Disability Employment Incentive Act This bill expands tax credits and deductions that are available for employers who hire and retain employees with disabilities. The bill expands the work opportunity tax credit to include the hiring of employees who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. For employers who hire vocational rehabilitation referrals, Supplemental Security Income recipients, or SSDI recipients, the bill also (1) increases the amount of wages that may be taken into account for the credit, and (2) allows an additional credit for second-year wages. With respect to the tax credit for expenditures by eligible small businesses to provide access to disabled individuals, the bill increases the limits that apply to (1) the amount of expenditures that are eligible for the credit, and (2) the gross receipts and full-time employees of eligible small businesses. The bill also expands the tax deduction for expenditures to remove architectural and transportation barriers to the handicapped and elderly. The bill modifies the deduction to (1) increase the limitation on the amount of the deduction, and (2) allow the deduction to be used for certain improvements in the accessibility of i nternet or telecommunications services to handicapped and elderly individuals.
American Dream Employment Act of 2021 This bill permits the compensation of congressional employees who hold a current employment authorization document that was issued pursuant to a grant of (1) deferred action, including under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program; (2) deferred enforced departure; or (3) temporary protected status. (Generally, these programs and statuses allow eligible aliens to remain and work in the United States.)
Girls' Leadership, Engagement, Agency, and Development Act of 2021 or the Girls LEAD Act This bill directs the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to jointly report to Congress a strategy to strengthen the participation of adolescents, particularly girls, in democracy, human rights, and governance. The State Department and the USAID shall (1) implement activities to achieve this goal, including activities to increase adolescent girls' civic and political knowledge and skills and address barriers to political participation; and (2) prioritize foreign assistance funding for democracy, human rights, and governance programs toward achieving the goals in this bill.
This bill modifies the tax treatment of income attributable to the forgiveness of certain student loan indebtedness incurred between 2021 and 2026. It excludes from student gross income, for income tax purposes, income from the discharge of student loans for postsecondary education expenses, private education loans, and loans from certain tax-exempt educational organizations.
TRICARE Reserve Select Improvement Act This bill expands TRICARE Reserve Select eligibility to include members of the Selected Reserve who are enrolled or eligible to enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
Death Tax Repeal Act This bill repeals the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes. It also makes conforming amendments related to the gift tax.
Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act This bill restricts the Department of Defense (DOD) from transferring certain surplus military property to federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies. Specifically, DOD may not transfer to such agencies specified property such as controlled firearms, ammunition, grenade launchers, explosives, certain vehicles or trucks, armored or weaponized drones, certain controlled aircraft, silencers, or long-range acoustic devices. DOD may waive this limitation and transfer certain vehicles or trucks if DOD determines that the transfer is necessary for disaster or rescue purposes or for another purpose where life and public safety are at risk. As a condition for a transfer of allowable property, DOD must require the federal or state agency that receives the property to return the property if the agency is investigated by the Department of Justice for civil liberties violations or is otherwise found to have engaged in widespread abuses of civil liberties. DOD must also periodically submit certain transfer-related information and certifications to Congress. Furthermore, as a condition for transfer, the recipient must receive the approval of its local governing body, provide specified notice to the local community, and submit specified information and certifications to DOD. A federal or state agency that receives controlled property under such a transfer may never take ownership of the property. The bill also eliminates the requirement for DOD to give preference to transfers of property that will be used in counter-drug, counterterrorism, disaster-related emergency preparedness, or border security activities.
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to study and report on adoption outcomes and the factors, including parental substance use disorder, affecting such outcomes.
Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act of 2021 This bill authorizes the use of certain foreign assistance funds to provide comprehensive reproductive health care services in developing countries, including abortion services, training, and equipment.
Securing Consumers Against Misrepresented Debt Act of 2021 or the SCAM Debt Act This bill provides additional requirements for debt collectors when taking legal action to collect a debt. Among other requirements, debt collectors must provide advance notice to the consumer of the intent to take legal action, and provide in the initial pleading certain evidence regarding the debt and a sworn affidavit stating that the statute of limitations has not expired. The bill also sets forth additional information a debt collector must provide to a consumer regarding the debt.
Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act of 2021 This bill allows tax credits for (1) energy storage technologies, and (2) battery storage technology. The bill expands the tax credit for investments in energy property to include equipment that (1) receives, stores, and delivers energy using batteries, compressed air, pumped hydropower, hydrogen storage (including electrolysis), thermal energy storage, regenerative fuel cells, flywheels, capacitors, superconducting magnets, or other technologies identified by the Internal Revenue Service; and (2) has a capacity of at least five kilowatt hours. The bill also expands the tax credit for residential energy efficient property to include expenditures for battery storage technology that (1) is installed on or in connection with a dwelling unit located in the United States and used as a residence by the taxpayer, and (2) has a capacity of at least three kilowatt hours.
Stop Underrides Act This bill requires the installation of rear, side, and front underride guards on certain trucks and trailers. Specifically, the Department of Transportation (DOT) must require the installation of rear, side, and front underride guards on the following a trailer or semi-trailer with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more, and a single unit truck for which the bottom of the carriage is greater than 22 inches above the ground and that is 10,000 pounds or more. For rear and side underride guards, DOT must require adherence to a performance standard that requires the guards to be able to prevent intrusion from the body or frame of a trailer, semi-trailer, or truck into the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle that contacts the guard while traveling at 35 miles per hour. In addition, DOT must require drivers to (1) conduct a pre-trip inspection of the underride protection system on their vehicles; (2) identify rusted metal compromising structural integrity, cracked welds, or missing or loose fasteners; and (3) complete any necessary repairs. DOT must establish a Committee on Underride Protection to oversee the ongoing underride guard rulemaking process. DOT must publish data on victims of truck underride crashes on a publicly accessible website and update such data quarterly.
