Urban Progress Act of 2018
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 Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
Urban Progress Act of 2018
This bill amends various provisions of law and sets forth new provisions to promote economic development, expand employment opportunities, reduce gun violence, and limit the impact of poverty. Among other things, it:
makes permanent the work opportunity tax credit and increases it for employers who hire ex-felons;
establishes grants to promote commercial development in underserved communities, to provide career training programs, and to support summer employment opportunities for youth;
increases tax deductions for business start-up expenditures and for corporations' organizational expenditures;
establishes a working group to develop a national plan to reduce child poverty;
increases Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, when school is not in session, for households with minor children;
increases the child tax credit for low-income taxpayers;
creates a process to expunge and seal certain youth criminal records;
authorizes grants to prevent juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity;
makes trafficking in firearms a stand-alone criminal offense;
requires annual reports on the public health effects of gun violence;
broadens the categories of prohibited persons who are barred from receiving or possessing firearms;
requires states to submit mental health and criminal history records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System;
requires federal agencies and departments, including courts, to certify whether they provided disqualifying records of prohibited persons;
prohibits firearm transfers between private parties unless a licensed dealer first conducts a background check;
requires gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms; and
prohibits licensed gun dealers from transferring firearms to unlicensed persons prior to background check completion.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on March 5, 2018. 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 April 6, 2018: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
- 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?
Robin Kelly (D-IL) introduced it on March 5, 2018, and 14 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 14 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 March 5, 2018, 3111 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3079 days ago, on April 6, 2018.
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