United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2023
Horse Transportation Safety Act of 2023 This bill prohibits a person from transporting a horse in interstate commerce in a motor vehicle that contains two or more levels stacked on top of one another. Vehicles operated exclusively on a rail or rails are excluded from the prohibition. The bill prescribes civil penalties for knowing violations of such prohibition.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2023
Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act of 2023 This bill authorizes a grant program to provide assistance with travel-related expenses for those seeking an abortion. Specifically, the Department of Treasury may award grants to nonprofit or community-based organizations to provide assistance to those seeking abortions with round-trip travel, lodging, meals, and other travel-related expenses. Priority must be given to organizations that serve individuals who are in jurisdictions that have banned or severely restricted abortion access or who travel to another jurisdiction for an abortion, or organizations that have or plan to have programs in place that help individuals access abortion services. In order to qualify for a grant, organizations must assist individuals seeking abortions through unbiased and medically and factually accurate programs, services, or activities. Organizations may not discourage individuals from seeking abortions. Additionally, federal entities that implement the grant program may not participate in any state, tribal, or local antiabortion proceedings (e.g., prosecutions) in connection with grant services.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2023
This resolution expresses the sense of Congress that legislation and policies that address poverty, low wages, and related issues should be prioritized. Among other priorities, the resolution commits to updating the poverty measure; raising the minimum wage; expanding unemployment insurance; ensuring that all workers receive paid family and medical leave; implementing a federal jobs guarantee; guaranteeing safe and quality housing, a right to water, high-quality public education, and quality health care for all; enacting relief from household and personal debt that cannot be paid; ensuring that state, local, and tribal governments are adequately funded; expanding and protecting the right to vote; eliminating persistent racial inequities; protecting the constitutional rights of assembly and free speech; enacting comprehensive and just immigration reform; ensuring all the rights of Native and Indigenous peoples and tribal nations; transforming the economy into a green renewable energy economy; demilitarizing U.S. foreign policy, borders, and policing; enacting fair taxes on corporations and the wealthy; using deficit spending to meet pressing needs; and encouraging states and cities to enact policies that follow the direction provided by this resolution.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2023
Equality Act This bill prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity with respect to businesses, employment, housing, federally funded programs, and other settings. Specifically, the bill expands Title II and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit public accommodations and federally funded programs, respectively, from discriminating based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. It also includes stores, transit services, recreational facilities, and establishments that provide health care, accounting, or legal services as public accommodations under Title II. The bill also expands Title IV (desegregation of public schools) and Title VII (employment discrimination) to specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity. (The Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII's prohibition of employment discrimination based on sex also prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.) The bill similarly expands the Fair Housing Act (discrimination in public and private housing) to include sexual orientation and gender identity. It also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity by creditors and with respect to jury selection. The bill defines sex for purposes of the aforementioned provisions to include sex stereotypes, pregnancy, childbirth, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 2023
This resolution reaffirms the U.S. commitment to protect the safety, health, and well-being of refugees and asylum seekers. The resolution calls upon the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to partner with the international community to solve existing conflicts, prevent new conflicts from emerging, and tackle the root causes of involuntary migration.
United States · United States Congress · 16 June 2023
Multiple Firearm Sales Reporting Modernization Act of 2023 This bill expands reporting requirements with respect to sales or dispositions of multiple firearms. Currently, a federal firearms licensee (e.g., a gun dealer) must report multiple sales or dispositions of pistols or revolvers to the same person within five business days. This bill requires a federal firearms licensee to report multiple sales or dispositions of any firearms to the same person within five business days.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2023
Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act of 2023 or the CONNECT for Health Act of 2023 This bill expands coverage of telehealth services under Medicare. Among other provisions, the bill permanently removes geographic restrictions on originating sites (i.e., the location of the beneficiary) and allows the home of the beneficiary to serve as the originating site for all services; permanently allows federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to serve as the distant site (i.e., the location of the health care practitioner); and allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to generally waive coverage restrictions during any public health emergency. Additionally, the CMS must post certain information about the effects of Medicare telehealth services on its website, including information about utilization, costs, and the outcome of services. The CMS must also (1) provide resources to health care professionals about the requirements for furnishing telehealth services under Medicare, including with respect to payment, patient privacy, and support for underserved populations; and (2) ensure certain quality measures are applied to telehealth services.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2023
Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits Access Restoration Act or the LIFT the BAR Act This bill repeals certain limits on the eligibility of noncitizens who lawfully reside in the United States for federal means-tested programs, including Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), programs funded through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grants, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and certain nutrition and housing programs.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2023
Hate Crimes Commission Act of 2023 This bill establishes the United States Commission on Hate Crimes. The commission must investigate and report on whether hate crimes have increased; factors that contributed to an increase in hate crimes, if one is determined to exist; policies or actions that law enforcement agencies might adopt to reduce the commission of hate crimes; the impact of underreporting on hate crimes statistics and prevention; ways to improve hate crimes reporting and ensure full and complete participation in the National Incident-Based Reporting System by local law enforcement agencies; bias prevention efforts and responses to hate crimes that are successful and possible through coordination with nonprofit organizations, local education agencies, and government entities; and the prevalence and rise of online hate crime incidents.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2023
Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act of 2023 This bill removes limitations on the civil liability of gun manufacturers and the disclosure of gun trace data in civil actions. Specifically, the bill repeals the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which prohibits civil actions against a firearm or ammunition manufacturer, seller, importer, dealer, or trade association for damages resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a firearm. Additionally, the bill states that firearms trace data maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is not immune from legal process. Such data is subject to discovery; is admissible as evidence; and may be used, relied on, or disclosed in a civil action or administrative proceeding.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2023
American Dream and Promise Act of 2023 This bill provides certain non-U.S. nationals ( aliens under federal law) with a path to receive permanent resident status and contains other immigration-related provisions. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Department of Justice (DOJ) shall provide conditional permanent resident status for 10 years to a qualifying individual who entered the United States as a minor and (1) is deportable or inadmissible, (2) has deferred enforced departure (DED) status or temporary protected status (TPS), or (3) is the child of certain classes of nonimmigrants. The bill imposes various qualifying requirements, such as the individual being continuously physically present in the United States since January 1, 2021, passing a background check, and being enrolled in or having completed certain educational programs. DHS shall remove the conditions placed on permanent resident status granted under this bill if the alien applies and meets certain requirements, such as completing certain programs at an educational institution, serving in the military, or being employed. Furthermore, DHS and DOJ shall provide lawful permanent resident status to certain individuals who had TPS, were eligible for TPS, or were eligible for DED status on certain dates. Such individuals must meet certain requirements and apply for such status within three years of this bill's enactment. DHS may not use information from applications filed under this bill or for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status for immigration enforcement purposes. This bill also repeals a restriction that bars a state from providing higher education benefits to undocumented individuals unless those benefits are available to all U.S. nationals without regard to residency in the state.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2023
Preserving Patient Access to Home Infusion Act This bill specifically includes pharmacy services as part of covered home infusion therapy under Medicare. The bill also allows nurses and physician assistants to establish and review the plan of care for home infusion therapy.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2023
Right to Contraception Act This bill sets out statutory protections for an individual's right to access and a health care provider's right to provide contraception and related information. Contraception refers to an action taken to prevent pregnancy, including the use of contraceptives (i.e., a device or medication used to prevent pregnancy), fertility-awareness based methods, and sterilization procedures. Generally, the bill prohibits measures that single out and impede access to contraception and related information. However, a party may defend against a claim that a measure violates the bill's prohibitions by demonstrating, through clear and convincing evidence, that the measure significantly advances the safety of contraception and cannot be achieved through less restrictive means. The bill also specifies that the prohibition preempts inconsistent state and local laws and applies in spite of other federal laws, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The Department of Justice, individuals, or health care providers may bring a lawsuit to enforce this bill, and states are not immune from suits for violations.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2023
College for All Act of 2023 This bill establishes measures to expand access to higher education, including by eliminating tuition and required fees for eligible students, revising the Federal Pell Grant program, and reauthorizing certain programs to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Specifically, the bill provides funding to enable states and tribal colleges and universities, through a federal-state partnership, to eliminate tuition and required fees for (1) all students at community colleges and two-year tribal colleges and universities, and (2) working- and middle-class students at four-year public institutions of higher education and tribal colleges and universities. The bill provides funding to enable private, nonprofit historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions to eliminate tuition and required fees for eligible students. The bill permanently reauthorizes and otherwise revises the Federal Pell Grant program by providing funding to increase the maximum award for each eligible student, increasing the duration limit for the use of Pell Grants, allowing students to use their awards to cover living and nontuition expenses, and expanding eligibility to Dreamer students (i.e., students who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status and who entered the United States before the age of 16) and students with other immigration statuses. Further, the bill requires the Department of Education to award grants to eligible states and tribal colleges and universities for improving student outcomes. The bill reauthorizes through FY2033 the Federal TRIO Programs and reauthorizes through FY2027 the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2023
3D Printed Gun Safety Act of 2023 This bill makes it unlawful to intentionally publish digital instructions that can automatically program a three-dimensional printer or similar device to produce or complete a firearm from an unfinished frame or receiver.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2023
Fair and Open Skies Act This bill amends the policy considerations the Department of Transportation (DOT) must take into account when issuing a foreign air carrier permit. (This allows foreign air carriers to operate in U.S. air space.) DOT must consider preventing the undermining of labor standards when determining whether the foreign air transportation will be in the public interest. Further, the bill amends the requirements for the Department of State and DOT in formulating U.S. international air transportation policy. Under current law, the State Department and DOT must develop a negotiating policy emphasizing the greatest degree of competition compatible with a well-functioning international air transportation system and include specific considerations; this is amended to also include preventing the undermining of labor standards.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2023
Children Don't Belong on Tobacco Farms Act This bill prohibits an individual under the age of 18 from performing work that has direct contact with tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves by specifying that the work is oppressive child labor. (Oppressive child labor is generally prohibited under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, with some exceptions.)
