United States · United States Congress · 15 September 2020
Businesses Preparing for a Better Tomorrow Act This bill allows employers a payroll tax credit in each calendar quarter of 50% of the their qualified workplace training expenses paid or incurred after March 12, 2020, and before January 1, 2021. The bill defines qualified workplace training expenses as employer expenses for education and training for the health and safety of employees in the workplace with respect to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019), and the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 2020
This resolution supports the announcements of (1) the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain, and (2) the suspension of Israeli actions to apply sovereignty in parts of the West Bank. Further, it calls on each of these countries to encourage greater people-to-people normalization, and it calls on other Arab and Muslim countries to establish full relations with Israel. It also reaffirms the House of Representatives' support for a negotiated, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 2020
Support for Workers, Families, and Social Security Act This bill exempts employees from the payment of employment taxes for the period beginning on September 1, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2020. This exemption does not affect the determination of Social Security retirement benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 21 August 2020
Giving Increased Variety to Ensure Milk Into the Lives of Kids Act or the GIVE MILK Act This bill revises the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to allow WIC participants (or the parent or guardian of such participants) to elect to be issued nonfat milk, 1% low-fat milk, 2% reduced-fat milk, or whole milk.
United States · United States Congress · 21 August 2020
Freight Rail Assistance and Investment to Launch Coronavirus-era Activity and Recovery Act of 2020 or the Freight RAILCAR Act of 2020 This bill establishes a new tax credit for the replacement and modernization of qualified freight railcars. Specifically, it allows a credit for 50% of the sum of the qualifying replacement or modernization amount, the qualifying scrap amount, and the qualifying railcar facility and technology modernization amount. The bill defines qualified freight railcar as a freight railcar that meets significant improvement requirements for capacity, fuel efficiency, or performance.
United States · United States Congress · 14 August 2020
David Dorn Act of 2020 This bill increases criminal penalties for rioting and related acts, such as inciting or organizing a riot. Specifically, this bill increases the maximum term of imprisonment for such offenses from 5 to 10 years. Additionally, if a fine is imposed for an offense, the bill sets a minimum fine amount of $1,000.
United States · United States Congress · 14 August 2020
This bill increases certain criminal penalties for assaulting, resisting, or otherwise interfering with a federal officer or employee who is performing official duties.
United States · United States Congress · 14 August 2020
This resolution recognizes that federal law enforcement, federal property, and citizens' rights must be protected. The resolution strongly condemns the violence, destruction, crimes, and terrorism throughout our nation and urges justice, order, and domestic tranquility to be restored immediately. Finally, the resolution urges the Department of Justice to prosecute all individuals engaged in these activities to the fullest extent of the law.
United States · United States Congress · 11 August 2020
Regulatory Report Card Act This bill requires the Government Accountability Office to issue for each federal agency a scorecard that provides grades for the regulatory activities of the agency.
United States · United States Congress · 11 August 2020
End Taxpayer Funding of Gender Experimentation Act of 2020 This bill modifies provisions relating to federal funding for, and health insurance coverage of, gender reassignment medical interventions, which include surgical remedies and hormone therapy arising from a conflict between an individual's gender identity and the sex the individual has or was identified as having at birth. Specifically, the bill prohibits the use of federal funds for gender reassignment medical interventions or for health coverage that includes such interventions. Additionally, such interventions may not be provided in a federal health care facility or by a federal employee. Under current law, coverage of these interventions through Medicare and Medicaid is generally determined at the state level. The bill's restrictions regarding the use of federal funds do not apply to treatment of individuals with medically verifiable disorders of sex development, such as individuals born with atypical development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex. The bill also prohibits qualified health plans from including coverage for gender reassignment medical interventions. Further, plans that include coverage for such interventions are not eligible for federal subsidies.
