Amy Somers Volunteers at Food Banks Act
Public Law 105-221 · H.R. 3152 · 105th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Bill Clinton (D) on Aug 7, 1998 · Labor and Employment
Sponsor: Rep. Tom Campbell (R-CA-15)
Cosponsors (26): Rep. Jim Greenwood, Rep. Tony Hall,
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Amy Somers Volunteers at Food Banks Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to provide that individuals who volunteer their services solely for humanitarian purposes to private nonprofit food banks, and who receive groceries from the food banks, are not considered employees for FLSA purposes.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Education and Workforce Committee · House · discharged from, referred toSubcommittee: Workforce Protections Subcommittee
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 14 actions.
- Aug 7, 1998Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 105-221.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Aug 4, 1998PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Jul 30, 1998CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
- Jul 29, 1998FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Jun 25, 1998FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
- FloorFloor · Considered by unanimous consent.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Ballenger asked unanimous consent to discharge from committee and consider.
- CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from House Education and Workforce Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
- Feb 27, 1998CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee
- Feb 4, 1998CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Education and Workforce Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.