Behavioral Intervention Guidelines Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop best practices for establishing behavioral intervention teams in educational settings. These teams, comprised of experts, are responsible for identifying individuals who exhibit concerning behaviors and addressing associated behavioral health issues to prevent harm to the individual or others. HHS must also provide technical assistance on implementing these teams to elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education.
Animal Freedom from Testing, Experiments, and Research Act of 2021 or the AFTER Act of 2021 This bill requires departments, agencies, or instrumentalities that operate federal research facilities or exhibit animals to promulgate regulations that facilitate and encourage the adoption of certain animals that are suitable for retirement.
Protect America's Paper for Recycling Act This bill modifies the tax credit for producing electricity from renewable resources to revise the definition of municipal solid waste . The bill specifies that municipal solid waste does not include paper that is commonly recycled and that has been segregated from other solid waste, or solid waste that is collected as part of a system that does not provide for the separate collection of paper that is commonly recycled from residential solid waste. The bill includes exceptions for incidental and residual waste. In the case of a facility that produces electricity both from municipal solid waste and other solid waste that is not a qualified energy resource (1) the facility is a qualified facility if it otherwise meets the requirements for qualified facilities, and (2) the credit only applies to the portion of the electricity produced from municipal solid waste.
National Climate Bank Act This bill establishes and capitalizes a National Climate Bank. The independent, nonprofit bank must invest in clean energy technologies and infrastructure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The national bank's investments and procurements division must seek to facilitate affordable investment and procurement, including in low-income communities and communities of color, in key project areas (e.g., renewable energy or climate resiliency measures). The national bank's start-up division must support the creation of new green banks by states or other political subdivisions. The new banks must be public or nonprofit specialized finance entities that use finance tools to mitigate climate change. The national bank may provide financing for such entities. In addition, the bank must explore the establishment of a cash for carbon program to remove greenhouse gas emissions from the power system. The program may use market mechanisms to expedite the retirement of carbon-intensive power generation facilities (e.g., coal-fired power generation facilities), acquire carbon assets for the purpose of reducing emissions, and invest in communities negatively affected by the loss of those facilities or assets.
Stop The Overuse of Petitions and Get Affordable Medicines to Enter Soon Act of 2021 or the STOP GAMES Act of 2021 This bill specifies factors that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)must use in determining if a petition is submitted with the primary purpose of delaying the approval of a pending new or generic drug application. (Current law allows third parties, including interested parties, to file petitions asking the FDA to take various actions, such as to consider certain issues pertaining to an application for market approval for a drug; current law also allows the FDA to deny a petition that is submitted with the primary purpose of delaying approval of an application.) The factors include (1) whether the petitioner filed serial petitions raising issues that could have been known to the petitioner when an earlier petition was filed, and (2) whether the petition has any data or information to support its scientific positions. If the FDA finds that delay is the primary purpose of the petition, it must refer the matter to the Federal Trade Commission. A party filing a petition must do so within 60 days of when the party first learned of the information on which the petition is based.
New Opportunities to Expand Healthy Air Using Sustainable Transportation Act of 2021 or the NO EXHAUST Act of 2021 This bill establishes incentives and related requirements to encourage the manufacture and use of electric, fuel-efficient, or zero-emission vehicles. For example, the bill directs the Department of Energy to establish a program to provide rebates for expenses associated with publicly accessible electric vehicle supply equipment (e.g., power outlets). In addition, the bill reauthorizes existing grant programs and creates new grant programs, such as grants for the deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in underserved or disadvantaged communities. It also revises a loan program that provides incentives to manufacture advanced vehicles, including by allowing loans to be awarded through FY2031. Finally, the bill establishes minimum conservation requirements for federal fleets of vehicles.
Restoring Neighborhoods and Strengthening Communities Act This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish a grant program to identify infrastructural barriers posed by transportation facilities within certain communities (e.g., communities of color, low-income communities, or tribal or indigenous populations) and study the feasibility of improving, and developing plans to improve, connectivity within these communities by redesigning or removing such barriers. DOT may award grants to states, tribal and local governments, nonprofit organizations, and other entities for (1) community engagement, education, and capacity building, including to educate community members about opportunities to affect transportation and economic development planning and investment decisions; and (2) planning and feasibility studies, including development of designs and artistic renderings to facilitate community engagement. It may also award capital construction grants to the owner of an infrastructural barrier to carry out projects for which all necessary feasibility studies and other planning activities have been completed, including the replacement of an infrastructural barrier with a new use or facility that has been identified by members of the community.
Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act This bill establishes several programs and requirements relating to the prices of prescription drugs. In particular, the bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate prices for certain drugs (current law prohibits HHS from doing so). Specifically, HHS must negotiate maximum prices for single-source, brand-name drugs that lack certain generics and that are among either the 125 drugs that account for the greatest national spending or the 125 drugs that account for the greatest Medicare spending. HHS must negotiate the prices of at least 25 such drugs for 2024 and of at least 50 such drugs thereafter and must also negotiate prices for certain newly approved drugs and for insulin products. The negotiated prices must be offered under Medicare and may also be offered under private health insurance unless the insurer opts out. The negotiated maximum price may not exceed (1) 120% of the average price in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom; or (2) if such information is not available, 85% of the U.S. average manufacturer price. Drug manufacturers that fail to comply with the bill's negotiation requirements are subject to civil and tax penalties. The bill also makes a series of additional changes to Medicare prescription drug coverage and pricing, including by (1) requiring drug manufacturers to issue rebates to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for covered drugs that cost $100 or more and for which the average manufacturer price increases faster than inflation, and (2) capping annual out-of-pocket spending under the Medicare prescription drug benefit. The bill also requires drug manufacturers to report specified information for certain high-cost drugs, and it provides funds for opioid epidemic initiatives and biomedical research.
Veterans Access to Direct Primary Care Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement a five-year pilot program to provide eligible veterans with the option to receive primary care services from a non-VA health care provider under a direct primary care service arrangement through the use of a veteran health savings account. Eligible veterans are those enrolled in the VA health care system.
This resolution supports the designation of an Arab American Heritage Month.
Extending Tribal Broadband Priority Act of 2021 This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to, within 30 days, establish a new tribal priority window for the 2.5 gigahertz band, through which tribes in rural areas may apply for unassigned spectrum. The new window is subject to the same terms and conditions as the tribal priority window that was adopted by the FCC on July 10, 2019, and that closed on September 2, 2020.
Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act This bill provides for Medicare coverage and payment with respect to certain pharmacist services that (1) are furnished by a pharmacist in a health-professional shortage area, and (2) would otherwise be covered under Medicare if furnished by a physician.
