Rep. Lloyd Smucker

Maddy summaryThe Employee Rights Act (HR 2700) amends key labor laws to strengthen employee rights in collective bargaining and privacy. It requires employers to use secret ballot elections for selecting bargaining representatives and to provide labor organizations with voter lists containing employee names and one form of contact information (chosen by the employee) within two business days of an election. The bill prohibits employers from using employee personal information for non-organizing purposes and mandates written authorization for using union dues on non-bargaining activities, with authorizations expiring after one year. Additionally, it clarifies joint employment standards to prevent misclassification and adds tribal sovereignty protections to labor law definitions.

Maddy summaryHR 2928, the Responsible Borrower Protection Act of 2023, blocks the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and mortgage enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) from implementing specific changes to mortgage credit fees announced in January 2023. The bill directly affects mortgage borrowers and lenders by reversing a pricing framework update that would have altered fees for single-family mortgages. It prohibits the FHFA from enforcing the January 2023 pricing changes detailed in FHFA's announcement and related lender letters. The bill clarifies that enterprises may still use risk-based pricing for mortgage fees, but the specific fee adjustments from the 2023 framework are canceled. This is a direct policy change to mortgage fee structures, not a broader reform.

Maddy summaryHR 2826, the Save Local Business Act, clarifies when multiple businesses can be held jointly responsible for labor laws. It amends the National Labor Relations Act and Fair Labor Standards Act to state that a business is only a joint employer if it directly controls key employment terms like hiring, pay, schedules, or discipline for another business's workers. This directly affects franchisors, contractors, and similar business models that might previously have been deemed joint employers under broader interpretations. The bill aims to limit joint employer liability to cases where one business has clear, day-to-day control over essential worker conditions.

Farm Credit Administration Independent Authority Act This bill specifies that the Farm Credit Administration (FCA) is the sole regulator of the Farm Credit System (FCS) and establishes reporting requirements for FCS institutions. Specifically, the bill states that the FCA is the sole and independent regulator of the FCS and exempts entities that are supervised by the FCA from the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). (The bill addresses a proposed rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB] that would implement provisions of the ECOA by requiring covered financial institutions, including FCS lenders, to collect and report to the CFPB data on credit applications for small businesses, including the principal owner's race, sex, and ethnicity.) The bill also requires FCS institutions to (1) request that loan applicants and borrowers that are small farmers disclose information identifying their race, sex, and ethnicity; and (2) annually report the collected information to the FCA. If an FCS institution customer does not voluntarily report the requested information, the FCA may not require the institution to use other means to deduce the information.

Maddy summaryHR 2788, the AIM Act, permanently extends a tax provision allowing businesses to deduct certain depreciation, amortization, or depletion costs when calculating their business interest expense limits. This change directly affects businesses that calculate business interest deductions under the Internal Revenue Code. The bill removes the previous expiration date (for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2022), making the deduction rule permanent for all future taxable years. It does not alter the underlying tax rules but ensures the specific deduction method remains available indefinitely.

American Innovation and R&D Competitiveness Act of 2023 This bill eliminates the five-year amortization requirement for research and experimental expenditures, thus allowing continued expensing of such expenditures in the taxable years in which they are incurred.

Maddy summaryThe PLUS for Veterans Act of 2023 clarifies and updates rules for veterans' benefit claims under the Department of Veterans Affairs. It sets a $12,500 annual fee cap (adjusted for inflation) for agents or attorneys representing veterans, prohibits charging fees for medical exams, and prohibits unauthorized fees with penalties including fines or up to one year in prison. The bill directly affects veterans seeking benefits, their legal representatives, and the VA by standardizing fee agreements, requiring VA reports on agent/attorney suspensions, and ensuring veterans can access free services from VA-recognized organizations. Key provisions include banning fees for medical reports and requiring clear fee disclosures to veterans.

Maddy summaryHR 2630, the Safe Step Act, requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to establish a clear, transparent process for patients or their doctors to request exceptions to medication step therapy protocols. These protocols typically force patients to try cheaper drugs first before covering more expensive alternatives. The bill mandates that plans must approve exceptions when prior treatments failed, delay would cause serious harm, a treatment is unsafe, or a patient is stable on a previously approved drug, with strict 72-hour (or 24-hour in emergencies) decision timelines. It also requires plans to publish the exception process online and limit documentation requests to only necessary medical information. This law directly affects health insurers, employers offering health plans, and patients using step therapy for prescription drugs.

Maddy summaryHR 2384, the Complete American Pipelines Act of 2023, requires the expedited construction of existing pipeline projects that received a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) certificate of public convenience and necessity before January 1, 2018, and remain active. The bill prohibits judicial review of FERC certificates, related permits, or agency actions for these projects, mandating dismissal of any legal challenges seeking such review. It also grants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit exclusive authority to hear disputes about the bill's validity or scope. This directly affects pipeline developers with pre-2018 FERC approvals by removing legal barriers to completing their projects.

Maddy summaryHR 2539 permanently extends the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program, which incentivizes private investment in low-income communities. The bill directly affects community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and investors who fund projects in designated low-income areas by ensuring the credit remains available beyond 2025. Key provisions include automatically adjusting the credit amount annually for inflation starting in 2024 and clarifying that the credit can be used to offset alternative minimum tax liability. This maintains the program’s effectiveness in channeling capital to underserved neighborhoods without changing eligibility or funding levels.