This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides essential protection for our country from foreign and domestic threats and that defunding DHS would be detrimental to our national security.
This resolution recognizes and expresses support for the efforts of democracy and human rights activists in Cuba.
Federal Permitting Reform and Jobs Act This bill revises and makes permanent Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, commonly known as FAST-41. FAST-41 revised the environmental review and permitting process to expedite certain infrastructure projects.
Broadband Permitting Modernization Act This bill modifies, and requires reports about, permitting requirements for broadband activities on federal lands. Specifically, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) must report on communication use authorizations (i.e., authorizations to modify or locate communications facilities on public land administered by Interior or National Forest System land). Among other topics, the report must assess barriers to reviewing the authorizations and describe the process for prioritizing reviews. Interior and USDA must also each establish an online portal to manage the Form 299 (used to apply for rights to install, modify, or maintain a communications facility on federal real property) approval process. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration must (1) report to Congress every 60 days on the status of the portals until they are established, and (2) publish links to each established portal on its website. The bill also authorizes the delegation of federal environmental compliance for certain broadband projects to states and Indian tribes. Interior and USDA must establish a voluntary program whereby states or Indian tribes may conduct (subject to specified terms) environmental reviews for broadband projects within an operational right-of-way (i.e., all real property interests acquired for the construction or operation of a project) on land managed by Interior, National Forest System land, or Indian land. USDA and Interior shall also establish broadband permit streamlining teams to coordinate and expedite permitting decisions for broadband projects.
This resolution expresses support for the designation of Journeyman Lineworkers Recognition Day. (A journeyman lineworker is a person who builds and maintains electrical power systems.)
Recreation Not Red-Tape Act This bill revises and sets forth provisions related to recreation areas and special recreation permits issued by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for individual or group use of federal recreational lands and waters. The bill makes permanent certain authorizations, including regarding such permits and the fees charged for them and for related administration, overhead, and indirect costs. Interior and USDA shall evaluate the special recreation permitting process and identify opportunities for eliminating duplicative processes, reducing costs, and decreasing processing times; establish categorical exclusions from environmental review requirements for special recreation permits if it would reduce processing times or costs without significantly affecting the human environment; authorize the issuance of temporary permits for new or additional recreational uses of federal lands and waters managed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management; allow online payment of certain federal passes and fees; develop initiatives to promote private-sector volunteer opportunities; and establish an interagency trail management plan. Permittees issued a special recreation permit may voluntarily and temporarily return one or more of their service days. The bill sets forth requirements for review by USDA of the renewal or adjustment of the allocations for the use of a special recreation permit. Interior and USDA may enter into agreements with states to allow the purchase of federal and state recreation passes in the same transaction. The bill establishes a National Recreation Area System.
American Broadband Act This bill addresses broadband and other communications services. The bill limits applicable state and local regulatory authority. Limitations include setting (and providing statutory authority for) deadlines for reviews and decisions related to personal wireless and other telecommunication service facilities, as well as cable franchises and services. Further, a state or locality may not provide broadband services in areas with more than one other commercial provider. The bill exempts certain telecommunications infrastructure projects from environmental and historic preservation reviews, including projects carried out after a declared disaster or emergency (e.g., a wildfire). The bill also establishes a rebuttable presumption that a request for a review of the effects of deploying wireless service on historically, culturally, or religiously significant tribal or Native Hawaiian land is complete if the tribe or Native Hawaiian organization receives certain forms. The bill enhances criminal penalties for willful or malicious destruction of a communication facility. Furthermore, the General Services Administration must establish a common fee schedule for deploying wireless facilities that affect federal property. Additionally, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration must award grants for expanding high-speed broadband access, facilitate through an interagency strike force timely reviews of telecommunications-related requests that affect federal property (e.g., a request for an easement or right-of-way), and report on certain requests concerning communications facilities on federal real property. The bill also requires collaboration among federal agencies that support broadband deployment.
Shawnee Wilderness Designation Act This bill designates approximately 289,000 acres of Forest Service land comprising the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois as the Shawnee Wilderness and as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
This resolution honors the suppliers of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the work they are doing on the Artemis missions.
Essential Caregivers Act of 2021 This bill requires skilled nursing facilities, nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities for the intellectually disabled, and nearby inpatient rehabilitation facilities to establish an essential caregivers program during a public health emergency. Under the program, facilities must allow each resident to select up to two essential caregivers to provide daily living assistance, emotional support, or companionship during the emergency. Facilities must afford such caregivers 12 hours of access to residents each day (or unlimited access for end-of-life care), and caregivers must agree to follow facility protocols for staff safety. Facilities may deny access to caregivers who violate protocols, subject to certain notification requirements; the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must establish an appeals process relating to such decisions and may take specified enforcement actions against facilities that violate the bill's requirements.
Removing Excessive Dollars to Uproot and Cut Expensive Government Waste Act or the REDUCE Government Waste Act This bill repeals the rules for peanuts under the nonrecourse marketing assistance loan program administered by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Under a nonrecourse marketing assistance loan, a farmer pledges a commodity as collateral and may deliver the pledged collateral to USDA to repay the loan. The bill also prohibits federal funds from being used for the development of (1) a beerbot or other robot bartender; or (2) insect-based foods for human consumption, including cricket farming and taste-testing of insect-based foods.
Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2021 This bill expands tax incentives and federal assistance for employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) that are sponsored by S corporations. The bill provides additional tax incentives for ESOPs by (1) extending to all domestic corporations, including S corporations, provisions allowing deferral of tax on gain from the sale of employer securities to an ESOP; and (2) allowing a tax deduction for 50% of the interest received by a bank on loans to S corporation-sponsored ESOPs for the purchase of employer securities. The Department of the Treasury must establish the S Corporation Employee Ownership Assistance Office to foster increased employee ownership of S corporations. The bill defines an ESOP business concern for purposes of the Small Business Act as a business concern that was eligible for a loan, preference, or other program under such Act before more than 49% of the business concern was acquired by an ESOP.
