THE U. S. FORUM ADVANCES OUR SOCIETY THROUGH LEGISLATIVE
ACTION
2008 -
Summary Actions of the 110th Congress
GPO/WEP H.R. 82
Hearings on this bill were held in the House of
Representatives. The bill died in House and Senate
Committees
DC VOTING
RIGHTS ACT HR 328
Failed to be bro ught to a vote in the S enate due lack
of 60% yea vote to close debate and bring the bill up for
a&nbs p; vote
LILLY
LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT (H.R.
2831)
Passed in the House of
Representatives, but the Senate failed to close debate
and carry out a vote by 56-42 (60 needed for cloture)
FAIR PAY
RESTORATION ACT (HR2831; S. 1843)
Died in committee in both houses
INCREASES
IN COLLEGE STUDENT AID (H.R. 2669)
President Bush signed this into law for a summary of the
law go to
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR02669:@@@D&summ2=m&
H.R.3990 to
reduce sexual assault and domestic violence against
members of the military (mainly women) died in committee
in the House.
HEART FOR
WOMEN ACT (HR1014;
S573)
This bill passed in
the House of Representati ves, died in committee i n the
Senate
MENTAL
HEALTH INSURANCE EQUITY
After a complicated back and forth bet ween the House and
Senate this passed as part of TARP (the big 700 billion
bill passed near the end of the session) and signed by
President Bush.
The key elements of the final law are as follows:
- Applies mental health parity provisions to all group health plans for employers larger than 50 employees.
- Adds on to the 1996 parity law standard for annual and lifetime dollar limits. Expands definition of mental health to include substance use disorders.
- Allows insurance companies to determine which mental illnesses they cover. This was a point of difference between the House and Senate bills, where the House bill required coverage for all mental illnesses.
- Defers to HIPAA preemption standard, thus forming the floor and not preempting more rest rictive state mental health parity laws.
- Requires a plan to provide parity out-of-network mental health and substan ce abuse benefits if it provides out-of-network medical and surgical benefits. This was a point of difference between the House and Senate bills, where the Senate bill did not require out-of-network mental health or substance abuse benefits but requires parity if a plan chooses to provide these benefits.
- Requires plan administrator to make information about medical necessity requirements and any denial available to any current or potential participant, beneficiary, or contracted provider.
- Allows health plans that experience a cost increase of at least 1% (2% in the first year of this Act) as a result of complying with this Act to be exempt from parity requirements for one year.
- Goes into effect at the start of a plan year, one year after enactment of P.L.110-343.
- Requires Government Accounting Office to cond uct a study analyzing specific rates, patterns and trends in coverage, any exclusion of specific mental heal th or substance use diagnoses by health plans, and the impact of this Act on coverage and costs.
ACTION ALERT
PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT
LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT
GPO/WEP REPEAL
ACTION ALERT
H.R.12 which combines the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is coming up for a vote in the Senate this week. CALL YO UR SENATOR AND LET HIM/HER KNOW THAT YOU SUP PORT THIS BILL.
PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT
The Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R.12; S182) is designed to make it easier to find out what salaries are comparable in order to determine salary discrimination. This bill passed the House and was combined with H.R.11 (Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, see below) before being sent to the Senate for consideration.
LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 11; S181) would restore the EEOC rule that anyone discriminated against in pay would be entitled to receive back pay for ALL pay periods in which remuneration was unfairly lower than that of a person in the same position with the same responsibilities. This bill has passed the House and been sent to the Senate. Although the Senate has separate bill numbers, it appears that the Senate will act on the House bill which combines both the Ledbetter Act and the Paycheck Fairnes s Act.
GPO/WEP REPEAL
GPO/WEP is again on the agenda as H.R. 235. It has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. The members of this committee are given below.
Charles B. Rangel, NY Chairman
Fortney Pete Stark, CA
Sander M. Levin, MI
Jim McDermott, WA
John Lewis, GA
Richard E. Neal, MA
John S. Tanner, TN
Xavier Becerra, CA
Lloyd Doggett, TX
Earl Pomeroy, ND
Mike Thompson, CA
John B. Larson, CT
Earl Blumenauer, OR
Ron Kind, WI
Bill Pascrell Jr. , NJ
Shelley Berkley, NV
Joseph Crowley, NY
Chris Van Hollen, MD
Kendrick Meek, FL
Allyson Y. Schwartz, PA
Artur Davis, AL
Danny K. Davis, IL
Bob Etheridge, NC
L inda T. Sanchez, CA
Brian Higgins, NY
John A. Yarmuth, KY
Da ve Camp, MI
Wally Herger, CA
Sam Johnson, TX
Kevin Brady, TX
Paul Ryan, WI
Eric Cantor, VA
John Linder, GA
Devin Nunes, CA
Pat Tiberi, OH
Ginny Brown-Waite, FL
Geoff Davis, KY
Dave G. Reichert, WA
Charles W. Boustany Jr. , LA
Dean Heller, NV
Peter J. Roskam, IL
For on-line information on specific bills go to http://thomas.loc.gov/
CONTACT ADDRESSES FOR GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
U.S. GOVERNMENT CONTACT INFORMATION can be obtained through Congressional Switchboard 1-866-327-8670 (this is a toll free nu mber). You can contact your Congressman and Senator through this number without paying long distance charges.
http://www.house.gov/ for members of the House of Representatives http://www.senate.gov/ for members of the U.S. Senate
White House Switchboard (202) 546-1414
STATE GOVERNMENT CONTACT INFORMATION can be obtained through
http://www.emailyourgovernor.com/ Information available at this site allows contact with governors, members of the state legislature, state supreme court, congressional delegation and state agencies such as the Education Department, Attorney General, Motor Vehicles Department and Voter Registration.
INFORMATION ON HOW YOUR CONGRESSMAN VOTED ON KEY BILLS http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/bills/
FIVE CONSTITUENT CONTACTS WILL CAUSE A LEGISLATOR TO PAY SERIOUS ATTENTION TO A GIVEN ISSUE.