Neighborhood Homes Investment Act This bill establishes a new business-related tax credit to finance home building and rehabilitation in neighborhoods that meet certain eligibility criteria relating to poverty rates, income, and home values. The credit is limited to 35% of the lesser of the qualified development cost (i.e., the cost of construction, substantial rehabilitation, demolition, and environmental remediation of residential properties) or 80% of the national median sale price for new homes. The credit applies to single family homes containing four or fewer residential units, condominiums, or houses or apartments owned by cooperative housing corporations.
Promoting Rural Exports Act of 2021 This bill establishes the Rural Export Center to assist rural businesses seeking to export their products. Specifically, the center must (1) provide in-depth, customized, and actionable market research services for rural businesses; and (2) conduct strategic planning and export support services for those businesses as needed. The center must also collect specified data to measure its effectiveness in assisting businesses and make this data available on its website.
New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act of 2021 This bill allows meat and poultry products inspected by State Meat and Poultry Inspection programs to be sold in interstate commerce. Under the inspection programs, the Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service allows states that meet certain requirements to inspect meat and poultry. The state-inspected products are currently limited to intrastate commerce, unless a state opts into a separate Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program.
Abby Honold Act This bill directs the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice to make competitive grants to law enforcement agencies and victim services organizations to implement evidence-based, trauma-informed approaches in responding to and investigating domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act or the EQUAL Act This bill eliminates the federal sentencing disparity between drug offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Currently, different threshold quantities of crack cocaine and powder cocaine (e.g., 28 grams of crack cocaine and 500 grams of powder cocaine) trigger the same statutory criminal penalties. This bill eliminates the lower quantity thresholds for crack cocaine offenses. Under the bill, the same threshold quantities of crack cocaine and powder cocaine trigger the same statutory criminal penalties. The change applies to future cases and cases pending on the date of enactment. With respect to past cases, the bill authorizes resentencing of a defendant who was convicted or sentenced for a crack cocaine offense before the date of enactment.
Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee Act This bill requires the Department of State to establish an intercountry adoption advisory committee to consult on and provide recommendations for improvements to intercountry adoption.
Child Care Workforce and Facilities Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to provide states and tribal entities with grants to increase access to licensed child care services. The grants may be used to develop and expand the child care workforce or child care facilities in locations with insufficient available child care. Specifically, grants cover 50% of the cost of programs to support the education and training of caregivers or projects to build, expand, or renovate child care facilities in these areas.
Build America's Libraries Act This bill establishes and provides funds through FY2024 for the Build America's Libraries Fund, from which the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) must allocate funding to states and, through them, need-based grants to libraries to make long-term improvements to library facilities. The IMLS must also award grants to Indian tribes and organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians. Specifically, the bill requires each state that receives an allocation, and each library that receives a grant, to carry out certain activities to improve library facilities. These activities include constructing and renovating library facilities, investing in infrastructure projects to improve internet access and connectivity, improving indoor air quality, and making facilities accessible to individuals with disabilities. The bill also outlines administrative and oversight provisions, including by requiring library projects to use iron and steel products that are produced in the United States.
Coronavirus Mental Health and Addiction Assistance Act of 2021 This bill requires the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to award grants to establish a network of entities that provide mental health and substance use disorder programs during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. Eligible entities include tribal nations, nonprofit organizations, service providers, and partnerships of two or more eligible entities.
Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act This bill establishes that a foreign nongovernmental organization shall not be disqualified from receiving certain U.S. international development assistance solely because the organization provides medical services using non-U.S. government funds if the medical services are legal in both the United States and the country in which they are being provided. Such foreign organizations shall not be subject to requirements relating to their use of non-U.S. funds for advocacy or lobbying activities, other than those that apply to U.S. nongovernmental organizations. Current U.S. policy prohibits various foreign assistance from going to a foreign nongovernmental organization unless it agrees to not perform or actively promote abortions.
This bill authorizes the use of the Capitol rotunda on February 3, 2021, for a memorial service honoring Officer Brian Sicknick of the U.S. Capitol Police. The memorial service shall include Officer Sicknick's lying in honor in the rotunda, and the Architect of the Capitol shall place a plaque in honor of Officer Sicknick near the Capitol steps. The Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives and the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate must make arrangements for funeral services in the Capitol for Officer Sicknick, including payments for travel expenses of immediate family members and the attendance of Members of Congress. The bill also requires that any funds received by the Capitol Police Board in response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, be deposited into the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund.
Financial Stability Oversight Council Reform Act This bill subjects the budgets of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and the Office of Financial Research (OFR) to the annual appropriations process and establishes requirements for reports and a public notice and comment period. The budgets of the FSOC and the OFR are funded by assessments on financial institutions which are deposited into the Financial Research Fund and, under current law, are immediately available to be spent. This bill requires the funding from the Financial Research Fund to be made available by appropriations acts. The OFR must submit quarterly reports to Congress regarding its finances; workforce; and actions taken to achieve the goals, objectives, and performance measures of the office. The OFR must provide a public notice and comment period of at least 90 days before issuing any proposed report, rule, or regulation. The bill expands the duties of the OFR to include publishing an annual work plan; consulting with other federal departments and agencies with relevant expertise prior to preparing any public report with respect to a specified entity, class of entities, or financial product or service; and developing and implementing a cybersecurity plan. The Government Accountability Office must annually audit the cybersecurity plan and its implementation.
