Local Infrastructure Funding & Technical Assistance Act or the LIFT Act This bill authorizes the Department of Commerce to provide grants under the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 for predevelopment projects—measures required to be completed before construction of resilient climate infrastructure occurs—and related technical assistance. Grants may be provided to economic development districts, states, Indian tribes, local governments, institutions of higher education, individuals, and other organizations as specified by the bill.
School Bus Safety Act of 20 21 This bill addresses safety features for school buses. Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to implement rules requiring school buses to include a three-point safety belt at each designated seating position, a fire suppression system which addresses engine fires, a firewall that prohibits hazardous quantities of gas or flame to pass through the firewall from the engine compartment to the passenger compartment, an automatic emergency braking system, an event data recorder, and an electronic stability control system. DOT must also establish a grant program to assist local educational agencies to purchase school buses equipped with three-point safety belts or any of the other safety features under this bill and assist them in modifying existing school buses to be equipped with such features.
Judiciary Accountability Act of 2021 This bill applies certain civil rights and employee protection laws to judicial branch employees. Specifically, the bill applies to judicial branch employees laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation or gender identity), national origin, age, or disability. Further, the bill prohibits retaliation against whistleblowers within the judicial branch. Additionally, the bill establishes (1) the Commission on Judicial Integrity to oversee a program to prevent workplace misconduct; (2) the Office of Judicial Integrity to oversee confidential reporting systems regarding workplace misconduct, training programs on workplace behavior and bystander intervention, and other reporting initiatives regarding employee metrics and demographics; (3) the Special Counsel for Equal Employment Opportunity to investigate alleged workplace misconduct and complaints; and (4) the Office of Employee Advocacy to provide legal assistance, representation, and consultation to judicial employees. Finally, the bill establishes workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation as judicial misconduct.
Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act This bill provides rights and protections for domestic workers (e.g., housekeepers, nannies, caretakers, personal assistants, and chauffeurs), including pay and leave rights, and health and safety protections. Specifically, the bill repeals the exemption of domestic live-in employees from certain minimum wage and maximum hour requirements. Employers must provide written notice of termination and provide at least 30 days of lodging and two weeks of severance pay to terminated live-in employees. Live-in employees also must be provided with reasonable access to telephone and internet service during their employment. The bill requires employers to provide domestic workers with a written agreement covering wages, sick leave, benefits, and other matters. Further, domestic workers may request and be granted changes to work schedules due to personal events. The bill also provides domestic workers with certain privacy rights, extends to domestic workers protections against discrimination in employment, and increases the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for certain Medicaid-funded medical services provided by domestic workers. The Department of Labor must (1) award grants for a domestic worker national hotline for reporting emergencies, training on hazards facing domestic workers, and workforce investment activities for domestic workers; and (2) establish a Domestic Worker Wage and Standards Board to investigate standards in the domestic workers industry. Labor must publish online a document that describes the rights and protections for domestic workers under this bill.
Medicare Orthotics and Prosthetics Patient-Centered Care Act This bill revises payment rules and establishes several requirements relating to coverage of orthotics and prosthetics under Medicare. Specifically, the bill requires suppliers of orthotics and prosthetics to meet certain standards with respect to licensure and accreditation, physical facilities, and liability insurance. Orthotists and prosthetists may also issue written orders for commercial purposes that meet specified standards; such orders must be signed by the treating physician. The bill also prohibits payment under Medicare for certain prosthetics and orthotics that are delivered via drop shipment (i.e., direct shipment to a beneficiary who has not received corresponding patient care from a health care practitioner).
Charitable Equity for Veterans Act of 2021 This bill expands the deductibility of charitable contributions to all federally-chartered tax-exempt organizations serving current and former members of the Armed Forces.
Congressional Whistleblower Protection Act of 2021 This bill creates certain administrative and judicial remedies for federal employees whose right to provide information to Congress is interfered with or denied. Under current law, federal employees have the right to petition or furnish information to Congress or to individual Members of Congress, and this right may not be interfered with or denied. The bill explicitly allows employees who are aggrieved by a violation of this right to seek administrative remedies that are currently available to whistleblowers who are fired or experience other forms of retaliation. The bill also establishes a private right of action for aggrieved employees, including the option of a jury trial, if an administrative remedy is not issued within 210 days of a complaint being made. The bill applies to employees and contractors of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, including members of the intelligence community.
Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2021 This bill prohibits product hopping by drug manufacturers, authorizes the Federal Trade Commission to enforce this prohibition, and imposes limits on patent litigation involving biological products. Generally, product-hopping describes a situation where, when the patents on a reference drug (or biological product) expire, the manufacturer switches to a follow-on product that is covered by a later-expiring patent. Under this bill, a follow-on product is a modified version of the reference drug that shares an indication (what the drug is used for) with the reference drug. The bill presumes product hopping has occurred when a reference drug manufacturer, after receiving notice that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received an application to market a competing generic (or biosimilar) version, takes certain actions such as withdrawing the reference drug from the market and selling a follow-on product. A drug manufacturer may rebut these presumptions by demonstrating that its conduct was not intended to limit competition. The bill also limits in certain instances the number of patents that a reference biological product manufacturer can assert in a patent infringement lawsuit against a company seeking to sell a biosimilar version. Specifically, if the biosimilar manufacturer completes certain actions as part of an abbreviated pathway to get FDA market approval, the bill limits, subject to exceptions and waivers, the number of certain types of patents that the reference product manufacturer may assert, such as patents filed more than four years after the reference product received market approval.
504 Program Level Flexibility Act This bill authorizes the Small Business Administration (SBA), upon a determination that the amount of its commitments to guarantee 504 loans could exceed the authorized limit, to guarantee up to 115% of that limit. Such loans, made through SBA community partners and certified by the SBA, provide long-term, fixed rate financing for major fixed assets that promote business growth and job creation.
Protecting Our Widows and Widowers in Retirement (POWR) Act This bill increases Social Security benefits for widows or widowers in two-income households by establishing an alternative method to calculate survivors benefits based on combined household benefit amounts.
Stop Copay Overpay Act This bill prohibits the Department of Defense (DOD) from charging a covered individual (i.e., individuals enrolled under the TRICARE program) a co-payment exceeding a certain rate for an outpatient visit for mental health or behavioral health under the TRICARE program, regardless of whether the visit is furnished by a specialty care provider. Specifically, the co-payment amount may not exceed the amount of a co-payment that would be charged under the TRICARE program for an outpatient visit for primary care services. During the one-year period after this bill is enacted, DOD may not increase the co-payment amount charged to a covered individual for any service (1) furnished by a specialty care provider under the TRICARE program, and (2) that is not mental or behavioral health care.
Assisting School Mental Health Professionals Through Work Study Act of 2021 This bill adds assisting school-based mental health professionals to the list of community services in which undergraduate, graduate, and professional students may participate under the Federal Work-Study Program. Specifically, the bill revises the definition of community services to include activities in which the student assists a mental health professional with appropriate tasks (e.g., administrative assistance) so long as the professional is (1) a school-based mental health services provider, or (2) an overseer of a school-based mental health services provider.
