National Association of Towns and Townships - www.natat.org
How Townships can access clean energy tax credits in the form of direct pay/transferability
Draft 2024 NATaT Policy Platform - 2/23/2024
NATaT Weekly Legislative Report
March 25, 2024
Congressional Outlook
The House and Senate are in recess for the next two weeks. Congress’ last act before leaving Washington, D.C., was passing the remaining Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 government funding legislation.
Congress passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47) late last week, and President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law early Saturday afternoon, finalizing government funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2024. The $1.2 trillion second “minibus” package includes the Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch, and State-Foreign Operations spending bills. The House passed the bill by a vote of 286-134 on Friday morning, and the Senate followed, passing the bill 74-24 in the early hours of Saturday. Passage of the second FY24 minibus comes after President Biden signed the first FY24 minibus package of six spending bills into law on Saturday, March 9. With these actions, all federal departments and agencies have full-year funding through September 30, 2024. Congress will now pivot to the Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations process following the release of President Biden’s $7.3 trillion budget request on March 11. House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) announced Friday that she would step down as Chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee
“as soon as possible.” Senior appropriators Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) have all stated their intentions to run as Appropriations Committee Chair for the remainder of the current 118th Congress. Complicating matters for House Republicans for the rest of the 118th Congress is their majority that continues to slim. The GOP will hold a 217-213 majority over Democrats following Rep. Mike Gallagher’s (R-Wis.) recent resignation announcement, effective April 19. House Republicans will only be able to lose one vote and still pass legislation with GOP votes from late April to early June, until former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) Republican successor is sworn into office following a special May 21 election.
Upon returning, the House will work quickly to address the motion to vacate from Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), removing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from office. Rep. Greene held off from immediately forcing the action to allow the chamber to work through the FY24 government funding minibus. If ousted, Speaker Johnson would have only lasted five months in the role. He would follow former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was removed on October 3 for similar reasons, leading the most conservative flank of the GOP to move to remove him. Rep. Greene would need to present the privileged resolution that gives priority over other measures, requiring a vote within two legislative days and needing only a simple majority of those present and voting to pass. Speaker Johnson could receive assistance from House Democrats tabling the motion to vacate if the Speaker puts the Ukraine aid package on the House floor for a vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will decide on when and if the upper chamber will take up the House-passed Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (H.R. 7521), which would require TikTok to separate from its Chinese-based owner ByteDance or face a ban in the United States. The House overwhelmingly passed the bill on March 13 by a vote of 352-65-1. The Senate will also decide on how to act on the House-passed Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 (H.R. 7024), which would make improvements to the Child Tax Credit, provides tax incentives to promote economic growth, provides tax relief with respect to certain federal disasters, and makes improvements to items.
Other must-pass items for Congress to tackle later this Spring include reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by April 19, which is intended to make it easier for the federal government to monitor foreign terrorists, and the five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by May 10.
