Sponsored Legislation
One of the most important aspects of Congress is developing, making, and monitoring laws. New laws are created every week. As a Member of Congress, I am trying to be actively involved in sponsoring and drafting legislation about issues that are important to you. Please contact my offices to share your thoughts on current legislation that may affect you, your family and your community.
H.R.4949: New American Success Act
Rep. Cárdenas joined with Republican Rep. and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida to introduce the New American Success (NAS) Act, which would help speed the integration of new Americans into society, ensuring each immigrant has access to programs that will help them learn or improve their English skills, civics education and other initiatives to help assist them in quickly adapting to their new nation while they participate in naturalization.
H.R. 4033: The American Worker Mobility Act
Seeking to lower the number of long-term unemployed Americans, Rep. Cárdenas joined with a Tea Party Republican, introducing legislation that would provide long-term unemployed Americans with assistance in moving to search for work. The American Worker Mobility Act will create a program within the Department of Labor to provide vouchers to the long-term unemployed to relocate for the purpose of attaining or accepting employment.
H.R. 3734: The 416d65726963612043616e20436f646520 Act of 2013
Congressman Cárdenas introduced legislation to pdesignate computer programming languages as “critical foreign languages” and provide incentives for state and local schools to teach more computer science beginning as early as Kindergarten.
H.R. 3545: The Collegiate Student-Athlete Protection Act
Congressman Cárdenas introduced legislation to protect collegiate student-athletes as they achieve academic goals, while also protecting the student-athletes’ health. The Collegiate Student-Athlete Protection Act (CSAP) requires universities and colleges who profit most from the exploits of amateur athletes who trade athletic performance for the opportunity to achieve a high level of post-secondary education to guarantee that opportunity.
H.R. 4123: The Prohibiting Detention of Youth Status Offenders Act of 2014 and
H.R. 4124: The Protecting Youth from Solitary Confinement Act
Learn more about both bills here.
The Protecting Youth from Solitary Confinement Act addresses a critical oversight in jails where juveniles are kept. The Protecting Youth from Solitary Confinement Act bans solitary confinement for youth in federal juvenile facilities, and requires an annual report to Congress on the rate at which juveniles are still subject to solitary confinement. The Prohibiting Detention of Youth Status Offenders Act, will keep American children out of jail for “status offenses,” offenses that would not be judicial issues if the offender were not a juvenile. This includes “offenses” like breaking curfew, running away from home or skipping school.
H.R. 4390: At-Risk Youth Medicaid Protection Act
Congressman Cárdenas joined U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in introducing the At-Risk Youth Medicaid Protection Act of 2014. This legislation ensures that youths who spend time in the juvenile justice system receive the health care they need once they leave. According to research by the National Conference of State Legislatures, the vast majority of young people who enter the juvenile justice system suffer from at least one form of mental illness. Additionally, many are impacted by multiple disorders that inhibit their ability to function in society once they have served their time. These young people – many of whom come from impoverished backgrounds – desperately need treatment for serious mental illnesses and other health care issues once they leave the juvenile justice system.
H.R. 2982 - Computer Science in STEM Act
The Computer Science in STEM Act, will prepare children for the computing jobs of today and tomorrow by adding Computer Science as one of the core “Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics” (STEM) classes.
H.R. 4929 - The Computer Science Career Education Act will award grants to a consortium between state or local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations and employers with a documented need in the computer science sector. The grants are designed to encourage the development of computer science curriculum that will meet the market needs of employers and better integrate secondary and postsecondary education.
H.R. 2669 - The Community-Based Gang Intervention Act
Currently, the United States imprisons a markedly greater share of its youth population than any other developed nation. Cárdenas’ “Community-Based Gang Intervention Act’’ (H.R. 2669) will provide funding and direction for agencies to intervene in the lives of young people who are at-risk, keeping them out of the prison system and making our communities safer.
H.R. 3495 - To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to make improvements to the food safety education program.
This legislation would would expand food safety education initiatives to train farmworkers on how to prevent bacterial contamination of food, how to identify sources of foodborne contaminants and other means of decreasing food contamination.
H.R. 4763 - Trade Protection Not Troll Protection Act
This bipartisan bill will speed up the legal process surrounding patent assertion litigation, undertaken by patent assertion entities (PAE) or so-called “patent trolls.” PAEs abuse the International Trade Commission patent process by purchasing patents and suing for intellectual property similarity between their purchased patents and a product that has been created and is being manufactured.
H.R. 4544 - Stop Penalizing Taxpayers for Sports Owner Fouls Act
Many Americans are not aware that when a professional sports owner is fined by their respective league, for violating the rules of that league, taxpayers get penalized at the same time. The “Stop Penalizing Taxpayers for Sports Owner Fouls” Act would stop the owners of sports teams from being able to deduct fines as a “business expense.”
H.Res. 132 - Honoring the accomplishments and legacy of Cesár Estrada Chávez.
On Thursday, March 21, 2013, Rep. Cárdenas introduced his first bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill, H.Res. 132, is a Congressional resolution honoring the life and activities of Cesár Chávez, the laborer and organizer who organized migrant and farm laborers in the western United States during the latter half of the 20th Century.
H.Res 265 - Honoring the entrepreneurial spirit of small business concerns in the United States during National Small Business Week, which begins on June 17, 2013.
- Amendments I've sponsored - These are additions or subtractions to pieces of legislation that have come before the House of Representatives.
PASSED THE HOUSE - Amendment to H.R. 1947 (Farm Bill) - An amendment to expand food safety education initiatives to include training farm workers on how to identify sources of food contamination and how to decrease bacterial contamination of food. This amendment PASSED the House of Representatives and will be considered as part of the overall farm bill during the eventual conference discussion with the U.S. Senate.
Co-sponsoring legislation written by other Members of Congress is an important way that I can show other Members, and the public, what is important to the people of the San Fernando Valley. I have co-sponsored more than 160 pieces of legislation that I feel, when passed, will help improve the lives of everyday Americans, or recognize issues and people important to the people in my District.