Mary Gay Scanlon

The Dropbox Access Act requires every county in the United States to provide secured drop boxes where voters can submit absentee ballots in elections for federal office. States must make these drop boxes available starting 45 days before Election Day and keep them open through the close of polls on election day. The number of drop boxes in each county is determined by voter registration numbers, with counties having 20,000 or more registered voters required to provide one drop box for every 20,000 voters, and smaller counties required to have at least one. States must ensure drop boxes are accessible to people with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency, located conveniently near public transportation when possible, available 24 hours a day, and distributed fairly across all communities including rural areas and tribal lands. The bill applies starting with the November 2026 general election and all federal elections thereafter, and gives the Attorney General authority to establish specific accessibility standards for the drop boxes.

The Accessible Voting Act of 2026 aims to remove barriers that prevent people with disabilities, older Americans, Native Americans, and those with limited English proficiency from voting. The bill requires states to maintain accessible election websites, establish no-excuse absentee voting with multiple registration options, provide public notice of voting procedure changes, and ensure polling places have adequate accessible voting machines and trained staff. It establishes a National Resource Center on Accessible Voting by January 2027 to provide training and technical assistance to election officials, and it expands federal grants to states for improving voting accessibility while removing restrictions on disability advocacy organizations' ability to participate in election access lawsuits. These requirements generally take effect for federal elections after January 1, 2027, with at least $5 million authorized annually for the Resource Center's operations.

H.R. 10506, the Packers and Stockyards Improvements Act, strengthens federal oversight and enforcement of the livestock and meat packing industries by expanding regulatory tools and protections. The bill requires livestock data sharing with enforcement personnel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to better detect anticompetitive or fraudulent practices, and it grants the Secretary of Agriculture enhanced powers to issue civil investigative demands that compel producers, packers, and dealers to provide documents, testimony, and other evidence during investigations. The legislation establishes detailed procedures for these investigations, including witness rights, confidentiality protections, and judicial review options, while also adding whistleblower protections that allow employees and contractors to report violations without fear of retaliation and to recover damages including back pay and up to $400,000 in punitive damages. Additionally, the bill expands the definition of "unfair practices" to prohibit specific harmful tactics such as using grower comparisons to reduce compensation, imposing excessive pricing variability, requiring exclusive dealing without alternatives, delaying livestock pickup, terminating agreements without full compensation, and failing to compensate producers when processing plants close. These changes aim to protect livestock producers, growers, and market competition across the poultry and meat industries.

The Stable Homes Act directs the Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a grant program providing funding to local governments for creating or expanding eviction diversion programs. These programs would require landlords to notify tenants of their right to participate in dispute resolution before filing for eviction, and tenants and landlords would have to engage in good faith negotiation for at least 30 days. Eviction diversion programs must include resources such as rental assistance, mediation services, and housing counseling to help resolve disputes between landlords and tenants. The bill authorizes $300 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 and requires participating local governments to submit annual reports on program outcomes, including data on cases filed, costs, tenant demographics, and legal representation. The pilot program is set to terminate on December 31, 2030, with the HUD Inspector General conducting assessments twice during the program period to ensure proper implementation.

This bill amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to expand protections and support for the estimated 2.4 million children being raised by relatives or close family friends outside the formal foster care system, commonly called kinship or grandfamilies. The legislation affects kinship caregivers, primarily grandparents, as well as the agencies and organizations that serve them. Key changes include requiring states to prioritize kinship placements as the first option when children need out-of-home care, establishing kinship navigators to help families access services, and including kinship organizations and caregivers on the federal advisory board for child abuse prevention. The bill expands grant programs to support community-based prevention services for kinship families and requires training for kinship caregivers on topics like caring for children with behavioral or mental health challenges, trauma, and substance use disorders. The legislation does not specify new funding amounts or implementation timelines, focusing instead on modifying existing federal grant programs to better serve these families.

