HR 5110, the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act, amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to clarify that federal education funds cannot be used for certain weapons - but this restriction does not apply to archery, hunting, or other shooting sports training programs. The bill directly affects schools and educational programs seeking to use federal funds for these specific activities, such as archery clubs or hunting safety education. It adds an explicit exception to the existing prohibition, allowing funds to support "educational instruction or enrichment activities" in these sports under authorized programs. This change removes ambiguity about funding eligibility for such educational initiatives in K-12 schools.
This bill approves and implements a new trade agreement between the United States and Taiwan, negotiated by the American Institute in Taiwan and Taiwan's Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office. The agreement aims to strengthen economic ties by addressing areas like supply chain security, investment screening, health, science, technology, and the digital economy. The bill establishes requirements for the President to consult with Congress before implementation, submit reports on how the agreement benefits US workers and businesses, and provide transparency about future trade negotiations. It also clarifies that the agreement doesn't override US or state laws and requires any future agreements to follow a similar approval process with congressional review.
This bill directs the U.S. Treasury to mint commemorative coins marking the Marine Corps' 250th anniversary in 2025. It authorizes three coin types: $5 gold coins (max 50,000), $1 silver coins (max 400,000), and half-dollar coins (max 750,000), with surcharges of $35, $10, and $5 respectively. The surcharge proceeds will fund the Marine Corps Heritage Center's educational programs, with no net cost to taxpayers as the Treasury must recover all minting costs through the surcharges. The coins can only be issued during 2025, and the Treasury must ensure all costs are covered before distributing funds to the Heritage Foundation.
The CADETS Act (S. 467) modifies the Student Incentive Payment Program at State maritime academies by requiring students to meet the Navy Reserve's age requirement for enlistment or commission at the time of graduation, rather than at the time of enrollment. This change directly affects students enrolled in State maritime academies who seek financial incentives to support their education. The bill updates the eligibility criteria in 46 U.S.C. § 51509 to align graduation-age requirements with Navy Reserve standards. It ensures students qualify for payments only if they are eligible to join the Navy Reserve immediately after completing their studies.
The NOTAM Improvement Act of 2023 requires the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish a task force within 180 days to review and improve the system for delivering flight safety notices (NOTAMs) to pilots. The task force, including representatives from airlines, airports, pilot and dispatcher unions, and aviation safety experts, will evaluate current practices and recommend ways to make notices more accurate, timely, and user-friendly. The FAA must also implement a new Federal flight safety notice system by September 30, 2024, including a backup system and a plan for global standardization with international aviation formats. The task force must submit its recommendations to Congress within one year, focusing on enhancing safety information delivery for pilots and air traffic operations.
This bill terminates the national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020, under the National Emergencies Act. It ends the executive branch's authority to use emergency powers related to that specific declaration. The resolution passed both chambers in early 2023 and took effect April 10, 2023, without creating new policies or affecting specific groups.
State Offices of Rural Health Program Reauthorization Act of 2022 This act reauthorizes through FY2027 grants awarded to state offices of rural health for improving health care in rural areas.
Respect for Child Survivors Act This act requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to use a multidisciplinary team with investigations of child abuse and related crimes. The act also reauthorizes grants for children's advocacy centers (CACs). CACs use a multidisciplinary response to coordinate the investigation, treatment, and prosecution of child abuse cases. (Sec. 2) This section requires the FBI to use a multidisciplinary team with any investigation of child sexual exploitation or abuse, the production of child sexual abuse material, or child trafficking. The FBI must also use a trained child adolescent forensic interviewer in these investigations. These requirements do not apply if a multidisciplinary team or an interviewer is unavailable or is otherwise inconsistent with applicable federal law. In implementing these requirements, the FBI must use and coordinate with multidisciplinary teams based at CACs. (Sec. 3) This section modifies and reauthorizes through FY2028 grants for regional and local CACs, as well as for technical assistance and training. Grants for CACs are administered by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) within the Department of Justice. It adds a finding stating that a key to a child victim healing from abuse is access to supportive and healthy families and communities. The section modifies grant provisions for regional CACs, including by directing the OJJDP to maintain (in addition to establish) regional CACs; adding, as a new program objective, the provision of technical assistance, training, coordination, and organizational capacity support for state chapters; and requiring the OJJDP to consider, as an additional selection criteria, proposals for regional CACs that best result in supporting state chapters. The section also modifies grant provisions for local CACs, including by adding as new grant purposes (1) the establishment and maintenance of a network of care for child abuse victims, and (2) the development and dissemination of practice standards for care and best practices in program evaluation. Finally, the section modifies the criteria that the OJJDP may use to evaluate local CAC programs.
Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research Reauthorization Act of 2022 or the Childhood Cancer STAR Reauthorization Act This act reauthorizes through FY2028 and modifies pediatric cancer research and related programs, including to expand collection of and access to relevant biospecimens and to support the transition of pediatric cancer survivors to primary care.
Abolish Trafficking Reauthorization Act of 2022 This act reauthorizes various antitrafficking programs, establishes a national strategy on cybercrime against individuals, and expands information sharing and data collection requirements regarding human trafficking. TITLE I--GRANTS RELATING TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION AND ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING (Sec. 101) This section allows funds provided by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for human trafficking training and technical assistance programs to be used for programs funded through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services that build law enforcement capacity to identify and respond to human trafficking, such as the Interdiction for the Protection of Children Program. (Sec. 102) This section allows a victim of human trafficking (e.g., sex trafficking) to pursue a civil claim against persons who attempt or conspire to benefit from the human trafficking in addition to persons who benefit from the human trafficking. (Sec. 103) This section generally requires grantees and subgrantees that receive funding from DOJ or the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to assist victims of trafficking in the United States to protect the confidentiality and privacy of the individuals they serve and their families. (Sec. 104) This section authorizes HHS to make grants to states to develop, improve, or expand programs that help child welfare agencies identify and respond to (1) children who are victims of child abuse and neglect and of sexual abuse because they are identified as victims of sex trafficking or severe forms of trafficking in persons; and (2) child-welfare-involved children who are (or are at risk of being) victims of one or more forms of trafficking in persons. This section also expresses the sense of Congress that health care and social service licensing boards and professional membership associations should facilitate access to trafficking-specific training. (Sec. 105) This section reauthorizes the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund through FY2027. It also makes permanent the requirement for courts to impose a special assessment on nonindigent persons or entities convicted of certain federal trafficking-related offenses including peonage, slavery, or trafficking in persons; sexual abuse; sexual exploitation and other child abuse; transportation for illegal sexual activity; and certain human smuggling offenses. The special assessments are deposited into the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund and support programs for victims of human trafficking. Additionally, this section reauthorizes through FY2027 various grants, programs, and activities that combat human trafficking and assist victims, including training for airport and airline personnel to identify and report human trafficking; the Human Exploitation Rescue Operation (HERO) Child-Rescue Corps Program; grants for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network; the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center; the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts To Combat Trafficking in Persons; additional benefits through HHS and DOJ for domestic victims of severe forms of trafficking; and research on domestic and international trafficking in persons. TITLE II--COMPENSATION OF VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING (Sec. 201) This section modifies federal bankruptcy laws to specify that a debtor may not discharge in bankruptcy debts for an injury to an individual related to a trafficking offense under federal criminal law. This includes an injury caused by an instance in which the debtor knowingly benefitted financially, or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture that the debtor knew or should have known engaged in an trafficking offense under federal criminal law. TITLE III--CYBER HARASSMENT PREVENTION Subtitle A--Cybercrime Statistics (Sec. 311) This section requires DOJ to develop a national strategy to reduce, investigate, and prosecute cybercrimes against individuals. The strategy supplements the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking and the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction. Additionally, this section specifies that the House and Senate Judiciary Committees are appropriate committees to which the National Academy of Sciences must submit its report on cybercrime taxonomy. Subtitle B--Prioritizing Online Threat Enforcement (Sec. 321) This section requires DOJ to ensure that there are at least 10 additional agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate cybercrimes against individuals. DOJ must also ensure that there is at least one attorney in each U.S. Attorney office who is responsible for investigating and prosecuting cybercrimes against individuals. Finally, this section requires DOJ to implement a training program for FBI agents related to investigating and prosecuting cybercrimes against individuals, including relevant forensic training. (Sec. 322) This section requires the Office for Victims of Crime within DOJ to report on the nature, extent, and amount of funding under the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 for victims of cybercrimes against individuals. The