Accelerate Long-term Investment Growth Now Act or the ALIGN Act This bill makes permanent the expensing of certain new business equipment. Expensing allows the deduction of the full amount of an expense item in the same taxable year.
Paris Transparency and Accountability Act This bill restricts the President's authority to unilaterally establish or revise actions the United States plans to take to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement (a climate change treaty adopted in 2015) and increases congressional oversight of those actions. The bill also prohibits any legal cause of action in U.S. courts pursuant to the Paris Agreement. Specifically, the President must report to Congress before proposing new or revised actions under the agreement. The report must describe the proposed actions, including their impact on global emissions, and outline a detailed plan to address economic effects and related considerations of the actions. If a proposed action results in increased energy or manufacturing costs, the report must include specific policy measures (and timelines for implementing the measures) to prevent (1) job displacement, (2) reduced global competitiveness of U.S. goods, and (3) leaked emissions that may occur as a result of the proposed action. After the President submits a report, the bill provides Congress with a 60-day period to review it. During the review period, Congress may block the actions proposed in the report by enacting a joint resolution of disapproval. The bill also outlines procedures for the introduction and consideration of this type of joint resolution.
Comprehensive Care for Alzheimer's Act This bill allows the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to test a Dementia Care Management Model that provides comprehensive care to Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. Under the model, participating health care providers receive payment under Medicare for comprehensive care management services that are provided to individuals with diagnosed dementia, excluding Medicare Advantage enrollees, hospice care recipients, and nursing home residents. Required services include medication management, care coordination, and health, financial, and environmental monitoring, as well as trainings and other support services for unpaid caregivers. Providers must furnish services through interdisciplinary teams and must ensure access to a team member or primary care provider 24-7. The CMMI must set payments and determine quality measures for the model in accordance with specified requirements. The bill also allows the CMMI to design a similar model under Medicaid.
Build More Housing Near Transit Act of 2021 This bill revises requirements for the fixed guideway capital investment grant program. Specifically, the bill revises how the Department of Transportation evaluates and rates fixed guideway capital projects under the program to include affordable housing incentives.
BUILDER Act of 2021 or the Building United States Infrastructure through Limited Delays and Efficient Reviews Act of 2021 This bill places limits on the environmental review of proposed major federal actions under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and establishes deadlines and other requirements to expedite the environmental review of such actions. Specifically, the bill limits the scope of the environmental review of major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment as specified by the bill. The bill also specifies the thresholds that trigger when agencies must issue environmental assessments and environmental impact statements for proposed agency actions, outlines when agencies are not required to prepare environmental documents for such actions, and establishes deadlines to complete such documents. The bill also establishes a process for designating a lead federal agency as well as a joint lead agency, such as a state government, to supervise the environmental review under NEPA. A lead agency may allow a project sponsor to prepare environmental documents under specified circumstances. Additionally, the bill revises requirements concerning the judicial review of NEPA cases, including by establishing deadlines to file lawsuits under NEPA.
Report and Educate About Campus Hazing Act or the REACH Act This bill requires institutions of higher education (IHEs) that participate in federal student-aid programs to report hazing incidents and implement hazing education programs. Specifically, the bill requires each IHE to disclose hazing incidents that were reported to campus security authorities or local police agencies in its annual security report. The bill defines the term hazing to mean any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a student, or a former student, of an IHE against another student (regardless of that student's willingness to participate), that (1) is connected with an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in an organization that is affiliated with the IHE (e.g., an athletic team); and (2) contributes to a substantial risk of physical injury, mental harm, or degradation or causes physical injury, mental harm, or personal degradation. In addition, each IHE must implement a comprehensive program to prevent hazing, which must include information on hazing awareness, hazing prevention, and the IHE's policies on hazing.
Education Against Hate Crimes Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Education (ED) to award competitive grants to states, local educational agencies, and nonprofit organizations to conduct hate crime prevention and prejudice reduction education for secondary school students and students in middle grades. It also requires ED, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, to develop relevant curriculum requirements.
Lead Abatement for Families Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to identify federally assisted housing projects that use lead-based water pipes and allows HUD to award grants for the replacement of these pipes to public housing agencies and other owners.
Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act This bill establishes requirements related to certain charges, practices, classifications, or regulations in connection with confinement facility (i.e., jail or prison) communications services. Specifically, the bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish maximum rates and charges that a provider of prison communications services may charge for such services. The bill provides interim rate caps until the FCC establishes such rates and charges. The bill requires a provider of prison communications services to assess all charges for communications on a per-minute basis for the actual duration of the communication, and it prohibits a provider from charging a per-communication or per-connection charge. A provider also may not charge an ancillary service charge except in certain circumstances. Further, the bill prohibits a provider from assessing a site commission, which is a payment or donation made to certain entities that operate or oversee a confinement facility.
No Taxpayer Funding for Vaccine Passports Act of 2021 This bill prohibits the use of federal funds to develop a system that requires proof of an individual's COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) vaccination status as a condition of performing any action. If a state, territory, or locality implements such a system, it loses eligibility for specified COVID-19 relief funding.
Haulers of Agriculture and Livestock Safety Act of 2021 or the HAULS Act of 202 1 This bill modifies exemptions with respect to commercial motor vehicle safety regulations involving the transportation of agricultural commodities and farm supplies. The bill allows the federal hours-of-service rules exemption regarding maximum driving and on-duty time for drivers transporting agricultural commodities and farm supplies to apply year-round. Current law provides an exception from the federal hours-of-service rules for the transportation of agricultural commodities within a 150 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location only during planting and harvest periods which are determined by each state. Additionally, the Department of Transportation must revise the definition of agricultural commodity to include specific commodities that are covered by the federal hours-of-service rules exception.
This bill makes several budgetary and technical changes to provisions under Medicare and Medicaid. The bill continues to exempt Medicare from sequestration until December 31, 2021. (Sequestration is a process of automatic, usually across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently cancelled to enforce specific budget policy goals.) The bill also specifically applies certain modified payment limits to rural health clinics that temporarily enrolled in Medicare during the public health emergency relating to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) or that applied to enroll by December 31, 2020; and preserves higher Medicaid disproportionate-share hospital payments for public hospitals in California under forthcoming payment methodology changes.
