VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to report on the costs of its Electronic Health Record Modernization Program, including by describing all expenses driven by the program.
Employee Retention Tax Credit Reinstatement Act This bill provides for a reinstatement of the employee retention tax credit through 2021. The credit was established to compensate employers whose businesses were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic for wages paid to their employees.
HRES 835 is a symbolic House resolution recognizing November 2021 as National Runaway Prevention Month. It does not create new laws or allocate funds but formally supports efforts to address youth homelessness by highlighting statistics showing over 4 million youth and young adults experienced homelessness in 2017. The resolution emphasizes raising public awareness about the crisis, particularly affecting vulnerable groups like LGBTQ youth, people of color, and those in foster care, and encourages collaboration among communities and organizations like the National Runaway Safeline. Its purpose is purely declaratory, aiming to promote existing prevention initiatives rather than implementing policy changes.
SRES 460 is a non-binding Senate resolution designating November 2021 as "National Runaway Prevention Month." It aims to raise public awareness about youth homelessness by highlighting statistics on vulnerable groups, including LGBTQ youth, youth of color, and those in foster care. The resolution encourages community engagement and collaboration among organizations, schools, and local groups to address the crisis. It does not create new laws or funding but formally recognizes the issue and supports existing awareness efforts led by groups like the National Runaway Safeline.
This resolution supports (1) the goals and ideals of World AIDS Day, including the goal to achieve zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths; (2) efforts to end the HIV epidemic in the United States and around the world by 2030; (3) continued funding for prevention, care and treatment services, and research programs for communities impacted by HIV and people living with HIV in the United States and globally; and (4) continued leadership by the United States in domestic, bilateral, multilateral, and private sector efforts to fight HIV. Finally, the resolution urges other members of the international community to sustain and scale up their support for, and financial contributions to, efforts around the world to combat HIV.
Section 401 Certification Act The bill provides statutory authority for the rule published on July 13, 2020, by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entitled Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Rule . Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, an applicant for a federal license or permit to conduct an activity that may result in any discharge into navigable waters must also obtain a certification—or waiver of such certification—from a relevant state, intrastate agency, or Indian tribe that the proposed activity will not violate certain water quality requirements of the state or Indian tribe. The rule revised existing regulations, including by limiting the scope of the certification review process as well as the time frame for a state, interstate agency, or Indian tribe to issue a certification.
Strategic Production Response Act or the SPR Act This bill limits the drawdown of petroleum in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the Department of Interior issues a plan or updates a previously issued plan to increase the production of oil and gas on federal land. The bill defines federal land to (1) include Outer Continental Shelf land; and (2) exclude land otherwise not available for oil and gas development within the National Park System, the National Wildlife Refuge System, the National Wilderness Preservation System, a National Marine Sanctuary, or Indian land.
Arctic Focus Act This bill directs the Coast Guard to undertake various efforts to maintain a persistent presence in the Arctic to advance the national security interests of the United States. The Coast Guard must prioritize icebreaker deployments to the Arctic; provide sufficient icebreaking activity to keep the Northwest Passage sea lanes open for commerce, national defense, rescue and recovery operations, and scientific exploration by 2030; permanently station at least one ice-breaking vessel within the Arctic by the earlier of one year after the delivery of the first Polar Security Cutter, or 2030; and continuously patrol the Arctic with at least one major Coast Guard cutter that is able to execute search and rescue operations, fisheries enforcement, pollution response, and support for national defense operations. The department in which the Coast Guard is operating must submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees that describes the ability and time line to conduct a transit of the Northern Sea Route and periodic transits of the Northwest Passage, and that includes a plan to implement the activities set forth in this bill.
Keep Food Containers Safe from PFAS Act of 2021 This bill prohibits food packaging that contains intentionally added PFAS (i.e., a perfluoroalkyl substance or a polyfluoroalkyl substance that is man-made with at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom).
Bolstering Infectious Outbreaks Preparedness Workforce Act of 2021 or the BIO Preparedness Workforce Act of 2021 This bill establishes a student loan repayment program for health care and related professionals who are engaged in either bio-preparedness and response activities or infectious disease care in underserved communities. For each year that a professional meets the work requirements of the program, the Health Resources and Services Administration may pay up to $50,000 of the professional's student loan principal and interest, up to a maximum amount of $150,000.
Blue Carbon for Our Planet Act This bill establishes the Interagency Working Group on Coastal Blue Carbon to (1) assess the impediments to the conservation and restoration of coastal blue carbon ecosystems, and (2) establish national conservation and restoration priorities regarding these areas. Coastal blue carbon ecosystems are vegetated coastal habitats and include mangroves, tidal marshes, and other tidal, freshwater, or saltwater wetlands that have the ability to sequester and store carbon.
This joint resolution nullifies a Department of Labor emergency temporary standard for preventing the transmission of COVID-19 in employment settings. Under the standard issued on November 5, 2021, employers with 100 or more employees must require their onsite employees to either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
