Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, and Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008.

== Detailed Summary ==

<summary>
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008 - Makes appropriations for FY2008 for the Departments of Commerce and JusticeJustice, for various agencies andscience-related programs, including transfers of funds. Rescinds certain unobligated balances. and related agencies.

Makes<b>Title I: Department of Commerce</b> - Makes appropriations for the Department of Commerce for FY2008 for: (1) the OfficeInternational Trade Administration; (2) the Bureau of ScienceIndustry and Technology Policy; (2)Security; (3) the Economic Development Administration; (4) the Minority Business Development Agency; (5) economic and statistical analysis programs; (6) the Bureau of the Census; (7) the National AeronauticsTelecommunications and Space Administration (NASA),Information Administration, including for grants for public telecommunications facilities planning and construction; (8) the OfficeU.S. Patent and Trademark Office; (9) the Undersecretary of Inspector General;Commerce for Technology; (10) the National Institute of Standards and (3)Technology (NIST), including amounts for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership of NIST, the Advanced Technology Program, and the construction of new research facilities; (11) the National Science Foundation (NSF),Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including transfers of funds, for establishing a Climate Change Study Committee and for procurement, acquisition, and construction of capital assets; (12) restoration of Pacific salmon populations; (13) the Coastal Zone Management Fund, including transfer of funds; (14) the fisheries finance program account; (15) departmental management, including for the Office of Inspector General. Rescinds certain unobligated balances available to NASAGeneral; (16) the renovation and NSF.modernization of the Herbert C. Hoover Building; and (17) the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council.

Makes appropriations(Sec. 101) Allows Department of Commerce funds to be made available for FY2008 for: (1)certain functions and activities of the Commission on Civil Rights; (2)Department and for advanced payments not otherwise authorized upon the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); (3) the International Trade Commission (ITC); (4) the Legal Services Corporation; (5) the Marine Mammal Commission; (6) the National Veterans Business Development Corporation; (7) the Officecertification of a Department of Commerce official that such payments are in the U.S. Trade Representative; and (8) the State Justice Institute.public interest.

Specifies(Sec. 102) Authorizes funding for hire of passenger motor vehicles, for services, and for uniforms or allowances.

(Sec. 103) Prohibits more than 5% of appropriations made available for the current fiscal year for the Department of Commerce in this Act from being transferred between such appropriations and from increasing any such appropriation by more than 10% as a result of any such transfer.

(Sec. 104) Permits a transfer of funds to cover certain costs incurred resulting from personnel actions taken in response to funding reductions.

(Sec. 105) Authorizes funding for food expenses for certain trade negotiators when sequestered.

(Sec. 106) Authorizes appropriations for the Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship Program.

(Sec. 107) Authorizes appropriations for the Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program.

(Sec. 108) Authorizes the expansion of the Department of Commerce personnel management demonstration project to involve more than 5,000 individuals, and extends such project indefinitely.

(Sec. 109) Amends the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 to eliminate the Department of Commerce Technology Administration.

Amends the National Technical Information Act of 1988 to require the Director of the National Technical Information Service to report to the Director of NIST (instead of to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology).

<b>Title II: Department of Justice</b> - Makes appropriations for the Department of Justice (DOJ) for 2008 for: (1) general administration, including for information sharing technology, the Integrated Wireless Network supporting law enforcement and homeland security, administration of pardon and clemency petitions and immigration-related activities, the Federal Detention Trustee, and the Office of Inspector General; (2) The U.S. Parole Commission; (3) legal activities, including reimbursement from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund for processing cases under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, for antitrust enforcement, the Offices of the U.S. Attorneys, the U.S. Trustee Program, and the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission; (4) the U.S. Marshals Service, including for courthouse security equipment, construction, fees and expenses of witnesses, the Community Relations Service, and for certain uses of the Assets Forfeiture Fund; (5) the National Security Division; (6) interagency crime and limitsdrug enforcement; (7) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); (8) the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); (9) the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); (10) the federal prison system, including for the construction of new buildings and facilities and the Federal Prison Industries, Incorporated (subject to certain limitations on administrative expenses); (11) the Office on Violence Against Women for violence against women prevention and prosecution programs; and (12) the Office of Justice Programs, including state and local law enforcement assistance, community-oriented policing service (including transfer of funds), juvenile justice programs, and public safety officers benefits.