The SWIFT Act of 2026 makes several changes to Social Security survivor benefits for widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses. Beginning January 1, 2027, the bill removes age restrictions that currently prevent disabled survivors under age 60 from receiving full benefits, allowing them to claim unreduced survivor benefits at any age if they have a disability. The bill also eliminates benefit reductions for disabled widows and widowers who claim before retirement age and increases the age limit for child-in-care benefits from age 16 to age 18 (or 19 for full-time students). Additionally, the bill creates a new option for survivors to delay claiming their benefits and receive increased amounts for each month of delay, similar to how delayed retirement credits work for regular retirement benefits. To protect current beneficiaries, the bill requires that increased Social Security benefits from these changes not be counted against eligibility for other federal, state, or local assistance programs. The Social Security Administration must also publish and distribute an informational booklet about survivor benefits to widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses by January 1, 2027. The bill does not specify dedicated funding, as changes to Social Security benefits are typically financed through the existing Social Security trust funds.

The Sunshine for Our Kids Act of 2026 would make standard time permanent nationwide while allowing individual states to choose whether to observe daylight saving time instead. The bill repeals the federal requirement for daylight saving time and gives states the flexibility to either stay on standard time year-round or adopt daylight saving time through their own legislation. States with multiple time zones would have the option to apply their chosen time standard uniformly across the entire state or vary it by time zone. The changes would take effect on the first Sunday of November following the bill's enactment. This legislation primarily affects all Americans by potentially ending the twice-yearly time changes, though the actual impact would depend on which states choose to observe daylight saving time versus standard time.

This bill prohibits data brokers from selling, reselling, or transferring health data and location data of individuals, whether that information is directly stated or inferred from other data. The law applies broadly to any company that buys and resells personal data for profit, affecting the data brokerage industry and any entity that sells sensitive information to data brokers. The bill includes narrow exceptions for activities that comply with existing health privacy rules, newsworthy publications of legitimate public concern, and disclosures made with valid individual authorization. The Federal Trade Commission will enforce the law with authority to pursue civil penalties up to 15 percent of a company's annual revenues, and states and individuals can also sue violators in federal court. The FTC must issue final rules within 180 days of the law's enactment, and the prohibition takes effect either when those rules are issued or 180 days after passage, whichever comes first. The bill appropriates $1 billion to the FTC through 2035 to carry out enforcement.

The Pedestrian Protection Act would require the Department of Transportation to establish new federal safety standards for motor vehicles designed to reduce deaths and injuries involving pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vulnerable road users. The bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to begin a rulemaking process within three years to create or modify safety standards addressing vehicle features such as hood design, bumper design, windshield design, vehicle height, and vehicle weight, with a final rule due two years after the process begins and full compliance required within two years of that rule's issuance. Additionally, the bill requires the department to initiate a separate rulemaking within four years to establish minimum visibility standards for motor vehicles and to develop consumer information ratings comparing how well different vehicles allow drivers to see pedestrians and cyclists. The bill also mandates that the department publish comparative safety ratings for vulnerable road user protection technologies and submit a report to Congress within five years detailing a plan for implementing a driver visibility information and rating system for consumers.

The Postal Data Privacy Act of 2026 requires federal and state law enforcement agencies to obtain a court order before using a mail cover, which is a postal surveillance technique that records information about mail sent to or from a specific address. Currently, authorities can request mail covers from the Postal Service without judicial approval, but this bill would require them to demonstrate to a court that there are reasonable grounds to believe the surveillance is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation. The legislation affects all governmental entities seeking to monitor mail, and it directs the Chief Postal Inspector to preserve postal records for up to 180 days while agencies work to obtain the necessary court authorization. The bill does not include specific funding allocations, as its primary impact is procedural rather than budgetary.

