Sen. Steve Daines

Maddy summaryS 2372, the Accelerating Kids’ Access to Care Act, streamlines enrollment for out-of-state healthcare providers who treat Medicaid-eligible children under 21 with medically complex conditions. It requires states to adopt a process allowing these providers to join state Medicaid/CHIP programs without extra state-level screening, provided they already meet federal Medicare or home-state program requirements and pose low fraud risk. The bill establishes a 5-year enrollment period for eligible providers, directly affecting children needing specialized care across state lines and the providers serving them. Key provisions remove barriers to interstate care coordination while maintaining federal oversight standards.

Maddy summaryThe Community and Hydropower Improvement Act amends the Federal Power Act to streamline hydropower licensing while strengthening tribal consultation and environmental review. It requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consult with Indian Tribes before approving conditions affecting tribal resources, establishes a fund to reimburse tribes for administrative costs, and creates expedited processes for certain projects like nonpowered dams and pumped storage. The bill updates environmental review requirements to better consider ongoing project effects and includes new procedures for license surrender. It directly affects hydropower developers, tribal nations, and federal agencies involved in licensing decisions.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a framework for qualifying news organizations to form groups to negotiate with large online platforms about fair payment for their content. It allows these groups to jointly deny platforms access to their content during negotiations and use binding arbitration to determine fair compensation based on the content's market value. The bill provides antitrust immunity for these negotiations, requires platforms to pay based on the value of news content rather than platform benefits, and includes transparency requirements for how funds support journalism. It defines specific eligibility criteria for news organizations and platforms, and sets a 6-year expiration for the law.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires the U.S. Treasury Department to add five specific Chinese companies and three individuals to U.S. sanctions lists within 90 days of enactment. It directly affects those entities and persons, including aerospace firms like Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace and individuals such as a Chinese aerospace scientist and corporate executives. The key mechanism mandates formal inclusion on the "Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List" and the "Specially Designated Nationals" list, expanding existing sanctions. This follows a 2023 incident where a Chinese spy balloon collected data near U.S. military sites, though the bill itself focuses on the sanctions action, not the incident. The policy change creates new financial restrictions for these designated Chinese entities and individuals.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to certify improvements to its electronic health record system (EHR) before expanding its implementation. Specifically, the VA cannot start new EHR program activities or implement the system at new facilities until it provides written certification to Congress that: (1) the system meets minimum uptime/stability standards, and (2) workflow customization issues are resolved. The VA must also certify that staff and infrastructure at each facility are ready for the EHR, with this requirement ending once certification is achieved across all facility complexity levels. Additionally, the VA must submit detailed reports to Congress within 30 days and quarterly thereafter on system stability, readiness standards, and deviations from national workflow guidelines.

Maddy summaryS 2230, the Protecting Investors’ Personally Identifiable Information Act, prevents the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from requiring financial exchanges and their members to report investors' personal details like names, addresses, or Social Security numbers under routine data reporting rules. The SEC may only request such information during an investigation into suspected securities law violations, and must destroy it within 24 hours after the investigation concludes. This directly affects national securities exchanges, associations, and their members who handle market participant data. The bill aims to limit unnecessary collection and retention of sensitive investor information while maintaining enforcement capabilities.

Maddy summaryS 535 (Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing Act) modifies federal permitting requirements for oil and gas drilling on lands where the federal government owns less than half the minerals. It exempts drilling permits within certain "spacing units" from federal review if the federal government owns under 50% of the minerals and doesn't control the surface land. Companies must still notify the Interior Secretary about state drilling permits within 5 days of submission and 45 days after approval. The bill does not change royalty payments owed to the federal government for production on qualifying lands.

Maddy summaryThe Root and Stem Project Authorization Act of 2023 allows local communities and private groups to fund environmental reviews for projects on federal lands (like national forests and BLM lands) through a collaborative process. The Secretary of Agriculture or Interior can then use this private funding to hire pre-approved contractors for the reviews, and repay the funders from project revenues if possible. The bill requires annual lists of eligible contractors and expires in 2033. It directly affects rural communities developing projects, federal land managers, and private contractors.

Maddy summaryThis joint resolution (SJRES 36) seeks congressional disapproval of a Department of Labor rule (88 Fed. Reg. 12842, March 1, 2023) that would have removed religious exemption provisions from the Equal Opportunity Clause requirements for federal contractors. If approved, it would prevent the rule from taking effect, meaning federal contractors would continue to be required to comply with the Equal Opportunity Clause without the religious exemption previously allowed. The bill directly affects federal contractors subject to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' (OFCCP) regulations. It is a procedural disapproval measure under Title 5, U.S. Code, not a new policy change.

Maddy summarySJRES 11 is a joint resolution seeking to cancel an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that set new emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles, including trucks and buses. The rule, published in the Federal Register on January 24, 2023, would have required manufacturers to meet specific pollution control measures for new vehicles. This resolution uses a congressional disapproval process under the Congressional Review Act to nullify the EPA rule, meaning it would have no legal effect if enacted. If passed, the EPA's emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles would be voided, removing requirements for manufacturers to comply with those specific pollution controls.