Alex Padilla

Supporting Providers of English Language Learning Act or the SPELL Act This bill allows elementary and secondary school teachers who teach English learners, bilingual students, or dual language immersion students to receive additional amounts of student loan forgiveness and loan cancellation.

This resolution honors Lonnie G. Bunch III as he retires from his position as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution after nearly four decades of public service. Bunch made history as the first African American and first historian to lead the Smithsonian since its founding in 1846, and during his seven-year tenure as Secretary beginning in 2019, he oversaw the institution's significant growth and expansion. Under his leadership, the Smithsonian welcomed over 100 million visitors across its 21 museums, 20 libraries, the National Zoo, and research centers, and he spearheaded a major fundraising campaign that surpassed its $2.5 billion goal ahead of schedule. Bunch also oversaw the authorization and development of two new museums, the National Museum of the American Latino and the American Women's History Museum, and previously founded the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which has attracted more than 13 million visitors since opening in 2016. The resolution expresses the Senate's appreciation for Bunch's decades of service and reaffirms the importance of the Smithsonian Institution as a national treasure dedicated to preserving and sharing America's full history.

The BRIDGE Act of 2026 requires the Department of Defense to establish a pilot program providing comprehensive support services to active-duty military members and their families within one year of separation from the armed forces. The program will operate at four geographically diverse military installations (on the West Coast, Midwest, East Coast, and internationally) over a three-year period, with participating national organizations offering personalized transition support including peer support groups, employment assistance, benefits navigation, and dedicated transition coordinators for each participant. Services will prioritize members facing accelerated or involuntary separations and those with limited transition planning time, and will be coordinated with the existing Transition Assistance Program and the Department of Veterans Affairs to avoid duplication. The participating organizations will track short-term, mid-term, and long-term outcomes to measure employment, financial stability, family well-being, and resilience among participants. Within 180 days of the pilot program's conclusion, the Secretary of Defense must report to Congress on the results and make a recommendation about whether to extend the program.

This bill directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study the effects of hazardous waste dumping in the San Pedro Basin off the California coast, with a focus on DDT and other industrial contaminants including military explosives and radioactive materials that were historically dumped there. The administrator must conduct monitoring and research to understand how these contaminants spread through the marine environment and food web, develop new technologies for studying ocean contamination, and explore whether bioremediation techniques could help clean up the dumped waste. The bill also authorizes grants for research on seafloor contamination and requires the administrator to submit a comprehensive report to multiple congressional committees within three years, identifying other offshore dump sites and recommending a strategy for further research and cleanup efforts. The legislation provides six million dollars per year in funding from fiscal year 2028 through 2034 to support these research and remediation activities. The bill affects ocean health, marine ecosystems, and potentially human food security through seafood consumption in the affected region.

The Barriers to Suicide Act of 2026 directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a competitive grant program providing federal funding to install suicide prevention nets, barriers, and other evidence-based deterrents on bridges, buildings, parking garages, highway-rail crossings, and rail stations. States, territories, tribal nations, and other eligible entities can apply for grants covering up to 80 percent of project costs, with priority given to areas with high suicide rates. The bill authorizes $10 million annually from 2026 through 2030 for the grant program and modifies the National Highway Performance Program to explicitly include bridge safety barriers and nets. Additionally, the legislation requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct a one-year study examining which non-bridge structures are frequently used for suicide attempts, which types of prevention nets and barriers are most effective, and the costs associated with installing them.

The BASIC Act of 2026 creates a new federal grant program to help colleges address student basic needs insecurity, defined to include food, housing, healthcare, childcare, technology, transportation, and hygiene. Colleges can apply for up to $200,000 in planning grants over two years to develop basic needs strategies or up to $5 million in implementation grants over five years to operate programs like food assistance and housing support. The bill authorizes $1 billion annually from 2027 through 2033, with at least 25 percent of funds directed to historically Black colleges, Tribal colleges, and other minority-serving institutions, and priority given to schools with high numbers of low-income students. The law also requires the Department of Education to produce reports every four years on student basic needs insecurity among federal financial aid applicants, broken down by race, income, and other demographics, and mandates a progress report to Congress within one year on connecting students to federal benefit programs.

The Freedom from Intimidation in Elections Act prohibits any person from intimidating, threatening, or coercing election officials and workers who administer federal elections, including those handling vote counting, tabulation, and certification. The bill creates a legal presumption that displaying or carrying a visible firearm, fake firearm, or antique firearm near voters or election workers constitutes intimidation, unless the person can prove otherwise by a preponderance of evidence. Law enforcement officers acting in their official capacity are exempt from this presumption, though courts can still consider their firearm possession when evaluating potential violations. The bill does not specify dedicated funding or implementation timelines, instead amending the existing Voting Rights Act to create these new protections and enforcement mechanisms. This legislation applies to anyone attempting to intimidate or coerce election personnel at the federal level.