Victims of Crime Act of 1984 established the Crime Victims Fund, which provides funding to support victims of crime through various federal programs and state and local victim assistance and compensation initiatives. (Sec. 323) This section allows the Department of State to exchange information with foreign governments pursuant to a bilateral or multilateral agreement that provides for the sharing of information related to individuals who are convicted of sex offenses against minors. Further, it specifies that an individual may not be issued or reissued a passport without a unique identifier solely because the individual has moved or otherwise resides outside the United States. (Sec. 324) This section requires DOJ to disseminate information and provide training and technical assistance to help states and local governments (1) investigate, prosecute, pursue, prevent, understand, and mitigate the impact of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse of cybercrime victims; the exploitation of cybercrime victims; and the deprioritization of cybercrime; and (2) assess, address, and mitigate the physical and psychological trauma to victims of cybercrime. TITLE IV--OTHER FEDERAL IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING (Sec. 401) This section requires DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide incentive pay to individuals who are appointed to positions requiring significant cyber skills, including to protect victims of trafficking, prevent trafficking in persons, or prosecute technology-facilitated crimes against children. (Sec. 402) This section prohibits federal agencies from requiring a survivor of human trafficking who is less than 18 years of age or a homeless youth to obtain the consent or signature of a parent or guardian to receive a government-issued identification card. Additionally, it prohibits federal agencies from charging a fee for the identification card. (Sec. 403) This section allows DOJ to use amounts in its Assets Forfeiture Fund to reimburse operating expenses and program costs incurred by crime-tip organizations that meet certain criteria (e.g., annually waive their qualification for awards for information leading to forfeiture and payments from equitably shared forfeiture funds) and offer rewards for information about violations of federal criminal laws prohibiting human trafficking. (Sec. 404) This section requires DOJ to include additional information in its annual report on U.S. government efforts to combat human trafficking. First, with respect to noncitizen victims of human trafficking whose application for continued presence, T nonimmigrant status (a T-visa), or U nonimmigrant status (a U-visa) are denied, DOJ must include the reason for the denial and the length of time for the denial to be issued. Second, DOJ must include disaggregated data regarding the number of victims trafficked by third parties and by family members, victims trafficked by victim age, and victims trafficked by the type of trafficking. (Sec. 405) This section requires DOJ and HHS to report biennially on the status of various data collection and reporting requirements related to trafficking. (Sec. 406) This section requires DOJ and DHS to each establish a team of at least 10 agents to exclusively investigate labor trafficking.
Low Power Protection Act This act provides for a one-year period during which eligible low-power television stations may apply to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for Class A licenses. To be eligible, a station must serve a media market with a limited number of television households, broadcast a minimum number of hours, and meet other requirements. A low-power station with a Class A license obtains certain broadcast rights, including primary status with respect to its allocation of the electromagnetic spectrum. (Typically, low-power stations have secondary status and may be displaced from their spectrum in the event the FCC reallocates it to a primary user.)
Equal Pay for Team USA Act of 2022 This bill requires that all athletes representing the United States in international amateur athletic competitions receive equal compensation and benefits for their work, regardless of gender. Specifically, the bill requires, for a sport for which the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees (the corporation) conduct separate programs for female and male athletes who represent the United States in international amateur athletic events, from funds directly provided by the corporation to the athlete (with exceptions), that there be equivalent and nondiscriminatory compensation, wages, benefits, medical care, travel arrangements, and payment or reimbursement for expenses. It shall be permissible to (1) consider merit, performance, seniority, or quantity of play in determining contract or other terms of participation; and (2) provide more beneficial terms of participation to athletes to address disparities in outside income, or the need to foster underdeveloped programs or address documented and justifiable personal need on the part of specific athletes or teams. The corporation must take all reasonable steps to advocate to international sports federations and other event organizers to equalize prizes, compensation, funding, and other support provided to athletes by such federations and organizers. The corporation must report to Congress at least annually on compliance. Each report must include detailed information on the median, minimum, and maximum stipends and bonuses provided to athletes, disaggregated by gender, race, and status of participation on a professional sports team. The bill requires full compliance within one year of this bill's enactment.
