H.R. 475: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include vaccines against seasonal influenza within the definition of taxable vaccines.

Introduced:
Feb 04, 2013 (113th Congress, 2013–2015)
Sponsor:
Rep. Jim Gerlach [R-PA6]
Status:
At President

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was passed by Congress on June 19, 2013 and goes to the President next.

Progress
Introduced Feb 04, 2013
Referred to Committee Feb 04, 2013
On House Schedule Jun 14, 2013
Passed House Jun 18, 2013
Passed Senate Jun 19, 2013
Signed by the President ...
Prognosis

82% chance of being enacted.

Only 28% of House bills that made it past committee in 2011–2013 were enacted. [show factors | methodology]

Cosponsors
2 cosponsors (2D) (show)
Committees

House Ways and Means

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

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Last updated Jun 18, 2013.
4 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

2/4/2013--Introduced.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to add vaccines against seasonal influenza to the list of those vaccines subject to the excise tax on taxable vaccines.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/113/1/hr475.

Background

The VICP is a federal program designed as a no-fault alternative to traditional tort law for resolving vaccine injury claims arising from covered vaccines.  The program is funded through a 75¢ excise tax on each dose of specified vaccines.  However, current law only covers “trivalent” (three-strain) vaccines against influenza.[1]  Recently, many manufacturers have begun producing more effective “quadrivalent” (four-strain) vaccines, but have held off on bringing the vaccines to market until the statute is updated.  H.R. 475 amends the statute to cover all seasonal influenza vaccines under the VICP, ensuring that new, more effective vaccines are made available to the greater public.

[1] Id. at pg. 1.

Summary

H.R. 475 adds all seasonal influenza vaccines to the list of taxable vaccines covered under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986[1].  The act applies to sales beginning on the first day of the first month that begins four weeks after the date of enactment, or the date on which any seasonal influenza vaccine is listed for compensation under VICP.

[1] See Subparagraph (N) of §4132(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

Cost

A Joint Committee on Taxation estimate provided to the Committee estimates that implementing H.R. 475 will have a “negligible” effect on revenue and will have no effect on outlays.[1]

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

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