important legislation

not required, but extremely useful for examples on FRQs

• Affordable Care Act (2010) -- a.k.a. Obamacare, An expansion of medicaid, most employers must provide health insurance, have insurance or face surtax, prevents rejection based on pre-existing conditions. Also referred to as "Obamacare", signed into law in 2010. Features federal mandates and block grants.

• American with Disabilities Act (1990) -- federal mandate that requires employers and public facilities to make "reasonable accommodations" for people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment.

• Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002) -- a.k.a. The McCain-Feingold Act, Largely banned party soft money, restored a long-standing prohibition on corporations and labor unions for using general treasury funds for electoral purposes, and narrowed the definition of issue advocacy.

• Clean Air/Water Acts (1970) -- established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into air and water and carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency.

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- banned discrimination in public acomodations, prohibited discrimination in any federally assisted program, outlawed discrimination in most employment; enlarged federal powers to protect voting rights and to speed school desegregation

• Fair Housing Act (1968) -- Prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race

• Federal Election Campaign Act (1974) --  reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission (FEC), provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions.

• Hatch Act (1939) -- a congressional law that forbade government officials from participating in partisan politics and protected government employees from being fired on partisan grounds

• Help American Vote Act (2002) -- regulate federal elections and help poorer counties acquire more modern voting machines.

• Medicare/Medicaid Acts (1965) -- Health care initiatives of President Lyndon Johnson. Medicare provided the elderly with universal compulsory medical insurance financed largely through Social Security taxes. Medicaid authorized federal grants to supplement state-paid medical care for low-income people under sixty-five. Both initiatives were passed as amendments to the Social Security Act of 1935.

• Motor Voter Act (1993) -- requires states to permit people to register to vote when they apply for a driver's license.

• No Child Left Behind Act (2001) -- mandate was intended to increase accountability in education by requiring states to qualify for federal educational funding by administering standardized tests to measure school achievement.

• Presidential Succession Act (1947) -- establishes the line of succession to the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States in the event that neither a President nor Vice President is able to "discharge the powers and duties of the office".

• Social Security Act (1935) -- guaranteed retirement payments for enrolled workers beginning at age 65; set up federal-state system of unemployment insurance and care for dependent mothers and children, the handicapped, and public health

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)  -- replaced AFDC with state-run program that provides assistance and work opportunities to needy families

• Title IX of Education Acts of 1972 -- forbids gender discrimination in federally subsidized education programs, including athletics

• Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the vote and authorized federal examiners to register voters in states that had disenfranchised africa-americans; encouraging greater social equality and decreasing the wealth and education gap

• War Powers Act (1973) -- the president is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a sixty-day period in peacetime (which can be extended for an extra thirty days to permit withdrawal) unless Congress explicitly gives its approval for a longer period.

• Welfare Reform Act (1996) -- increased the power of the states relative to the federal government, replaced the AFDC program with block grants to the states (TANF); devolution = by giving states greater discretion to determine how to implement the federal goal of transferring people from welfare to work