School Food Modernization Act This bill provides for loan guarantees and grants to support healthy meals under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. The bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue loan guarantees to local educational agencies (LEAs), school food authorities, tribal organizations, and other eligible entities to finance infrastructure improvements or equipment purchases to facilitate their provision of healthy meals through the school meal programs. USDA must also award competitive matching grants to assist LEAs, school food authorities, and tribal organizations in purchasing the durable equipment and infrastructure they need to serve healthier meals and improve food safety. USDA must give preference under both programs to applicants that demonstrate a substantial or disproportionate need for food service infrastructure or durable equipment, and shall establish fees for the loan guarantee program. In addition, USDA must award competitive matching grants to experienced third-party training institutions to provide school food service personnel with the training and technical assistance they need to (1) meet or exceed nutrition standards under the school meal programs, and (2) improve the efficacy and efficiency of the school meal programs.
Korean War Divided Families Reunification Act This bill directs the Department of State to periodically report to Congress on its consultations with South Korea on potential opportunities to reunite Korean Americans with family in North Korea. The State Department's Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues shall periodically report to Congress on its consultations with representatives of Korean Americans with family in North Korea on reunification efforts.
Nursing Home Improvement and Accountability Act of 2021 This bill establishes reporting, staffing, and other quality control requirements for Medicare skilled nursing facilities and Medicaid nursing facilities. For example, the bill requires facilities to have registered professional nurses available 24-7 and to provide infection control services overseen by infection preventionists at least 40 hours per week. It also establishes civil penalties for facilities that submit inaccurate reports relating to staffing data and prohibits facilities from entering into pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Additionally, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must conduct additional quality control and oversight, including (1) auditing facility cost reports; (2) reviewing the quality and effectiveness of compliance surveys; and (3) establishing on-site educational programming for facilities that fail to meet applicable standards. The CMS must also establish minimum staff-to-resident ratios for nursing staff, as it determines appropriate. The bill also establishes a demonstration program to evaluate the impact of certain changes to facility design, staffing, and care coordination on the health outcomes of residents in skilled nursing facilities. Among other requirements, selected facilities must serve between 5 and 14 residents, offer private rooms, and have resident and family councils.
Frank Harrison, Elizabeth Peratrovich, and Miguel Trujillo Native American Voting Rights Act of 2021 This bill addresses the voting rights of Native American and Alaska Native voters and voting access on tribal lands. The bill includes provisions expanding the types of facilities that can be used as voter registration agencies; increasing polling site accessibility, including by expanding early in-person voting and providing ballot drop boxes; providing enforcement power to citizens and attorneys general; requiring approval for actions like moving a polling place; validating certain tribal identification for voting or registering to vote; permitting voters to designate another individual to return a ballot on their behalf; and expanding requirements for bilingual voting accessibility. In addition, the bill establishes a Native American voting task force grant program for the purpose of increasing voter outreach, education, registration, turnout, and accessibility for Native American communities. The bill also directs the Government Accountability Office to study and report on (1) the prevalence of nontraditional or nonexistent mailing addresses among Indians, members of tribes, and individuals residing on Indian lands; and (2) the alternatives for removing barriers to voter registration, receipt of voter information and materials, and receipt of ballots.
Diversifying Investigations Via Equitable Research Studies for Everyone Trials Act or the DIVERSE Trials Act This bill requires activities to increase diversity in clinical trials. It also expands reporting by laboratories that test for and diagnose COVID-19 and requires a study on data collection and data sharing during public health emergencies. Specifically, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must issue guidance on decentralized clinical trials to promote meaningful demographic and geographic diversity in patient engagement, enrollment, and participation. Decentralized clinical trials include those executed through telemedicine or other digital technologies to allow for the remote collection and assessment of clinical trial data. The FDA may also work with foreign regulators to harmonize international regulations governing decentralized clinical trials and the use of digital health technology. In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may support community education, outreach, and recruitment activities for clinical trials of treatments for conditions that disproportionately impact populations underrepresented in clinical trials. The bill also specifies that drug or device manufacturers may provide, subject to some limits, free digital health technologies and other remuneration to patients in approved clinical trials without violating laws that address fraud and abuse in federal programs. Furthermore, laboratories that test for and diagnose COVID-19 must report additional demographic data, including information about social determinants of health. HHS must also contract with the National Academy of Medicine to study and propose a design for an interoperable platform to facilitate data sharing during public health emergencies.