(Sec. 201) Provides funding for DOJ official reception and representation expenses.

(Sec. 202) Prohibits the use of funds to: (1) pay for an abortion, except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or prohibitionsin the case of rape; or (2) require any person to perform or facilitate an abortion.

(Sec. 204) Reaffirms the obligation of the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to provide escort services necessary for a female inmate to receive an abortion outside a federal facility.

(Sec. 205) Prohibits more than 5% of any appropriations made available for the current fiscal year for the Department of Justice in this Act from being transferred between such appropriations and from increasing such appropriations by more than 10% as a result of such transfer.

(Sec. 206) Authorizes the Attorney General to extend through FY2009 the Personnel Management Demonstration Project without limitation on the number of employees or the positions covered.

(Sec. 207) Extends certain authorities for FBI and DEA undercover investigative operations to ATF.

(Sec. 208) Prohibits funding to transport a maximum or high security prisoner other than to a prison or facility certified by the Bureau of Prisons as appropriately secure.

(Sec. 209) Prohibits federal prisons from purchasing cable television services or equipment for use primarily for recreational purposes. Allows such services or equipment for inmate training, or for religious or educational programs.

(Sec. 210) Prohibits the obligation or expenditure of funds for SENTINEL or any other major new or enhanced information technology program with development costs over $100 million, without certification to the House Committee on Appropriations that appropriate management and oversight mechanisms are in place for such programs.

(Sec. 211) Requires certain fines imposed upon bankruptcy petition preparers to be deposited into the U.S. Trustee System Fund appropriations account.

(Sec. 212) Revises the fees schedule for disbursements in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

(Sec. 213) Prohibits the use of funds for public-private competitions under Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 for work performed by employees of the Bureau of Prisons or of Federal Prison Industries, Incorporated.

(Sec. 214) Reduces amounts provided by this Title for general administration expenses and increases amounts for violence against women programs.

<b>Title III: Science</b> - Makes appropriations for FY2008 for: (1) the Office of Science and Technology Policy; (2) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for science, aeronautics and exploration research and development activities, and for the Office of Inspector General; and (3) the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research, equipment and facilities construction, science and engineering education and human resources programs, and the Office of Inspector General.

Requires the NASA Administrator to prepare a strategy for minimizing job losses when NASA transitions from the Space Shuttle to a successor human-rated space transport vehicle.

<b>Title IV: Related Agencies </b>- Makes appropriations for FY2008 for: (1) the Commission on Civil Rights; (2) the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); (3) the International Trade Commission; (4) the Legal Services Corporation; (5) the Marine Mammal Commission; (6) the National Veterans Business Development Corporation; (7) the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; and (8) the State Justice Institute.

Prohibits the use of any funds available to the EEOC to outsource operations of the National Contact Center.

<b>Title V: General Provisions </b>- (Sec. 501) Prohibits the use of any appropriated amounts in this Act for publicity or propaganda purposes not authorized by Congress.

(Sec. 502) Prohibits any part of any appropriation contained in this Act from remaining available for obligation beyond the current fiscal year unless expressly so provided in this Act.

(Sec. 503) Limits expenditures for consulting services through procurement contracts to those contracts where expenditures are a matter of public record and available for public inspection.

(Sec. 504) Provides for severability of provisions of this Act if certain other provisions are held invalid.

(Sec. 505) Prohibits any reprogramming of funds that creates, eliminates, or otherwise affects any existing programs, unless the House Committee on Appropriations is notified 15 days in advance.

(Sec. 506) Prohibits the use of funds to implement, administer, or enforce any EEOC guidelines covering harassment based on religion.

(Sec. 507) Renders any person who mislabels a product sold in or shipped to the United States as &quot;Made in America&quot; ineligible to receive any contract or subcontract funded by this Act.

(Sec. 508) Requires the Departments of Commerce and Justice, NSF, and NASA to provide the House Committee on Appropriations with a quarterly accounting of unobligated funds available to those agencies in any previous appropriations Act.

(Sec. 509) Permits transfer of funds to cover certain costs incurred resulting from personnel actions taken in response to funding reductions.

