This bill requires the Economic Development Administration to award grants to designated institutions of higher education located in distressed communities for use in projects including developing commercial infrastructure, building municipal broadband networks, and training health care professionals.
Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act of 2022 This bill requires congressional approval for a presidential import adjustment due to a national security threat from an import related to military equipment, energy resources, or critical infrastructure essential to national security. Specifically, the bill requires the President to submit a proposal to Congress, which Congress may approve by a joint resolution. Under current law, the President determines whether any adjustment of an import is necessary and must submit to Congress the reasons for any action taken or not taken. The Department of Defense (currently, the Department of Commerce) must investigate the effect of these imports on national security. The bill retroactively applies to any proposed action made four years before enactment of this bill. In general, any rate of duty modification occurring in the time period beginning six years before and ending the day before enactment of this bill must revert to the previous rate unless it receives congressional approval.
Save Our Sequoias Act This bill provides for the conservation of giant sequoia trees ( Sequoiadendron giganteum ) in California, including by providing statutory authority for the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition; directing the coalition to submit a Giant Sequoia Health and Resiliency Assessment; declaring an emergency on certain public lands and allowing officials to carry out protection plans during the emergency to respond to the threat of wildfires, insects, and drought; directing the Department of the Interior to develop and implement a Giant Sequoia Reforestation and Rehabilitation Strategy; and establishing a variety of programs and funds to support the conservation of giant sequoias.
Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grant Act This bill establishes programs within the Department of Transportation (DOT) to support the use of drones and other small, unmanned aircraft systems when inspecting, repairing, or constructing road infrastructure, electric grid infrastructure, water infrastructure, or other critical infrastructure. Specifically, DOT must award grants to state, tribal, and local governments; metropolitan planning organizations; or groups of those entities to purchase or otherwise use drones to increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve worker and community safety, reduce carbon emissions, or meet other priorities when carrying out inspections, repairs, and construction. Grant recipients must use domestically manufactured drones that are made by companies not subject to influence or control from certain foreign entities, including China and Russia. DOT must also award grants to certain institutions of higher education for training students for careers using drones and related technologies.
Australia-United States Submarine Officer Pipeline Act This bill requires the Department of Defense to carry out an exchange program for Australian submarine officers. Under this program, two such officers shall be selected each year to receive training and, after completing such training, be assigned to duty on an operational U.S. submarine at sea.
Securing America's Land from Foreign Interference Act This bill requires the President to take actions as necessary to prohibit members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (or foreign individuals or entities acting on behalf of the CCP) from purchasing real estate located in the United States. The bill also modifies an existing civil penalty for failing to satisfy a reporting requirement relating to a foreign individual or entity that acquires or transfers an interest in U.S. agricultural land. Under this bill, the civil penalty for failing to report the required information to the Department of Agriculture must be at least 10% of the fair market value of the relevant interest in agricultural land.
Cellphone Jamming Reform Act of 2022 This bill allows a state or federal correctional facility to operate a jamming system to interfere with cellphone signals within inmate housing facilities.
Recovering America’s Wildlife Act of 2022 This bill provides financial and technical assistance to states, territories, and the District of Columbia for the purposes of (1) recovering species listed as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act or under state law, or (2) avoiding the need to list species under such laws. For example, the bill establishes the Endangered Species Recovery and Habitat Conservation Legacy Fund. A portion of the fund must be used to establish an Endangered Species Recovery Grant Program. It also provides funding for (1) the conservation or restoration of wildlife and plant species of greatest conservation need; (2) the wildlife conservation strategies of states, territories, or the District of Columbia; and (3) wildlife conservation education and recreation projects. The Department of the Interior must use a portion of the funding for a grant program. The grants must be used for innovative recovery efforts for species of greatest conservation need, species listed as endangered or threatened species, or the habitats of such species. In addition, the bill requires certain revenues generated from fees and penalties for violations of environmental requirements to be used as a source for the funding.
This bill expands career services and training programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to include skills and information on entrepreneurship. Further, the bill requires the Department of Labor to conduct a three-year multistate study on entrepreneurial skills development programs and make recommendations for states and local communities to expand access to such programs.
Retirees to Rail Act This bill temporarily suspends certain provisions related to annuity eligibility requirements for retired railroad employees and their survivors. Specifically, the bill temporarily permits retired railroad employees and their survivors to render compensated services to an employer without a suspension or deduction of the retired railroad employee's retirement annuity.
This bill prohibits the execution and extension of certain contracts between public transportation agencies and rail rolling stock manufacturers to procure rail rolling stock.
Rail Employee Training Modernization Act This bill directs the Department of Transportation to issue regulations to define the term classroom with respect to qualification and certification of railroad conductors and locomotive engineers to mean a physical or virtual space where training is provided by a qualified instructor.
