Political Bias In Algorithm Sorting Emails Act of 2022 or the Political BIAS Emails Act of 2022 This bill restricts email providers from applying filtering algorithms that label political campaign messages as spam and requires providers to publicly report on their email delivery practices.
Coastal Habitat Conservation Act of 2021 This bill provides statutory authority for the Coastal Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Among other things, the program identifies the most important natural resource problems and solutions in priority coastal ecosystems in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal governments, nongovernmental institutions, nonprofit organizations, private individuals, and corporations; and assists in the development and implementation of monitoring protocols to ensure the success of coastal ecosystem restoration and enhancement measures.
COI Elimination Act This bill limits U.S. contributions to the United Nations pertaining to the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. Current law imposes a cap on the annual U.S. contribution to the U.N. budget. The bill lowers that cap by 25% of the amount budgeted for the commission unless the Department of State certifies to Congress that the commission has been abolished. After such a certification, the United States shall, subject to appropriations, provide to the United Nations an amount equal to all the contributions that were withheld under this bill. The bill also states that it shall be U.S. policy to seek the abolition of the commission and combat systemic anti-Israel bias in international bodies.
Middle-Class Savings and Investment Act This bill provides tax incentives for savings and investment for middle-income taxpayers. Specifically, it (1) increases the current tax bracket for capital gains and dividends; (2) allows an exclusion from gross income for up to $300 of interest income received by a taxpayer; (3) increases the threshold for the net investment tax for married couples filing jointly to $400,000, adjusted for inflation (thus eliminating the tax effect known as the marriage penalty); and (4) increases the maximum contribution amount and the rate of the saver's tax credit. As an offset to the cost of these incentives, the bill extends through 2028 the limitation on the deduction for state and local taxes.
National R & D Strategy for Distributed Ledger Technology Act of 2022 This bill provides for a national strategy and research and development regarding technologies related to distributed ledgers (e.g., blockchain or Bitcoin). A distributed ledger is a ledger that is shared across and synchronized between a set of distributed nodes (i.e., devices or processes) in a network that store a complete or partial replica of the ledger and meet other requirements. The Office of Science and Technology Policy must develop a national strategy for the research and development of distributed ledger technologies and their applications, including applications of public and permissionless distributed ledgers. The office must coordinate with the National Science and Technology Council and other relevant federal agencies, as appropriate, on the strategy. The national strategy shall include plans to support public and private sector investment and partnerships in research and technology development for societally beneficial applications of distributed ledger technologies, and an identification of additional resources, administrative action, or legislative action recommended to assist with the implementation of such strategy. The National Science Foundation shall make competitive awards to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or their consortia) to support research, including interdisciplinary research, on distributed ledger technologies and their applications. The National Institute of Standards and Technology may carry out an applied research project to study and demonstrate the potential benefits and unique capabilities of distributed ledger technologies.
Fallen Heroes Flag Reauthorization Act of 2022 This bill reauthorizes through FY2027 a program through which a Member of Congress may provide, at no cost, a Capitol-flown flag to commemorate a firefighter, law enforcement officer, or other public safety officer who died in the line of duty if an immediate family member of the deceased requests such a flag.
Border Construction Materials Transfer Act of 2022 This bill requires the federal government to transfer, without reimbursement, materials purchased for the construction of roadways or barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border and located in the states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, or California to the governments of those states.
HR 8030, the Fentanyl is a WMD Act, reclassifies illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction under the Homeland Security Act of 2002. This requires the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office to treat illicit fentanyl as a WMD for the purposes of Title XIX of that Act. The bill changes how fentanyl is legally categorized without creating new penalties, programs, or enforcement tools. It directly affects federal law enforcement coordination under the existing WMD framework for addressing fentanyl trafficking.
Promoting Cross-b order Energy Infrastructure Act This bill establishes a new process for approving the construction and operation of energy infrastructure across an international border of the United States and replaces the existing process established under specified executive orders. Specifically, this bill requires a person to obtain a certificate of crossing before constructing, connecting, operating, or maintaining a border-crossing facility for the import or export of oil, natural gas, or electricity across an international border. A certificate must be obtained from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a facility consisting of oil or natural gas pipelines or the Department of Energy (DOE) for an electric transmission facility. As a condition of issuing a certificate, DOE must require that an electric transmission facility be constructed, connected, operated, or maintained consistent with specified policies and standards. FERC and DOE must meet a deadline for issuing a certificate as set forth by this bill. The bill also requires FERC to meet a deadline for approving applications to import or export natural gas to or from Canada or Mexico.
Ensuring Seniors' Access to Quality Care Act This bill repeals certain restrictions under Medicare and Medicaid that prohibit the approval of nurse-aide training and competency evaluation programs in skilled nursing facilities that have been subject to specified regulatory actions (e.g., civil penalties) for substandard quality of care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must still disapprove such programs for up to two years; however, the CMS must rescind the disapproval upon completion of corrective action and may require additional oversight of the program for purposes of rescission. The bill also allows Medicaid and Medicare providers (e.g., skilled nursing facilities) to access, through the National Practitioner Data Bank, disciplinary information for affiliated physicians and other health care practitioners, as reported by state licensing authorities.
China Social Media Reciprocity Act This bill authorizes the President to impose sanctions by requiring social media companies to block certain individuals and entities from using the company's social media services. The bill also requires the President to impose such sanctions on certain individuals and entities, including those that a social media company knows or should have known are (1) on the Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons, (2) senior officials in China's government, or (3) agents or instrumentalities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or China's government. The President may waive such sanctions if the President certifies to Congress that the CCP and China's government have removed all prohibitions on U.S. government officials participating in social media platforms in China.
The National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2022 extends the federal flood insurance program until December 31, 2023, instead of ending on September 30, 2022. This directly affects homeowners, renters, and businesses in communities participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), ensuring continued access to flood coverage. The bill amends two key sections of the 1968 law to update the program's expiration dates and includes a retroactive provision covering the period from September 30, 2022, through the new end date.