The Wildland Firefighter Health and Safety Act establishes a comprehensive federal framework to protect wildland firefighters—including federal employees from the Forest Service and Department of the Interior, as well as contracted firefighters working with tribal nations—from occupational hazards including smoke exposure, hazardous materials, and mental health risks. The bill creates a new interagency Task Force to coordinate health and safety efforts and develop protective standards within one year, establishes a Federal Wildland Firefighter Health and Wellbeing Program to provide medical surveillance and screening, and creates a specialized office within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to research safety technologies and conduct long-term health studies. The legislation also improves workers' compensation claims processing through a dedicated unit trained in firefighting-related illnesses and requires independent Government Accountability Office reviews every two years to assess program effectiveness. Total authorized funding is approximately $60.5 million annually through fiscal year 2032 for these coordinated efforts to improve firefighter health outcomes and workplace safety.

This bill establishes a new Office of the Farm and Food System Workforce within the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve access to and participation in USDA programs for farmworkers and food system workers. The Office will be headed by a coordinator who will serve as a liaison between the USDA and worker organizations, ensure equitable access to department services, coordinate outreach activities, and assist farmworkers in becoming agricultural operators or landowners. The bill also creates two advisory bodies: a Farm and Food System Worker Advisory Committee composed of at least 20 members including farmworkers, civil rights representatives, nonprofit organizations, labor unions, and academics, and an Interagency Council including representatives from eleven federal departments to coordinate policies affecting farm and food system workers. The legislation authorizes unspecified funding for the office through fiscal year 2031, requires annual reports to Congress and the public in multiple languages, and mandates that the existing Farmworker Coordinator position be terminated once the new office is fully staffed.

The Converting Our Waste Sustainably Act of 2026 modifies the Environmental Quality Incentives Program under the Food Security Act to provide government payments to farmers and ranchers who adopt alternative manure management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve environmental conditions. These practices include rotational grazing, compost-bedded barns, manure separation systems, and on-farm composting that generate environmental benefits like reduced methane emissions, improved water quality, and increased carbon storage. The bill prioritizes payments for small and medium-sized dairy and livestock operations, beginning farmers, and disadvantaged farmers, and allows up to 100 percent cost reimbursement with advance payments covering at least 50 percent of costs related to equipment and technical assistance through three-year contracts. The Secretary of Agriculture must develop criteria for evaluating applications, establish procedures for group composting projects, publish emissions reduction factors, and develop new composting standards within one year of the bill's enactment.

The Fairness for Farm Workers Act amends federal labor law to extend overtime protections to agricultural workers, a group that has historically been exempt from many labor standards. Starting January 1, 2027, farm workers would be entitled to overtime pay at one-and-a-half times their regular rate when working more than a set number of hours per week, with the threshold gradually decreasing from 55 hours to 40 hours by 2030. Small employers with 25 or fewer workers receive a delayed timeline, beginning their compliance in 2030 and reaching the 40-hour threshold by 2033. The bill also removes various existing exemptions from minimum wage and other labor protections for agricultural employees, though it maintains exemptions only for family members working on family farms. The legislation takes effect on different dates for larger and smaller employers, giving smaller operations additional time to adjust their practices.

This bill reauthorizes federal desalination programs under existing water infrastructure law, extending support for water desalination projects in the western United States. The legislation allows the federal government to fund up to 25 percent of the costs for ocean and brackish water desalination projects in Reclamation States, with no dollar cap on federal participation, as long as state or local entities provide at least 25 percent of funding. The bill also establishes a new competitive grant program for advanced pilot desalination technologies and first-of-a-kind systems, requiring rigorous cost analyses to determine the feasibility and expense of new desalination approaches, including treatment and disposal of brine discharge. The desalination programs are reauthorized for 15 years from the bill's enactment date. The legislation primarily affects western states, water districts, and public agencies seeking to develop new water supplies through desalination technology.

Voice for Farm Workers ActThis bill reauthorizes and expands the duties of the Farmworker Coordinator at the Department of Agriculture (USDA). (Part of the Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement, the coordinator identifies challenges faced by farmworkers and coordinates with USDA programs and other federal agencies to address the community’s needs.)The bill reauthorizes the position of Farmworker Coordinator through FY2031. Among other things, the bill also requires the coordinator todevelop and implement a plan to coordinate USDA farmworker outreach activities and services,collaborate with USDA's agencies and offices on farmworker-related programmatic and policy decisions,communicate to employers of farmworkers information about federal programs for which their employees may be eligible, andmeasure and analyze the outcomes of USDA farmworker programs and activities.Further, the bill expands the coordinator's existing duties to include (1) serving as a liaison to institutions of higher education and local educational agencies, and (2) consulting with community-based nonprofit organizations on areas such as technical skills and job training programs.The bill also directs the coordinator to hire the staff who are necessary to carry out the coordinator's activities.

