Give A HAND Act
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Health.
Give Assistance and Help to Americans impacted by Natural Disasters Act or the Give A HAND Act
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow various tax credits, deductions, and modifications to existing rules in areas impacted by disasters.
With respect to areas in which a federally declared disaster occurred, the bill allows:
expensing of disaster expenses,
increased charitable contribution limits and mileage rates,
modifications to rules regarding deductions for losses,
waivers of certain mortgage revenue bond requirements,
increased expensing and bonus depreciation,
an increased new markets tax credit allocation,
penalty-free distributions from retirement plans,
an additional exemption for providing housing to displaced individuals,
an exclusion for cancellations of indebtedness,
the use of the previous year's income for calculating the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit,
an increased rehabilitation credit for buildings,
additional advance refundings of certain tax-exempt bonds,
disaster area recovery bonds,
additional low-income housing credit allocations,
an exclusion for disaster mitigation payments received from state and local governments,
a deduction for payments to a tax-exempt natural disaster fund,
a credit for a portion of the wages paid to employees,
an exclusion for employer-provided housing,
an enhanced deduction for medical expenses, and
extensions for tax and Medicare filing deadlines.
The bill also modifies several deductions, credits, and other tax provisions that affect Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on October 31, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on November 3, 2017: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
RICHARD NEAL (D-MA) introduced it on October 31, 2017, and 21 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 21 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on October 31, 2017, 3236 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3233 days ago, on November 3, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers