Directed Energy Threat Emergency Response Act This bill requires actions to address anomalous health incidents. The President must designate an appropriate senior official as the Anomalous Health Incidents Interagency Coordinator. The interagency coordinator must (1) coordinate the U.S. government's response to anomalous health incidents, (2) ensure that affected personnel and dependents get access to care, and (3) ensure adequate training and education for relevant U.S. government personnel. The President must also appoint an appropriate senior official as the Deputy Anomalous Health Incidents Interagency Coordinator. The bill also requires certain agencies, including the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to designate an appropriate senior official to serve as the Anomalous Health Incident Agency Coordination Lead. These officials must work with the interagency coordinator to (1) achieve objectives related to anomalous health incidents, and (2) jointly provide quarterly briefings to Congress on its activities. Such agencies must also develop updated workplace guidance to address anomalous health incidents. The bill authorizes the Department of State to take certain actions, such as increasing staffing for the Health Incident Response Task Force and collecting data related to anomalous health incidents.
This concurrent resolution expresses the sense of Congress that the men and women who undertook efforts in Afghanistan over the years have provided heroic service to the country and the peace experienced by our country is a direct result of the actions of our service members, diplomats, and humanitarians. The concurrent resolution also expresses that veterans who feel stress, anger, or disappointment over the end of operations in Afghanistan should seek resources and reach out to friends, mentors, and caregivers.
This resolution expresses support for the goals of National Physician Suicide Awareness Day.
Promoting Readiness and Ensuring Proper Active pharmaceutical ingredient Reserves of Essential medicines Act of 2021 or the PREPARE Act 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.
Workforce Investment Disclosure Act of 2021 This bill requires publicly traded companies to disclose information annually regarding workforce management policies, practices, and performance. This includes demographic information; data on temporary and contract workers; employee turnover rate; employee skills and capabilities; workforce health, safety, and well-being, including findings of harassment or discrimination; and employee compensation, benefits, and incentives. The Securities and Exchange Commission may exempt emerging growth companies from certain disclosures.
Cybersecurity Disclosure Act of 2021 This bill directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue final rules requiring a registered issuer of securities to disclose in its mandatory annual report or annual proxy statement whether any member of its governing body has expertise or experience in cybersecurity. If no member has such expertise or experience, the issuer must describe what other company cybersecurity aspects were taken into account by the persons responsible for identifying and evaluating nominees for the governing body.
Metro Safety, Accountability, and Investment Act of 20 21 This bill reauthorizes funding to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) contingent on certain changes to its governance and operations. The bill reauthorizes capital and preventive maintenance grants to WMATA for FY2021-2030 as well as additional funding for capital and preventive maintenance projects and the WMATA Inspector General (IG). The Department of Transportation (DOT) may not provide any amounts to WMATA until certain conditions are met, including that DOT (1) certifies that the WMATA Board of Directors has passed a resolution that reaffirms the IG as an independent and objective unit, (2) establishes and maintains the Jeanice McMillan Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Track Safety Task Force, (3) establishes and maintains a Keith Dodson Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Bus Safety Task Force, and (4) certifies that the WMATA General Manager has implemented procedures that establish documented policies and procedures for the capital planning process and require WMATA to improve the transit asset management planning process.
Flood History Information Act of 2021 This bill provides for the sharing of National Flood Insurance Program policy and claim information. Specifically, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may share this data through an agreement with certain private insurance providers for the purposes of policy underwriting, establishing premium rates, and adjusting claims. Additionally, FEMA must provide specified flood insurance information to a purchaser, lessee, or current owner of a property upon request.
This bill reauthorizes through FY2026 certain activities under the Impact Aid Program. The program provides funding to local educational agencies that have lost property tax revenue due to the presence of tax-exempt federal property or to those that have experienced increased expenditures due to enrollment of federally connected children (e.g., children living on Indian lands or military bases).
Supporting Early-childhood Educators' Deductions Act or the SEED Act This bill expands the tax deduction for the expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers to include early childhood educators.
EMBRACE Stormwater Management Act or the Enhancing Military Base Resilience And Conserving Ecosystems through Stormwater Management Act This bill authorizes the Department of Defense and each military department to implement stormwater management projects on or related to military installations. Specifically, such projects are authorized for the purpose of (1) protecting nearby waterways and stormwater-stressed ecosystems, and (2) improving military installation resilience or the resilience of a defense access road or other essential civilian infrastructure supporting the installation.
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.