Helping Emergency Responders Overcome Act or the HERO Act This bill establishes and authorizes behavioral health programs for law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, 9-1-1 operators, and other public safety officers. Specifically, the Fire Administration within the Federal Emergency Management Agency must develop resources for educating mental health care providers about treating firefighters and emergency medical services personnel. In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must develop best practices and resources for identifying, preventing, and treating post-traumatic stress disorder and co-occurring disorders in public safety officers. HHS must work with relevant federal departments to incorporate these resources into federal training programs for public safety officers. The bill also authorizes HHS to set up a public safety officer suicide-reporting system and a grant program for peer-support behavioral health and wellness programs within fire departments and emergency medical services agencies.
Veterans Emergency Care Reimbursement Act of 2021 This bill modifies the limitation on reimbursement for emergency treatment of amounts a veteran owes to a third party or owes under a health plan contract. Specifically, the bill allows the Department of Veterans Affairs to reimburse copayments of $100 or more and excludes deductibles and coinsurance from the limitation. This modification must apply with respect to any reimbursement claim for emergency treatment furnished on or after February 1, 2010, including claims submitted by a member of the certified class seeking relief in Wolfe v. McDonough .
Office for Access to Justice Establishment Act of 2021 This bill establishes the Office for Access to Justice within the Department of Justice (DOJ) to advise on matters relating to justice for low-income and other underrepresented people in the criminal and civil justice systems. Additionally, DOJ must establish a Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable to raise the awareness of executive branch agencies of the ways in which civil legal aid and indigent defense can help advance federal objectives, including those related to employment, family stability, housing, consumer protection, health services, and public safety.
9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act This bill increases funding for and otherwise modifies a federal program that provides medical monitoring and treatment to responders and survivors who suffer from health conditions related to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. Among the changes, the bill allows certain health care providers other than physicians to determine whether an individual's health condition is related to the attacks, and it establishes a research program to study the impacts of the attacks on health and educational outcomes of individuals who were 21 years of age or younger when the attacks occurred.
Protecting Firefighters from Adverse Substances Act or the PFAS Act This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop guidance for firefighters and other emergency response personnel on training, education programs, and best practices to protect them from exposure to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly referred to as PFASs, from firefighting foam and to prevent the release of PFASs into the environment. These substances are man-made and may have adverse human health effects. A variety of products contain the compounds, such as nonstick cookware or weatherproof clothing. DHS shall make available a curriculum designed to reduce and eliminate exposure to PFAS from firefighting foam and personal protective equipment (PPE); prevent the release of PFAS from firefighting foam into the environment; and educate firefighters and other emergency response personnel on foams and non-foam alternatives, PPE, and other firefighting tools and equipment that do not contain PFAS. The U.S. Fire Administration shall make recommendations to DHS on the content of the curriculum. DHS must create an online public repository containing tools and best practices to reduce, limit, and prevent the release of and exposure to PFASs.
9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act This bill increases funding for and otherwise modifies a federal program that provides medical monitoring and treatment to responders and survivors who suffer from health conditions related to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. Among the changes, the bill allows certain health care providers other than physicians to determine whether an individual's health condition is related to the attacks, and it establishes a research program to study the impacts of the attacks on health and educational outcomes of individuals who were 21 years of age or younger when the attacks occurred.
Children's Mental Health Infrastructure Act of 2021 This bill provides funding through FY2026 to the Health Resources and Services Administration for grants to improve the capacity of children's hospitals to provide pediatric behavioral health services, including by modernizing sites of care and enhancing telehealth capabilities.
