need that considers, at a minimum, physical education indicators. Limits a grant award to a maximum of five years. Prescribes certain activities under a grant, including that states must: (1) develop and implement a physical education indicators measurement system; (2) collect and publish information on physical activity, education, and fitness and nutrition at the school level; (3) use indicators to identify and address student needs; (4) encourage local education agencies to integrate physical activity, education, and fitness into a range of subjects throughout the school day and locations within schools; and (5) award sub-grants based on identified needs. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, to establish program performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of the grant program's activities. Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require the compact with parents under the school-level parental involvement policy to include a description of the school's responsibility to support their children in leading a healthy and active life, such as by providing health meals and snacks, encouraging participation in physical education, and sharing in physical activity outside the school day to support successful academic achievement. Amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to require the Secretary to promote equal opportunities for students with disabilities to be included and participate in physical education and extracurricular athletics implemented in, or in conjunction with, elementary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education, by ensuring the provision of appropriate technical assistance and guidance for schools and institutions and their personnel.

Effective Teaching and Leading Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Effective Teaching and Leading Act - Amends title II (Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers and Principals) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to create a new Part E: Building School Capacity for Effective Teaching and Leadership. Directs the Secretary of Education to allot grants to states for subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to improve teaching and school leadership through a system of teacher and principal induction, professional development, and evaluation that is developed, implemented, and evaluated in collaboration with local teacher, principal, and school leader organizations and preparation programs. Requires LEAs to include in such system: a comprehensive, coherent, high quality formalized induction program for beginning teachers during their first two years of full-time employment; high-quality effective professional development for teachers, principals, school librarians, and other school leaders at their lowest achieving schools; a rigorous, transparent, and equitable teacher and principal evaluation system for all their schools; ongoing high-quality support, coaching, and professional development for principals and other school leaders at their lowest achieving schools; opportunities for teachers and school librarians to assume new school leadership roles and receive training regarding such roles; and significant and sustainable stipends above a teacher's base salary for teachers that serve as mentors, instructional coaches, teacher leaders, or evaluators under these programs. Directs LEA grantees to conduct a valid and reliable full population survey of teaching and learning, at the school and LEA level, the results of which are to inform and be integrated into such systems. Requires a formal evaluation of each system to be conducted by the state, an institution of higher education, or an external agency and the results disseminated widely.

Educator Preparation Reform Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Educator Preparation Reform Act - Amends title II (Teacher Quality Enhancement) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to revise the Teacher Quality Partnership grant program. (The grant program provides funds to partnerships of high-need local educational agencies [LEAs], high-need schools, institutions of higher education [IHEs], and, as applicable, high-need early childhood education programs which are to use the funds for a pre-baccalaureate teacher preparation program, a teaching residency program, or a combination of such programs. Partnerships may also use grant funds for a leadership development program.) Allows grant funds to be used for pre- or post-baccalaureate teacher preparation programs. Allows grant funds to be used for teaching or principal residency programs. Requires principal residency programs to prepare principals for success in the high-need schools in the partnership by engaging residents in rigorous graduate-level coursework to earn an appropriate advanced credential while they undertake a guided principal apprenticeship alongside a trained and experienced mentor principal. Requires principal residents to have prior prekindergarten through grade 12 teaching experience. Provides them with a living stipend or salary during the one-year residency program in exchange for at least three years of service as a principal in a high-need school immediately following their successful completion of the residency program. Replaces the leadership development program with an educator development program that addresses a partnership's need to train and retain educators other than teachers or principals, such as specialized instructional support personnel and other school staff who provide or support instruction. Authorizes a partnership to receive more than one grant during a five-year period if one of the grants is used to establish a teaching or principal residency program that was not established with the prior grant. Applies certain partnership accountability and evaluation requirements to teachers, principals, and other educators. Revises teacher preparation program accountability requirements. Applies them not only to IHEs, but also to other organizations approved by the state to prepare teachers for classrooms. Requires those programs to train prospective teachers to teach diverse populations and core academic subjects. Requires states to: (1) establish a period of improvement and redesign for teacher preparation programs they identify as at-risk, and (2) provide such programs with technical assistance for up to three years before identifying those that fail to make sufficient improvement as low-performing and closing them down. Reauthorizes appropriations for the Teacher Quality Partnership grant program through FY2019. Amends part A (Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund) of title II (Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers and Principals) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require states to develop, implement, and publicly disclose their criteria for identifying a teacher preparation program as low-performing or at risk of being identified as such. Requires those criteria to include multiple measures of teacher performance. Replaces the program under subpart 3 (Subgrants to Eligible Partnerships) of part A of title II of the ESEA with a program under which states, directly or through subgrants to certain educational entities, use funds reserved under part A to: (1) provide technical assistance to and close low-performing teacher preparation programs identified under the HEA, and (2) develop a system for assessing the quality and effectiveness of professional development offered throughout the state. Permits states to use such funding, directly or through subgrants: (1) to develop and implement a teacher performance assessment for teacher preparation programs, LEAs, and the state agency responsible for licensing teachers; and (2) for certain professional development activities currently funded under subpart 3. Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the HEA to prohibit IHEs that offer a teacher preparation program that is projected to close from awarding new TEACH grants. (The TEACH grant program provides tuition assistance to students who commit to teaching a high-need subject in a high-need elementary or secondary school for four years.) Makes students who are completing a postbaccalaureate teacher education program eligible to participate in the TEACH grant program.

