Legislation

Representative Hanna authored the following pieces of legislation which have been signed into public law by the President:

H.R. 2061, Civilian Service Recognition Act of 2011: The Civilian Service Recognition Act would authorize the presentation of a United States flag to the family or next of kin of a federal civilian employee who is killed performing their duty. Every year federal civilian employees are killed at home and abroad doing their duty for our nation. The American flag embodies the values of our nation that these individuals worked to uphold. This legislation would provide a modest, but significant, benefit in honor of these dedicated individuals who sacrificed on our behalf. The bill was co-sponsored by 21 bipartisan Members of Congress. The House approved the bill by a vote of 425 - 0 on November 2, 2011. President Obama, accompanied by Rep. Hanna, signed the bill into law in the Oval Office on December 20, 2011.

H.R. 2244, Corporal Steven Blaine Riccione Post Office: This bill would designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 67 Castle Street in Geneva, New York, as the "Corporal Steven Blaine Riccione Post Office". Corporal Riccione was a Geneva native who was killed in 1967 while evacuating American soldiers after a fierce battle during the Vietnam War. Naming a Post Office in Corporal Riccione's hometown in his memory is an appropriate way to remember and honor his service to a grateful nation. The bill was co-sponsored by the entire New York delegation and was approved by the House on July 29, 2011. It was signed into law by President Obama on May 15, 2012.

H.R. 2527, National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act: The National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act would authorize the Treasury to mint commemorative coins for the National Baseball Hall of Fame's 75th anniversary in 2014. The Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown, New York. Baseball is the quintessential American pastime with roots in upstate New York. This cost-free legislation with overwhelmingly bipartisan support proves that the love of baseball - our national pastime - is a common bond. The bill is co-sponsored by 296 Members of Congress. The House voted 416 - 3 to approve the bill on October 26, 2011. President Obama signed the bill into law on August 3, 2012. A technical amendment specifying the size of the blanks used to create coins was also signed into law on May 17, 2013.

SPONSORED BILLS
Representative Hanna has sponsored the following pieces of legislation in the 114th Congress:

H.R. 652, the State Transportation and Infrastructure Financing Innovation Act: In 2005, Congress established the State Infrastructure Bank program, which authorized states to use up to 10 percent of the states existing federal transportation dollars to establish an infrastructure bank for the purpose of financing local road or transit projects. The program’s authorization expired in 2009, when it was inadvertently not included in the latest surface transportation authorization bill—the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21, Public Law 112-141). STIFIA would simply amend MAP-21 to authorize states to establish infrastructure banks, if they so choose, using existing federal transportation dollars through 2020. Further, the bill would increase the amount of federal money allowed to capitalize a state infrastructure bank from 10 percent to 15 percent. STIFIA would allow states another option to maximize existing transportation dollars.

H.R. 838, Security in Bonding Act: The bill would help ensure subcontractors and suppliers who provide services to the federal government are paid for their work. The Security in Bonding Act would protect small businesses and taxpayers by strengthening the bonding process and removing opportunities for fraud and abuse. Specifically, it requires non-corporate sureties to pledge specific and secure assets as required from others providing collateral to the federal government, and requires those assets be held by a government entity to ensure payments can be made in the event they are needed. The bill also raises the guarantee on the Small Business Administration Surety Bond Guarantee program from 70 percent to 90 percent. This change would help more small businesses get bonding at no extra cost to the government, because the program charges fees to participate and has successfully functioned running a surplus.

H.R. 1125, Start Saving Sooner Act: The bill would that make it easier for young Americans to save money, build personal wealth and ensure a comfortable retirement. Too many Americans reach retirement age with insufficient personal savings to maintain the quality of life to which they are accustomed. Current federal law exacerbates this problem because one of the most valuable retirement planning options – the Roth IRA – cannot typically be owned by children under the age of 18. The Start Saving Sooner Act would enable voluntary Young Savers Accounts (YSAs) for individuals from birth to age 18. YSAs would be administered like regular Roth IRAs and would turn into normal Roth IRAs at age 18. YSA contributions would be eligible for the existing Saver’s Credit available for individuals who make contributions to retirement plans and who have income under $30,000 for single filers and $60,000 for married filers, thereby allowing families of all incomes to participate and start saving sooner.

