Sen. Tim Kaine

Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2021 This bill provides for coverage of marriage and family therapist services and mental health counselor services under Medicare. It also excludes such services from the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system, and authorizes marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors to develop discharge plans for post-hospital services.

Safeguarding Internet Freedom in Hong Kong Act of 2021 This bill authorizes and establishes programs to promote internet freedom in Hong Kong and contains other related provisions. The Department of State may establish an interagency working group to develop a strategy to bolster internet resiliency and access in Hong Kong. The State Department shall also establish within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor a Hong Kong internet freedom program. (The bureau has existing programs to promote internet freedom globally through technology development, digital safety, policy advocacy, and research.) The Open Technology Fund may establish a Hong Kong internet freedom program. (The fund, an independent nonprofit organization that receives U.S. government funding, was originally a part of Radio Free Asia.) The bureau and the fund may award grants to qualifying private organizations to promote technology and tools in Hong Kong that promote online information access, enhance digital security, and circumvent internet blocking and other online censorship. The State Department shall report to Congress a classified strategy to (1) increase the availability of firewall circumvention technology in Hong Kong; and (2) support the preservation of an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure internet in Hong Kong.

College Transparency Act This bill requires the National Center for Education Statistics to establish a secure and privacy-protected data system that contains information about postsecondary students. Specifically, the data system must evaluate student enrollment patterns, progression, completion, and postcollegiate outcomes, and higher education costs and financial aid; provide complete and customizable information for students and families making decisions about postsecondary education; reduce the requirements for reporting by institutions of higher education; and periodically match with other federal systems of data. The bill also establishes a postsecondary student data system advisory committee.

Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2021 This bill increases the number of residency positions eligible for graduate medical education payments under Medicare for qualifying hospitals, including hospitals in rural areas and health professional shortage areas. Current law provides for an increase of up to 200 positions per fiscal year beginning in FY2023, with a total increase of 1,000 positions; each hospital may receive up to 25 additional positions. The bill provides for an additional increase of 2,000 positions per fiscal year from FY2023-FY2029; during this period, each hospital may receive up to 75 additional positions in total under the bill and current law. The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office to report on strategies to increase the diversity of the health professional workforce, including with respect to representation from rural, low-income, and minority communities.

Jumpstart Our Businesses by Supporting Students Act of 2021 or the JOBS Act of 2021 This bill expands student eligibility for Pell Grants by establishing the Job Training Federal Pell Grant program. Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Education to award a job training Pell Grant to a student who does not have a degree; attends an institution of higher education (IHE); is enrolled in a career and technical education program at an IHE that provides 150 to 600 clock hours of instructional time over a period of 8 to 15 weeks and provides training aligned with high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand industry sectors (i.e., job training programs); and meets all other eligibility requirements for a Pell Grant. It also specifies that any period during which a student receives a job training Pell Grant counts toward that student's Pell Grant eligibility period.

Empowering Medicare Seniors to Negotiate Drug Prices Act of 2021 This bill allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to negotiate drug prices under the Medicare prescription drug benefit and to institute a price structure for the reimbursement of drugs covered under the benefit.

Relief for Survivors of Miners Act of 2021 This bill creates, for the purpose of claims for black lung benefits, a rebuttable presumption that a deceased miner's death was caused by black lung disease if such miner was totally disabled due to black lung disease. It also establishes a program to pay up to a maximum of $4,500 in attorney fees and $3,000 in medical expenses incurred while establishing such claims.

End Double Taxation of Successful Consumer Claims Act This bill allows a deduction from gross income (above-the-line deduction) for attorney fees and court costs in connection with a claim of a consumer protection violation.

Keeping Women and Girls Safe from the Start Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of State to carry out activities under the Safe from the Start program to prevent, mitigate, and respond to gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies around the world. (The Safe from the Start program addresses childhood exposure to violence.) These activities shall include (1) training and capacity building for humanitarian personnel; (2) deployment of, and support for, gender advisors and female humanitarian aid workers; (3) use of standards, guidelines, and best practices to address gender-based violence; (4) expanding and improving empowerment activities; and (5) establishing accountability mechanisms and monitoring and reporting tools to prevent and respond to incidents of sexual or other gender-based exploitation or abuse. The State Department must submit an annual report that includes an analysis of data and research regarding the key drivers of gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies, as well as a detailed description of the programs, diplomatic efforts, and other activities taken to implement Safe from the Start.

Protecting Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions Act of 2021 This bill nullifies specified guidance and final rule provisions pertaining to Section 1332 waivers (also known as State Innovation Waivers or State Relief and Empowerment Waivers) issued by the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services. The provisions allow states to forego certain requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in order to implement experimental plans for health care coverage, as long as the resulting coverage meets certain statutory criteria. The provisions, which supersede earlier guidance from 2015, alter agency interpretation of how states may satisfy the statutory criteria for waiver approval. For example, the provisions (1) redefine acceptable coverage under such waivers to include short-term, limited-duration insurance and association health plans; (2) allow the comprehensiveness and affordability of coverage under such waivers to be assessed based on projected availability, rather than enrollment; and (3) allow the level of coverage to be assessed based on the effects over the entire course of the waiver, rather than per year.