Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux

Arts Education for All Act This bill expands arts education and programming for children in early education, K-12 students, and juveniles and adults in the criminal justice system. Specifically, the bill allows Child Care and Development Block Grant funding to be used for additional activities, including arts programming. Additionally, the bill addresses arts programming in elementary and secondary schools by directing each state educational agency to include information on arts programming in its state plan, including how it will integrate arts education instruction into the curriculum and increase the number of arts teachers in schools; requiring state report cards to include information on arts courses; requiring local educational agency (LEA) plans to describe how the LEA will encourage the use of arts education to improve student achievement; and allowing certain funds to be used for professional development for arts teachers. The bill directs the National Center for Education Research to carry out research on the use of arts and arts education in elementary and secondary schools, including in low-performing schools. Further, the National Center for Education Statistics must compile data on arts education. The National Assessment of Educational Progress must include a specified arts assessment. The bill requires a state's juvenile justice and delinquency plan to describe how the state will coordinate services and activities for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention with arts agencies and arts organizations. Additionally, grants for adult offender reentry demonstration projects may be used for facilitating arts education.

This resolution recognizes (1) the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month; and (2) the integral role of Latinos and their manifold heritage in the economy, culture, and identity of the United States.

Supply Chain Health And Integrity for the Nation Act or the Supply CHAIN Act This bill establishes the Supply Chain Resiliency and Crisis Response Office to monitor and respond to disruptions in critical industries and supply chains. Specifically, the office must (1) identify high-priority supply chain gaps and vulnerabilities in critical industries, (2) identify and evaluate the effect of supply chain disruptions on U.S. economic security, and (3) collaborate with other governmental bodies and key international partners to identify opportunities to reduce supply chain gaps and vulnerabilities. The office also must establish a unified coordination group to oversee the interagency response to supply chain shocks and the office must designate certain critical industries, supply chains, and critical goods and services. The bill includes various reporting requirements.

Gun Suicide Prevention Act This bill prohibits manufacturers and retailers from selling firearms unless the firearm includes a label with the toll-free telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of State to take certain actions promoting the normalization of relations between Israel, Arab states, and other relevant countries and regions. Specifically, the State Department must develop a strategy on expanding and strengthening the Abraham Accords (the term used to refer collectively to agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain marking the public normalization of relations between the two Arab countries and Israel). The strategy must include a description of how the U.S. government will encourage further normalization of relations with Israel. In addition, the State Department must report on options for U.S. international efforts to promote the strengthening of ties between Israel, Arab states, and other relevant countries and regions. The State Department must also report on the status of the normalization of relations with Israel, including information on (1) laws that punish individuals for people-to-people relations with Israelis (i.e., anti-normalization laws), and (2) evidence of steps taken by Arab governments toward permitting or encouraging normalized relations between their citizens or residents and Israeli citizens.

Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act This bill allows a new tax credit for the production and sale of certain solar equipment produced and sold in a taxpayer's trade or business.

Veteran's Electronic Transcript of Residency for Entering New Tenancies Act or the VET RENT Act This bill requires the Department of Defense to establish and implement a standard record of housing history for members of the Armed Forces who reside in housing provided by the United States.

Promoting Readiness and Ensuring Proper Active pharmaceutical ingredient Reserves of Essential medicines Act of 2021 or the PREPARE Act of 2021 This bill establishes the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Reserve. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must annually publish a public list of essential generic medicines that are medically necessary to have available at all times. HHS must report and implement a plan to establish the reserve, which must be designed to minimize the impact of an interruption or reduction in imports of (1) key starting materials (including active pharmaceutical ingredients) for essential generic medicines, and (2) finished dosage forms of essential generic medicines for which key starting materials are not imported. The plan must also contain provisions to strengthen domestic capacity for active pharmaceutical ingredient production, storage, and conversion. Within one year of this bill's enactment, the plan must include at least 25 of the essential generic medicines on the required list. The plan must add at least 25 medicines each year until the full list is covered. HHS must prioritize domestically manufactured key starting materials for the reserve to the maximum extent possible. A manufacturer of an essential generic medicine that switches to an active pharmaceutical ingredient sourced through the reserve shall not have to update the approved application for that medicine. The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, including the time and costs needed to develop domestic manufacturing capabilities.

Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Demonstration Pilot Act of 2021 This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to establish a demonstration program to allow hospitals to provide medically tailored, home-delivered meals to Medicare beneficiaries who have a diet-impacted disease (e.g., kidney disease) and have daily living limitations. Participating hospitals must (1) retain a physician, registered dietitian or nutrition professional, or clinical social worker to screen, monitor, and coordinate services for individuals who receive meals through the program; and (2) contract with experienced organizations for meal delivery. Hospitals may choose to also provide meals to an individual's primary caregiver or to a dependent under the age of 18 who resides in the same household.

John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 This bill establishes new criteria for determining which states and political subdivisions must obtain preclearance before changes to voting practices may take effect. Preclearance is the process of receiving preapproval from the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before making legal changes that would affect voting rights. A state and all of its political subdivisions shall be subject to preclearance of voting practice changes for a 10-year period if 15 or more voting rights violations occurred in the state during the previous 25 years; 10 or more violations occurred during the previous 25 years, at least 1 of which was committed by the state itself; or 3 or more violations occurred during the previous 25 years and the state administers the elections. A political subdivision as a separate unit shall also be subject to preclearance for a 10-year period if three or more voting rights violations occurred there during the previous 25 years. States and political subdivisions that meet certain thresholds regarding minority groups must preclear covered practices before implementation, such as changes to methods of election and redistricting. Further, states and political subdivisions must notify the public of changes to voting practices. Next, the bill authorizes DOJ to require states or political subdivisions to provide certain documents or answers to questions for enforcing voting rights. The bill also outlines factors courts must consider when hearing challenges to voting practices, such as the extent of any history of official voting discrimination in the state or political subdivision.