Generalized System of Preferences Improvement Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Generalized System of Preferences Improvement Act - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to revise the prohibition against the President's designation of a beneficiary developing country for purposes of duty-free treatment of its products under the generalized system of preferences.
Prohibits the President from designating a country a beneficiary developing country if it: (1) enters into an agreement to afford preferential treatment to the products of a developed country other than the United States, unless the President certifies to Congress that it is in the U.S. national interests to make such designation; and (2) improperly uses sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, or other non-tariff trade barriers in a manner to negatively affect trade between the country and the United States.
Adds as one of the factors the President must take into account in determining whether to designate a country as a beneficiary developing country the extent, if any, to which such country adopts and follows international sanitary or phytosanitary standards and provides scientific justifications for deviations from such standards.
Requires the President to report annually to Congress on the status of market access within each covered beneficiary developing country, including findings with respect to whether or not it has adopted and followed international sanitary and phytosanitary standards and provides scientific justifications for any deviations from such standards.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on September 21, 2012. 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 September 21, 2012: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
- 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 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 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?
Devin Nunes (R-CA) introduced it on September 21, 2012. 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 September 21, 2012, 5102 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5102 days ago, on September 21, 2012.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 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