Sen. Gary C. Peters

Clean Commute for Kids Act of 2021 This bill reauthorizes through FY2031 and revises the Clean School Bus Program. Under the revised program, the Environmental Protection Agency must provide financial assistance to replace existing school buses with clean school buses that do not emit specified pollutants, including greenhouse gases.

Medicare at 50 Act This bill establishes a Medicare buy-in option for certain qualifying individuals and also repeals restrictions relating to prescription drug prices under the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Specifically, the bill allows individuals aged 50 to 64 to enroll in Medicare if such individuals would otherwise qualify for Medicare at the age of 65. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must determine enrollment periods and set premiums for the buy-in option established under the bill, in accordance with specified requirements. The CMS must also award grants to states and nonprofit organizations for outreach and enrollment activities relating to the buy-in option. The bill also repeals provisions that prohibit the CMS from negotiating the prices of prescription drugs or from establishing a formulary under the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act of 2021 This bill addresses Department of Defense (DOD) contraceptive care and family planning services. Specifically, the bill prohibits cost-sharing requirements with respect to TRICARE beneficiaries for specified prescription contraceptives. Additionally, the bill prohibits cost-sharing requirements for TRICARE Select and TRICARE Prime beneficiaries in relation to any in-network method of contraception or contraceptive care (including with respect to insertion, removal, and follow-up), any sterilization procedure, or any related patient education or counseling service. The bill requires DOD to provide information on all methods of emergency contraception and care to sexual assault survivors at its medical treatment facilities. Upon request by a sexual assault survivor, DOD must provide such emergency contraception or a prescription for emergency contraception. Finally, DOD must establish a uniform standard curriculum for education programs on family planning for all members of the Armed Forces. Such education programs must be provided to service members during their first year of service and at other appropriate times, as determined by each military department.

AI Scholarship-for-Service Act This bill establishes a federal artificial intelligence (AI) scholarship-for-service program to recruit and train AI professionals to lead and support AI in federal, state, local, and tribal governments. Specifically, the National Science Foundation must establish criteria to designate qualified institutions of higher education (IHEs) as eligible to participate in the program. Such criteria must include (1) measures of an IHE's demonstrated excellence in the education of students in AI; and (2) measures of an IHE's ability to attract and retain a diverse and nontraditional student population in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Further, the program must (1) provide scholarships through qualified IHEs to students who are enrolled in programs of study related to AI, (2) provide scholarship recipients with internship opportunities, (3) prioritize the employment placement of scholarship recipients in executive agencies, (4) identify opportunities to promote multidisciplinary programs of study that integrate basic or advanced AI training with other fields of study, and (5) support education research programs to train AI researchers and practitioners. Additionally, the post-award employment obligations of a scholarship recipient must include three years of work for an executive agency; Congress; an interstate agency; a state, local, or tribal government; or a government-affiliated nonprofit that is considered to be critical infrastructure. A scholarship recipient who completes less than the required three years of service must repay the scholarship, or the scholarship must be treated as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan that is subject to repayment.

Big Cat Public Safety Act This bill revises requirements governing the trade of big cats (i.e., species of lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar or any hybrid of such species). Specifically, it revises restrictions on the possession and exhibition of big cats, including to restrict direct contact between the public and big cats.

Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Roddie Edmonds in recognition of his achievements and heroic actions during World War II.

Healthy Families Act This bill provides for paid and unpaid sick leave for employees to meet their own medical needs and those of their families. It requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide their employees with at least one hour of earned paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 56 hours of paid sick leave in a year. An employer with fewer than 15 employees may also provide the same amount of paid sick leave, but may opt out of such requirement, in which case such employer must provide its employees at least 56 hours of unpaid leave in a year. An employee may use sick leave for absences (1) resulting from a physical or mental illness, injury or medical condition; (2) resulting from obtaining professional medical diagnosis or care, or preventive medical care; (3) to care for a child, parent, spouse, a domestic partner, or other blood or close relative; and (4) resulting from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The bill makes it unlawful for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of an employee's right to accrue sick leave as provided by this bill. An employee may take legal action to enforce the right to sick leave granted by this bill and the Department of Labor must investigate complaints of violations of the requirements of this bill. Labor is authorized to conduct a public awareness campaign to educate and inform the public of the requirements for paid sick leave provided by this bill.

Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2021 This bill revises provisions of the low-income housing tax credit and renames it as the affordable housing credit . The bill increases the per capita dollar amount of the credit and its minimum ceiling amount beginning in 2021 and extends the inflation adjustment for such amounts. The bill modifies tenant income eligibility requirements and the average income formula for determining such income. It also revises rules for student occupancy of rental units and tenant voucher payments, and prohibits any refusal to rent to victims of domestic abuse. The bill further modifies the credit to increase state allocations of the credit; repeal the qualified census tract population cap; prohibit local approval and contribution requirements; increase the credit for certain projects designated to serve extremely low-income households; increase the credit for certain bond-financed projects designated by state agencies; eliminate the basis reduction for properties that receive certain energy-related tax benefits; and increase the population cap for difficult development areas (i.e., areas with high construction, land, and utility costs relative to area median gross income). The bill also includes Indian and rural areas as difficult development areas and modifies other requirements relating to casualty losses, acquisition credits, and foreclosures.

Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act This bill provides guidance related to veterans and medical marijuana that shall be effective for five years. Specifically, the bill authorizes (1) a veteran to use, possess, or transport medical marijuana in accordance with applicable state or Native American tribal law; (2) a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) physician to discuss with a veteran the use of medical marijuana as a treatment if the physician is in a state or on tribal land that authorizes such treatment; or (3) a VA physician to recommend, complete forms for, or register veterans for participation in a medical marijuana treatment program in accordance with applicable state or tribal law. The bill requires the VA to report on (1) the effects of medical marijuana on veterans in pain; and (2) the relationship between state-approved medical marijuana treatment programs, program access, and opioid use and abuse reduction.

Retired Pay Restoration Act This bill authorizes the receipt of both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation with respect to any service-connected disability. Under current law, only veterans with service-connected disabilities rated at 50% or more receive both without offset. Individuals who were retired or separated from military service due to a service-connected disability shall be eligible for the full concurrent receipt of both veterans' disability compensation and either military retired pay or combat-related special pay.