Main Street Jobs and Opportunity Act of 2016
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 the Constitution and Civil Justice.
Main Street Jobs and Opportunity Act of 2016
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) repeal the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, and (2) make permanent the maximum 35% gift tax rate and the lifetime gift tax exemption, with adjustments for inflation.
The Paperwork Reduction Act is amended to direct federal agency heads not to impose civil fines for first-time paperwork violations by small businesses unless specified criteria are met.
The Department of Labor shall study the effects of occupational licensing requirements to determine how they may affect public safety and the service quality of certain occupations, and impose barriers to entry for establishing small businesses, among other negative effects.
The Internal Revenue Code is further amended to revise the formula for counting the hours of service of non-full-time employees in determining whether an employer is a large employer for health coverage purposes.
An individual or an eligible small business may enter into an agreement with the Department of the Treasury to establish in a bank or other eligible trust a small business start-up savings account for tax-deductible annual contributions by the account beneficiary.
The sanctions requirements of Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are revised to require the court to impose an appropriate sanction on any attorney, law firm, or party that has violated, or is responsible for the violation of, the rule with regard to representations to the court. Requires any sanction to compensate parties injured by the conduct in question.
The Internal Revenue Code is further amended to:
allow businesses with average annual gross receipts of not more than $50 million that prevail to recover their costs in any administrative or court proceeding involving the determination, collection, or refund of tax, interest, or penalty;
increase the amount of civil damages against Internal Revenue Service officers or employees for reckless, intentional, or negligent disregard of internal revenue laws, and extend the statute of limitations for bringing a claim; and
The summary continues for 1 more paragraph. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on April 14, 2016. 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 May 17, 2016: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.
- 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 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 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?
Tim Walberg (R-MI) introduced it on April 14, 2016. No cosponsors are recorded.
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 April 14, 2016, 3801 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3768 days ago, on May 17, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 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