Foreign Language Education Partnership Program Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Foreign Language Education Partnership Program Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to replace the program providing incentive payments to public elementary schools for foreign language instruction with a partnership program in foreign languages that provides matching grants to partnerships composed of state or local educational agencies and institutions of higher education. Requires such partnerships to establish, improve, or expand model programs of foreign language learning from kindergarten through grade 12 that increase the number of high school graduates who attain advanced proficiency in at least one foreign language. Requires each model program to have a dimension allowing the student to gain an understanding of the historic, geographic, cultural, economic, and other contextual factors of countries whose people speak the language studied. Conditions a partnership's continued funding for two additional five-year periods, after an initial four-year funding period, on its demonstrating its program's effectiveness based on nationally recognized standardized foreign language assessments. Directs the Secretary of Education to collect and analyze data on such programs annually and disseminate aggregated program data nationally, as well as information on successful programs and practices.

Ensuring Quality Health Care for All Americans Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Ensuring Quality Health Care for All Americans Act of 2013 - States that this Act shall take effect upon the repeal, required by this Act, of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Restores or revives the provisions of law amended or repealed by PPACA and such health care provisions as if they had not been enacted and without further amendment to them. Revises Public Health Service Act provisions concerning health insurance coverage to require each health insurance issuer offering health insurance coverage in the group market (currently, individual or group market) in a state to accept every employer and every individual in a group (currently, every employer and every individual) in the state applying for such coverage. Prohibits a group health plan or a health insurance issuer offering group health insurance coverage from imposing: (1) any preexisting condition exclusion with respect to such plan or coverage, or (2) lifetime or annual limits. Requires dependent coverage beyond age 18 until the first of either a dependent turning 26, marrying, or no longer residing at home. Requires plans to offer catastrophic coverage and sets forth coverage requirements. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to States for planning for the establishment and implementation of health insurance risk adjustment mechanisms. Sets forth provisions limiting the liability of health care providers.

Assisting Students with Loans Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Assisting Students with Loans Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend the 3.4% interest rate on Direct Stafford loans first disbursed to undergraduate students between July 1, 2011, and July 1, 2013, to Direct Stafford loans first disbursed to undergraduate students between July 1, 2011, and July 1, 2015. Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to repeal provisions establishing and appropriating funds to the Prevention and Public Health Fund (a Fund to provide for expanded and sustained national investment in prevention and public health programs to improve health and help restrain the rate of growth in private and public sector health care costs). Rescinds any unobligated balances appropriated to such Fund.

Promoting Health as Youth Skills In Classrooms And Life Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Promoting Health as Youth Skills In Classrooms And Life Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to include health education and physical education in the definition of "core academic subjects."

21st Century STEM Competitive Jobs Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

21st Century STEM Competitive Jobs Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to award matching grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Requires grantees to use grant funds to collaborate with institutions of higher education and local, regional, or national employers in STEM fields to: (1) carry out dual-credit courses that offer both secondary school and college credit and incorporate STEM education and STEM workplace training, (2) assist students in being placed in internships or apprenticeships with those employers, and (3) develop STEM curricula and metrics. Permits grantees to use grant funds for: (1) STEM tutoring and mentoring programs; (2) STEM outside-the-classroom, after-school, or summer programs; and (3) STEM instructional materials or equipment.