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 2023
This resolution condemns Iran's state-sponsored persecution of the Baha'i religious minority and Iran's continued violation of international human rights treaties. The resolution calls on Iran to (1) immediately release Baha'is and others imprisoned or detained solely on account of religion, (2) end its state-sponsored campaign of hate propaganda against the Baha'is, and (3) reverse certain policies that discriminate against Baha'is and other religious minorities. The resolution also urges the President and the Department of State to impose sanctions on Iranian officials and others who are responsible for serious human rights abuses, including abuses against Iran's Baha'i community.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 2023
Resources for Victims of Gun Violence Act of 2023 This bill establishes the Advisory Council to Support Victims of Gun Violence. Among other things, the advisory council must assess the needs of victims of gun violence and disseminate information about helpful resources.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 2023
LGBTQ I+ Data Inclusion Act This bill addresses federal data collection of voluntary, self-disclosed information on sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations in sex characteristics. Specifically, the bill requires federal agencies that collect information through a survey for statistical purposes that includes demographic data (where subjects self-report information or a proxy provides information about the subject or responds for all persons in a household) to review existing data sets to determine which data sets do not include information about sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations in sex characteristics. Such agencies must assess needed changes in survey methods related to asking questions on such matters. Agencies that publish reports relying on survey demographic data must include information on sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations in sex characteristics. Agencies may waive this publication requirement on a case-by-case basis if the confidentiality of the information cannot be maintained or if adding such information to the survey would impair the agency's ability to preserve the utility, accuracy, or objectivity of the survey while also generating relevant evidence about the LGBTQI+ community. The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on the implementation of this bill's requirements by agencies.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 2023
Neighborhood Homes Investment Act This bill allows a business-related tax credit for certain development costs for the acquisition, rehabilitation, or remediation of qualified real property (i.e., real property affixed on a permanent foundation and comprised of four or fewer residential units, a condominium unit, or a house or apartment owned by a cooperative housing corporation). The bill also provides for the exclusion from gross income, for income tax purposes, of the value of any subsidy provided to a taxpayer by any state energy office for purposes of improvements made to a qualified residence.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 2023
Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act of 2023 This bill makes various changes to the federal framework governing judicial ethics. Among the changes, the bill prohibits federal judges and Supreme Court Justices from owning individual stocks and securities; requires the Judicial Conference of the United States to issue regulations restricting the solicitation or acceptance of gifts in connection with a private judicial seminar; expresses the sense of Congress that the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges shall apply to Supreme Court Justices; requires federal judges and Supreme Court Justices to report on each association or interest that would require recusal, including any financial interest of a spouse or minor child who resides in the household; and establishes a committee to review complaints against the Supreme Court.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2023
Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services for Cancer Act of 2023 or the SCREENS for Cancer Act of 2023 This bill reauthorizes through FY2028 and makes changes to the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. This program provides funding to states for breast and cervical cancer screening, diagnostic, and treatment services for individuals who have low incomes, are uninsured, or otherwise lack access to such services. Changes to the program include (1) expanding its scope to include addressing disparities and ensuring equitable access to screening and diagnostic services, and (2) eliminating requirements for states to expend a specified percentage of funding on screening and referral services.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2023
Airport Infrastructure Resilience Act of 2023 This bill requires the Department of Transportation to establish a pilot program to provide infrastructure grants to airport sponsors. These competitive grants seek to incentivize the planning, design, and construction of projects that improve infrastructure that is subject to current or future long-term risks with respect to changing conditions, such as sea level rise or permafrost thaw; or weather events and natural disasters, such as severe storms, flooding, drought, rockslides, extreme weather, and earthquakes. Funding may be provided for (1) new projects, (2) improvements to existing infrastructure, and (3) the purchase of monitoring equipment or services. The bill requires that a portion of the grant funds go to sponsors of regional airports (i.e., small hub, nonhub, nonprimary, and reliever airports).
