ICE and CBP Body Camera Accountability Act This bill requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and officers to wear body cameras when engaged in official operations. Such agents and officers shall turn on their cameras for the duration of each shift. The footage shall be available to each party in any administrative proceeding, civil action, or criminal proceeding where such footage is pertinent. An agent or officer whose camera does not record footage during a shift shall be subject to furlough, reduction in pay or grade, or suspension. When a camera does not record during a shift, the Department of Homeland Security may not determine that the camera malfunctioned unless the agent or officer submits evidence to establish that a malfunction occurred. ICE and CBP shall establish policies and procedures regarding use of the cameras and for carrying out adverse actions related to a failure to record footage.
This resolution mourns the death of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, and it honors his lifelong commitment to service and his selfless acts of heroism on January 6, 2021.
This joint resolution honors the contributions of school counselors to the success of students in elementary and secondary schools. The resolution encourages the observation of National School Counseling Week with ceremonies and activities that promote awareness of the crucial role school counselors play in preparing students for fulfilling lives as contributing members of society.
This resolution calls for the federal government to establish a national biodiversity strategy, which must include a goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters to protect biodiversity and address climate change by 2030 and other goals necessary to reduce the threats to biodiversity.
Neighborhood Homes Investment Act This bill establishes a new business-related tax credit to finance home building and rehabilitation in neighborhoods that meet certain eligibility criteria relating to poverty rates, income, and home values. The credit is limited to 35% of the lesser of the qualified development cost (i.e., the cost of construction, substantial rehabilitation, demolition, and environmental remediation of residential properties) or 80% of the national median sale price for new homes. The credit applies to single family homes containing four or fewer residential units, condominiums, or houses or apartments owned by cooperative housing corporations.
Special Districts Provide Essential Services Act This bill makes special districts eligible for the Coronavirus Relief Fund and the Municipal Liquidity Facility program. Specifically, the bill makes special districts eligible for payments from amounts paid to states from any new appropriations to the fund. A special district must submit a request for payment to the state with information demonstrating that the special district has experienced or is likely to experience during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) emergency reduced revenue or operational funding derived from provided services, taxes, fees, or other sources of revenue; reduced indirect funding from the federal government, the state, or a unit of general government below the state level; or as a result of the COVID-19 emergency, increased expenditures necessary to continue operations. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall include special districts as eligible issuers in the Municipal Liquidity Facility program, which was created in response to the COVID-19 emergency to buy municipal securities.
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to award through FY2025 additional funds to the Indian Health Service Sanitation Facilities Construction Program. This program provides American Indian and Alaska Native homes and communities with water supply, sewage disposal, and solid waste disposal facilities.
Child Care Workforce and Facilities Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to provide states and tribal entities with grants to increase access to licensed child care services. The grants may be used to develop and expand the child care workforce or child care facilities in locations with insufficient available child care. Specifically, grants cover 50% of the cost of programs to support the education and training of caregivers or projects to build, expand, or renovate child care facilities in these areas.
Primary Care Enhancement Act of 2021 This bill allows a medical expense tax deduction for direct primary care service arrangements and provides that participation in such arrangements does not disqualify patients from making tax deductible contributions to health savings accounts.
Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act This bill establishes that a foreign nongovernmental organization shall not be disqualified from receiving certain U.S. international development assistance solely because the organization provides medical services using non-U.S. government funds if the medical services are legal in both the United States and the country in which they are being provided. Such foreign organizations shall not be subject to requirements relating to their use of non-U.S. funds for advocacy or lobbying activities, other than those that apply to U.S. nongovernmental organizations. Current U.S. policy prohibits various foreign assistance from going to a foreign nongovernmental organization unless it agrees to not perform or actively promote abortions.
Native American Education Opportunity Act This bill addresses education savings account programs and charter schools for tribal students. Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Education and the Department of the Interior, at the request of federally recognized Indian tribes, to provide funds to tribes for tribal-based education savings account programs. Tribes must use these funds to award grants to education savings accounts for students who (1) attended or will be eligible to attend a school operated by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE); or (2) will not be attending a school operated by the BIE, receiving an education savings account from another tribe, or attending public elementary or secondary school while participating in the program. Funds may be used for items and activities such as costs of attendance at private schools, private tutoring and online learning programs, textbooks, educational software, or examination fees. The Government Accountability Office must review the implementation of these education savings account programs, including any factors impacting increased participation in such programs. Additionally, the bill authorizes the BIE to approve and fund charter schools at any school that it operates or funds.
Save Education Jobs Act This bill establishes through FY2030 the Education Jobs Fund, from which the Department of Education (ED) must award grants to state educational agencies and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to retain and create education jobs. ED must also provide grants to outlying areas and the Bureau of Indian Education. Specifically, LEAs must use subgrants for compensation and benefits to retain existing employees, rehire former employees, and hire new employees. Further, subgrants may be used for certain activities such as training and professional development, providing salary increases to cover extended days or school years to make up for lost instructional time due to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019), and developing teacher leadership roles in high-need schools. The bill prohibits the use of subgrants for certain activities, such as funding voucher programs, tax-credit scholarships, or education savings accounts.