(Sec. 510) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to promote the sale or export of tobacco or tobacco products or to seek the removal of restrictions on marketing of such products.

(Sec. 511) Prohibits funding for the implementation of: (1) any user fee for background checks under the Brady Handgun Control Act of 1993; and (2) any background check system that does not require and result in the destruction of information submitted by an individual certified as eligible to possess or receive a firearm.

(Sec. 512) Bars amounts in the Crime Victims Fund in excess of $635 million in any fiscal year from being available for obligation until the following fiscal year. Reduces amounts otherwise provided by this Act for Department of Commerce departmental management expenses.

(Sec. 513) Prohibits the use of Department of Justice funds to discriminate against or denigrate the religious or moral beliefs of students who participate in Department of Justice programs, or of the parents or legal guardians of such students.

(Sec. 514) Prohibits the transfer of funds made available in this Act to any federal entity, except as authorized in this Act or any other appropriations Act.

(Sec. 515) Subjects funding for implementing E-Government Initiatives to the reprogramming limits established by this Act.

(Sec. 516) Requires ATF to make certain disclosures concerning trace data and firearms-related crime.

(Sec. 517) Prohibits the use of funds to issue patents on claims directed to or encompassing a human organism.

(Sec. 518) Prohibits the use of funds to support or justify the use of torture.

(Sec. 519) Prohibits the use of funds to require certain export licenses.

(Sec. 520) Prohibits the use of funds to deny certain import applications regarding curios or relics, firearms, parts, or ammunition.

(Sec. 521) Prohibits the use of funds to include in any new bilateral or multilateral trade agreement certain language of the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement or the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

(Sec. 523) Prohibits the use of funds to authorize a national security letter in contravention of statutes authorizing the FBI to issue national security letters.

(Sec. 524) Prohibits the use of funds to implement OMB Circular A-76 which prohibits federal employees who lose their jobs due to privatization from filing an appeal with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

(Sec. 525) Extends through 2009 the authority of the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Board to make commitments to guarantee any loan to a qualified steel company.

(Sec. 526) Amends the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 to increase funding levels under that Act for FY2008-2010.

(Sec. 528) Prohibits the use of funds to enter into a contract with an entity that does not participate in the basic pilot program enacted by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to verify alien employment eligibility.

(Sec. 529) Reduces amounts made available by this Act for departmental management and increases amounts for violence against women programs.

<b>Title VI: Rescissions - </b>Rescinds unobligated balances available for: (1) the Department of Commerce; (2) Department of Justice general administration, legal activities, and Office of Justice programs; (3) NASA; and (4) NSF.

<b>Title VII: Additional General Provisions </b>- (Sec. 701) Prohibits the use of funds for business or first class airline travel by Department of Commerce employees.

(Sec. 702) Prohibits the use of funds to enforce the judgment and sentences imposed in the case of <i>U.S. v. Ignacio Ramos, et al.</i> (prosecutions of border patrol agents).

(Sec. 703) Prohibits the use of funds to contravene the right of law enforcement officials to exchange information with federal immigration authorities about the citizenship or immigration status of any individual.

(Sec. 704) Prohibits the use of funds to contravene the participation of federal agencies in pilot programs to verify alien employment status.

(Sec. 705) Prohibits the use of funds to carry out the judicial decision in <i>Lin, et al. v. U.S. Department of Justice </i>(asylum case involving Chinese women forced to have abortions).

(Sec. 706) Revises funding for DOJ Office of Justice Programs state and local law enforcement assistance.

(Sec. 708) Prohibits the use of funds to violate provisions of the NASA Authorization Act of 2005 relating to the International Space Station Independent Safety Taskforce.

(Sec. 709) Prohibits the use of funds to employ unauthorized aliens.

(Sec. 710) Prohibits the use of funds to pay for the attendance of more than 50 federal employees at any single conference outside the United States.

(Sec. 711) Prohibits the use of funds to enforce provisions requiring disclosure of electioneering communications.

(Sec. 712) Prohibits the use of funds to purchase light bulbs without the &quot;ENERGY STAR&quot; or &quot;Federal Energy Management Program&quot; designation.
</summary>

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== Status of the Legislation ==

<status>
Latest Major Action: 7/30/2007: Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 289.
</status>

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== Points in Favor ==

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== Points Against ==

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