American Dream Accounts Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

American Dream Accounts Act of 2013 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to eligible entities so each can establish and administer American Dream Accounts for a group of at least 30 low-income public school students who, at the time the entities apply for a grant, are attending a grade no higher than ninth grade. Lists as eligible entities: (1) state educational agencies, (2) local educational agencies, (3) charter schools, (4) charter management organizations, (5) institutions of higher education (IHEs), (6) nonprofit organizations, (7) entities experienced in educational savings or assisting low-income students attain higher education, and (8) consortia of two or more of these entities. Describes an American Dream Account as a personal online account for low-income students that monitors their progress toward higher education and includes a college savings account that provides some tax-preferred accumulation. Requires American Dream Accounts to provide students with opportunities, either online or in person, to: (1) attain financial literacy; (2) learn about preparing for enrollment in an IHE; and (3) identify their skills or interests, including career interests. Requires grantees, subject to federal privacy laws and regulations, to allow vested stakeholders to have secure Internet access to an American Dream Account, but not the college savings account portion of that Account. Prohibits grantees from using their grant to provide the initial deposit into the college savings account portion of a student's American Dream Account. Prohibits the funds in those college savings accounts from being considered in making federal student financial aid determinations.

National Program for Arts and Technology Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

National Program for Arts and Technology Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Education to establish and implement a national program for arts and technology that addresses the complex needs of the poor and undereducated by awarding competitive grants to qualified centers (private, nonprofit educational entities) and interested communities to provide: (1) financial support to establish new qualified centers, and (2) management expertise to guide such centers and communities. Prohibits federal funds received under this Act from being used for capital expenditures or endowment gifts. Requires a qualified center or an interested community to match federal contributions.

No IRS Implementation of Obamacare Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

No IRS Implementation of Obamacare Act - Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury, or any delegate of the Secretary, from implementing or enforcing any provisions of or amendments made by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (other than subtitle A of title II, concerning higher education funding and student loans). Prohibits the use of taxpayer funds to implement or enforce such provisions.

SALUTE Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Servicemember Assistance for Lawful Understanding, Treatment, and Education Act or the SALUTE Act - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the Attorney General to award grants for developing, implementing, or enhancing veterans' treatment courts or expanding operational mental health or drug courts to serve veterans to ensure that such courts effectively integrate substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, sanctions and incentives, and transitional services, in a judicially supervised court setting with jurisdiction over offenders who are veterans. Authorizes the Attorney General to award such grants to states, state courts, local courts, local governments, and Indian tribal governments for court programs that involve: (1) continuing judicial supervision over offenders who are veterans with substance abuse or mental health problems; (2) coordination with appropriate federal, state, or local prosecutors; (3) coordination with the Veterans Health Administration; and (4) the integrated administration of other sanctions and services, including substance abuse and mental health treatment, supervised release involving the possibility of prosecution, confinement, or incarceration based on non-compliance with program requirements or failure to show satisfactory progress, and offender management. Prohibits the use of grant funds to provide judicial supervision over, treatment of, or other services to violent offenders. Sets forth application and reporting requirements. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study to assess the effectiveness and impact of such grant program.

To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize individuals who are pursuing programs of rehabilitation, education, or training under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to receive work-study allowances for certain outreach services provided through congressional offices, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Includes within authorized work-study activities, for individuals entitled to work-study allowances through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in connection with VA rehabilitation, education, or training programs, the following activities carried out at offices of Members of Congress: (1) the distribution of information to members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and their dependents concerning available benefits and services under governmental and nongovernmental programs; and (2) the preparation and processing of papers and other documents, including those used to assist in the preparation and presentation of veterans' benefits claims.

Groundwork USA Trust Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Groundwork USA Trust Act of 2013 - Establishes the Groundwork USA Trust Program. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to eligible nonprofit organizations to: (1) facilitate the inventory of brownfield sites, site assessments, remediation of brownfield sites, community involvement, or site preparation; (2) reclaim vacant and derelict lands; (3) cleanup and care for neglected areas; (4) return brownfields to productive use; (5) integrate environmental education, food security, health and fitness, resource management, and job training; (6) encourage and support business, local government, nonprofit, and community cooperation in sustainable environmental care and enhancement; (7) acquire, rehabilitate, and improve real property and buildings; and (8) develop programs that encourage partnering with other environmental organizations.

Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Act

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2013

Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to expand the duties of the Office of Management Conference of the Long Island Sound Study by requiring the Office to: (1) conduct or commission studies to strengthen the implementation of the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the Long Island Sound, including studies on environmental impacts on the Sound watershed and studies on planning initiatives for the Sound that identify the areas that are most suitable for various types of activities in order to reduce conflicts among uses, reduce environmental impacts, facilitate compatible uses, or preserve critical ecosystem services to meet economic, environmental, security, or social objectives; (2) develop and implement strategies to increase public education and awareness with respect to the ecological health and water quality conditions of the Sound; (3) make publicly available on the Internet information relating to the environmental quality of the Sound; and (4) monitor the progress made toward meeting the identified goals, actions, and schedules of the Plan. Limits the federal share for grants for projects and studies which will help implement the Plan, other than citizen involvement and citizen involvement grants, to 60%. Requires the Office's Director to submit a report that includes: (1) an assessment of the progress made by the Office and the Long Island Sound states in implementing the plan, (2) an assessment of the key ecological attributes that reflect the health of the ecosystem of the Sound watershed, (3) a description of any substantive modifications to the Plan made during the preceding two years, (4) recommendations to improve progress in restoring and protecting the Sound watershed, (5) priority actions for implementation of the Plan for the next two years, and (6) a description of the means by which federal funding and actions will be coordinated with the actions of the Long Island Sound states and other entities. Requires the President to submit, together with the annual U.S. budget, information regarding each federal agency involved in the protection and restoration of the Sound watershed. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Act (EPA) to coordinate the actions of federal agencies that impact water quality in the Sound watershed to improve the water quality and living resources of the watershed. Requires a federal agency that owns or occupies real property, or carries out activities, within the Sound watershed to: (1) participate in regional and subwatershed planning, protection, and restoration activities with respect to the watershed; and (2) ensure that the property and activities carried out by the agency are consistent with the Plan. Amends the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act of 2006 to terminate the Long Island Sound Stewardship Advisory Committee on December 31, 2018 (currently 2011). Extends reporting requirements by requiring the Advisory Committee to submit to the Administrator and the decision making body of the Long Island Sound Study Management Conference an annual report through FY2018 on stewardship sites. Makes the amendments to such Act become effective on October 1, 2011. Extends through FY2018 the authorization of appropriations to the Administrator for the implementation of the Management Conference of the Long Island Sound Study, the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act of 2006, the Long Island Sound Grants, and Long Island Sound Stewardship Grants.

BRIDGING THE SKILLS GAP: HOW THE STEM EDUCATION PIPELINE CAN DEVELOP A HIGH-SKILLED AMERICAN WORKFORCE FOR SMALL BUSINESS

United States · United States Senate · 22 May 2013

Helping Communities Rebuild After Deadly School Shootings and Other Traumatic Events Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Helping Communities Rebuild After Deadly School Shootings and Other Traumatic Events Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to fund certain actions they deem necessary to improve the learning environment at a school that has experienced a violent or traumatic crisis on campus. Requires LEAs to use that grant to: (1) acquire real property; (2) construct new facilities; or (3) renovate, repair, or alter existing facilities for an elementary and secondary school that has experienced such a crisis. Prohibits the grant from covering more than 50% of an LEA's cost in taking such actions.

Elder Protection and Abuse Prevention Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Elder Protection and Abuse Prevention Act - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to direct the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Aging to: (1) ensure that all programs funded under such Act include appropriate training in elder abuse prevention and the provision of services that address elder justice and exploitation; and (2) update periodically the need for and benefit of such training related to prevention of abuse, neglect, and exploitation (including financial exploitation) of older adults. Makes it a duty and function of the Administration on Aging to: (1) establish priority information and assistance services for older individuals; (2) ensure full collaboration between all governmental information and assistance systems that serve older individuals; and (3) develop a National Eldercare Locator Service, with a nationwide toll free number. Directs the Assistant Secretary, by grant or contract with a national nonprofit entity, to establish a National Adult Protective Services Resources Center to improve the capacity of state and local adult protective services programs to: (1) respond effectively to abuse, neglect, and exploitation of vulnerable adults, including home care consumers and residents of long-term care facilities; and (2) coordinate with the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. Requires each area plan to provide that the area agency on aging: (1) increases public awareness of elder abuse and financial exploitation, and removes barriers to elder abuse education, prevention, investigation, and treatment; (2) coordinates elder justice activities of the area agency on aging, community health centers, other public agencies, and nonprofit private organizations; (3) develops standardized, coordinated, and reporting protocols with respect to elder abuse; and (4) reports instances of elder abuse. Directs the Assistant Secretary to make grants to states under approved state plans for elder abuse and neglect screening. Requires a state operating a nutrition project to encourage individuals who distribute nutrition services to distribute information on diabetes, elder abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, and the annual Medicare wellness exam. Requires a state, an area agency on aging, a nonprofit organization, or a tribal organization that receives a grant for an older individuals' protection from violence project to use it to research and replicate successful models of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation prevention and training. Directs the Assistant Secretary to award grants and enter into contracts with eligible organizations to carry out projects to engage volunteers over 50 years of age in providing support and information to older adults (and their families or caretakers) who have experienced or are at risk of elder abuse. Allows a state to use funds under the National Family Caregiver Support Program to support the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman.

