Work Opportunity Tax Credit and Jobs Act This bill makes the work opportunity tax credit permanent.
Pre-existing Conditions Protection Act of 2021 This bill reestablishes requirements for private health insurance plans with respect to preexisting conditions, guaranteed enrollment, and discrimination based on health-related factors if they are repealed by another law. In such event, the bill prohibits private health insurance plans from (1) limiting or excluding benefits covering preexisting conditions; (2) denying enrollment to employers or individual applicants, subject to specified limits; (3) establishing rules for eligibility based on an individual's health status; or (4) requiring an individual to a pay higher premium than similarly situated individuals enrolled in the plan based the individual's health status. The bill also prohibits plans from collecting genetic information in connection with issuing health insurance and provides requirements for workplace wellness programs connected to health insurance.
Dr. Li Wenliang Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill directs Congress to make arrangements for the posthumous presentation of a gold medal in commemoration of Dr. Li Wenliang's efforts to save lives by drawing awareness to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) and his call for transparency in China.
Small Business PPE Tax Credit Act This bill allows certain small businesses a tax credit for qualified personal protective equipment expenses, up to $25,000 in a taxable year. The entities eligible for such credit include farms, veterans organizations, and tribal business concerns. The bill defines qualified personal protective equipment expenses to include the cost of equipment for reducing the risk of coronavirus (i.e., the virus that causes COVID-19) transmission, including gloves, medical masks and protective gear, and cleaning supplies.
Future Advancement of Academic Nursing Act or the FAAN Act This bill authorizes the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to award grants to nursing schools to increase capacity to respond to public health emergencies and pandemics and otherwise enhance nursing education programs. In awarding these grants, HRSA shall prioritize historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions, schools that are located in medically underserved communities, and schools in areas with shortages of health professionals.
Barriers to Suicide Act of 20 21 This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish a program to facilitate the installation of evidence-based suicide deterrents on bridges, including suicide prevention nets and barriers. DOT may award competitive grants to states and local governments to carry out the program. The Government Accountability Office must conduct a study to identify the types of structures, other than bridges, that attract a high number of individuals attempting suicide-by-jumping and the types of nets or barriers that are effective at reducing such suicides.
Gun Violence Prevention Research Act of 2021 This bill authorizes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct or support research on firearms safety or gun violence prevention.
National Climate Emergency Act of 2021 or the Climate Emergency Act of 2021 This bill directs the President to declare a national emergency with respect to climate change. The President, in responding to the emergency, must ensure that the government invests in large scale mitigation and resiliency projects; makes investments that enable a racially and socially just transition to a clean energy economy by ensuring that at least 40% of investments flow to historically disadvantaged communities; avoids solutions that increase inequality or violate human rights; creates jobs that conform to labor standards that provide family sustaining wages and benefits and ensure safe workplaces; prioritizes local and equitable hiring and contracting that creates opportunities for marginalized communities; combats environmental injustice; and reinvests in existing public sector institutions and creates new public sector institutions to strategically mobilize and channel investments at the scale and pace required by the national emergency. The President shall report annually on actions taken in response to the national emergency.
This resolution calls on the President to take executive action to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers. Further, it encourages the President to (1) ensure that borrowers have no tax liability from the debt cancellation, (2) ensure that the debt cancellation helps close racial wealth gaps, and (3) pause student loan payments and interest accumulation on federal student loans for the duration of the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic.
This resolution supports the designation of Career and Technical Education Month to celebrate career and technical education across the United States.
Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2021 This bill makes it a violation of federal law for a recipient of federal funds who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls. The bill specifies that sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
Working Families Flexibility Act of 2021 This bill revises requirements for the receipt of compensatory time off for private sector employees. Specifically, the bill authorizes private employers to provide compensatory time off to their employees at a rate of one and one-half hours for each hour of employment for which overtime compensation otherwise is required; employees may accrue a maximum of 160 hours of compensatory time. Employers are prohibited from interfering with an employee's right to or not request compensatory time off in lieu of payment of overtime compensation or from requiring an employee to use such compensatory time, and must give their employees 30-days notice before discontinuing a compensatory time policy. Employers are liable to employees for damages from violations of these requirements.
