Bills Recently Presented To President Trump For His Signature

Bills are presented to the President of the United States for his signature all the time. Yet most of the time, the general public doesn’t know what they are or how to find them…

Bills are presented to the President of the United States for his signature all the time. Yet most of the time, the general public doesn’t know what they are, what the effect will be or how to find them the bills themselves.

Below is a list of bills and a brief explanation of those bills that have recently been passed by Congress and that have been presented for President Trump’s signature on December 21 and 27, with links to the Enrolled Bill¹ PDF. Each PDF includes addition links for further explanation of the bill.

Presented to the President on December 21, 2018

• H.R.7327 – Strengthening and Enhancing Cyber-capabilities by Utilizing Risk Exposure Technology Act

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a security vulnerability disclosure policy, to establish a bug bounty program for the Department of Homeland Security, to amend title 41, United States Code, to provide for Federal acquisition supply chain security, and for other purposes.

• H.R.7243 – To amend Public Law 115-217 to change the address of the postal facility designated by such Public Law in honor of Sergeant First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe, and for other purposes.

To amend Public Law 115–217 to change the address of the postal facility designated by such Public Law in honor of Sergeant First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe, and for other purposes.

• H.R.6893 – Secret Service Overtime Pay Extension Act

This bill amends the Overtime Pay for Protective Services Act of 2016 to extend through 2019, subject to specified limitations, the exemption of U.S. Secret Service officers, employees, and agents who perform protective services from the limitation on premium pay otherwise applicable to federal employees.

• H.R.6348 – Small Business ACE Act

To adjust the real estate appraisal thresholds under the section 504 program to bring them into line with the thresholds used by the Federal banking regulators, and for other purposes.

• H.R.5923 – Walnut Grove Land Exchange Act

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to exchange certain public lands in Ouachita National Forest, and for other purposes.

• H.R.5787 – Strengthening Coastal Communities Act of 2018

To amend the Coastal Barrier Resources Act to give effect to more accurate maps of units of the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System that were produced by digital mapping of such units, and for other purposes.

• H.R.5075 – Ashanti Alert Act of 2018

This bill directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to establish a national communications network—the Ashanti Alert communications network—to support regional and local search efforts for missing adults.

The Ashanti Alert communications network must operate in coordination with the AMBER Alert communications network (i.e., the communications network that supports search efforts for abducted children).

• H.R.4819 – DELTA Act

To promote inclusive economic growth through conservation and biodiversity programs that facilitate transboundary cooperation, improve natural resource management, and build local capacity to protect and preserve threatened wildlife species in the greater Okavango River Basin of southern Africa.

• H.R.4227 – Vehicular Terrorism Prevention Act of 2018

(Sec. 2) This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): (1) to assess the activities that DHS is undertaking to support emergency response providers and the private sector to prevent, mitigate, and respond to the threat of vehicular terrorism; and (2) based on such assessment, to develop and submit to the congressional homeland security committees a strategy to improve its efforts to support such providers and the private sector in that regard.

The strategy shall include:

• an examination of the current threat of vehicular terrorism;

• methods to improve DHS information sharing activities with such providers and the private sector regarding best practices to prevent, mitigate, and respond to the increasing threat of vehicular terrorism; and

• training activities that DHS can provide for such providers to prevent and respond to such threat.

• H.R.3383 – To designate the flood control project in Sedgwick County, Kansas, commonly known as the Wichita-Valley Center Flood Control Project, as the “M.S. ‘Mitch’ Mitchell Floodway”.

(Sec. 1) This bill designates the Wichita-Valley Center Flood Control Project in Sedgwick County, Kansas, as the “M.S. ‘Mitch’ Mitchell Floodway.”

• H.R.2606 – Stigler Act Amendments of 2018

This bill amends the Act of August 4, 1947 (commonly known as the Stigler Act) to revise the qualifications that must be met by a person who inherits land originally allotted to members of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma (the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Seminole tribes) for that land to remain in restricted status. When land is in restricted status, it is not subject to taxation and may not be sold or transferred without permission of the Department of the Interior.

Under current law, the restricted fee status of land allotted to the Five Tribes is maintained only if the individual holding title has at least 50% Indian blood from one of the Five Tribes. This bill removes this requirement. Thus, the restricted fee status is maintained for all lineal descendants of an original enrollee whose name appears on the membership rolls of the Five Tribes.

• H.R.1162 – No Hero Left Untreated Act

This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out a one-year pilot program to provide access to magnetic EEG/EKG-guided resonance therapy to treat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, chronic pain, or opiate addiction.

The VA shall: (1) carry out the program at up to two VA facilities, and (2) provide access to such therapy to more than 50 veterans.

