May 23, 2016

The Senate unanimously passed S 2613 - the Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act of 2016. The legislation proposes allowing victims of sexual assault to obtain rape kits and toxicology tests and reports free of charge. Victims would also be able to access the results of the tests, and rape kits would be “preserved, without charge, for the duration of the maximum applicable statute of limitations or 20 years, whichever is shorter.”

The House rejected HR 4889 - the Kelsey Smith Act by a vote of 229-158. The legislation required a two-thirds vote to pass. The Kelsey Smith Act proposed requiring telecommunication providers to provide call location information to law enforcement “in an emergency situation involving risk of death or serious physical injury or in order to respond to the user’s call for emergency services.”

May 24, 2016

Key vote: The Senate passed HJ Res 88 - Disapproving the rule submitted by the Department of Labor relating to the definition of the term Fiduciary by a vote of 56-41. The resolution proposes preventing the Department of Labor from implementing a rule that requires retirement investment advisors to put their customer’s interests first when providing advice. President Barack Obama has promised to veto the legislation.

Key vote: The House passed HR 2576 - the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act by a vote of 403-12. The bill is also known as the TSCA Modernization Act of 2015, which updated the 1976 Toxic Substance Control Act. The bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use a new, risk-based standard to analyze thousands of new and existing chemicals to determine if those chemicals should be regulated. These chemicals are present in tens of thousands of items, including clothing, furniture, and cleaning products. Other provisions in the bill require special considerations for how chemicals could harm children and pregnant women and make it more difficult for industries to claim that their chemical information should be kept secret for proprietary reasons. This bill, which has been debated on and off for three years, is the first update to the original 1976 act. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill later this week. If the bill passes the Senate, it could be on Obama's desk by Memorial Day.

Key vote: The House passed HR 5077 - the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 by a vote of 371-35. The legislation proposes funding the intelligence-related activities of 16 federal intelligence organizations. The legislation also includes increased protections for whistleblowers and a provision to prevent tampering with intelligence reports.

The House passed HR 897 - the Zika Vector Control Act by a vote of 258-156. The legislation, previously known as the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2015, proposes amending the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Clean Water Act to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from requiring a permit to spray pesticides into water.

Key vote: The House passed S 2012 - the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 by a vote of 241-178. “The bill’s provisions aim to modernize energy infrastructure like the electric grid and pipelines, make pipeline and natural gas export permitting easier, increase fossil fuel research and improve job training for energy fields, among other priorities,” according to The Hill.

Key vote: HR 5055 - the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 failed to pass the House by a vote of 112-305 after Democrats added language barring federal contractors from discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The funding measure would have allocated $34.7 billion to fund the Department of Energy and the Army Corps of Engineers, among other federal agencies. Until the LGBT language was added, the bill had been relatively uncontroversial. The fight over the LGBT addition highlighted a split in the Republican Party. At a GOP conference before the vote, Rick Allen (R-Ga.) read a passage from the Bible and stated that support for the bill "violated their religious principles." At that point, several moderate Republicans protested by walking out of the meeting. The author of the original bill, Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), hopes Democrats can eventually revive and help pass the bill.