Iran Hostages Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to the 53 hostages of the Iran Hostage Crisis (November 4, 1979-January 21, 1981) in recognition of their bravery and endurance throughout their captivity.
Faster Payments to Veterans' Survivors Act of 2022 This act modifies policies and procedures related to the payment of benefits under certain life insurance programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). If a primary beneficiary has not made a claim for payment within one year (currently two years) after the death of the insured under the National Service Life Insurance (NSLI) program or the United States Government Life Insurance (USGLI) program, the VA is authorized to make payment to another designated beneficiary as if the primary beneficiary had predeceased the insured. If no designated beneficiary makes a claim within two years (currently four years) after the death of the insured, the VA is authorized to make a payment to a person the VA deems to be equitably entitled to such benefit. The act also modifies the beneficiary designation process under NSLI and USGLI. Specifically, if a person does not designate a beneficiary for insurance, or if the designated beneficiary predeceases the insured person, the VA must determine the beneficiary in a specified order of succession. Additionally, the act requires the VA to improve its processes and procedures with respect to identifying, locating, and paying hard-to-find beneficiaries of life insurance policies, including by improving its website search tools.
Strengthening VA Cybersecurity Act of 2022 or the SVAC Act of 2022 This act requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to seek to enter into an agreement with a federally funded research and development center to provide a cybersecurity assessment of five high-impact VA information systems and the effectiveness of the VA's information security program and information security management system. The VA must submit a plan to Congress to address the findings of the assessment. The Government Accountability Office must review the assessment and the VA's response to the assessment and report its findings to Congress.
Human Trafficking Prevention Act of 2022 This act requires the posting of contact information of the national human trafficking hotline in specific places. Specifically, the information must be posted in a visible place in all federal buildings; in the restrooms of each U.S. aircraft, airport, over-the-road bus, bus station, passenger train, and passenger railroad station; and at each port of entry.
This act designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 15 Chestnut Street in Suffern, New York, as the Sergeant Gerald T. "Jerry" Donnellan Post Office.
This act requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to seek to enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to conduct a comprehensive review of VA medical examinations provided to individuals who submit claims for compensation for a service-connected disability related to military sexual trauma. Specifically, NASEM must review VA examinations that are provided for mental and physical conditions linked to military sexual trauma and are conducted to assess the impairments of individuals arising from such trauma. NASEM must report on its review, and the VA must report on its plans to implement actions based on NASEM's findings and recommendations.
Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Reauthorization Act of 2022 This act reauthorizes through FY2028 the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act of 1990.
21st Century President Act This act revises the definition of immediate family for purposes of a criminal offense involving a threat to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm on a former President or a member of the immediate family of a former President. Specifically, it replaces gender-specific references to a former President's wife and widow with the gender-neutral terms spouse and surviving spouse .
This act prescribes that a peer support specialist of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must not be responsible for providing assistance to a veteran regarding a claim for compensation for a covered mental health condition (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder) based on military sexual trauma (MST) experienced during active service. Such specialists must only provide counseling services, guidance, and support and must not participate in the adjudication of the claim. As part of the forms for claims for compensation for a covered mental health condition based on MST, the VA must include an option for a veteran to elect to be referred to a MST trauma coordinator at the VA facility closest to the veteran's residence. Additionally, the VA must (1) ensure that its peer support specialists receive annual training on providing peer support regarding MST, and (2) provide annual training on the processing of claims for compensation for covered mental health conditions based on MST to its MST coordinators and peer specialists.
Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act of 2021 This act prohibits the exportation of Native American cultural items and archaeological resources that were illegally obtained; provides for the return of such items, including voluntary returns; and establishes and increases related criminal penalties. Specifically, the act makes it a federal crime to export, attempt to export, or otherwise transport from the United States Native American cultural items and archaeological resources without obtaining an export certification. U.S. Customs and Border Protection must detain any item requiring an export certification that does not have one. The act requires the Department of the Interior and the Department of State to each designate a liaison to facilitate and hold trainings and workshops on the voluntary return of human remains and cultural items. Additionally, Interior must refer individuals and organizations to Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to facilitate the voluntary return of human remains and cultural items; convene an interagency working group; and convene a Native working group consisting of representatives of Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to provide advice on issues concerning the return of, and illegal trade in, human remains and cultural items. The act also increases the maximum criminal penalties for violating the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. In particular, the act increases from 5 years to 10 years the maximum prison term for an individual convicted of a second or subsequent violation of selling, purchasing, using for profit, or transporting for sale or profit human remains or cultural items that were illegally obtained.
This act directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal to commemorate Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods, J. Christopher Stevens, and Sean Smith, four Americans killed in the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. (Stevens was the U.S. Ambassador to Libya at the time, Smith was an officer in the Foreign Service, and Doherty and Woods were both government contractors and former Navy SEALs.) After the medal has been awarded, it shall be given to the Central Intelligence Agency Museum.
Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act This act authorizes the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) to conduct on-site fire safety investigations of major fires and other fires under other specified circumstances. In the case of a major fire, the USFA may send incident investigators (e.g., safety specialists, fire protection engineers, codes and standards experts, researchers, and fire training specialists) to the site. Any such investigation shall (1) be conducted in coordination and cooperation with appropriate federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities; and (2) examine the previously determined cause and origin of the fire and assess broader systematic matters. Upon concluding any such investigation, the USFA must issue a public report to federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities on the findings of such investigation or collaborate with another investigating federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial agency on that agency's report. The act makes an exception where issuing a report would have a negative impact on a potential or ongoing criminal investigation. Additionally, the USFA may send fire investigators to conduct fire safety investigations at the site of any fire with unusual or remarkable context that results in losses less severe than those occurring as a result of a major fire, in coordination and cooperation with the appropriate federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities.