• H.R.767 – SOAR to Health and Wellness Act of 2018

Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond (SOAR) to Health and Wellness Act of 2017 or the SOAR to Health and Wellness Act of 2017

(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a program, to be known as the Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond to Health and Wellness Training Program or the SOAR to Health and Wellness Training Program, to train health care providers and other related providers to:

• identify potential human trafficking victims,
• work with law enforcement to report and facilitate communication with such victims,
• refer victims to social or victims service agencies or organizations,
• provide such victims with coordinated care tailored to their circumstances, and
• consider integrating this training with existing training programs.

The program must include the functions of the training program with the same name that was operating before this bill’s enactment and the following initiatives:

• engaging stakeholders to develop a flexible training module,
• providing technical assistance to health education programs and health care professional organizations,
• facilitating the dissemination of best practices, and
• developing a methodology for collecting and reporting data on the number of human trafficking victims served in  health care settings or other related provider settings.

(Sec. 4) HHS must report the number of grantees operating under the program, the number of providers trained through the program, and numbers for the program operating before this program.

(Sec. 5) The bill authorizes appropriations for the program through FY2022.

Presented to the President on December 27, 2018

• H.R.1660 – Global Health Innovation Act of 2017

(Sec. 2) This bill directs the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to report to Congress, annually for four years, on the development and use of global health innovations in USAID programs, projects, and activities.

Such reports shall include descriptions of: (1) goals and progress towards their achievement; (2) how innovation has advanced USAID’s commitments to achieving an HIV/AIDS-free generation, ending preventable child and maternal deaths, and protecting communities from infectious diseases; (3) how USAID, alone and in partnerships, is leveraging U.S. investments to achieve greater health innovation; and (4) coordination with other federal departments.

• S.943 – Johnson-O’Malley Supplemental Indian Education Program Modernization Act

This bill requires the Department of the Interior to annually update the count of Indian students eligible for the Johnson-O’Malley Program (JOM Program). The JOM Program awards contracts to tribal organizations, schools, states, and others to support the cultural and academic needs of Indian students. The contract amounts are based on the number of students served.

• Contracting parties must annually report to Interior on the number of students they serve. If they fail to submit the report, then Interior may not give them program funds for the next fiscal year.
• The bill sets forth a process to revise funding allocations provided under the program.
• Interior must consult with Indian tribes and state and local education agencies that have not participated in the program to determine their interest in entering into contracts.
• The Bureau of Indian Education must determine how: (1) the regulatory definition of eligible student may be clarified for contracting parties, and (2) the program funding formula may be updated to ensure the full participation of contracting parties and provide clarity on the funding process.

• H.R.2200 – Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2018

• This bill authorizes local educational agencies to establish programs to educate children on the dangers of severe forms of trafficking in persons.
• Diplomatic or consular posts shall designate an employee to receive information from any person who was a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons while in the United States.
• The Department of Health and Human Services may carry out a Human Trafficking Victims Reintegration Through Employment Program.
• Department of Justice (DOJ) victim services grants may be used for programs that provide trauma-informed care or long-term housing for: (1) youth transitioning from foster care, and (2) women or girls in underserved populations.
• Airlines that contract with the federal government shall provide personnel with training in recognizing human trafficking incidents.
• Federal Acquisition Institute curricula for the acquisition workforce shall include a course on the law relating to human trafficking and government contracting.
• The United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking Council is extended to September 30, 2020.
• The bill sets forth agency actions to prevent funding of human trafficking.
• DOJ law enforcement grants may be used to designate at least one prosecutor for cases of severe forms of trafficking in persons.
• Civil damages awarded in an action brought for slavery or trafficking in persons are excluded from gross income.
• The Secretary of the Treasury and the United States Trade Representative are included in the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking.
• The bill provides for transparency in U.S. Agency for International Development anti-trafficking expenditures.
• The bill authorizes appropriations through FY2021 for: (1) specified anti-trafficking programs and entities, and (2) U.S. Customs and Border Protection for on-site anti-trafficking training for airport and airline personnel.

• S.1520 – Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2018

To expand recreational fishing opportunities through enhanced marine fishery conservation and management, and for other purposes.

• H.R.3460 – To designate the United States courthouse located at 323 East Chapel Hill Street in Durham, North Carolina, as the “John Hervey Wheeler United States Courthouse”.

(Sec. 1) This bill designates the U.S. courthouse located at 323 East Chapel Hill Street in Durham, North Carolina, as the “John Hervey Wheeler United States Courthouse,” during the period in which the facility is used as a federal courthouse.

• S.2076 – BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act

Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act or the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to award cooperative agreements: (1) for the establishment or support of national or regional centers of excellence in public health practice in Alzheimer’s disease; (2) to state public health departments, Native American tribes, and other entities to promote cognitive functioning, address cognitive impairment and unique aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, and help meet the needs of caregivers; (3) for analysis and public reporting of data on the state and national levels regarding cognitive decline, caregiving, and health disparities, and monitoring of objectives on dementia and caregiving in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy People 2020 report.

• S.2200 – National Integrated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of 2018

This bill reauthorizes through FY2023 and modifies the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) Program.