Bills and Regulations of Interest to You
| Bill | Title | Sponsors | Background |
| H.R. 7611 | Fight Against Fentanyl Act | Rep. Thomas Kean (R-NJ-7) | Permits the Byrne JAG grant to be used for the purchase of fentanyl testing kits and opioid reversal agents. |
| S. 3980 | Advancing Frequent and Tailored Education to Rebuild Safe Communities and Help Orchestrate Opportunities and Learning (AFTER SCHOOL) Act | Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) | Awards grants to local educational agencies to operate after school programs in certain areas with a high rate of juvenile crime. |
| H.R. 7634 | Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act | Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT-5) | Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish a pilot program promoting scratch cooking in school meal programs. |
| H.R. 7762 | Healthy Food Access for All Americans Act (HFAAA) | Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-OH-13) | Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a new tax credit and grant program to stimulate investment and healthy nutrition options in food deserts. |
| S. 3982 | Expanding Access To (EAT) Local Foods Act | Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) | Amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish the Expanding Access to Local Foods Programs. |
| S. 3983 | Abortion Care Capacity Enhancement and Support Services (ACCESS) Act | Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) | Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize a grant program to increase capacity for providing abortion services and other sexual and reproductive health care. |
| S. 4002 | Early Childhood Nutrition Improvement Act | Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) | Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to improve the child and adult care food program. |
| H.R. 7769 & S. 4018 | The Farm Transitions Act | Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-CO-8) & Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) | Amends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 to reauthorize the Commission on Farm Transitions-Needs for 2050. |
| H.R. 7788 & S. 4013 | Firefighter PFAS Injury Compensation Act | Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL-9) & Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) | Directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a program under which eligible firefighters are able to file a claim to seek timely, uniform, and adequate compensation. |
| S. 4031 | Providing Resources and Opportunities for Health Education and Learning (PRO-HEAL) Act | Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) | Authorizes the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration to award grants to expand or create health care provider pipeline programs. |
| H.R. 7815 | Mamas and Babies in Underserved Communities Act | Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA-43) | Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, to award grants to expand and improve maternal health care services. |
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| NIH | Inform Development of the FY 2026-2030 NIH Strategic Plan for HIV and HIV-Related Research | Requires the Office of AIDS Research to develop a comprehensive plan, reviewed annually and revised as appropriate, that establishes HIV/AIDS research priorities and serves as a guiding framework for allocation of HIV/AIDS funding across NIH. | April 1, 2024 |
| FEMA | Standard Flood Insurance Policy, Homeowner Flood Form | Revises the Standard Flood Insurance Policy by adding a new Homeowner Flood Form and five accompanying endorsements. The new Homeowner Flood Form would replace the Dwelling Form as a source of coverage for homeowners of one-to-four family residences. | April 8, 2024 |
| Corps of Engineers | Guidelines for Federal Investments in Water Resources | Provides a framework to govern how the Corps would evaluate proposed water resource investments, including identification of which Corps programs and activities are subject to the Principles, Requirements, and Guidelines. | April 15, 2024 |
| FHWA | Highway Safety Improvement Program | Amends the regulatory language to incorporate the Safe System Approach, clarify the scope of the HSIP to focus on the safety of all road users on the entire public road network, improve evaluation practices, streamline reporting efforts, and ensure States are collecting Model Inventory of Roadway Elements (MIRE) fundamental data elements. | April 22, 2024 |
| USTR | Promoting Supply Chain Resilience | USTR requests comments to inform objectives and strategies that advance U.S. supply chain resilience in trade negotiations, enforcement, and other initiatives. | April 22, 2024 |
| HHS | Elder Justice Coordinating Council Priorities | The Administration for Community Living (ACL) seeks information on recommended area(s) and or issue(s) for which elder justice stakeholders believe the Elder Justice Coordinating Council (Council) can be the most beneficial to promoting elder justice and have the greatest positive impact for survivors of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation and their communities. | April 24, 2024 |
| OMB | Methods and Leading Practices for Advancing Public Participation and Community Engagement With the Federal Government | OMB seeks input on the experiences of individuals and organizations, including from underserved communities, with informing Federal Government decision-making and participating in engagement activities with government agencies; examples of leading practices in this space; and other recommendations on available methods, approaches, and tools that could assist in the effort to develop and implement a Federal framework for participation and engagement. | May 17, 2024 |
| FEMA | Individual Assistance Program Equity | Amending its regulations governing the Individual Assistance program to increase equity by simplifying processes, removing barriers to entry, and increasing eligibility for certain types of assistance under the program. | July 22, 2024 |
Week in Review
Biden signs the $1.2 trillion government funding bill
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson
Rep. Kay Granger to step down as House Appropriations chair
Rep. Mike Gallagher announces plans to leave Congress in April
House approves sweeping GOP water permitting bill
House advances energy measures to support U.S. oil and natural gas industry
PASSED THE SENATE: Senator Hassan’s Bipartisan Bill to Recognize the Role of Direct Support Professionals
Peters and Kennedy Bipartisan Bill to Improve Federal Government’s Response to Emergencies Passes Senate