[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 28, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6072-S6073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-70. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Legislature 
     of the State of Louisiana memorializing the United States 
     Congress to take such actions as are necessary to regulate 
     airline baggage fees and processes for consumers as it 
     relates to transportation of passenger luggage and passenger 
     delays resulting from lost, damaged, or delayed luggage; to 
     the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

                  House Concurrent Resolution No. 207

       Whereas, deregulation of the airline industry in the United 
     States began more than three decades ago in 1978; and
       Whereas, a consequence of deregulation was the elimination 
     of federal control over many airline business practices, 
     including pricing and domestic route selection; and
       Whereas, though deregulation limits federal control of 
     airline business practices generally, the federal government 
     continues to legislate and enforce certain consumer 
     protections for airline passengers; and
       Whereas, the United States Congress largely determines the 
     degree to which certain rights of airline passengers are 
     codified in law or developed through regulatory rulemaking; 
     and
       Whereas, since deregulation, the primary means of 
     competition amongst airlines has progressively centered on 
     price, not service; and
       Whereas, certain concerns for passengers of airlines 
     include increasing baggage fees and passenger delays 
     resulting from lost, damaged, or delayed passenger luggage; 
     and
       Whereas, the airline industry began to charge passengers a 
     checked baggage fee per bag to curtail rising jet fuel costs 
     and to supplement marginal revenue during times of economic 
     decline; and

[[Page S6073]]

       Whereas, as a result of increasing airline baggage fees 
     charged by airlines for checked luggage, passengers are 
     encouraged to increase the contents of carry-on luggage to 
     avoid the extra cost of baggage fees; and
       Whereas, increased carry-on luggage of boarding airline 
     passengers may be correlated to the claims of lost, damaged, 
     or delayed passenger luggage, because passengers are 
     oftentimes asked to check carry-on luggage at the boarding 
     gate, which may require passengers to wait for such luggage 
     after deboarding an aircraft, or luggage and contents may 
     become damaged during the process of fitting carry-on luggage 
     onto boarded aircrafts; and
       Whereas, although checked luggage may be lost, damaged, or 
     delayed for a variety of reasons, baggage handling systems, 
     airline negligence, and the act of luggage offloading to 
     accommodate extra fuel have also been discussed as reasons 
     for lost, damaged, or delayed passenger luggage; and
       Whereas, the aforementioned concerns of airline passengers 
     are issues of consumer protection for which the United States 
     Congress has the constitutional power to address and 
     determine fair and reasonable solutions through codified law 
     or regulatory rulemaking: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby 
     memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions 
     as are necessary to regulate airline baggage fees and 
     processes for consumers as it relates to transportation of 
     passenger luggage and passenger delays resulting from lost, 
     damaged, or delayed luggage; and be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to 
     the presiding officers of the Senate and the House of 
     Representatives of the Congress of the United States of 
     America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional 
     delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-71. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Legislature 
     of the State of Louisiana memorializing the United States 
     Congress to take such actions as are necessary to amend the 
     employer shared responsibility provisions regarding employee 
     health coverage under Section 4980H of the Internal Revenue 
     Code, as enacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable 
     Care Act, to eliminate penalties on school districts; to the 
     Committee on Finance.

                   House Concurrent Resolution No. 87

       Whereas, a highly contentious aspect of the Patient 
     Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148), 
     referred to hereafter as ``the ACA'', is its imposition of 
     financial penalties on employers known as ``employer shared 
     responsibility''; and
       Whereas, the employer shared responsibility penalty applies 
     to certain businesses with fifty or more full-time employees 
     that either do not offer insurance or offer coverage which 
     does not meet minimum standards set forth in the ACA; and
       Whereas, after nearly four years of delays and regulatory 
     uncertainty regarding application of the employer shared 
     responsibility penalty following enactment of the ACA in 
     March of 2010, the Internal Revenue Service, in its final 
     regulations on the penalty issued in February of 2014 (79 
     Fed. Reg. 8544 (February 22, 2014)), provided that there is 
     no exclusion from the penalty for government entities; and
       Whereas, for purposes of the penalty, a ``full-time 
     employee'' is now defined as any employee working an average 
     of more than thirty hours per week or one hundred thirty 
     hours per month; and
       Whereas, because many part-time and temporary school 
     personnel count as ``full-time employees'' under the ACA, the 
     school districts of this state now face crippling financial 
     penalties, typically in the amount of two thousand dollars 
     per employee who lacks health coverage, for not providing 
     health coverage to personnel who traditionally have not been 
     considered full-time employees: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby 
     memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions 
     as are necessary to amend the employer shared responsibility 
     provisions regarding employee health coverage under Section 
     4980H of the Internal Revenue Code, as enacted by the Patient 
     Protection and Affordable Care Act, to eliminate penalties on 
     school districts; and be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to 
     the presiding officers of the Senate and the House of 
     Representatives of the Congress of the United States of 
     America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional 
     delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-72. A resolution adopted by the Legislature of Rockland 
     County, New York, urging the United States Congress and the 
     New York State legislature to strengthen guidelines for the 
     distribution of Medicaid services and to prevent Medicaid 
     fraud, waste, and abuse; to the Committee on Finance.
       POM-73. A communication from a citizen of the United States 
     of Illinois memorializing the State of Illinois's petition to 
     the United States Congress calling for a constitutional 
     convention for the purpose of proposing amendments; to the 
     Committee on the Judiciary.

                          ____________________