Commission on Effective Regulation and Assessment Systems for Public Schools Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Commission on Effective Regulation and Assessment Systems for Public Schools Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to establish the Commission on Effective Regulation and Assessment Systems for Public Schools, composed of certain government officials, educators, and education policy experts. Requires the Commission to: (1) examine the effect government regulations have on elementary and secondary education; (2) recommend ways to align and improve those regulations to improve performance and innovation in education; and (3) recommend ways to improve and align assessment systems to provide reliable and meaningful information to parents, teachers, and students to improve student achievement, teacher performance, and innovation.

A resolution designating November 28, 2013, as "National Holoprosencephaly Awareness Day" to increase awareness and education of the disorder.

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Expresses support for the designation of November 28, 2013, as National Holoprosencephaly Awareness Day. Urges federal agencies to: (1) continue supporting research to better understand the causes of holoprosencephaly (HPE); (2) provide better counseling to families with the genetic forms of HPE; and (3) develop new ways to treat, and potentially prevent, HPE. Calls on the people of the United States, interested groups, and affected persons to promote awareness of HPE and to take an active role in the fight to end its devastating effects.

School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act, with respect to asthma-related grants for child health services, to give an additional preference to a state that allows self-administration of asthma and anaphylaxis medication and makes a certification concerning the adequacy of the state's civil liability protection law to protect trained school personnel who may administer epinephrine to a student reasonably believed to be having an anaphylactic reaction. Requires elementary and secondary schools in such a state to: (1) permit trained personnel to administer epinephrine to a student reasonably believed to be having such a reaction, (2) maintain a supply of epinephrine in a secure location that is easily accessible to trained personnel for such treatment, and (3) have in place a plan for having on the school premises during operating hours one or more designated personnel trained in administration of epinephrine.

Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require each state educational agency (SEA) that receives funds under that Act to: (1) require criminal background checks for each school employee that include searches of the criminal registry or repository for each state in which the employee has resided, the child abuse and neglect registries and databases of such states, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Sex Offender Registry; (2) prohibit the employment of an individual who refuses to consent to, or who makes false statements in connection with, a background check or who has been convicted of one of specified felonies or of a violent or sexual crime against a minor; (3) require an SEA or a local educational agency to report to local law enforcement whenever background check information indicates that a sexual predator has applied for employment; (4) require background checks to be repeated or updated in accordance with state law or local educational policy but not less than every five years; and (5) provide each school employee who has had a background check with a copy of, and a timely process to appeal, the results. Allows an SEA to maintain an inventory of all the information from background checks conducted on school employees in the state.

Foster Youth Higher Education Opportunities Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Foster Youth Higher Education Opportunities Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to inform students who indicate on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form that they are or were in the foster care system of their potential eligibility for federal student aid, including the specific federal programs under which they may be eligible for assistance. Requires the Secretary to provide foster youth with that same information on the Department of Education's website.

Helping Communities Rebuild After Deadly School Shootings and Other Traumatic Events Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Helping Communities Rebuild After Deadly School Shootings and Other Traumatic Events Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to fund certain actions they deem necessary to improve the learning environment at a school that has experienced a violent or traumatic crisis on campus. Requires LEAs to use that grant to: (1) acquire real property; (2) construct new facilities; or (3) renovate, repair, or alter existing facilities for an elementary and secondary school that has experienced such a crisis. Prohibits the grant from covering more than 50% of an LEA's cost in taking such actions.

Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to take certain actions regarding eating disorder research, including to: (1) implement a scientifically justified budget for research on eating disorders, (2) coordinate and evaluate NIH research activities and programs, (3) expand NIH research on eating disorders, (4) establish a task force on eating disorder research, and (5) provide for centers of excellence for research on eating disorders. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to: (1) provide for the collection, analysis, and reporting of epidemiological data on eating disorders; (2) establish a Center of Eating Disorders Epidemiology to collect and analyze information on eating disorders; and (3) establish a CDC clearinghouse for the collection and storage of data generated under this Act. Sets forth requirements for providing education and training on eating disorders, including: (1) developing and implementing a training program for health professionals on eating disorders; (2) establishing the Task Force on Eating Disorders Prevention in Educational Institutions to develop and provide training on eating disorders identification and prevention for students, faculty, coaches, and staff in schools; and (3) conducting public service announcements. Amends the PHSA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code to require a health plan that provides medical and surgical benefits to also provide coverage for eating disorders. Applies such requirement to coverage offered under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program. Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to expand coverage for eating disorders. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to award grants for patient advocacy to help individuals with eating disorders obtain adequate health care services and insurance coverage.

Defending State Authority Over Education Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Defending State Authority Over Education Act of 2013 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to prohibit the Secretary of Education from attempting to influence, incentivize, or coerce a state to participate in a voluntary partnership with another state to develop and implement academic content and achievement standards and assessments. Prohibits the Secretary from conditioning the approval of a state's, local educational agency's (LEA's), or Indian tribe's request for a waiver of ESEA statutory or regulatory requirements on such an entity: (1) including in, or deleting from, such request, specific academic standards; (2) using specific academic assessment instruments or items; or (3) including in, or deleting from, such waiver request any criteria used to establish, implement, or improve state academic standards, academic assessments, state accountability systems, or teacher and school leader evaluation systems. Prohibits any federal officer or employee from directly or indirectly mandating, directing, or controlling a state's, LEA's, or school's specific instructional content, academic standards and assessments, curricula, or program of instruction, including through the placement of conditions on financial support.

Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1911) to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish interest rates for new loans made on or after July 1, 2013, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2013

Sets forth the rule for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1911) to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish interest rates for new loans made on or after July 1, 2013.

REVIEWING THE PRESIDENT'S FISCAL YEAR 2014 BUDGET PROPOSAL FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

United States · United States House of Representatives · 21 May 2013

Comprehensive Student Loan Protection Act

United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2013

Comprehensive Student Loan Protection Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to set the interest rate on Direct Loans, for any 12-month period beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30, at the bond equivalent rate of 10-year Treasury bills auctioned at the final auction held prior to such June 1, plus 3%. Makes: (1) that formula applicable to Direct Loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2013, and (2) the rate set on such loans applicable for the life of the loans. Requires any savings to the federal government that result from this Act's amendment to be used for deficit reduction.

RUSH Act

United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2013

Responding to Urgent Needs of Survivors of the Holocaust Act or RUSH Act - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to include specifically within its purview older Americans who are Holocaust survivors. Authorizes the Administrator for Community Living to designate, within the Administration for Community Living of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a person with specialized training, background, or experience with issues of Holocaust survivors to implement services for them. Requires a state nutrition project to: (1) ensure that project meals meet the dietary needs of program participants based on religious, cultural, or ethnic requirements; and (2) encourage individuals who distribute nutrition services to engage in conversation with homebound older individuals and to be aware of the warning signs of medical emergencies, injury, or abuse in order to reduce isolation and promote wellbeing. Amends the Older Americans Act Amendments of 2006 to require the study of nutrition projects to analyze the abilities of service providers to obtain viable contracts for special foods necessary to meet a religious requirement, required dietary need, or ethnic consideration. Authorizes the HHS Assistant Secretary for Aging to make grants to or contract with states, public agencies, private nonprofit agencies, institutions of higher education, and organizations, including tribal organizations, to support programs that provide transportation services and resources to older individuals with the greatest economic or social need.

Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act

United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2013

Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish the Social Work Reinvestment Commission to provide independent counsel to Congress on policy issues associated with the recruitment for, and retention, research, and reinvestment in, the profession of social work. Directs the Commission to study and report to Congress on issues facing the social work profession, including: (1) fair market compensation, high social work educational debt, social work workforce trends, translating social work research to practice, and social work safety; and (2) state-level social work licensure policies and reciprocity agreements for providing services across state lines. Requires such study to assess the professional capacity of the social work workforce to serve and respond successfully to the increasing biopsychosocial needs of individuals, groups, and communities in certain areas, including aging and child welfare. Terminates the Commission 30 days after it submits such report within 18 months of its first meeting. Authorizes the Secretary to award: (1) workplace improvement grants to eligible entities and individuals to address workplace concerns for the social work profession, including caseloads, compensation, social work safety, supervision, and working conditions; and (2) research grants, education and training grants, and community-based programs of excellence grants. Directs the Secretary to: (1) contract with a national social work entity to serve as a coordinating center and clearinghouse for information on activities funded under the grants, and (2) develop a multi-media outreach campaign and issue public service announcements that advertise and promote the social work profession.

To amend the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to waive certain eligibility requirements.

United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2013

Amends the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to waive, for up to seven years, Tribally Controlled Colleges or Universities Grant program eligibility requirements for tribally controlled colleges or universities that: (1) have received assistance under that program for ten consecutive years, (2) are located on Indian land in a county whose Indian population did not decrease by more than 1% between the two most recent decennial censuses, and (3) the Secretary determines will use the waiver to support higher education opportunities appropriate to Indian needs. (The requirements that may be waived deal with school governance, adherence to Indian needs, student body composition, and accreditation.) Deems an application for such a waiver to be approved if the Secretary does not act upon it within 30 days of its receipt.

RUSH Act

United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2013

Responding to Urgent Needs of Survivors of the Holocaust Act or RUSH Act - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to include specifically within its purview older Americans who are Holocaust survivors. Authorizes the Administrator for Community Living to designate, within the Administration for Community Living of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a person with specialized training, background, or experience with issues of Holocaust survivors to implement services for them. Requires a state nutrition project to: (1) ensure that project meals meet the dietary needs of program participants based on religious, cultural, or ethnic requirements; and (2) encourage individuals who distribute nutrition services to engage in conversation with homebound older individuals and to be aware of the warning signs of medical emergencies, injury, or abuse in order to reduce isolation and promote wellbeing. Amends the Older Americans Act Amendments of 2006 to require the study of nutrition projects to analyze the abilities of service providers to obtain viable contracts for special foods necessary to meet a religious requirement, required dietary need, or ethnic consideration. Authorizes the HHS Assistant Secretary for Aging to make grants to or contract with states, public agencies, private nonprofit agencies, institutions of higher education, and organizations, including tribal organizations, to support programs that provide transportation services and resources to older individuals with the greatest economic or social need.

Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 20 May 2013

Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to eligible entities to establish pilot programs to develop, study, or evaluate model systems for monitoring and caring for childhood cancer survivors. Requires the Secretary to convene a Workforce Development Collaborative on Medical and Psychosocial Care for Pediatric Cancer to establish a plan to meet specified objectives relating to medical and psychosocial care workforce development, including: (1) disseminating to health care educators information relevant to providing medical and psychosocial services to persons with pediatric cancers, (2) adapting curricula for continuing education of the existing workforce, and (3) strengthening the emphasis on psychosocial health care in educational accreditation standards and professional licensing and certification. Reauthorizes and expands the National Cancer Institute's pediatric cancer research and awareness program to include research on: (1) pediatric cancer survivors within minority or other medically underserved populations, (2) health disparities in pediatric cancer survivorship outcomes, and (3) follow-up care for pediatric cancer survivors. Requires the Secretary to make grants to eligible entities to establish and operate a clinic for comprehensive long-term follow-up services for pediatric cancer survivors.

Stop the Sequester Job Loss Now Act Through 2014

United States · United States Congress · 20 May 2013

Stop the Sequester Job Loss Now Act Through 2014 - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to repeal the FY2013-FY2014 sequesters. Makes the budgetary resources for FY2013, which were sequestered by the presidential sequestration order, available for obligation for the same purpose, in the same amount as otherwise would have been available on the date of enactment of this Act and before October 1, 2013, and in the same manner as if such order had not been issued. Reduces the defense discretionary spending limits for the security category for FY2017-FY2021. Eliminates the 2% maximum permissible reduction in budget authority for veterans' medical care. Extends through FY2014 agricultural commodity programs generally under the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, but not the direct payment programs for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, long and medium grain rice, soybeans, other oilseeds, and peanuts. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) prohibit the use of the last-in, first out (LIFO) accounting method by major integrated oil companies, (2) deny such oil companies a tax deduction for income attributable to the domestic production of oil and gas, and (3) deny them also the tax deduction for intangible drilling and development costs. Requires an individual high-income taxpayer whose adjusted gross income exceeds $1 million (adjusted annually for inflation) to pay a minimum (fair share) tax rate of 30% of the excess of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income over the taxpayer's modified charitable contribution deduction for the taxable year. Declares that it is the sense of the House that Congress should replace the entire 10-year sequester established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 with a balanced approach that would: (1) increase revenues without increasing the tax burden on middle-income Americans; and (2) decrease long-term spending while maintaining the Medicare guarantee, protecting Social Security and a strong social safety net, and making strategic investments in education, science, research, and critical infrastructure necessary to compete in the global economy.

