Sen. Jacky Rosen

Specialty Physicians Advancing Rural Care Act or the SPARC Act This bill establishes student loan repayment programs to support the provision of specialty medical care in rural areas. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) must carry out such a program for certain specialty medicine physicians who provide care in rural communities with shortages of such physicians. Physicians must agree to a period of obligated service and, for each year of such service, HRSA must pay one-sixth of the principal payment and interest on eligible loans up to a maximum cap of $250,000. Additionally, HRSA may carry out a similar loan repayment program for nonphysician specialty health care providers.

Advancing Affordable Medicines for Families Act This bill requires the Government Accountability Office to report on the potential impact of nonprofit pharmaceutical organizations on the availability and cost of drugs as well as such organizations' potential to accelerate development of new drugs, generic drugs, new biological products, biosimilar products, cell-based therapies, and medical devices.

One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act of 2022 This bill requires the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman to create a website compiling small entity compliance guides and contact information for individuals who can assist small entities with each guide.

Large Scale Water Recycling Project and Drought Resiliency Investment Act This bill requires the Department of the Interior to award grants to water or power delivery authorities for the planning, design, and construction of large-scale water recycling and reuse projects in drought-stricken regions of certain Western states. The bill includes emergency drought planning as a watershed management project under the Cooperative Watershed Management Program. Financial assistance may be made available under the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991 for eligible water projects to assist Western states and tribal governments to address drought-related impacts to water supplies or any other immediate water-related crisis or conflict.

Deepfake Task Force Act This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to temporarily establish the National Deepfake Provenance Task Force. Comprised of federal and nonfederal stakeholders, the task force must address threats posed by digital content forgeries (i.e., digital audio, images, and text fabricated or manipulated using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other emerging technologies with the intent to mislead). The task force's activities include developing a plan to reduce the proliferation of digital content forgeries. The task force terminates 90 days after submitting its final report.

National Wildland Fire Risk Reduction Program Act of 2022 This bill directs the President to establish a National Wildland Fire Risk Reduction Program to achieve major measurable reductions in the losses of life, property, and natural resources from wildland fires. This program shall coordinate federal efforts to improve the assessment of fire environments and the understanding and prediction of wildland fires, associated smoke, and their impacts; develop and encourage the adoption of science-based and cost-effective measures to enhance community resilience to wildland fires, to prevent and mitigate wildland fire and associated smoke impacts and to restore natural fire regimes in fire-dependent ecosystems; and improve the understanding and mitigation of the impacts of climate change, drought, and climate variability on wildland fire risk, frequency, and severity and inform the other goals described here. Not later than 90 days after enactment of this bill, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shall establish an Interagency Coordinating Committee on Wildland Fire Risk Reduction to oversee the planning, management, and coordination of the program. The committee shall submit a strategic plan for the program to Congress. The Government Accountability Office shall submit a report to Congress on the progress and performance of the program. Further, the bill sets forth the responsibilities of NIST, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Energy with respect to the program.

Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Reauthorization Act of 2022 This bill reauthorizes through FY2027 multiple suicide prevention programs and related activities with a particular focus on youth and young adults. Specifically, the bill reauthorizes grants for statewide or tribal youth suicide prevention and early intervention strategies and for mental health and substance use disorder services for college students, and a suicide prevention resource center that provides training and other resources regarding suicide prevention among all ages.

COPS on the Beat Grant Program Parity Act of 2022 This bill makes changes to the Community Oriented Policing Services grant program. Among the changes, the bill reduces the required matching contribution for certain rural communities during the first three years of a grant and eliminates the preference for agencies that exceed the matching requirements; allows grant funds to be used to increase wages of career law enforcement officers in states or localities that have a median household income of less than 70% of the national median household income and qualify for a reduced matching contribution; and provides statutory authority for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services within the Department of Justice. Additionally, the bill requires the Government Accountability Office to report on whether law enforcement workforces are representative of the communities they serve, the percentage of law enforcement officers who live in the community they serve, the average pay of officers compared to the cost of living in the community they serve, and recommendations for improvements.

Maddy summaryThe National Guard Promotion Improvement Act of 2022 addresses delays in federal approval of promotions for reserve officers in the Army and Air National Guard. It requires the Department of Defense to conduct a study on improving the promotion recognition process, including exploring technology solutions and best practices from state guards. The bill also mandates backdating promotions for officers affected by delays exceeding 60 days (not caused by the officer), adjusting the effective date to no later than 60 days after the National Guard Bureau received the promotion. Additionally, it establishes annual reporting to Congress on promotion delay metrics and progress toward reducing delays below 60 days.

Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take a series of actions relating to palliative-care training. Specifically, HHS must provide support for Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers. The centers must improve the training of health professionals in palliative care and establish traineeships for individuals preparing for advanced-education nursing degrees, social-work degrees, or advanced degrees in physician-assistant studies in palliative care. HHS may provide support to medical schools, teaching hospitals, and graduate medical-education programs for training physicians who plan to teach palliative medicine. HHS must (1) provide Palliative Medicine and Hospice Academic Career Awards to individuals to promote their career development, (2) support entities that operate a Palliative Care and Hospice Education Center, (3) support individuals in specified fields who are pursuing an advanced degree in palliative care or related fields, and (4) award grants to nursing programs to train individuals in providing palliative care. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality must provide for a national education and awareness campaign to inform patients, families, and health professionals about the benefits of palliative care. The National Institutes of Health must expand national research programs in palliative care.