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2023
Securing Unhoused Peoples' Program for Outreach Resources and Transportation For SNAP Act or the SUPPORT For SNAP Act This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a pilot program to raise awareness among and provide support for homeless individuals eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Under the program, USDA must award grants to eligible entities (e.g., state and local agencies, nonprofit and community-based organizations, and community action agencies) to (1) raise awareness among homeless individuals of the availability, eligibility requirements, application procedures, and benefits of SNAP; (2) support homeless individuals in enrolling in SNAP; and (3) train outreach workers, caseworkers, and others on SNAP application and program requirements. The bill specifies that a grant recipient may only use program funding to supplement (and not supplant) the level of state or local funds that would be available in the absence of the grant funds.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2023
Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2023 This bill bars the Department of Agriculture from allowing the construction of roads, the reconstruction of roads, or logging in an inventoried roadless area where those activities are prohibited by the Roadless Rule (i.e., certain federal regulations relating to roadless area management).
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2023
Pride in Mental Health Act of 2023 This bill establishes grants and reporting requirements concerning the mental and behavioral health of youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer or questioning, nonbinary, intersex, or Two Spirit (gender-variant members of indigenous communities). Specifically, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) must award grants to assess and improve mental health and substance abuse outcomes for those youth. Recipients may use grants for providing mental and behavioral health resources for such youth (including training for caregivers and school-based interventions) and collecting data. Recipients may not use grants for any practice or treatment that seeks to change another individual's sexual orientation or gender (i.e., conversion therapy). Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must (1) conduct a survey to measure issues related to mental health and health care among such youth; and (2) report about the mental health and related care of such youth who are in foster care and otherwise participate in federal social services programs. HHS must also review existing publications on SAMHSA's website that focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, nonbinary, intersex, and Two Spirit individuals and update or commission new publications to fill information gaps related to the mental and behavioral health of those individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2023
Keeping Gun Dealers Honest Act of 2023 This bill modifies the requirements and penalties applicable to an individual who engages in the business of dealing, importing, or manufacturing firearms (i.e., a federal firearms licensee, or FFL). Among other things, the bill does the following: increases the allowable number of annual compliance inspections; authorizes the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to hire at least 80 additional personnel to conduct additional inspections; increases the maximum prison term for an FFL or licensed collector who knowingly makes a false statement or representation in required firearms records; allows the ATF to require an FFL to conduct physical inventories if the FFL unlawfully transfers a firearm or if 10 or more crime guns are traced back to the FFL; allows the ATF to deny an application for a federal firearms license if it would endanger public safety or if the applicant is unlikely to comply with the law; and modifies the liability standard for an FFL who fails to comply with laws or regulations.
United States · United States Congress · 31 May 2023
Barriers to Suicide Act of 2023 This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish a program to facilitate the installation of evidence-based suicide deterrents on bridges, including suicide prevention nets and barriers. DOT may award competitive grants to states and local governments to carry out the program. The bill also specifies that the installation of safety barriers and nets on bridges of the National Highway System are eligible highway safety improvement projects under the National Highway Performance Program of the Federal Highway Administration. The Government Accountability Office must conduct a study to identify the types of structures, other than bridges, that attract a high number of individuals attempting suicide-by-jumping and the types of nets or barriers that are effective at reducing such suicides.
United States · United States Congress · 31 May 2023
Disaster Assistance Fairness Act This bill makes common interest communities, such as housing cooperatives (co-ops) and condominiums, eligible for the same assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as other homeowners. Specifically, the bill adds definitions of residential common interest community, condominium, and housing cooperative to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act; requires FEMA to issue rules for the removal of debris or wreckage from real estate owned by a residential common interest community resulting from a major disaster and deems such removal to be in the public interest when a state or local government determines in writing that such debris or wreckage constitutes a threat to life, public health or safety, or the economic recovery of such community; and provides for the repair of essential common elements of a condominium or co-op damaged by a disaster under FEMA's Federal Assistance to Individuals and Households Program.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 2023
San Gabriel Mountains Protection Act This bill designates wilderness areas and wild and scenic rivers in California and modifies the boundaries of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in California to include additional National Forest System (NFS) land. Specifically, the monument shall include approximately 109,167 acres of additional NFS land. The bill designates parcels of NFS land as wilderness and components of the National Wilderness Preservation System to create the Condor Peak Wilderness and Yerba Buena Wilderness and to add to the San Gabriel Wilderness and Sheep Mountain Wilderness. The bill designates specified wild and scenic rivers. The Department of Agriculture may issue a special use authorization to the owners of a water transport or diversion facility located on NFS land in the Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness for the continued operation, maintenance, and reconstruction of the facility if specified conditions are met.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 2023
Mental Health Services for Students Act of 2023 This bill provides specific statutory authority for the Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) State Educational Agency Grant Program that is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The program supports school-based mental health services, including screening, treatment, and outreach programs.