Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott

Prevent All Soring Tactics Act of 2022 or the PAST Act of 2022 This bill addresses the practice of soring horses. The soring of horses includes various actions taken on horses' limbs to produce higher gaits that may cause pain, distress, inflammation, or lameness. Specifically, the bill expands soring regulation and enforcement at horse shows, exhibitions, sales, and auctions, including by establishing a new system for inspecting horses for soring. In addition, the bill increases penalties for violations.

Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act This bill reauthorizes and expands (1) child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and other institutional food service programs; and (2) the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act of 2022 This bill directs the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promulgate a standard that requires employers to implement certain measures for protecting workers from heat stress and related illnesses or injuries. Heat stress refers to the load of heat that a person experiences due to sources of heat or heat retention (including metabolic heat, environmental factors, and clothing or personal protective equipment) or the presence of heat in a work setting. Further, if an employer cannot reduce exposure to heat stress below hazardous levels through engineering controls (e.g., heat shields and insulation) or personal protective equipment (e.g., heat reflective clothing), the employer must implement a program that mitigates such exposure through access to appropriate hydration and cool-down spaces, acclimatization policies, and periodic paid rest breaks. Additionally, the bill establishes requirements concerning judicial review, implementation, enforcement, recordkeeping, and whistle-blower protections related to the standard. The bill also requires the Department of Labor to include questions about heat-related illness and injury in the National Agricultural Workers Survey (an employment-based, random-sample survey of U.S. crop workers that collects demographic, employment, and health information).

This concurrent resolution expresses opposition to the application of criminal laws to pregnancy outcomes and affirms that people deserve access to high-quality health care without fear of reprisal or punishment.

Maddy summaryHJRES 53 proposes a constitutional amendment to ban slavery and involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment. Currently, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution permits such punishments for crimes, creating a legal loophole. If ratified by 3/4 of state legislatures, this amendment would eliminate that exception nationwide, making it unconstitutional to impose forced labor or slavery as part of criminal sentences. The change would directly affect all states' criminal justice systems, particularly prison labor practices, by prohibiting these punishments for any offense.

This resolution expresses support for the designation of National Voting Rights Month, encourages people to uphold the right to vote, encourages Congress to pass certain voting rights legislation, encourages the development of strategies to educate students about voting, encourages the U.S. Postal Service to issue a special Representative John R. Lewis stamp during the month of September, and invites Congress to allocate funds for public service announcements regarding elections.

Maddy summaryThis resolution (HRES 981) commemorates the one-year anniversary of the March 16, 2021, Atlanta spa shootings that killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women, and denounces anti-Asian hate. It formally condemns the violence, honors the victims, and recognizes the ongoing impact of anti-Asian hate crimes on the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. The resolution reaffirms support for the existing COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act and commits the federal government to combating hate and violence against AAPI communities. As a symbolic measure, it does not create new laws or funding but serves as a formal statement of solidarity.

This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the proposed constitutional amendment known as the Equal Rights Amendment has been duly proposed by Congress and ratified by the states and is therefore valid as the Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. (The proposed amendment prohibits the United States or any state from denying or abridging equal rights under the law on account of sex.)

Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Reauthorization Act of 2022 This bill modifies and reauthorizes through FY2026 the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program. The program provides state, local, and tribal grants to improve the criminal justice system's response to people with mental health disorders. Among the modifications, the bill allows funds for diversion and alternative prosecution and sentencing programs to be used for training for state and local prosecutors related to diversion programs; allows funds for multidisciplinary teams to be used to support police officers and mental health crisis workers responding together to mental health calls; and allows grants to be awarded for additional purposes such as suicide prevention programs and services, case management services, and state and local implementation of the 988 suicide hotline. Additionally, the bill reauthorizes through FY2026 the requirement for the Department of Justice to examine and report on the prevalence of mentally ill offenders in prisons and jails.

PREA Rights Enforcement Act of 2022 This bill allows a person to file a civil action against the United States for violations in a federal prison of established national standards for the detection, prevention, reduction, and punishment of prison rape.