This resolution expresses support for the designation of Spondyloarthritis Awareness Month. Spondyloarthritis is an umbrella term for a group of inflammatory diseases that primarily affect the spine and other joints.
Vaccine Administration Centralization to Coordinate and Improve National Execution Act or the VACCINE Act This bill establishes a grant program for states, tribal nations, and territories to set up or expand COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) vaccine registration systems. The system must be the jurisdiction's sole means of registering an individual for a vaccine. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must set up a website and a call center to share information with the public about each registration system. HHS must also develop standards to allow for electronic information exchange among the systems. To carry out the program, HHS may use funds from the Public Health Emergency Fund. The authority for this program terminates at the end of the COVID-19 emergency period.
Helping Experts Accelerate Rare Treatments Act of 2021 This bill addresses rare diseases, including by requiring the Food and Drug Administration to ensure the inclusion of rare disease experts and staff members in various parts of the drug review process. The bill also requires certain reports to address issues related to rare diseases and drugs for treating such diseases (sometimes referred to as orphan drugs if the rarity of the disease makes it difficult for the drug to be profitable).
Commission on Domestic Terrorism Act of 2021 This bill establishes in the legislative branch the National Commission on Domestic Terrorism. The commission shall investigate relevant facts and circumstances relating to the federal government's failure to respond to and prevent acts of domestic terrorism in the past 20 years, including relating to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021; identify, review, and evaluate the lessons learned from such acts regarding the structure, coordination, and management arrangements of the federal government, and, if appropriate, state and local governments and nongovernmental entities, relative to detecting, preventing, and responding to domestic terrorist attacks; and report to the President and Congress.
Help Extend Auditory Relief Act of 2021 or the HEAR Act of 2021 This bill provides for Medicare coverage of hearing aids and hearing rehabilitation services. Covered services include hearing aid assessments, fittings, and related instructional services.
Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art Collections Space Authorization Act This bill authorizes the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution and the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Art to construct and use a collections storage space at the museum support facility of the Smithsonian Institution in Suitland, Maryland, to accommodate the care, preservation, conservation, storage, and study of national collections held in trust by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art.
Opioid Patients' Right to Know Act of 2021 This bill requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to award grants to states to educate health care providers about opioid prescribing practices. To receive a grant, a state must have a law or regulation that requires providers to, before issuing an initial opioid prescription to treat acute pain, inform patients about the risks of opioids and the availability of non-opioid treatment alternatives. States must use the grants to educate providers about relevant laws or regulations and safe opioid prescribing recommendations.
Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening for High-risk Insured Men Act or the PSA Screening for HIM Act This bill requires private health insurance plans to cover preventive prostate cancer screenings that are not already covered under the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for men with a family history of prostate cancer, without imposing any cost-sharing requirement.
Protecting Local Authority and Neighborhoods Act or the PLAN Act This bill limits liability protection that applies to a provider of an interactive computer service that facilitates the lease or rental of real property (e.g., Airbnb) in violation of a state law or contractual agreement, such as a lease provision prohibiting short-term rentals. Current law protects providers and users of such services from liability for information provided by third parties, subject to specified exceptions. This bill removes that protection for providers that facilitate certain real estate transactions if the provider (1) receives written notice that a lease or rental violates a law or contractual agreement, and (2) subsequently facilitates the lease or rental in a manner restricted by the applicable law or contractual agreement. The bill also expressly preserves the authority of a state or locality to enforce laws that restrict a provider of an interactive computer service from booking, or providing ancillary services for, a transaction for the lease or rental of real property.
Online Accessibility Act This bill sets forth requirements for consumer-facing websites and mobile applications owned or operated by a private entity and guidance regarding standards for website accessibility by the disabled. Specifically, the bill prohibits the exclusion of an individual, by reason of disability, from participation in or being denied the full and equal benefits of the services of such a website or application or from being subjected to discrimination by a private owner or operator of such a website or application. Such a website or application shall be considered compliant if it is in substantial compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Level A and Level AA standard established by the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group. A noncompliant entity shall provide an alternative, equivalent means of access by individuals with disabilities. The Access Board must publish related standards. The bill sets forth provisions regarding administrative remedies and reporting of violations and enforcement by the Department of Justice and through private rights of action.
Enhancing the Strength and Capacity of America's Primary Evacuation routes Act or the ESCAPE Act This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to provide assistance for projects that strengthen and protect mass evacuation routes. Specifically, DOT must (1) establish criteria for states, tribal and local governments, and other entities to identify mass evacuation routes; (2) establish a competitive grant program to provide grants for resilience projects that strengthen and protect evacuation routes that are essential for providing and supporting mass evacuations caused by emergency events; and (3) provide grants to resilience projects that ensure the ability of the evacuation route to provide safe passage during a mass evacuation and reduce the risk of damage to evacuation routes as a result of future emergency events.
Medicare Hearing Aid Coverage Act of 2021 This bill allows for Medicare coverage of hearing aids and related examinations. The Government Accountability Office must study programs that provide assistance for hearing aids and related examinations for individuals with hearing loss.
