United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2023
No Tax Breaks for Union Busting (NTBUB) Act This bill denies employers a tax deduction for any expenditures incurred for attempting to influence their employees with respect to labor organizations or labor organization activities, such as elections, labor disputes, and collective actions. The bill requires employers to report on their attempts to influence their employees with respect to labor organizations and their activities.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2023
Humane Cosmetics Act of 2023 This bill generally prohibits animal testing in the evaluation of cosmetic products, and it prohibits the sale or transport of cosmetics developed using animal testing, subject to civil penalties. These prohibitions begin one year after enactment. The bill specifies exceptions to these prohibitions, including if such animal testing (1) is conducted outside the United States to comply with a foreign regulatory authority; (2) is pursuant to a specified finding that there are no nonanimal alternatives to test the safety of a potentially dangerous cosmetic product or ingredient; (3) is of a product or ingredient for a drug or device subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); or (4) is required for a noncosmetic purpose pursuant to a state, federal, or foreign regulatory authority. Further, no animal-testing evidence may be used to establish the safety of a cosmetic product or ingredient that is regulated by the FDA after the effective date of this bill, subject to limited exceptions.
United States · United States Congress · 1 September 2023
Wildfire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act of 2023 This bill authorizes the President to declare a smoke emergency and provide emergency assistance to affected communities under specified circumstances. Specifically, the President, upon determining that there is, or anticipating that there will be, a significant decrease in air quality due to wildland fire smoke in one or more states, may declare a smoke emergency. The governor or other agency of a state that is or will be affected may request such a declaration. If the President declares a smoke emergency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal agencies may provide emergency assistance to states and local communities that are or will be affected by the emergency, including grants, equipment, supplies, and personnel and resources for establishing smoke shelters, air purifiers, and additional air monitoring sites. The Small Business Administration may provide grants to any small business concern that loses a significant amount of revenue due to wildland fire smoke in an area in which the President has declared a smoke emergency.
United States · United States Congress · 1 September 2023
Time Off to Vote Act This bill requires an employer, upon the request of an employee, to provide the employee with a minimum of two consecutive hours of paid leave in order to vote in a federal election. The employer may determine the two-hour period, excluding any lunch break or other break. Taking such leave shall not result in the employee losing accrued employment benefits. The bill makes it unlawful for an employer to interfere with the right to take such leave or for an employer to discriminate against an employee for taking such leave. Further, the bill makes it unlawful for any employer to retaliate against an employee for (1) opposing any practice made unlawful by this bill; (2) filing a charge, or instituting or causing to be instituted any proceeding, under or related to this bill; or (3) testifying or preparing to testify in an inquiry or proceeding relating to such leave. The bill specifies penalties for employers who violate these provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 25 August 2023
Sustaining Our Democracy Act This bill establishes and provides funds through FY2033 for the State Election Assistance and Innovation Trust Fund for purposes of promoting election activities. Specifically, the bill establishes the Democracy Advancement and Innovation Program, through which the Office of Democracy Advancement and Innovation (also established by this bill) shall make allocations to states for carrying out democracy promotion activities. These activities include improving the administration of federal elections, recruiting and training nonpartisan election officials and poll workers, and increasing voting access. The bill requires each state, in order to receive allocated funds, to (1) submit a plan for approval that describes how the state will distribute resources and carry out democracy promotion activities, and (2) establish uniform and nondiscriminatory state-based administrative complaint procedures. The bill prohibits states from using funds for certain activities, including any activity that diminishes the ability of any eligible voter to participate in the electoral process.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2023
Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2023 This bill deems an individual receiving outpatient observation services in a hospital as an inpatient for purposes of satisfying the three-day inpatient hospital-stay requirement with respect to Medicare coverage of skilled nursing facility (SNF) services. (Generally, individuals must have been an inpatient at a hospital for at least three days in order to qualify for SNF services. An individual's time spent under observation at a hospital for purposes of determining whether the individual should be admitted does not count towards this requirement.)
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2023
This bill requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to implement a pilot program to provide stipends to certain individuals who DOD determines will experience financial hardship during the first 120 days following separation from the Armed Forces. An individual must have separated from the Armed Forces under honorable conditions and served at least four years to be eligible for a stipend.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2023
Further Strengthening Supply Chains for Servicemembers and Security Act of 2023 This bill requires the Defense Logistics Agency to modify Defense Logistics Agency Instructions 5025.03 and 3110.01 to require Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support to coordinate annually with customers in the military departments to test responsiveness of the agency's contingency contracts for pharmaceuticals and to include the results of the testing in the annual Warstopper Program reports.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2023
This bill requires the Department of Defense to evaluate and report on beneficiary access to TRICARE network pharmacies under the TPharm5 contract (i.e., the current retail pharmacy network contract), including changes versus the TPharm4 contract.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2023
Investing in Veteran Entrepreneurial Talents Act or the Investing in VETS Act This bill raises from 3% to 5% the federal contracting participation goal for small businesses that are owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans. Only small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans that have been certified by the Small Business Administration may be included in calculating goals related to small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2023
National Dam Safety Program Reauthorization Act of 2023 This bill extends through FY2028 several initiatives relating to dam safety. Specifically, the bill extends (1) the National Dam Safety Program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); (2) the Interagency Committee on Dam Safety; (3) FEMA's National Inventory of Dams; and (4) outreach, research, training, and staff personnel related to dam safety.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2023
Original Slavery Remembrance Day Resolution This joint resolution designates a Slavery Remembrance Day annually and condemns slavery and its progenies.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2023
Nurse Corps Tax Parity Act of 2023 This bill excludes from taxpayer gross income, for income tax purposes, amounts attributable to Nurse Corps scholarships and loan repayment programs.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2023
Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Enhancement for Haitian Prosperity Act of 2023 or the HOPE for Haitian Prosperity Act of 2023 This bill extends trade preferences for certain U.S. imports of textile and apparel products from Haiti. Specifically, the bill extends through FY2035 the special duty-free rules for Haiti. It also extends through December 19, 2035, the duty-free treatment provided for certain apparel products assembled in and imported from Haiti. Furthermore, the bill also expands the definition of core labor standards to include a safe and healthy work environment. (Generally, in order to qualify for preferential treatment, the goods must come from a producer that complies with specified core labor standards. Currently, these core labor standards pertain to freedom of association, recognizing collective bargaining rights, eliminating forced labor, abolishing child labor, and eliminating employment discrimination.) Any interested party may file a request to have individual producers reviewed for compliance with the core labor standards and with Haitian labor standards and laws. The bill also requires the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to provide technical assistance to Haitian government agencies, employers, labor unions, and others to increase and diversify exports to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2023
Better Collaboration, Accountability, and Regulatory Enforcement for Animals Act of 2023 or the Better CARE for Animals Act of 2023 This bill modifies enforcement provisions under the Animal Welfare Act, including by allowing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to bring civil actions against violators of the act for appropriate relief, such as removing animals, revoking violators' licenses, or issuing civil penalties. DOJ must use the penalties to pay for the temporary care for animals pending the disposition of civil or criminal proceedings that allege violations of the act with respect to such animals.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2023
Appalachian Communities Health Equity Act or the ACHE Act This bill prohibits the authorization or continuation of certain mountaintop removal coal mining pending the results of a study on the health effects of such mining. Specifically, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences must study and publish the health effects on surrounding communities of surface coal mining that involves explosives and that is conducted in the steep slopes of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia. Federal and state agencies may not authorize or renew any such mining until and unless the study concludes that there are no health risks; entities that currently conduct such mining must monitor and report pollution levels associated with such mining until the study's publication. The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement must collect a one-time fee from each entity that currently or previously conducted such mining to cover the federal cost of implementing the bill's requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2023
Chesapeake National Recreation Area Act This bill establishes the Chesapeake National Recreation Area in Maryland and Virginia as a unit of the National Park System (NPS). The Department of the Interior may acquire land and land-based resources within the recreation area boundaries by (1) donation, (2) purchase from a willing seller with donated or appropriated funds, (3) exchange, or (4) transfer from another federal agency. Interior, in consultation with the Chesapeake Executive Council, must prepare a management plan for the recreation area as specified by the bill. Interior must also conduct transportation planning, in coordination with the Department of Transportation and state transportation agencies, to minimize traffic in the surrounding community. Additionally, Interior must establish an advisory board for the recreation area. Finally, the bill directs NPS's Chesapeake Bay office to administer the Chesapeake Gateways and Watertrails Network in coordination with the recreation area.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2023
Tax Fairness for Workers Act This bill allows an above-the-line tax deduction for union dues and expenses. (An above-the-line deduction is subtracted from gross income and is available whether or not a taxpayer itemizes other deductions.) The bill also reinstates the miscellaneous itemized tax deduction for unreimbursed expenses attributable to the performance of services as an employee (Under current law, all miscellaneous itemized deductions are suspended through 2025).
