Key Legislation

Question 1

Religious Freedoms Restoration Act (1993):

Answer 1

United States federal law that “ensures that interests in religious freedom are protected.”

Question 2

Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1994)

Answer 2

mandated federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States, and imposed a five-day waiting period on purchases, until the NICS system was implemented in 1998. (Named after Jim Brady who was President Reagan’s press secretary and the most seriously injured in the assassination attempt against Reagan – he was shot in the head and never fully recovered.)

Question 3

Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Act (2009):

Answer 3

provides funding and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal jurisdictions to help them to more effectively investigate and prosecute hate crimes. It also creates a new federal criminal law which criminalizes willfully causing bodily injury (or attempting to do so with fire, firearm, or other dangerous weapon) when:

(1) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin of any person or (2) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person and the crime affected interstate or foreign commerce or occurred within federal special maritime and territorial jurisdiction.

Question 4

Defense of Marriage Act (1996):

Answer 4

allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states.

Question 5

Americans with Disabilities Act (1990):

Answer 5

Requires employers and public facilities to make “reasonable accommodations” for the disabled and prohibits discrimination against the disabled in employment.

Question 6

Civil Rights Act (1964):

Answer 6

Makes racial discrimination in hotels and restaurants illegal and forbids job discrimination.

Question 7

Voting Rights Act (1965):

Answer 7

Helped end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage.

Question 8

Clean Air Act (1970):

Answer 8

Combats air pollution.

Question 9

Clean Water Act (1972):

Answer 9

Requires municipalities and industries to use pollution-control technologies and obtain EPA permits to discharge waste into waters.

Question 10

Endangered Species Act (1973):

Answer 10

Requires federal government to protect endangered species regardless of economic impacts.

Question 11

Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (1986):

Answer 11

require the Environmental Protection Agency to set standards for identification and abatement of hazardous asbestos in the Nation’s schools, to mandate abatement of hazardous asbestos in the Nation’s schools in accordance with those standards, to require local educational agencies to prepare asbestos management plans, and for other purposes.

Question 12

National Environmental Policy Act (1969):

Answer 12

Requires environmental impact statements for development projects.

Question 13

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabitlity Act (CERCLA or Superfund):

Answer 13

designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances and pollutants It authorizes federal natural resource agencies, primarily the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), states and Native American tribes to recover natural resource damages caused by hazardous substances. EPA may identify parties responsible for hazardous substances releases to the environment (polluters) and either compel them to clean up the sites, or it may undertake the cleanup on its own using the Superfund (a trust fund) and costs recovered from polluters by referring to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Question 14

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (2010):

Answer 14

Obamacare” requires all citizens have affordable health insurance.

Question 15

National School Lunch Act (1946):

Answer 15

provide low-cost or free school lunch meals to qualified students through subsidies to schools. The program was established as a way to prop up food prices by absorbing farm surpluses, while at the same time providing food to school age children. Used today to enact strict standards for food quality in participating school districts.

Question 16

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996): “Welfare Reform Act”

Answer 16

a fundamental shift in both the method and goal of federal cash assistance to the poor. The bill added a workforce development component to welfare legislation, encouraging employment among the poor.

Question 17

Family and Medical Leave Act (1993):

Answer 17

eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave.

Question 18

Medicaid (1965):

Answer 18

Health care for the poor.

Question 19

Medicare (1965):

Answer 19

Health care for elderly. Added to Social Security System.

Question 20

Social Security Act (1935):

Answer 20

Provides minimal level of sustenance to elderly.

Question 21

National Labor Relations Act (1935):

Answer 21

aka Wagner Act. Allows collective bargaining.

Question 22

Taft-Hartley Act (1947):

Answer 22

Allows president to halt labor strikes. Workers not required to join unions.

Question 23

Federal Communications Act (1934):

Answer 23

regulation of interstate telephone services to newly created Federal Communications Commission; will encompass other communications technologies in 1996

Question 24

Security and Exchange Act (1934):

Answer 24

Created to provide governance of securities transactions on the secondary market and regulate the exchanges and broker-dealers in order to protect the investing public.

Question 25

No Child Left Behind Act (2001):

Answer 25

Requires states to set high academic standards and support all students in meeting those standards. Amended with more lenient standards by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.

Question 26

Title IX of the educational Amendment (1972):

Answer 26

requirement that schools provide girls with equal athletic opportunities, the law applies to all educational programs that receive federal funding, and to all aspects of a school’s educational system.

Question 27

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (1978 & amendments):

Answer 27

federal law that prescribes procedures for physical and electronic surveillance on foreign states and citizens. Created FISA Court (Article I court with panel of 11 justices who serve seven year terms), which oversees and allows warrant requests by federal police agenices.

Question 28

Patriot Act (2001):

Answer 28

Reduces restrictions on government gathering intelligence, regulating financial transactions, and detaining and deporting terrorism suspects.

Question 29

Communications Decency Act (1996):

Answer 29

attempt by the United States Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet.

Question 30

Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (1974):

Answer 30

Allowed Congress to meet its own budget goals and be less reliant on president’s budget.

Question 31

Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (2007):

Answer 31

amended parts of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. It strengthens public disclosure requirements concerning lobbying activity and funding, places more restrictions on gifts for members of Congress and their staff, and provides for mandatory disclosure of earmarks in expenditure bills.

Question 32

Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act (1985):

Answer 32

Law limiting deficits and requiring a balanced budget. Abandoned in 1991.

Question 33

War Powers Resolution (1973):

Answer 33

Requires president to consult with Congress before using force and withdraw forces after 60 days if no Congressional support.

Question 34

Unfunded Mandate Reform Act (1995):

Answer 34

works to limit the number of unfunded federal mandates imposed by the federal government on state, local, and tribal governments.

Question 35

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (1883):

Answer 35

stipulated that government jobs should be awarded on the basis of merit.

Question 36

Federal Election Campaign Act (1974):

Answer 36

Limits presidential campaign spending, attempted to limit contributions, required disclosure of campaign finance information, provided public financing for presidential campaigns, and established Federal Election Commission.

Question 37

Hatch Act (1887):

Answer 37

Prohibits government employees from participation in partisan politics. (I think this is actually 1939).

Question 38

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act / McCain-Feingold Act (2002):

Answer 38

Regulates political party use of “soft money,” issue advocacy ads.

Question 39

Motor Voter Act (1993):

Answer 39

Permits voter registration when applying for driver’s license.

Question 40

Help America Vote Act (2002):

Answer 40

reforms and pays for new voting equipment to assist with modernizing voting.