United States · United States Congress · 11 August 2020
Protecting Children From Experimentation Act of 2020 This bill establishes a new criminal offense for performing gender reassignment medical interventions on minors. It also provides that a minor who receives such an intervention may bring a civil action against each person who performed that intervention. The bill defines these interventions as certain surgeries or the use of hormones to change the body of an individual to correspond to a sex that is discordant with the individual's biological sex. It excludes, however, interventions in cases where an individual has ambiguous external biological sex characteristics or where a physician has determined that an individual does not have normal sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action. An individual who performs these interventions on a minor is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both. A minor who receives these medical interventions may not be arrested or prosecuted for an offense under this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2020
United States Information Abroad for Strategic Competition Act or the USIA for Strategic Competition Act This bill establishes measures to advance U.S. messaging and interests globally, including by requiring the Department of State to reconstitute for five years the Active Measures Working Group to create an information statecraft strategy for the U.S. government. The purpose of the strategy shall be to reduce the ability of the Communist Party of China (CCP) to influence global discourse, and such strategy shall include an identification of (1) specific CCP narratives that contribute to its ability to influence global discourse, (2) counter-narratives that are most effective and most likely to reduce the ability of the CCP to influence global discourse, and (3) specific quantitative objectives for advancing such counter-narratives. The State Department must also conduct regular research and evaluation of its public diplomacy programs and activities and ensure that such research and evaluation support strategic planning and resource allocation across all diplomacy bureaus and offices of the State Department. Further, the bill makes permanent the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, revises the rating criteria used by the commission when evaluating certain public diplomacy and international broadcasting activities, and requires the commission to establish a Subcommittee on Research and Evaluation.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2020
Countering Chinese Communist Party Malign Influence Act This bill authorizes through FY2024 activities to counter globally the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including CCP attempts to undermine the free and open international order or the sovereignty of the United States or other countries.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 2020
Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2020 This bill modifies the scope of judicial review of agency actions to authorize courts reviewing agency actions to decide de novo (i.e., without giving deference to the agency's interpretation) all relevant questions of law, including the interpretation of (1) constitutional and statutory provisions, and (2) rules made by agencies. No law may exempt a civil action from the standard of review required by this bill except by specific reference to such provision.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 2020
Equal Opportunity First Amendment Act This bill requires states and local governments to enforce orders limiting public gatherings under emergency declarations equally. Specifically, the bill (1) prohibits states and units of local government that issue orders that limit gatherings to a certain number of people pursuant to a national emergency or similar state emergency declaration from discriminating in the enforcement of such order, in the case of persons who are exercising a right protected under the First Amendment; and (2) authorizes a private right of action in U.S. district court by a person who is harmed by a violation of this provision.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 2020
Help Independent Tracks Succeed Act or the HITS Act This bill permits taxpayers to treat as currently deductible expenses the cost of qualified sound recording productions not exceeding $150,000 in a taxable year. The bill defines qualified sound recording production as certain sound recordings produced and recorded in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 2020
Pandemic Eradication and Enhanced Prevention through Savings Act or the PEEPS Act This bill allows payment in 2020 of health insurance premiums from specified health care plans, including flexible savings accounts. It also allows payment of premiums in 2020 and 2021 for individuals not eligible for employer-sponsored coverage and allows participation in health savings accounts that do not require payment of a deductible. The bill denies coverage as a medical expense, for purposes of a health savings account, the cost of an abortion or the cost of insurance that includes abortion coverage, with exceptions for rape, incest, or health of the mother.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 2020
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3519 East Walnut Street in Pearland, Texas, as the "Tom Reid Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 2020
Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act This bill authorizes the President to use the Armed Forces to defend Taiwan against a direct attack by China's military, a taking of Taiwan's territory by China, or a threat that endangers the lives of civilians in Taiwan or members of Taiwan's military. The bill also directs the Department of Defense to convene an annual regional security dialogue with Taiwan and other partners to improve U.S. security relationships with countries in the Western Pacific. (Taiwan is self-governing, but China considers it a renegade province.)
