Congressional Oversight of Unjust Policing Act This bill establishes the U.S. Commission on Unjust Policing to investigate law enforcement activities and decisions related to the security breach at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Specifically, the commission must investigate decisions made by leadership of the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Department of Homeland Security leading up to and during the siege at the Capitol, including an assessment of whether conscious and unconscious bias was a factor in the miscalculation of the risk posed by protesters to Members of Congress and their staff. The commission must also investigate whether current USCP officers have ties to white supremacist and other extremist groups, movements, and organizing efforts, and whether any USCP officers neglected their duty and colluded with protestors or other law enforcement entities. Further, the commission must recommend specific measures and reforms related to realigning (1) USCP priorities and practice to address disparate use of force and surveillance targets in and around the Capitol; and (2) USCP recruitment, hiring, and retention policies and practices to address conscious and unconscious biases.
Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act This bill prohibits the imposition of a death penalty sentence for a violation of federal law. A person sentenced to death before enactment of this bill must be resentenced.
Baseball Diplomacy Act This bill waives various embargo and immigration restrictions in order to allow Cuban nationals to enter the United States to play organized professional baseball. U.S. embargo authority may not regulate or prohibit various transactions by or on behalf of a Cuban national entering to play baseball, nor may the individual be prohibited from returning to Cuba with the earnings made from playing professional baseball. The President's authority to bar an alien whose entry is deemed to be detrimental to U.S. interests may not be used to deny a visa to a Cuban national entering to play baseball. An individual entering to play baseball may obtain a visa to remain in the United States only for the duration of the baseball season. The visa need not be renewed for reentry into the United States during the term of a contract between the individual and the team for which the individual played in the preceding season.
Protect Patriot Spouses Act This bill makes certain alien military spouses eligible for adjustment to permanent residence status. An eligible alien shall be an individual who is or was a spouse of a U.S. citizen who serves or served in the Armed Forces, either on active duty or in a reserve component. If the U.S. citizen has been discharged from the Armed Forces, such discharge must be under honorable conditions. Certain factors that would otherwise make an alien inadmissible, such as having entered the United States without being admitted, shall not make such an alien spouse inadmissible or ineligible for permanent residence status under the bill. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may also waive certain factors that would otherwise make an alien inadmissible, such as having misrepresented a material fact to secure a visa, if the alien does not pose a threat to the public and has not committed any crimes that are unrelated to immigration status. The bill also requires DHS and the Department of State to allow a qualifying alien spouse to (1) apply for an immigrant visa to enter the United States under this bill; and (2) enter and stay in the United States to reunite with their U.S. citizen spouse while the application is pending, if the alien spouse does not pose a threat to the public or national security.
This bill makes it unlawful for a person who is not a licensed gun dealer to transfer a firearm at a gun show. The prohibition does not apply to a transfer to a licensed manufacturer, importer, dealer, or collector. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term, or both.
Restricting the Use of Solitary Confinement Act This bill imposes restrictions on the use of solitary confinement for inmates in federal custody. Among the restrictions, the bill prohibits placement in solitary confinement for nondisciplinary reasons; it limits the duration of such placement; and it provides an administrative review process for inmates to contest such placement.
Venezuela TPS Act of 2021 This bill permits nationals of Venezuela to qualify for temporary protected status, which prevents their removal from the United States and allows them to obtain employment and travel authorization. Such status shall be available to qualifying nationals of Venezuela for 18 months starting from this bill's enactment.
Preventing Future Pandemics Act of 2021 This bill establishes measures to address global public health risks posed by wildlife markets, which are commercial markets that sell or slaughter wildlife for human consumption as food or medicine in communities where alternative nutritional or protein sources are available. Specifically, the bill prohibits importing, exporting, purchasing, or selling live wild animals in the United States for human consumption as food or medicine. The Department of the Interior must hire, train, and deploy at least 50 new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement attachés around the world, and the U.S. Agency for International Development must increase specified activities to address the threats and causes of zoonotic (animal-to-human transmission) disease outbreaks. Additionally, the United States must work with other United Nations member states to urge a global ban on commercial wildlife markets and enforcement of laws to end wildlife trafficking. Further, the President may impose sanctions against a foreign country or foreign nationals that the Department of State has determined are taking certain actions that enable or facilitate commercial wildlife markets. Among other reports required by the bill, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine must conduct a study and submit a report that includes an evaluation of (1) the impact that consumption of terrestrial wildlife as food or medicine has on the transmission of novel viral and other pathogens, (2) the role of consuming terrestrial wildlife as food or medicine in the transmission of microbes from animals to humans, and (3) the conditions at live wildlife markets that lead to this transmission.
Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act of 2021 This bill prohibits the manufacturer of a brand-name, generic, or biosimilar drug from entering into certain agreements to resolve or settle a patent infringement claim in connection with the sale of a drug or biological product. Specifically, such an agreement shall, with some exceptions, be a violation of the bill if the filer of a subsequent application to market a drug or biological product receives anything of value and agrees to limit or forego research, development, manufacturing, marketing, or sales of the subsequent drug or biological product. (Typically, a subsequent application seeks to market a generic or biosimilar version of a patented drug or biological product.) Penalties for violations of the bill include civil penalties and loss of the 180-day exclusivity period for a generic drug. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shall have exclusive authority to litigate to enforce the bill. When a generic or biosimilar drug manufacturer enters into an agreement with another drug manufacturer related to the manufacturing, marketing or sale of a drug, the manufacturers shall certify that the material they have given the FTC concerning the agreement contains (1) the complete agreement; and (2) any agreements related to the main agreement, including descriptions of any oral agreements or representations.
This joint resolution eliminates the deadline for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which prohibits discrimination based on sex. The amendment was proposed to the states in House Joint Resolution 208 of the 92nd Congress, as agreed to in the Senate on March 22, 1972. The amendment shall be part of the Constitution whenever ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states.
Affordable Housing Redevelopment Act This bill reauthorizes the Neighborhood Stabilization Program for FY2021 to provide grants to states, local governments, and nonprofit entities for the conversion of blighted, abandoned, or foreclosed property into affordable housing for low-income families.
Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act This bill establishes programs that address water pollution along the U.S.-Mexico border. Specifically, the bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish the Tijuana River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program. Under the program, the EPA must plan, implement, coordinate, and provide grants for public health and water quality restoration and protection activities in the Mexican Tijuana River watershed and the American Tijuana River watershed in California. In addition, the EPA must establish the California New River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program to plan, implement, coordinate, and provide grants for water quality restoration and protection activities in the New River watershed. Finally, the bill provides statutory authority for the U.S.-Mexico Border Water Infrastructure Program to provide assistance for activities related to the construction of infrastructure for drinking water treatment or distribution, wastewater management, or stormwater management.
