Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis

Maddy summaryHR 8563, the Sunset Act of 2022, requires most federal agency rules to automatically expire 10 years after issuance unless Congress passes a specific extension. Agencies must submit reports to Congress 180 days before expiration and identify rules for annual review, with 10% of rules reviewed each year for 9 years. Congress can extend rules only through a joint resolution introduced within 3 days of receiving the agency report, requiring bipartisan leadership sponsorship. This law directly affects federal agencies (who create rules) and Congress (who must vote on extensions), changing how long regulations remain in effect without renewal.

Ensuring Safer Schools Act of 2022 This bill allows funds under the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant program to be used to hire and train veterans and retired law enforcement officers as school resource officers. It also directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to coordinate with COPS grant recipients to connect veterans seeking to serve as school resource officers with local law enforcement agencies participating in school-based partnerships.

Sanctioning Supporters of Slave Labor Act This bill expands existing sanctions on foreign individuals and entities responsible for human rights abuses (e.g., such as torture or forced labor) against members of Muslim minority groups or other persons in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. Specifically, this bill requires sanctions on foreign individuals and entities that knowingly (1) provide material support to the parties subject to the existing sanctions for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, or (2) engage in a significant transaction relating to such human rights abuses.

Secure Every School and Protect Our Nation’s Children Act or the STOP II Act This bill reauthorizes and supports various grants to enhance school safety and security initiatives. It also provides statutory authority for the federal clearinghouse of school safety resources. (The clearinghouse identifies and publishes best practices and recommendations for school safety for use by state and local educational and law enforcement agencies, institutions of higher education, health professionals, and the public.)

Midland Over Moscow Act This bill imposes sanctions related to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and revises the expedited approval process for natural gas imports and exports in or out of the United States. (Nord Stream 2 is a pipeline constructed to increase the export of natural gas from Russia to Europe.) Within 10 days of this bill's enactment, the President must impose sanctions on any entity responsible for the planning, construction, maintenance, financing, or operation of Nord Stream 2, as well as any corporate officer or principal shareholder with a controlling interest in such an entity. The bill also revokes the President's authority to waive certain sanctions related to Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream, another Russian natural gas pipeline project. The bill also allows any nation, with specified exclusions, to use an expedited process to receive approval to import or export natural gas in or out of the United States (currently only a nation with a free trade agreement with the United States may use the expedited process). Specifically, the bill excludes any nation (1) subject to U.S.-imposed sanctions or trade restrictions, or (2) excluded by the President or Congress for national security reasons.

Guaranteeing Enemy Nations Omit from Criminalizing, Impeding, or Detaining Exceptional Global Athletes Magnifying Exploitation during Sporting events Act or the GENOCIDE GAMES Act This bill requires the President to impose sanctions on certain foreign individuals who materially supported a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights against a 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games participant. Upon receiving credible evidence of such a human rights violation, the President must impose property- and visa-blocking sanctions on any foreign individual associated with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), including the president of the IOC, who the President determines materially supported the violation of human rights, including by providing to participants false, reckless, or negligent assurances of human rights assurances by the government of China. This bill's requirements shall terminate on March 13, 2023.

Immigration Transparency and Transit Notification Act of 2022 This bill requires notifications to certain officials before an unaccompanied alien child or a non-U.S. national ( alien under federal law) without lawful immigration status may be placed in or transported to a state or local jurisdiction. The bill also authorizes the office of the governor of the relevant state to prohibit the placement or transportation. At least seven calendar days before taking such an action, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must notify (1) the relevant state governor's office, (2) the state attorney general's office, (3) the county or municipal government, (4) local law enforcement, and (5) federal and state legislators representing the relevant jurisdiction. The action may not take place if the state governor's office objects no later than three calendar days after receiving the notification. This authority to object shall not apply if the action is to place an unaccompanied child with, or transport the child to, a family member.

Guaranteeing Ukrainian Autonomy by Reinforcing its Defense (GUARD) Act of 2022 This bill provides support for Ukraine and imposes sanctions related to Nord Stream 2, the pipeline constructed to increase exports of natural gas from Russia. The Department of State must periodically report to Congress a determination as to whether Russia's government meets the criteria to be designated a state sponsor of terrorism. The bill authorizes the State Department to provide Foreign Military Financing assistance to Ukraine in FY2022. The bill also authorizes providing Ukraine with lethal assistance, such as anti-armor weapon systems and anti-aircraft weapons systems. From FY2022-FY2026, Ukraine shall have priority access to excess defense articles. During the same time period, the bill also authorizes providing Ukraine with assistance, including (1) International Military Education and Training assistance; (2) assistance to strengthen cybersecurity and intellectual property enforcement; (3) support and training for banking reform, subsidy reform, corporate governance, and the privatization of state-owned enterprises; and (4) assistance to combat corruption and improve the rule of law. Within 15 days of this bill's enactment, the President must impose sanctions on any entity responsible for planning, constructing, or operating Nord Stream 2, as well as any corporate officer of such an entity. The bill also subjects the President's authority to waive certain sanctions to congressional review. The U.S. Agency for Global Media may expand broadcasting in countries of the former Soviet Union to combat Russian disinformation. The bill requires reports to Congress on various topics, including a strategy on using U.S. diplomacy to support Ukraine.

Falun Gong Protection Act This bill requires the President to impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on foreign persons that are knowingly responsible for, are complicit in, or have engaged in the involuntary harvesting of organs in China. The sanctions shall not apply to certain activities, such as authorized U.S. intelligence or law enforcement activities. The President must (1) maintain an updated list of foreign persons subject to the sanctions, and (2) impose the sanctions according to the most recent version of the list.

No Foreign Adversaries Residing in our Communities Act or the No FARC Act This bill bars any alien who is a present or former member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (also known as FARC) from being admitted into the United States or receiving a visa. The President may waive this prohibition on a case-by-case basis only by certifying to Congress that the waiver is in the U.S. national interest.