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 2020
Nuclear Prosperity and Security Act This bill directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish and operate a uranium reserve to ensure the availability of uranium mined in the United States in the event of a market disruption and support strategic fuel cycle capabilities in the United States. Uranium that is mined in the United States by an entity that is owned or controlled by the Russian Federation or the People's Republic of China or is incorporated in either country must be excluded from the reserve. DOE must publish a request for information to evaluate (1) how to operate and manage the reserve, (2) how to acquire uranium for the reserve, and (3) the quantity and form of uranium to acquire for the reserve. DOE must also include in its budget materials (1) a request for amounts for the acquisition, transportation, or storage of uranium in the reserve; or (2) an explanation for why such amounts are not requested.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 2020
Modernize Nuclear Reactor Environmental Reviews Act This bill directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to submit to Congress a report on facilitating efficient, timely environmental reviews of nuclear reactors through expanded use of categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, and generic environmental impact statements. The commission must promulgate a final rule to (1) establish an optical generic environmental impact statement for actions relating to nuclear reactors that may be used in the process for issuing a construction permit, early site permit, or combined license; and (2) amend criteria for and identification of licensing and regulatory actions to eliminate the list of actions that require environmental impact statements to allow for the use of environmental assessments and categorical exclusions for such actions.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 2020
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4020 Broadway Street in Houston, Texas, as the "Benny C. Martinez Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2020
This bill requires the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and any affiliates thereof to return any amounts received under the Paycheck Protection Program established to support small businesses in response to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019).
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2020
Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act This bill modifies loan forgiveness under the Paycheck Protection Program established to support small businesses in response to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Specifically, the bill provides for automatic forgiveness of a paycheck protection loan that is not more than $150,000 if the recipient submits a one-page form. Such form must allow a recipient to submit specified demographc and expenditure information, and certain individuals (e.g., the President, the Vice President, or the head of an executive department) are not eligible for such forgiveness. Further, the bill prohibits any enforcement or other action against a lender relating to loan origination, forgiveness, or guarantee based on the lender's reliance on certifications or documentation submitted by a loan applicant or recipient.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2020
Freedom from Regulations Act of 2020 This bill requires independent regulatory agencies to comply with the requirements applicable to regulatory actions by other federal agencies, including the rulemaking process under the Administrative Procedure Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 2020
Open Schools Responsibly Act This bill limits civil liability for elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education relating to any harm arising from exposure to, or infection by, coronavirus (i.e., the virus that causes COVID-19) suffered by a student, employee, or visitor. Specifically, a school or institution shall not be liable for such harm if the school or institution was in compliance with applicable state and federal guidelines. However, a school or institution may be liable for acts or omissions that constitute willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2020
Health Care Prices Revealed and Information to Consumers Explained Transparency Act or the Health Care PRICE Transparency Act This bill revises the format in which hospitals must list their standard charges for items and services to require that such lists are in a machine-readable format; it also revises the transparency requirements related to the costs of items and services for health insurance plans seeking certification as qualified health plans through insurance exchanges.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2020
Protect America's Statues Act of 2020 This bill makes certain jurisdictions ineligible for historic preservation grants or fixed guideway capital investment grants. Ineligible jurisdictions are those with any law, regulation, policy, or procedure within its control in contravention of federal criminal law relating to the destruction of veterans' memorials or rioting. The Department of the Interior may not award historic preservation grants to ineligible jurisdictions. An ineligible jurisdiction awarded a grant in the fiscal year in which this bill is enacted or after must return 75% of the grant amount. Interior may not approve a fixed guideway capital investment grant for a project in an ineligible jurisdiction. Any obligation or commitment made under a fixed guideway capital investment grant may be revoked if the project is in an ineligible jurisdiction. The Department of Justice shall annually submit to Interior and Congress a list of the jurisdictions that are ineligible.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2020