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2023
Rebuild America's Schools Act of 2023 This bill provides support for long-term improvements to public elementary and secondary school facilities. First, the bill sets forth allocations to states and establishes a need-based grant program for local educational agencies (LEAs) to improve school facilities. Further, the bill specifies allowable uses of grant funds, including carrying out major repairs, improving indoor air quality, and making facilities accessible to disabled individuals. Additionally, the bill requires LEAs that receive funds for new construction, modernization, or renovation projects to comply with hazard-resistance building codes and performance criteria under the WaterSense program of the Environmental Protection Agency. Further, the bill requires such LEAs to adopt certain green practices (environmental standards) and requires the use of iron, steel, and manufactured products that are made in the United States (Buy America). The bill restores school infrastructure tax credit bonds. The bill also sets forth reporting requirements, including annual reports on grant program projects and a report by the Government Accountability Office that requires a study of the geographic distribution of projects, the impact of selected projects on student and staff health and safety, and the accessibility of projects to high-poverty schools. The bill also establishes the Office of School Infrastructure and Sustainability within the Department of Education. Next, the bill extends through FY2028 the Impact Aid Construction program. Finally, the bill establishes a grant program to assist LEAs with repairing or replacing concrete foundations affected by pyrrhotite (an iron sulfide material linked to crumbling foundations).
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2023
Protect Innocent Victims Of Taxation After Fire Act This bill excludes from gross income, for income tax purposes, any amount received after 2019 and before 2026 by an individual taxpayer as a qualified wildfire relief payment. The bill defines such payment as compensation for expenses or losses incurred as a result of a federally declared forest or range fire disaster.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2023
Break the Cycle of Violence Act This bill establishes federal grant programs and related entities to support violence intervention initiatives. Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants for coordinated community violence intervention initiatives in communities disproportionately impacted by homicides and community violence. HHS must also establish several related entities, including an Office of Community Violence Intervention to administer programs and activities related to violence intervention; the Community Violence Intervention Advisory Committee to advise and assist the office and HHS; and the National Community Violence Response Center to provide training and technical assistance, coordinate research, and develop data collection policies. Additionally, the bill directs the Department of Labor to award grants for job training and workforce programs in communities disproportionately affected by gun violence to connect youth ages 16 to 24 to in-demand occupations.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2023
Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2023 This bill accelerates to the enactment date of this bill the deferral of tax (currently, after December 31, 2027) on sales of employer stock to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) sponsored by S corporations. It also eliminates the limitation on the amount that may be deferred. The Department of the Treasury must establish the S Corporation Employee Ownership Assistance Office to foster increased employee ownership of S corporations. The office must provide education and outreach about the benefits of employee ownership of S corporations and technical assistance to assist S corporations in sponsoring ESOPs. The bill directs the Department of Labor to appoint an Advocate for Employee Ownership.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2023
ACES Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study and report on the prevalence and mortality of cancers among veterans who served on active duty as aircrew members and regularly flew in fixed-wing aircraft.
![Official portrait of Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/n000191_200.jpg)