The Right to Representation Act would require all states to provide free lawyers for both children and parents involved in child protection cases, including those dealing with abuse, neglect, foster care, adoption, guardianship, and termination of parental rights. The requirement would apply to cases funded through the federal foster care and permanency program under the Social Security Act, with an effective date of October 1, 2026. States would need to ensure that attorneys have a true attorney-client relationship with their clients under state rules of professional conduct. The bill allows states additional time to comply if they need to pass new state legislation to implement the requirement, with a grace period extending to the first legislative session after the effective date. Every two years, the Government Accountability Office would report to Congress on how states are implementing this legal representation requirement.

H.R. 8860, the Corporate Prosecution Reform Act, establishes new rules for how federal courts handle deferred prosecution agreements with corporations, which allow companies to avoid trial by accepting penalties and conditions. Under the bill, courts cannot approve these agreements for the most serious offenses—including crimes that cause death or serious injury, terrorism, human trafficking, and repeat violations—and must ensure any agreement includes meaningful penalties, victim compensation, and deterrents against future crimes. The legislation requires that crime victims be notified and given an opportunity to be heard before a court can approve such an agreement. Additionally, the bill modernizes federal law by replacing outdated references to "white collar crime" with "cyber and financial crime" to reflect contemporary criminal activity. The changes affect how federal prosecutors and courts handle corporate criminal cases moving forward.

The Department of Justice Integrity Act of 2026 restricts former federal prosecutors from immediately switching sides to represent the same companies they recently prosecuted. Specifically, any former attorney for the United States who personally worked on a federal prosecution or settlement agreement with a business entity cannot represent that same business entity in related matters for one year after leaving government service. The bill applies to all types of business entities, including corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. Violations are subject to the same penalties as other federal ethics violations. The legislation aims to prevent conflicts of interest and preserve public confidence in the Justice Department by closing what sponsors view as an integrity gap in existing revolving-door rules.

This bill would remove federal immunity protections for immigration enforcement officers who cause someone's death or serious bodily injury while performing their duties. Currently, federal law enforcement officers may have immunity from state prosecution for actions taken in their official capacity, but this legislation would allow states to prosecute immigration officers in these situations. The bill applies specifically to officers enforcing immigration laws under the Immigration and Nationality Act. No specific funding or implementation timeline is included in the legislation. The bill would effectively allow states to bring criminal charges against federal immigration enforcement personnel for deaths or serious injuries that occur during their enforcement activities.

The Competitive Prices Act modifies the legal standards for proving illegal price-fixing and anticompetitive collusion under federal antitrust laws. Currently, courts often dismiss antitrust cases early if plaintiffs cannot prove direct evidence of a conspiracy, but this bill would allow cases to proceed based on "parallel conduct"—when multiple competitors act similarly to affect prices or competition—combined with additional circumstantial evidence called "plus factors," such as suspicious pricing changes, meetings between competitors, or market conditions that enable coordination. The legislation affects businesses, consumers, and enforcement agencies including the Federal Trade Commission, the Justice Department, and state attorneys general who pursue antitrust violations. By lowering the evidentiary bar for bringing these cases, the bill aims to make it easier to challenge suspected collusion without requiring smoking-gun proof of explicit agreements between competitors. The bill contains no specific funding allocations or implementation timelines, and it does not expire or sunset.

This bill amends the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to restrict when the government can dismiss criminal charges against a defendant. Currently, the government has broad authority to drop cases, but this legislation requires that any motion to dismiss be reviewed by a judge who must consider "the interests of justice" before granting it. The bill adds a specific protection: the government cannot dismiss charges during an active trial unless the defendant agrees to it. The legislation affects prosecutors and defendants in federal criminal cases nationwide and aims to prevent what supporters characterize as improper dismissals of cases against politically connected individuals. The bill contains no funding provisions or specific implementation timeline.

This bill protects health care workers who report safety concerns at their facilities from being punished by their employers. The law applies to doctors, nurses, and other health care practitioners working at hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, dental offices, and similar health care settings. Workers can report concerns about quality of care, staffing levels, equipment shortages, or other patient safety issues to their supervisors, state authorities, government officials, or the media without fear of retaliation such as firing, demotion, or harassment. If a health care facility retaliates against a worker for raising safety concerns, the worker can sue for actual damages, attorney fees, and punitive damages up to one million dollars, or join a class action lawsuit. The bill also requires Medicare-participating providers to establish systems for anonymous reporting of patient safety concerns and to investigate those reports, effective one year after the law is enacted.

