Support Through Loss Act This bill provides employees with 24 hours of paid leave time each year for an absence resulting from a pregnancy loss or other specified circumstance related to pregnancy, fertility, or an unsuccessful assisted reproductive procedure or adoption match. Employers must notify each employee about the availability of this paid leave and may not discriminate or discharge an employee for exercising or attempting to exercise the right to such paid leave. The bill provides for enforcement of this requirement by the Department of Labor and through civil action brought by an employee or individual. Further, the bill requires specified federal agencies to conduct research and publish information about pregnancy loss and related evidence-based treatment options.
Mamie Till-Mobley Memorial Stamp Act This bill directs the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till (who was kidnapped and lynched in 1955).
Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act This bill provides paid family and medical leave to federal employees. Currently, federal employees are entitled to 12 weeks of administrative leave for one or more of the following reasons: (1) the birth of a child, (2) the adoption or foster care of a child, (3) the care of an immediate family member with a serious health condition, (4) inability to work due to a serious health condition, and (5) exigencies relating to an immediate family member's active duty service in the Armed Forces. However, of these reasons, employees are entitled to paid administrative leave only in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care of a child (i.e., parental leave). The bill provides 12 weeks of paid administrative leave for any of these reasons, and specifies that this leave is in addition to any annual or sick leave to which employees are entitled.
Tristan's Law This bill allocates a portion of National Priority Safety Program funds for efforts to increase the safety of frozen dessert truck patrons. (The program provides grants to states to address selected priorities to reduce highway deaths and injuries.) In particular, the Department of Transportation (DOT) must award grants to states for implementing laws and regulations that require frozen dessert trucks to have signal lamps, stop signal arms, and other safety features. DOT must also study pedestrian injuries and fatalities related to frozen dessert trucks and ways to prevent and reduce such harms. Based on the study, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration must issue guidance on methods to improve the safety of frozen dessert trucks and their patrons.
Home for the Brave Act of 2021 This bill excludes from income veterans' service-connected disability or death benefits for purposes of determinations made in connection with the Department of Housing and Urban Development's housing assistance programs.
Zero Food Waste Act This bill directs the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a grant program to study and reduce food waste.
Helping Ensure Access to Local TeleHealth Act of 2021 or the HEALTH Act of 2021 This bill modifies requirements relating to Medicare coverage of telehealth services, including services that are furnished by federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health clinics (RHCs). Specifically, the bill expands coverage to include audio-only telehealth services. It also permanently allows FQHCs and RHCs to serve as the distant site (i.e., the location of the health care practitioner) for telehealth services and excludes such services from certain geographic restrictions. Payment must be made in the same manner as for non-telehealth services, rather than in accordance with a separate methodology determined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
This concurrent resolution recognizes the service and sacrifice of those who served and perished in California at Port Chicago Naval Magazine during World War II. The concurrent resolution also exonerates the 50 Port Chicago sailors convicted of the charge of mutiny against the United States and all other charges brought against them after the July 17, 1944, explosion that killed 320. It upgrades the general and summary discharges of the Port Chicago sailors to honorable discharges.
This resolution recognizes and expresses support for efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Cuba.
This bill makes changes to enrollment processes and other aspects of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Under current law, an individual who participates in Medicaid and other specified means-tested programs automatically meets applicable income eligibility for WIC. The bill extends this automatic income eligibility to participants in Head Start programs, certain nutrition programs (e.g., the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations), and the Children's Health Insurance Program. It also extends income eligibility to individuals who reside in a household in which a member receives assistance from such a program. Other changes in the bill include (1) allowing states to certify a child's eligibility for WIC for up to two years, and (2) requiring states to address benefits for infants and children under the care of kinship families in WIC plans.
Green New Deal for Public Schools Act of 2021 This bill provides environmental and educational resources to public elementary and secondary schools and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools. Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to provide climate capital facilities grants to eligible entities (e.g., public schools and BIE schools). Grant recipients must use these funds to construct new, or convert existing facilities into, healthy zero-carbon schools. Healthy zero-carbon school refers to a school with highly energy-efficient facilities that produce or procure sufficient carbon-free and pollution-free renewable energy to meet the school's needs. Next, the bill directs the Department of Education (ED) to award resource block grants to qualified local educational agencies (LEAs) to hire and retain educators and support staff in high-need schools. ED must award grants to eligible consortia of LEAs for educational equity planning and implementation. In addition, ED must establish the Climate Change Resiliency Program to increase the resiliency of public and BIE schools during climate change-related events, natural disasters, and public health crises. Further, ED must establish a related grant program for state educational agencies. Grant recipients must use these funds for certain activities (e.g., green infrastructure projects). The bill establishes the Office of Sustainable Schools within ED to (1) administer the resource block grant and educational equity grant programs, and (2) coordinate with DOE and the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy on climate capital facilities grants and the Climate Change Resiliency Program.
Pathways to Health Careers Act This bill provides funding for, reauthorizes through FY2026, and makes a variety of changes to certain grants administered by the Department of Health and Human Services that provide education and training to low-income individuals for health care occupations, including by establishing a new competitive grant for projects designed to train low-income individuals in allied health professions.