The Stop Corrupt Trading Act would make it a federal crime for the President or Vice President, or entities they control or substantially own, to sell or exchange nonpublic government information for financial benefit. It also bars any other person from buying, selling, or exchanging such nonpublic information for financial gain. Nonpublic information is broadly defined to include material a covered person learns through their official role that isn't available to the public, such as records normally exempt from disclosure or communications shared selectively rather than broadly. Violators face criminal penalties of up to five years in prison and fines, along with mandatory forfeiture of illicit proceeds, while the Attorney General can also pursue civil penalties, disgorgement, and injunctions using a lower "preponderance of the evidence" standard. Notably, the six-year statute of limitations for civil enforcement pauses while the implicated President or Vice President remains in office, and the Office of Government Ethics is required to refer credible evidence of violations to the Justice Department and notify Congress.

This Senate resolution designates July 2026 as "American Grown Flower and Foliage Month," a symbolic recognition of the domestic cut flower and foliage industry. It highlights that Americans spend more than $70 billion annually on floral products, yet only 15% of flowers and foliage sold in the country are actually grown domestically, despite widespread production across states like Alaska, California, Maine, Washington, and Hawaii. The resolution recognizes the economic contributions of domestic flower farmers, small businesses, and the tens of thousands of jobs tied to the industry, and notes that locally grown flowers reach consumers faster and last longer than imported ones. It carries no funding or binding legal requirements, but formally encourages Americans to purchase and showcase U.S.-grown flowers and foliage to support domestic farmers, processors, and distributors. As a resolution rather than a law, it primarily serves as a statement of congressional support rather than creating new programs or regulations.

This resolution designates the week of August 2 through August 8, 2026, as "National Farmers Market Week." It is a symbolic Senate resolution that recognizes the economic and social importance of farmers markets across the country, noting that they generated $1.7 billion in farmer income in 2020 and have grown from about 1,755 markets in 1994 to nearly 8,771 by 2019. The resolution highlights how farmers markets connect urban and rural communities, promote sustainable farming practices, improve public understanding of agriculture, and help low-income individuals access healthy food through federal nutrition benefits. It affects farmers, food producers, and consumers broadly by celebrating their shared role in local food systems, though it carries no funding, regulatory changes, or legal requirements. As a resolution rather than a bill, it does not have the force of law but serves as an official congressional statement of recognition and support.

The SHIELD Our Elections Act strengthens protections against election interference and harassment by creating new legal tools for voters and election officials. The bill establishes a private right of action allowing people to sue in federal court for violations of laws prohibiting armed interference at polls, military interference in elections, and voter intimidation, with courts able to award attorney fees to prevailing parties. It extends the statute of limitations for prosecuting these election interference crimes from the current standard to nine years after the offense occurs, giving prosecutors more time to bring cases. The legislation also restricts law enforcement from seizing election records and equipment before recounts, audits, or legal challenges are completed, except when a judge finds clear and convincing evidence the materials face destruction. Finally, the bill authorizes $50 million in grants to states to establish ballot tracking programs that allow voters to monitor the status of their mail-in and absentee ballots online or by telephone, with information available to political parties and voter registration organizations to help voters cure or return ballots during the voting period.

# Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026 Summary The Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026 (S. 5066) is a comprehensive bill designed to eliminate health disparities affecting racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and other underserved populations through expanded data collection, culturally appropriate services, workforce diversity, and healthcare access improvements. The bill establishes federal requirements for health programs to collect detailed demographic data (race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status), provide interpretation and translation services, and report health outcomes disaggregated by demographic characteristics to identify and address disparities. It significantly expands healthcare coverage—including removing citizenship barriers to Medicaid and CHIP for immigrant children and pregnant persons, extending dental and vision coverage under Medicare and Medicaid, making menstrual products free to students and incarcerated individuals, and providing free emergency contraception at hospitals—while investing over $1.5 billion annually through 2031 in workforce diversity programs, maternal and child health initiatives (including doula services, midwife expansion, and programs addressing maternal mortality), community health worker training, and targeted disease prevention efforts in underserved communities. The bill also includes major provisions on environmental justice, addressing social determinants of health through community grants, protecting immigrant access to healthcare, reducing discrimination in healthcare settings through new enforcement mechanisms, and restoring federal health equity offices and programs that were previously eliminated.

The Improving Housing Performance Act requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to commission an independent study within 90 days to evaluate how well manufactured homes perform in areas prone to natural disasters and extreme weather, such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. The study must examine whether homes built to current federal safety standards can adequately protect residents and withstand these hazards, and identify what improvements to building materials, design, installation practices, and safety standards could enhance performance. Within 180 days, the Secretary must submit a report to Congress and publish it publicly that includes findings from the study, recommendations for legislative or regulatory changes, an analysis of how recommended improvements would affect affordability and overall performance, and a plan for better collecting data on manufactured home performance during and after natural disasters. The bill does not specify a funding amount but requires the research to be conducted by at least one independent, non-partisan organization with expertise in manufactured home performance and hazard-related standards. This legislation affects manufactured home residents, the manufactured housing industry, and federal housing policy by seeking to improve safety standards for the estimated millions of Americans who live in manufactured homes.