Oregon Recreation Enhancement Act This bill designates specified Bureau of Land Management land in Oregon as the Rogue Canyon and Molalla Recreation Areas and adds approximately 59,512 acres of federal land to the Wild Rogue Wilderness. The Department of the Interior, for public land, and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), for National Forest System land, must conduct a wildfire risk assessment that covers the recreation areas, the Wild Rogue Wilderness, and any adjacent federal land. Interior and USDA must develop plans to mitigate wildfire risk to communities located near the land. No new permanent or temporary roads shall be constructed within the recreation areas except as necessary for public safety or to implement the wildfire mitigation plan. USDA may take measures within such wilderness additions as are necessary to control fire, insects, and disease. All federal surface and subsurface land within the recreation areas or the wilderness additions is withdrawn from entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral leasing, geothermal leasing, or mineral materials. The bill also withdraws identified federally owned lands and interests within the Hunter Creek, Pistol River Headwaters Withdrawal Proposal, or the Rough and Ready and Baldface Creeks Mineral Withdrawal Proposal in Curry County and Josephine County, Oregon, and any land or interest in land located within such withdrawal proposals that is acquired by the federal government.
Teacher Debt Relief Act This bill allows an eligible teacher to use the same teaching service to qualify for both the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
This joint resolution expresses that Congress recognizes that the United States' nuclear testing program and radioactive waste disposal in the Marshall Islands caused irreparable material and intangible harm to the people of those islands, apologizes on behalf of the United States to the individuals and families of the Marshall Islands for the hardships they have endured as a result of the U.S. nuclear testing program and radioactive waste disposal, and recognizes that it is incumbent on the United States to open dialogue regarding the nuclear legacy of the United States in Marshall Islands during any negotiation of the Compact of Free Association or its subsidiary agreements.
No Most Favored Nation Trading with Russia Act This bill withdraws normal trade relations treatment from Russia. Additionally, the bill requires the President to encourage U.S. allies and partners to (1) consider taking similar actions; and (2) condemn, at the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russia's aggression in Ukraine. Further, the President must direct the U.S. Permanent Representative to the WTO to seek suspension of Russia's membership in the WTO. The President may proclaim modifications to the applicable duty rates on products from Russia (under column 2 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule) if the President determines that the modifications are necessary to protect the essential security of the United States.
Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Whistleblower Protection Act This bill revises protections for the rights of whistleblowers of nuclear safety violations. Specifically, the bill clarifies that whistleblower protection rights may be enforced against any employers (e.g., the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission).
Safer Seas Act This bill addresses sexual assault and sexual harassment in the U.S. maritime industry. Among other provisions, the bill requires the U.S. Coast Guard to revoke or suspend a license, certificate of registry, or merchant mariner's document to an individual who has been convicted of sexual assault within the previous 10 years and to revoke or suspend such credentials to an individual who has been convicted of sexual harassment within the previous 5 years; provides protection of seaman against discrimination for those who report or intend to report sexual assault or sexual harassment incidents; directs the Coast Guard to promulgate regulations related to possession and consumption of alcohol by crewmembers aboard documented vessels; requires non-passenger carrying, ocean-going, commercial vessels to install and maintain a video surveillance system with audio capability in areas adjacent to bedrooms and limit access to the surveillance to law enforcement officials and victims of sexual assault or sexual harassment; and creates new reporting mandates and procedures for crew and vessel owners to report sexual assault or sexual harassment.
This joint resolution nullifies the rule titled Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination , which was issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on November 5, 2021. The rule requires health care providers, as a condition of Medicare and Medicaid participation, to ensure that staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
HRES 952 is a resolution expressing the U.S. House of Representatives' support for designating February 28, 2022, as "Rare Disease Day." It recognizes that rare diseases affect fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. and that over 7,000 such conditions impact approximately 1 in 10 Americans. The resolution calls for improved awareness, earlier diagnosis, and support for developing treatments, diagnostics, and cures for rare diseases. As a symbolic gesture, it does not create new laws, funding, or direct policy changes but aims to highlight challenges faced by individuals with rare diseases and their families.
Modernizing Access to our Public Land Act This bill directs the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to jointly develop and adopt interagency standards to ensure compatibility and interoperability among federal databases for the collection and dissemination of certain data. Specifically, these requirements shall apply to outdoor recreation data related to federal lands and used to depict locations at which recreation uses are available to the public. Each such department shall digitize and make publicly available on their websites, as applicable, geographic information system mapping data that specifies, with respect to the relevant department, all federal interests in private land, including easements, reservations, and rights-of-way to which the federal government does not have a fee title interest, and that may be used to provide recreational access to the federal land. Interior, the Forest Service, and the Corps of Engineers must digitize and publish geographic information system mapping data that includes status information as to whether roads and trails are open or closed, the dates on which roads and trails are seasonally opened and closed, the types of vehicles that are allowed on each segment of roads and trails, and the boundaries of areas where hunting or recreational shooting is regulated or closed.
This bill prohibits from inclusion in a consumer credit report information related to an eviction occurring during the COVID-19 national emergency or occurring in the 30 days after the termination of such emergency.
Medicare Demonstration of Coverage for Low Vision Devices Act of 2022 This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to carry out a demonstration project to evaluate the fiscal impact of covering low-vision devices under Medicare in the same manner as Medicare coverage is provided for durable medical equipment. The bill defines low-vision device to mean a physician-prescribed device that magnifies, enhances, or otherwise augments or interprets visual images; the term does not include ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses. The bill appropriates $2.5 million for FY2022 and each of the next four fiscal years for the CMS to carry out the project.
Women's Health Protection Act of 2021 This bill prohibits governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services. Specifically, governments may not limit a provider's ability to prescribe certain drugs, offer abortion services via telemedicine, or immediately provide abortion services when the provider determines a delay risks the patient's health. Furthermore, governments may not require a provider to perform unnecessary medical procedures, provide medically inaccurate information, comply with credentialing or other conditions that do not apply to providers whose services are medically comparable to abortions, or carry out all services connected to an abortion. In addition, governments may not (1) require patients to make medically unnecessary in-person visits before receiving abortion services or disclose their reasons for obtaining such services, or (2) prohibit abortion services before fetal viability or after fetal viability when a provider determines the pregnancy risks the patient's life or health. The bill also prohibits other governmental measures that are similar to the bill's specified restrictions or that otherwise single out and impede access to abortion services, unless a government demonstrates that the measure significantly advances the safety of abortion services or health of patients and cannot be achieved through less restrictive means. The Department of Justice, individuals, or providers may bring a lawsuit to enforce this bill, and states are not immune from suits for violations. The bill applies to restrictions imposed both prior and subsequent to the bill's enactment.
