NICS Review Act of 2021 This bill revises the amount of time that the national instant criminal background check system retains certain information about an approved firearm transaction. Currently, identifying information about an approved firearm purchaser must be destroyed within 24 hours. This bill requires identifying information about an approved firearm purchaser to be retained for at least 90 days before it can be destroyed.
Firearm Risk Protection Act of 2021 This bill establishes requirements for gun purchasers and gun owners to be covered by a qualified liability insurance policy. A qualified liability insurance policy, with respect to a firearm purchaser, is a policy that covers losses resulting from use of the firearm while it is owned by the purchaser. A person who fails to comply with the requirements is subject to a criminal fine of up to $10,000.
Kangaroo Protection Act of 2021 This bill establishes new federal crimes related to commercial activities involving kangaroos and kangaroo products. Specifically, the bill prohibits the import for commercial purposes, possession with intent to sell, or sale of a kangaroo; and the introduction into interstate commerce; manufacture for introduction into interstate commerce; sale, trade, or advertisement in interstate commerce; or offer to sell, or transport or distribute in interstate commerce, any kangaroo product. A violator is subject to civil and criminal penalties. Additionally, a kangaroo or kangaroo product used in a violation is subject to forfeiture.
Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 This bill directs multi-agency efforts to improve maternal health, particularly among racial and ethnic minority groups, veterans, and other vulnerable populations. It also addresses maternal health issues related to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other specified departments must address the social determinants of maternal health, which include child care, housing, food security, transportation, and environmental conditions. The bill also extends to 24 months postpartum eligibility for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants, and Children. Additionally, HHS and other agencies must take actions to grow and diversify the maternal health workforce. To increase access to maternity care, HHS and other agencies must (1) award specified grants; (2) test an alternative payment model for perinatal care under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); and (3) support training, technology, and telehealth initiatives. The bill also increases research and data collection on maternal morbidity and mortality, particularly among tribal populations and minority groups. The Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice must establish programs to improve maternity care for incarcerated populations. The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission must also report on the impact of Medicaid ineligibility for pregnant and postpartum prisoners. Additionally, as a condition for certain grants, states and territories must have laws limiting the use of restraints on pregnant individuals in prisons. The bill also directs activities to mitigate adverse maternal health outcomes associated with climate change and to improve maternal vaccination rates.
Keeping Guns from High-Risk Individuals Act This bill expands the categories of persons who are prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition. Specifically, it adds the following new categories of prohibited persons: persons convicted of a crime of violence in the most recent 10-year period; persons under age 25 who have been adjudicated as having committed an offense that would have been a crime of violence if committed by an adult; persons convicted, during a consecutive 3-year period in the most recent 10-year period, of two separate offenses involving drug or alcohol possession or distribution; and persons convicted of stalking.
Jamal Khashoggi Press Freedom Accountability Act of 2021 This bill establishes measures to protect the human rights of journalists. Specifically, the bill (1) expands the scope of required reports related to violations of the human rights of journalists, (2) requires the President to impose certain property- and visa-blocking sanctions on persons responsible for gross violations of the human rights of journalists, and (3) prohibits certain foreign assistance to a governmental entity of a country if an official acting under authority of the entity has committed a gross violation of human rights against a journalist.
Invest in Child Safety Act This bill modifies the federal framework governing the prevention of online sexual exploitation of children. The bill establishes within the Executive Office of the President a new office—the Office to Enforce and Protect Against Child Sexual Exploitation—to coordinate federal efforts to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and treat victims of child exploitation. Additionally, it establishes the Child Sexual Exploitation Treatment, Support, and Prevention Fund to make grants and fund federal efforts to treat and support victims of child sexual exploitation and evidence-based programs and services to prevent child sexual exploitation. Finally, the bill makes changes to the reporting requirements for electronic communication service providers and remote computing service providers (providers) who report apparent instances of crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. Among the changes, the bill requires providers to report facts and circumstances sufficient to identify and locate each involved individual and increases the amount of time that providers must preserve the contents of a report.
Protecting Our Election Workers Act of 2020 This bill makes it a crime to intimidate, threaten, or coerce (or attempt to do so) an individual (i.e., an election official or a poll worker) for the purpose of interfering with their duties in administering elections. Violators are subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to one year, or both.
This concurrent resolution calls for renewed U.S. leadership in addressing the climate crisis that is disproportionately affecting the health, economic opportunity, and fundamental rights of children. It also recognizes the need for the departments and agencies of the executive branch with delegated authority over energy and climate policy to prepare a climate recovery plan that puts the United States on a trajectory consistent with reducing global atmospheric carbon dioxide to below 350 parts per million by the year 2100.
This resolution urges all levels of government, health care entities, and others to implement plans to allocate COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) vaccines that account for health disparities and inequities related to the disease.
Debt-Free College Act of 2021 This bill establishes measures to cover the unmet financial need of students who are enrolled at certain institutions of higher education (IHEs). Unmet financial need refers to the difference between a student's cost of attendance and the student's expected family contribution, plus any federal, state, and local sources of grant aid. In addition, the bill makes certain Dreamer students (i.e., students who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status) eligible for federal financial aid. First, the bill requires the Department of Education (ED) to award grants for state-federal partnerships with a goal of providing debt-free college for all eligible students at in-state public IHEs. Eligible student refers to an individual who (1) is enrolled or is eligible to enroll in an in-state public IHE, (2) demonstrates eligibility for a Federal Pell Grant through institutional financial-aid eligibility forms, and (3) demonstrates satisfactory academic progress. Next, the bill requires ED to award grants to historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions to cover the unmet financial need of enrolled students. ED must establish an office to administer grants and provide oversight. In addition, the bill makes Dreamer students who entered the United States before the age of 16 and who meet certain educational criteria eligible for federal student aid.
Long-Term Unemployment Elimination Act of 2021 This bill creates a program to generate job opportunities for full-time students and certain workers who have been unemployed for at least 27 weeks. Specifically, the Department of Labor must establish and administer a jobs initiative for eligible workers (i.e., individuals who are at least 18 years of age, are authorized to be employed in the United States, have not been employed or are full-time students for at least 27 weeks, and are currently seeking or have been seeking employment for at least 4 weeks), carried out through local boards or community-based organizations. Labor shall award grants to local boards and community-based organizations to carry out jobs programs, including any added costs related to them in order to achieve economic development and job growth. Priority shall be given to local boards proposing to serve (1) high-poverty areas; or (2) areas for which the prime working-age employment-to-population ratio has been low, relative to that ratio for the United States for at least three years.