This bill allows employers a payroll tax credit for 50% of the sum of qualified employee protection expenses, qualified workplace reconfiguration expenses, and qualified workplace technology expenses paid for each calendar quarter. The bill defines qualified employee protection expenses as the cost of testing employees for COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019), equipment to protect employees from COVID-19, and cleaning products or services for preventing the spread of COVID-19; qualified workplace reconfiguration expenses as amounts paid to design and reconfigure retail space, work areas, break areas, or other employee or customer areas for the primary purpose of preventing the spread of COVID-19, and such design and reconfiguration is completed pursuant to a plan in place before March 13, 2020, and completed before January 1, 2021; and qualified workplace technology expenses as amounts paid for technology systems that employees or customers use for the primary purpose of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and limiting physical contact, and is acquired after March 12, 2020, and placed in service before January 1, 2021.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2020
This resolution recognizes that (1) deficits are unsustainable, irresponsible, and dangerous; (2) the implementation of Modern Monetary Theory will lead to higher deficits and higher inflation; and (3) it is the duty of the House of Representatives to condemn the theory.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2020
Local Journalism Sustainability Act This bill allows individual and business taxpayers certain tax credits for the support of local newspapers and media. Specifically, individual taxpayers may claim an income tax credit up to $250 for a local newspaper subscription. The bill also allows local newspaper employers a payroll tax credit for wages paid to an employee for service as a journalist and certain small businesses a tax credit for local newspaper and media advertising expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2020
Save American Vital Energy Jobs Act or the SAVE Jobs Act This bill extends energy-related tax provisions and expands incentives for job creation in the energy sector during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) emergency period. Specifically, the bill extends for one year the construction period for carbon oxide sequestration facilities for purposes of the tax credit, suspends capitalization rules in 2020 to permit immediate expensing of certain inventory costs, reduces the required deposit of certain motor fuel excise taxes from 95% to 25%, allows expensing of intangible drilling costs in 2020, permits extensions and suspensions of production and operations under onshore and offshore leases during the COVID-19 emergency period, requires a royalty rate reduction during the COVID-19 emergency period for a maximum 180-day period, and requires the Department of the Interior to delay until July 1, 2022, the effective date for compliance with the 2016 final rule titled Consolidated Federal Oil & Gas and Federal & Indian Coal Valuation Reform.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2020
GI Internship Program Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a program to match veterans who are entitled to educational assistance with internships to provide such veterans with work experience and marketable skills. The VA shall establish criteria that employers must meet to participate in the program. The following employers are excluded from participating in the program: (1) government agencies, (2) employers who cannot provide the VA with certain assurances, and (3) employers who have previously participated in the program and failed to abide by its requirements. The VA shall pay individuals who are full-time participants in such an internship the amount of educational assistance payable to those participating in a full-time apprenticeship or other on-job training programs. Interns shall be considered as employees of the VA, not the program employer, for purposes of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Additionally, each intern and employer shall provide the VA with a monthly certification that the intern worked at least 35 hours each week performing functions that provided the individual with valuable experience. The VA and the Department of Labor shall create and publicize a website to serve as a portal for the program. The VA shall (1) minimize the administrative burdens incurred by employers due to their participation in the program, and (2) ensure that employer participation is at no cost to the employer.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 2020
Reviving the Economy Sustainably Towards A Recovery in Twenty-twenty Act or the RESTART Act This bill establishes a loan program whereby the Small Business Administration (SBA) shall guarantee loan amounts to certain businesses affected by COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Specifically, the bill requires the SBA to guarantee 100% of program loan amounts made to certain small businesses that have not more than than 5,000 full-time employees. The terms for such loans shall include (1) a maximum duration of not more than seven years; (2) an amount that is not greater than 45% of 2019 gross receipts, up to $12 million; and (3) no payment on principal for the first two years of the loan. A lender that is otherwise approved to make paycheck protection loans may make and approve loans established by the bill, and a recipient may use loan funds for specified allowable expenses including payroll costs, rent, utilities, and personal protective equipment. Such loans may be forgiven up to the amount of total losses incurred by the recipient in the taxable year 2020.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2020