The bill amends the National Integrated Drought Information System Act of 2006 to require, under NIDIS, that the collection and integration of information on the key indicators of drought and drought impacts includes indicators of precipitation, soil moisture, and evaporative demand.

NIDIS shall also:

• provide timely data, information, and products that reflect watershed differences in drought conditions;
• through interagency agreements, coordinate and integrate future federal research and monitoring in support of a drought early warning information system;
• utilize existing forecasting and assessment programs and partnerships, including forecast communication coordinators and cooperative institutes, and improvements in seasonal, subseasonal, and low flow water prediction; and
• continue ongoing research and monitoring activities related to drought, including research activities relating to the prediction of drought.

NIDIS may:

• engage with the private sector to improve drought forecast and communication if the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determines such partnership is appropriate, cost-effective, and beneficial to the public and the decision-makers specified in the Act; and
• facilitate the development of one or more academic cooperative partnerships to assist with NIDIS functions.
• NIDIS shall develop a strategy for a national coordinated soil moisture monitoring network.

The bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend through FY2023 certain activities related to the provision of agricultural and silvicultural weather and climate information.

• S.2248 – Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018

(Sec. 1) This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), upon request, to provide headstones and markers for: (1) the unmarked graves of veterans’ spouses, surviving spouses, and children (including unmarried adult children at the VA’s discretion) who are buried in a veterans cemetery owned by a tribal organization or on land owned by or held in trust for a tribal organization; and (2) placement in a veterans cemetery owned by a tribal organization or on tribal land owned by or held in trust by a tribal organization for veterans, spouses, surviving spouses, and eligible dependent children whose remains are unavailable.

• S.2278 – State Offices of Rural Health Reauthorization Act of 2018

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize through FY2022 and revise the grant program for state offices of rural health, including to require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make the grants, thus removing HHS’s discretion to make them.

• S.2652 – Stephen Michael Gleason Congressional Gold Medal Act

(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael Gleason.

• S.2736 – Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018

To develop a long-term strategic vision and a comprehensive, multifaceted, and principled United States policy for the Indo-Pacific region, and for other purposes.

• S.2765 – RBIC Advisers Relief Act of 2018

To amend the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to exempt investment advisers who solely advise certain rural business investment companies, and for other purposes.

• S.2896 – Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act of 2018

To require disclosure by lobbyists of convictions for bribery, extortion, embezzlement, illegal kickbacks, tax evasion, fraud, conflicts of interest, making false statements, perjury, or money laundering.

• S.2961 – Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2018

To reauthorize subtitle A of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990.

• S.3031 – Federal Personal Property Management Act of 2018

• This bill requires the executive agencies and the General Services Administration (GSA) to carry out the following activities with respect to federal personal property management.
• Each executive agency, in accordance with guidance from the GSA, must annually inventory and assess capitalized personal property in identifying excess property under the agency’s control. Capitalized personal property items include those recorded on an agency’s general ledger records as major investments or assets.
• Each agency must also regularly inventory and assess accountable personal property under its control.
• GSA may establish separate thresholds for acquisitions of personal property for which affected agencies shall capitalize and for which they shall establish and maintain property records in a centralized system.

• H.R.6287 – 9/11 Memorial Act

This bill directs the Department of the Interior to award competitive grants for the continued operation, security, and maintenance of the on-site memorials to the events and victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93.

• S.3191 – Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018

To provide for the expeditious disclosure of records related to civil rights cold cases, and for other purposes.

• S.3367 – Department of Transportation Reports Harmonization Act

To amend certain transportation-related reporting requirements to improve congressional oversight, reduce reporting burdens, and promote transparency, and for other purposes.

• S.3444 – A bill to designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as the “Douglas Fournet Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic”.

This bill designates the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as the “Douglas Fournet Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic.”

• S.3530 – Museum and Library Services Act of 2018

This bill amends and reauthorizes through FY2023 the Museum and Library Services Act and provides funding for library services and technology through FY2023. The bill expands the definition of “library” and “museum” to include a tribal library or museum and expands the services museums are authorized to provide.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the 21st Century Museum Professional Program established by this bill, may enter into arrangements with museum, museum consortia and associations, institutions of higher education, and other entities for projects to:

• increase the number of students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds enrolled in graduate and undergraduate museum-related programs;
• recruit future museum professionals from such backgrounds;
• develop new or enhance current professional development and retention programs for museum professionals and the museum workforce; and
• support and conduct research, needs assessments, pilot programs, and evaluation of education and professional development programs to recruit, prepare, educate, and retain the next generation of museum professionals.

• S.7 – NASA Enhanced Use Leasing Extension Act of 2018

To amend title 51, United States Code, to extend the authority of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to enter into leases of non-excess property of the Administration.

• S.3777 – Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act of 2018

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a tiger team dedicated to addressing the difficulties encountered by the Department of Veterans Affairs in carrying out section 3313 of title 38, United States Code, after the enactment of sections 107 and 501 of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017.

Note: ¹ – An Enrolled bill is the final copy of the bill.

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