H.R. 1444, Commonsense Construction Contracting Act: Currently, some federal agencies are using a “reverse auction” process to award contracts for. For this method, bidders are allowed to offer multiple, consecutively lower bids on a rapid basis, until the lowest price wins. Often conducted electronically, this method is best suited to buying well-defined commodities, but not skilled services with a high degree of variability. This bill would ban the use of “reverse auctions” for the procurement of subjective services like construction and design, as well as products that prevent bodily harm, such as body armor. This would force agencies to use one of the other approved contracting processes, such as a sealed bid procurement or a negotiated procurement when a contract is suitable for award to a small business, or when the procurement is made using a small business program. In addition, the bill states that only trained contract officers may use reverse auctions and it requires these officers to be trained on reverse auctions.

H.R. 2411, Strong Start for America’s Children Act of 2015: This bill is aimed at expanding prekindergarten enrollment for low- to moderate-income four year olds across the country.  The legislation directs the Department of Education (ED) to allot matching grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies, childhood education program providers, or consortia of those entities to implement high-quality prekindergarten programs for children from lower income families. Grants would be allotted to states based on their proportion of children who are age four and from families with incomes at or below 200% of the poverty level.  "High-quality prekindergarten programs" are those that serve children three or four years of age and meet criteria concerning: class size; learning environments; teacher qualifications, salaries, and professional development; program monitoring; and accessibility to comprehensive health and support services.

H.R. 2535, SERVE Act: This bill would be a helpful retention tool for local fire departments, particularly in rural areas that have faced trouble in recent years retaining existing volunteers because of issues associated with time commitments, increased call volume, and training requirements.  This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual taxpayer who is a bona fide volunteer firefighters or emergency responder to receive a $1,000 refundable tax credit.  Such individual must: (1) have served as a bona fide volunteer performing firefighting and prevention services, emergency medical services, and ambulance services for more than six months in a taxable year; (2) have provided more than 40 hours of such services actively engaged in the prevention, control, or extinguishment of fires or response to emergency situations where life, property, or the environment is at risk; or (3) have been stationed on the premises of an emergency response organization in anticipation of being actively engaged in providing such services.  

H.R. 3533, Water Systems Cost Savings Act: This bill would help improve drinking water infrastructure throughout the United States and particularly in small, rural communities. It ensures that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and EPA technical assistance includes information on well water systems, and it requires small communities self-certify that they have assessed well systems as an infrastructure option. Both the USDA and EPA already provide technical assistance to local communities interested in pursuing water infrastructure projects; while valuable, this does not include information on well water systems, which are often a far more cost-effective alternative to traditional drinking water systems.

H.R. 3570, STEM Education Opportunity Act: This bill would create a permanent tax deduction for tuition and related expenses (room and board) for students majoring or enrolled in any of the STEM fields, including: science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. As more and more students are incurring debt, the STEM Education Opportunity Act reduces a student’s financial burden, making it easier for them to pursue advanced degrees in the STEM fields.

H.R. 4317, Promoting Reliable Subcontractors Act: This bill would amend the Small Business Act with respect to small businesses performing as first tier subcontractors under federal contracts whose prime contractor must develop a subcontracting plan.  The Small Business Administration would also be directed to establish a pilot program for such a small business to request a past performance rating in the system used by the federal government to monitor and record contractor past performance.
 
H.R. 4625, Firefighter Cancer Registry Act: This bill, which is supported strongly by all of the major national firefighting groups, would establish a specialized national firefighter cancer registry. With no direct spending effects according to CBO, this registry would provide guidance to states and clinicians, standardize collection activities and improve collection capabilities, and centralize key data to enhance the monitoring of cancer incidence among firefighters. As it grows, this registry will serve as a vital tool for researchers, improve our understanding of cancer incidence, and potentially lead to the development of new protocols and safeguards for firefighters to prevent this tragic disease. 

H.R. 5064, Improving Small Business Cybersecurity Act: This bill provides much-needed support to small businesses. It leverages existing Federal programs as well as the expertise of the more than 900 Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) around the country to streamline cyber support for small businesses.  In particular, it updates the Small Business Act and Homeland Security Act to authorize and direct SBDCs to offer, to the extent practicable, cyber support to small businesses in accordance with an SBDC Cyber Strategy, which is to be developed jointly by DHS and the Small Business Administration.  This strategy will provide guidance to SBDCs on how they can leverage existing Federal resources to provide better access to much-needed cyber support services.