Promoting Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act This bill expands the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to act as the lead agency for the purpose of coordinating all applicable federal authorizations and environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) with respect to authorizing a natural gas pipeline project under the Natural Gas Act. Federal, state, and local agencies involved in the environmental review process must defer to FERC's approved scope for a NEPA review. FERC must invite and designate the other participating agencies involved in the authorization process, and track and publicly display on its website specific information related to the actions required to complete an authorization. The bill establishes a 90 day deadline to complete an authorization application for other authorizing agencies and requires concurrent reviews when multiple agencies are involved in the authorization process. If a federal or state agency considering an aspect of an application for authorization requires the person applying for such authorization to submit data, the agency must consider any such data gathered by aerial or other remote means that the person submits.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2020
Guidance Out Of Darkness Act or the GOOD Act This bill establishes requirements concerning the posting of agency guidance documents. Specifically, an agency must (1) publish guidance documents online on the dates they are issued, (2) publish all of its guidance documents that are in effect in a single location on a designated website, (3) display a hyperlink on its website that provides access to the guidance documents on such website, and (4) indicate on such website if a guidance document has been rescinded. The documents must be categorized as guidance documents and further divided into subcategories.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2020
Enhancing Administrative Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act This bill directs the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to report to Congress on communications use authorizations (i.e., authorizations to modify or locate communications facilities on public lands). Specifically, Interior and USDA must (1) provide an assessment on programmatic or administrative barriers to reviewing communications use authorizations, (2) provide an assessment of whether there are rules or regulations that could be revised to improve the efficiency of reviewing communications use authorizations, (3) describe the process for prioritizing the review of communications use authorizations, and (4) provide a plan to ensure adequate staffing to review communications use authorizations in a timely manner.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2020
Research Investment to Spark the Economy Act or the RISE Act This bill authorizes the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, the Interior, and Health and Human Services and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation, and Environmental Protection Agency to provide support for research regarding COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) or research disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Support under this bill shall be provided through federal science agencies with at least $50 million in basic and applied research obligations in FY2020. Support may be used to provide supplemental funding to extend the duration of a grant to a research institution or national laboratory that was awarded prior to the enactment of this bill, or to expand the purposes of such a grant as specified; provide supplemental funding through existing competitively awarded cooperative agreements and contracts to cover the increased costs of construction of scientific facilities and equipment that have been delayed because of COVID-19; and award grants and cooperative agreements to institutions of higher education to conduct research on the behavioral, social, or economic effects of COVID-19 and the responses to the disease or on the effectiveness of such responses. Agencies must provide the support as rapidly as possible. Provided funds shall remain available for expenditure for up to two years.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2020
Proxy Vote Windfall Prohibition Act This bill reduces the Members' Representational Allowance (MRA) of a Representative who does not appear in person to cast a vote or record their presence in response to a quorum call while proxy voting is permitted in the House of Representatives. The MRA is the allowance that each Representative receives to support the conduct of their official and representational duties (e.g., travel costs between their district and the Capitol).The bill reduces the MRA by the amount which would have been paid for the Representative's travel expenses to be present for the vote or quorum call, unless the Representative is carrying out other official and representational duties. Further, the bill reduces the total amount available for MRAs for the House during the year by the amount of any reductions made under this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2020
Just and Unifying Solutions To Invigorate Communities Everywhere Act of 2020 or the JUSTICE Act This bill addresses policies and issues regarding policing practices and law enforcement accountability. The bill funds state and local grants, incentivizes state and local reporting on the use of certain policing practices, creates new federal offenses for certain misconduct, establishes a commission to study the conditions affecting Black men and boys, and establishes best practices and training requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2020
