Evaluating Lynching Locations (ELL) for National Park Sites Act This bill directs the Department of the Interior to conduct a special resource study of sites within approximately 100 miles of Memphis, Tennessee, at which lynchings took place. In conducting the special resource study, Interior shall (1) evaluate the national significance of such study area, and (2) determine the suitability and feasibility of designating the study area as a unit of the National Park System.
HRES 1226 designates the week of July 19-25, 2022, as "Black Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week" to highlight mental health challenges during pregnancy or after childbirth that disproportionately affect Black women and families. The resolution emphasizes that Black women are 3 times more likely to die from maternal causes than White women and that 1 in 4 women of color face these conditions compared to 1 in 7 White women. It calls for raising public awareness, promoting culturally appropriate care, and encouraging government and community efforts during this designated week. As a non-binding resolution, it does not create new programs but supports existing goals to address racial disparities in maternal health outcomes.
Prohibiting Abortion on Federal Lands Act This bill prohibits the federal government from promoting, supporting, or contracting with abortion entities, or otherwise expanding access to abortions on federal lands or in federal facilities, including military installations, national parks, court houses, and other federal buildings.
Fire Station Improvement Act of 2022 This bill expands the eligible uses of firefighter assistance grant funds to cover the repair, modification, or improvement of fire stations, fire training facilities, and other similar facilities to improve the functionality of those facilities.
Reduce Exacerbated Inflation Negatively Impacting the Nation Act This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers to provide an inflation estimate for each executive order that is projected to cause an annual gross budgetary effect of at least $1 billion. The estimate must determine whether the executive order will have no significant impact on inflation, a quantifiable inflationary impact on the consumer price index, or a significant impact on inflation that cannot be quantified at the time the estimate is prepared. The requirement does not apply to executive orders that (1) provide for emergency assistance or relief at the request of any state or local government or an official of the government, or (2) are necessary for national security or the ratification or implementation of international treaty obligations.
Clean Shipping Act of 2022 This bill directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require vessels on certain commercial voyages to comply with standards for the carbon intensity of the vessel's fuel on a specified schedule, with vessels on such voyages utilizing 100% less than the carbon intensity baseline by 2040 and beyond. Additionally, the EPA must promulgate and continually revise standards to eliminate emissions of specified greenhouse gases and air pollutants associated with vessels at anchorage or at berth in the contiguous zone of the United States.
Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2022 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take various actions to address transparency in contract terms and pricing in the cattle industry. Among these requirements, USDA must maintain a publicly available library or catalog of contracts entered into between meat packers and livestock producers for the purchase of cattle, including any schedules of premiums or discounts associated with the contracts and other specific details. USDA must make this information available to producers and other interested parties in a monthly report. The bill further requires USDA to establish five to seven regions encompassing the entire continental United States that reasonably reflect similar fed cattle purchase practices for processing plants and establish mandatory minimums for each region (i.e., the minimum percentage of cattle purchases that are required to be made through approved pricing mechanisms from producers that are not packers). Under the bill, approved pricing mechanisms are generally purchases of fed cattle made through a negotiated purchase, through a negotiated grid purchase, at a stockyard, or through trading systems or platforms where multiple buyers and sellers can regularly make and accept bids and offers. The bill also establishes a maximum penalty for mandatory minimum violations by covered packers. Under the bill, a covered packer is a packer that has slaughtered an average of 5% or more of the number of fed cattle slaughtered nationally during the immediately preceding five calendar years.
This bill bars state or local officials from prohibiting or restricting the possession, sale, purchase, transportation, or use of contraceptives (i.e., drugs or devices that are primarily used to prevent pregnancy). Individuals or the Department of Justice may bring civil actions for violations of this bill.
HRES 1216 is a non-binding House resolution expressing support for designating June as "Month of Life." It does not create new laws or programs but formally recognizes the value of human life from conception to birth, citing the Declaration of Independence, opposition to abortion access (including reference to the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade), and promoting life-affirming alternatives like adoption and pregnancy support services. The resolution encourages communities to provide resources for mothers and families during this observance. As a symbolic gesture, it directly affects House members who co-sponsored it but has no legal effect on policy or funding.
Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021 This bill sets forth requirements and incentives to reduce the production of a variety of products and materials, including plastics, and increase efforts to collect, recycle, or compost products and materials. The bill makes certain producers of products (e.g., packaging, paper, single-use products, beverage containers, or food service products) fiscally responsible for collecting, managing, and recycling or composting the products after consumer use. In addition, the bill establishes (1) minimum percentages of products that must be reused, recycled, or composted; and (2) an increasing percentage of recycled content that must be contained in beverage containers. Beginning on January 1, 2023, the bill phases out a variety of single-use products, such as plastic utensils. The bill also sets forth provisions to encourage the reduction of single-use products, including by establishing programs to refund consumers for returning beverage containers and by establishing a tax on carryout bags. The bill creates a temporary moratorium on new or expanded permits for certain facilities that manufacture plastics until regulations are updated to address pollution from the facilities. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must publish guidelines for a national standardized labeling system for recycling and composting receptacles. Producers must include labels on their products that are easy to read and indicate whether the products are recyclable, compostable, or reusable. The EPA must also ensure that certain clothes washers have filtration units as required by this bill. Finally, the bill establishes limitations on the export of plastic waste to other countries.
Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s Future Act or the CLEAN Future Act This bill creates requirements and incentives to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The bill establishes an interim goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 as well as a national goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Each federal agency must develop a plan to achieve the goals. Beginning in 2023, retail electricity suppliers must provide an increasing percentage of electricity that is generated without the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (zero-emission electricity). By 2035, the suppliers must provide 100% zero-emission electricity or demonstrate alternative means of compliance. For example, the suppliers may buy credits under a trading program that allows entities to buy, sell, and trade credits to demonstrate compliance. The bill also establishes a variety of requirements, programs, and incentives to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by modernizing the electric grid and supporting clean energy microgrids; increasing the use of renewable energy and advanced nuclear power technologies; increasing energy efficiency in buildings, homes, and appliances; supporting clean transportation, including electric vehicles and related charging infrastructure; issuing greenhouse gas standards for certain vehicles, engines, and aircraft; promoting manufacturing and industrial decarbonization, including through buy-clean programs; supporting environmental justice efforts; and reducing methane, plastics, and super pollutants.
Emergency Grant Aid for College Students Act This bill directs the Department of Education to establish a grant program for institutions of higher education to provide emergency financial-aid grants to students.
