The US Senate [official website] on Tuesday approved a new bill [S. 1297, PDF] that provides an extension of American commercial space laws. Sponsored by Texas Senator Ted Cruz [official website] and other Senators from both parties, the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act was approved to promote competitiveness of the U.S. commercial space sector, and for other purposes.The new legislation amends previous space laws in place by extending safety regulation requirements. The new bill proposes that NASA, the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration all work together in an effort to execute the regulatory process. The bill is planned to be implemented no later than September 30, 2015 with the US House of Representatives bill approved in May.

Last month, the US Senate passed a bill [JURIST report] to revamp the controversial 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. The bill comes as part of an effort to overhaul the old law and give more flexibility to states in setting their own standards for student and school performance. Also in June, The Senate approved [JURIST report] the USA Freedom Act, which reduces the federal government’s surveillance of Americans’ phone records. The passage of the bill will allow the government to restart and modify surveillance operations, only with new restrictions. The legislation will require the government to obtain a warrant to collect phone metadata from telecommunications companies in addition to making the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [official website], which reviews the warrant requests, more transparent.