Supporting the goals and ideals of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

United States · United States Congress · 17 May 2013

Expresses support for the goals and ideals of an International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Encourages: (1) health care providers to offer culturally and clinically competent care to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) community; (2) schools to support the creation of gay-straight alliances to achieve safer learning environments; (3) individuals to learn about national resources for those who identify as LGBT; and (4) the federal government, states, international funding organizations, and U.S. bilateral and multilateral aid efforts to prioritize the health and human rights of LGBT people.

Las Vegas Valley Public Land and Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 16 May 2013

Las Vegas Valley Public Land and Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument Act of 2013 - Establishes the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument in Nevada. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to provide for interpretation of, and education and scientific research on, the Monument's paleontological resources. Instructs the Secretary to issue to: (1) a qualified electric utility a 400-foot right-of-way for the construction of high-voltage transmission facilities identified as the Renewable Energy Transmission Corridor on the map entitled "North Las Vegas Valley Overview" (the map); (2) a public water agency a 100-foot right-of-way for the construction and repair of a buried water conveyance pipeline and associated facilities within the Water Conveyance Facilities Corridor and the Renewable Energy Transmission Corridor as identified on the map; and (3) a unit of local government or a public water agency a 100-foot right-of-way for the construction, operation, and repair of a buried water conveyance pipeline to access an existing buried water pipeline turnout facility and surge tank. Establishes the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument Advisory Council. Adds specified land to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Requires conveyance of land (including the interests in such land) managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) identified as the North Las Vegas Job Creation Zone to the city of North Las Vegas, Nevada. Amends the Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resources Act of 2002 to convey additional land to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Excepts certain lands in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area from withdrawal from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and operation under the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws. Permits the county to convey to a unit of local government or regional governmental entity land within the Airport Environs Overlay District if such land is used for a water or wastewater treatment facility or any other public purpose. Requires specified federal lands to be conveyed for the Nevada System of Higher Education and the Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport. Releases the Sunrise Mountain Instant Study Area from further study for designation as wilderness. Designates: (1) an Economic Support Area in North Las Vegas, and (2) the Nellis Dunes Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area. Transfers administrative jurisdiction over specified BLM land to the Air Force for inclusion in Nellis Air Force Base. Prohibits this Act from restricting military overflights, new units of special airspace, or military flight training routes.

Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 16 May 2013

Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013 - Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury, or any delegate of the Secretary, from implementing or enforcing any provisions of or amendments made by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2013

United States · United States Congress · 16 May 2013

Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2013 - Requires: (1) there to be an independent anti-doping organization with responsibility for ensuring the integrity and safety of horse races that are the subject of interstate off-track wagers, and (2) the independent anti-doping organization designated pursuant to the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 to serve as such organization. Sets forth as the duties of such organization: (1) developing, publishing, and maintaining rules regarding substances, methods, and treatments that may and may not be administered to a horse participating in such a race; (2) implementing programing relating to anti-doping education, research, testing, and adjudication to prevent any horse participating in such a race from racing under the effect of any prohibited substance, method, or treatment; and (3) excluding from participation in any such race any person who is determined to have violated such a rule or who is subject to a suspension from horse racing activities by any state racing commission. Prescribes conditions under which such organization may: (1) suspend the period a person is excluded from participation; and (2) permit the use of furosemide by a horse participating in such a race during the two-year period following enactment of this Act. Permits a host racing association to conduct a horse race that is the subject of an interstate off-track wager, and permits an interstate off-track wager to be accepted by an off-track betting system, only if consent is obtained from such organization. Requires such organization to ensure that all costs incurred in carrying its duties are defrayed pursuant to agreements for such consent.