Limiting Infant Fatality and Empowering Nonprofit Organization Workforces or the LIFE NOW Act This bill modifies the Paycheck Protection Program, established to support small businesses in response to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Specifically, the bill expands the program to encompass any nonprofit organization regardless of size, and it strikes the affiliation requirements applicable to nonprofit organizations and veterans organizations. The bill also makes any entity that provides abortions ineligible to receive a paycheck protection loan. An exception is allowed for abortions performed at hospitals or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or endangers the life of the mother.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 2020
Reopening America by Supporting Workers and Businesses Act of 2020 This bill permits states to provide not more than two weekly payments of $600 to individuals who were eligible for pandemic unemployment compensation during any week after the enactment of this bill but who are no longer eligible as a result of becoming thereafter reemployed. A state may make such payments as a lump sum. Additionally, states participating in pandemic unemployment programs must (1) establish a process for employers to report when an individual refuses an offer of employment; and (2) provide individuals claiming unemployment benefits with notice of the state’s laws with respect to returning, or refusing to return, to work.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 2020
Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act This bill establishes a grant program, as well as a new center within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to facilitate access to investigational therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (i.e., ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a progressive and fatal disease). Specifically, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must award grants for the provision of investigational drugs for ALS and other rapidly progressing neurodegenerative diseases through an expanded access (i.e., compassionate use) program. HHS may award these grants to (1) a small business that is the sponsor of an investigational new drug application, or (2) a participating clinical trial site for such a sponsor. Additionally, HHS must establish within the FDA a Center of Excellence for Neurodegenerative Diseases. The center shall have duties and authorities similar to those of the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence, which helps expedite the development of medical products and assists providers in requesting access to investigational drugs.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 2020
This bill requires states to certify a process for distributing Coronavirus Relief Funds to local governments. Specifically, each state that received such funds shall provide the Department of the Treasury, by June 12, 2020, with a certification that the state has in effect a procedure to distribute the funds to units of local government, including a detailed description of such procedure. If a state fails to comply with this requirement, 25% of such payment shall be booked as a debt owed to the federal government.
United States · United States Congress · 28 May 2020
American Critical Mineral Exploration and Innovation Act of 2020 This bill addresses the availability, development, and production of domestic critical minerals, including by providing incentives to increase domestic production of critical minerals that are needed to ensure the economic and national security of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 2020
Leveraging American Understanding of Next-generation Challenges Exploring Space Act or the LAUNCHES Act This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to facilitate access to specified broadband spectrum frequencies for commercial space launches and reentries. Under current law, commercial missions launching from the United States to space must use government-owned spectrum to communicate with the rockets during launch, and private companies must apply to the FCC to receive special temporary authority to use such spectrum. The bill requires the FCC to adopt service rules for access to specified frequencies for commercial space launches and reentries and to allocate such frequencies on a co-primary basis for such launches and reentries. The FCC must also streamline the process for access authorizations, providing for (1) authorizations to access specified frequencies for multiple commercial space launches and reentries from one or more launch or reentry sites, (2) authorizations for multiple uses of such frequencies for a commercial space launch or reentry, (3) automation of the FCC's review process for access applications, and (4) improved coordination between the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to increase the speed of review for such applications.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 2020
Strategic Petroleum Reserve Reform Act This bill revises requirements for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to address underutilized storage facilities. Specifically, the bill authorizes the Department of Energy (DOE) to lease such storage facilities to private entities. Currently, DOE may only lease these storage facilities to foreign governments. DOE must ensure that leasing of facilities to foreign governments will not impair national security. In addition, DOE must conduct a pilot program to lease storage capacity for up to 200 million barrels of petroleum products.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2020
Service Assurance Act of 2020 This bill exempts nonprofit organizations from liability for any act or omission relating to harm arising from exposure to, or infection by, the coronavirus (i.e., the virus that causes COVID-19) during the COVID-19 public health emergency. However, this exemption does not apply with respect to acts or omissions that constitute willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or conscious and flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed.
![Official portrait of Rep. Flores, Bill [R-TX-17]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/f000461_200.jpg)