Rep. Sean Casten

Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act of 2022 This bill authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to pay for travel, childcare, and other expenses of an individual seeking access to abortion services. Eligible grant recipients must be nonprofit or community-based organizations that assist individuals seeking abortion services through programs that are unbiased and medically and factually accurate. The grants may not be used to pay for abortion procedures.

No Tax Breaks for Union Busting (NTBUB) Act This bill denies employers a tax deduction for any expenditures incurred for attempting to influence their employees with respect to labor organizations or labor organization activities, such as elections, labor disputes, and collective actions. The bill requires employers to report on their attempts to influence their employees with respect to labor organizations and their activities.

Serving Our LGBTQ Veterans Act This bill establishes a Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Veterans within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Among other functions, the center must serve as principal adviser to the VA on the adoption and implementation of policies and programs affecting veterans who are LGBTQ.

Ensuring Women's Right to Reproductive Freedom Act This bill prohibits anyone acting under state law from interfering with a person's ability to access out-of-state abortion services. ( Abortion services includes the use of any drugs that are approved to terminate pregnancies and any health care services related to an abortion, whether or not provided at the same time or on the same day.) Specifically, the bill prohibits any person acting under state law from preventing, restricting, impeding, or retaliating against health care providers who provide legal abortion services to out-of-state residents, any person or entity who helps health care providers to provide such services, any person who travels to another state to obtain such services, any person or entity who helps another person travel to another state to obtain such services, or the movement in interstate commerce of drugs that are approved to terminate pregnancies. The Department of Justice may enforce this bill through civil actions; the bill also establishes a private right of action for violations.

This resolution condemns the mass shooting that occurred on July 4, 2022, in Highland Park, Illinois, as horrific and heinous. The resolution also honors the memory and the lives of the seven innocent victims who were murdered.

Active Shooter Alert Act of 2022 This bill requires a designated officer of the Department of Justice to act as the national coordinator of an Active Shooter Alert Communications Network regarding an emergency involving an active shooter. The bill sets forth duties of the coordinator, including to work with state, tribal, and local governments to encourage coordination of various elements of the network. The coordinator must also encourage federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies to establish procedures for responding to active shooters. Finally, the bill requires the Government Accountability Office to study and report on state and local responses to active shooters and situations requiring the issuance of a public alert or warning.

Public Health Air Quality Act of 2022 This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency to take specified actions related to monitoring and improving air quality, including by implementing a program to administer or conduct emissions measurement and quantification, promulgating regulations related to specified source categories, and deploying not fewer than 1,000 air quality sensors.

Strengthening and Improving Public Service Loan Forgiveness Act of 2022 This bill makes changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, including by (1) lowering the number of monthly payments required for loan forgiveness from 120 to 60; and (2) making permanent certain limited waivers, such as a waiver that allowed certain late or partial loan payments to count as qualifying payments for PSLF loan forgiveness.

Campus Prevention and Recovery Services for Students Act of 2022 This bill reauthorizes through FY2028 and revises the illicit drug and alcohol abuse prevention program, including by expanding the program to include efforts to prevent substance misuse on campuses.

Support The Resiliency of Our Nation's Great Veterans Act of 2022 or the STRONG Veterans Act of 2022 This bill addresses mental health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including by requiring the VA to update training for the VA workforce and Veterans Crisis Line staff, implement pilot programs, expand access to mental health care, conduct studies and research, and provide outreach to veterans regarding mental health resources. Among other requirements, the VA must ensure its medical centers have at least one full-time minority veteran coordinator and that such coordinators receive training on culturally appropriate mental health and suicide prevention services for American Indian and Alaska Native veterans; increase the number of full-time equivalent employees at Vet Centers and paid mental health trainees in the VA's workforce; expand specified scholarships and loan repayment programs for mental health providers and students; review and update the training for Veterans Crisis Line responders and social service assistants; designate a Buddy Check Week to organize outreach events and educate veterans on conducting peer wellness checks; update the Veterans Justice Outreach Program, including by conducting program outreach to justice-involved veterans; make permanent and expand the Peer Specialist Support program; expand eligibility for Vet Center services; offer mental health consultations to certain veterans; improve the assessment and treatment of veterans with sleep disorders; and perform various studies and research related to mental health issues and care. Additionally, the bill permanently authorizes and expands the Solid Start program.