Federal Contracting for Peace and Security Act This bill requires executive agencies to terminate their contracts with companies conducting business operations in Russia. This requirement ends when Russia takes steps to restore the safety, sovereignty, and condition of Ukraine. The bill shall not apply to the procurement of products or services for (1) the benefit, either directly or through the efforts of regional allies, of Ukraine; or (2) humanitarian purposes to meet basic human needs. The bill provides for a waiver where in the national interest of the United States.
Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by Americans Act or the Resilient AMERICA Act This bill addresses disaster resilience issues and expands coverage for hazard mitigation. The bill increases from 6% to 15% the estimated aggregate amount of grants that may be set aside for national public infrastructure pre-disaster hazard mitigation assistance; makes private nonprofit facilities eligible for technical and financial assistance for implementing cost-effective pre-disaster hazard mitigation measures; provides funding for water resources development projects; and expands the use of hazard mitigation assistance to cover certain activities pertaining to wildfires, tsunamis, and ice storms. Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must set aside 10% of funds made available for any given year to further the implementation and enforcement of the latest published editions of relevant consensus-based building codes. FEMA must require as a condition of providing nonemergency financial assistance for construction projects costing at least $1 million that the steel and iron used in the projects be produced in the United States, with certain exceptions. FEMA must carry out a residential resilience pilot program to provide grants for residential resilience retrofits (e.g., elevation of homes, floodproofing measures, wildfire retrofit and mitigation measures, and wind retrofits). The Government Accountability Office must study the challenges to states and territories in obtaining funds under public assistance alternative procedures.
Kenneth P. Thompson Begin Again Act This bill expands eligibility for the expungement of records related to a first-time drug possession offense. Current law permits expungement for offenders who commit the offense before age 21. This bill permits expungement for offenders who commit the offense at any age.
Increase Federal Disaster Cost Share Act of 2021 This bill increases the federal cost share from 75% to 90% for any emergency or major disaster declared by the President beginning on January 1, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2020.
Educators Expense Deduction Modernization Act of 2022 This bill increases the tax deduction for the expenses of eligible educators from $250 to $1,000, An eligible educator is, with respect to any taxable year, an individual who is a kindergarten through grade 12 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide in a school for at least 900 hours during a school year.
Medicaid VBPs for Patients Act or the MVP Act This bill provides statutory authority for regulations that allow for the use of varying best price points under value-based purchasing arrangements for purposes of the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. ( Value-based purchasing arrangements refer to arrangements in which the price of a drug is linked to clinical outcomes; such arrangements are particularly used for new high-cost treatments, such as gene therapies.) The Government Accountability Office must study the impact of value-based purchasing arrangements on federal health care programs, including with respect to the bill's changes.
Medical Marijuana Research Act This bill establishes a new, separate registration process to facilitate medical marijuana research. Specifically, it directs the Drug Enforcement Administration to register (1) practitioners to conduct medical marijuana research, and (2) manufacturers and distributors to supply marijuana for such research. Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services must continue to produce marijuana through the National Institute on Drug Abuse Drug Supply Program and implement a specialized process for supplying marijuana products available through state-authorized marijuana programs to researchers until manufacturers and distributors can provide a sufficient supply of marijuana for medical research.
Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act This bill requires private health insurance plans to cover diagnosis and treatment of congenital anomalies and birth defects, such as reconstructive services and items. Coverage must include services and items that functionally improve, repair, or restore any body part that is medically necessary for normal bodily functions or appearance, as determined by the treating physician. Coverage limits and cost-sharing requirements for such services and items may not be more restrictive than those applicable to all medical and surgical benefits under the plan.
Supply Chain Disruptions Relief Act This bill modifies the treatment of liquidations of new motor vehicle inventory as qualified LIFO (last in first out accounting method) inventory. It allows new motor vehicle dealers to elect to wait until the end of 2025 to replace their inventory for purposes of determining income attributable to the sale of such inventory during 2020 and 2021.
Donor Milk Safety Act This bill treats human milk that has gone through a bioburden reduction process (e.g., pasteurized donor milk) as an exempt infant formula (i.e., specialized infant formula) for purposes of certain regulatory standards.
Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act or the MORE Act This bill decriminalizes marijuana. Specifically, it removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures, distributes, or possesses marijuana. The bill also makes other changes, including the following: replaces statutory references to marijuana and marihuana with cannabis , requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis business owners and employees, establishes a trust fund to support various programs and services for individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs, imposes an excise tax on cannabis products produced in or imported into the United States and an occupational tax on cannabis production facilities and export warehouses, makes Small Business Administration loans and services available to entities that are cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers, prohibits the denial of federal public benefits to a person on the basis of certain cannabis-related conduct or convictions, prohibits the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws on the basis of a cannabis-related event (e.g., conduct or a conviction), establishes a process to expunge convictions and conduct sentencing review hearings related to federal cannabis offenses, directs the Government Accountability Office to study the societal impact of state legalization of recreational cannabis, directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to study methods for determining whether a driver is impaired by marijuana, directs the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to study the impact of state legalization of recreational cannabis on the workplace, and directs the Department of Education to study the impact of state legalization of recreational cannabis on schools and school-aged children.
Student Mental Health Rights Act This bill addresses mental health and substance use at institutions of higher education (IHEs). Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Education (ED) to conduct a study on mental health conditions and substance use conditions at IHEs. In addition, ED must issue guidance on IHEs' (1) compliance with federal law on mental health, (2) legal obligations to students with mental health conditions and students with substance use conditions, and (3) policies that may have a discriminatory impact on such students.