The Congressional Accountability Act Enhancement Act would impose new financial accountability on Members of Congress who personally commit employment discrimination. Under the bill, Members would be required to reimburse the Treasury for settlement and award amounts in all employment discrimination cases where they are found personally liable, whereas current law provides certain exceptions. The legislation also expands reimbursement requirements to other congressional offices in cases involving retaliation against employees who filed discrimination complaints. Additionally, the bill gives individuals who file claims under the Congressional Accountability Act a second chance to revise their claims if a preliminary hearing officer determines they are not covered employees or have not stated a valid claim, providing a 10-day window to file an amended version. Finally, the bill allows the House Office of Employee Advocacy to continue assisting covered employees even after they file civil court actions, removing a previous limitation on that office's authority.

The Take Back Our Hospitals Act would prohibit Medicare from paying hospitals and skilled nursing facilities that are owned or controlled by private equity firms or real estate investment trusts. The bill would apply to new acquisitions immediately upon enactment but would give existing facilities owned by these entities three years to divest or face Medicare payment suspension. Facilities found in violation would have the right to notice and a hearing, and the private equity firms or REITs that own them would be held jointly liable for any penalties. The legislation aims to prevent large investment firms from profiting off Medicare dollars while potentially affecting the healthcare landscape in areas where these entities operate hospitals and nursing homes.

This resolution recognizes National Mentoring Month.

This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment authorizing Congress and the states to set reasonable limits on the raising and spending of money by candidates and others to influence elections. The amendment grants Congress and the states the power to implement and enforce this amendment by legislation. They are allowed to distinguish between natural persons and corporations or other artificial entities created by law, including by prohibiting such entities from spending money to influence elections.

The Foster Youth Mentoring Act of 2025 authorizes federal grants to help establish and expand mentoring programs for children currently in foster care and young people up to age 26 who have previously experienced foster care. These programs will connect youth with trained adult and peer mentors through networks involving nonprofits, schools, child welfare agencies, faith-based organizations, and tribal entities. The bill requires participating mentors to receive specialized training on topics like trauma, child development, and the foster care system, and mandates thorough screening including criminal background checks. Eligible programs must provide structured mentoring lasting at least one year, focusing on academic support, life skills, and healthy relationships. The legislation authorizes $50 million in federal funding for each of fiscal years 2026 and 2027, with additional funding available in subsequent years, and requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to submit annual reports to Congress documenting program participation, mentor demographics, and measurable outcomes for participating youth.

The Corporate Crime Database Act directs the Bureau of Justice Statistics to create a public, searchable database tracking federal enforcement actions against corporations and their employees for violations of federal law. The database must be established within one year of the law's enactment and will include details about the companies involved, the specific offenses charged, statutes violated, the federal agencies involved, and the outcomes of enforcement actions. Federal agencies will be required to submit information about their enforcement actions according to guidance established within six months, and the database will eventually include historical enforcement data going back before the law's passage. The Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics must publish annual reports analyzing corporate crime patterns, recidivism rates, and victim impacts, along with recommendations for improving how federal agencies monitor and deter corporate offenses.

The Stopping the Fraudulent Sales of Firearms Act would make it a federal crime to import, manufacture, or sell firearms and ammunition using false or fraudulent claims, representations, or promises. The bill also makes it illegal to use wire, radio, or television communications across state or national borders to promote such fraudulent firearm and ammunition transactions. This legislation would apply to anyone engaged in these deceptive practices, including manufacturers, importers, and sellers. The bill adds these new violations to existing federal firearms laws under Title 18 of the United States Code and would subject violators to penalties already established for other firearms violations. No specific funding or implementation timeline is mentioned in the bill text.

This resolution recognizes National Mentoring Month.