Weekly Federal Update 8/1/22

President and Administration

Last week, the Biden administration announced two new actions to strengthen school-based mental health services and address the youth mental health crisis…

The Biden administration privately estimated to Congress this month that it may need nearly $7 billion to mount a response to the nation’s monkeypox outbreak that matches “the scope and urgency of the current situation”… 

The Biden administration has unveiled a government website, Heat.gov, aimed at helping Americans to prepare for extreme heat and weather conditions this summer, after heat waves were recorded around the world…

Congress  

On Wednesday, 7/27, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced “the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” - a reconciliation bill which is slated for the Senate floor this week… 

The bipartisan Chips and Science Act, which includes more than $52 billion for U.S. companies producing computer chips, as well as billions more in tax credits to encourage investment in chip manufacturing, was passed in the House and the Senate last week… 

Education

Last week, the Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Puerto Rico Secretary of Education Eliezer Ramos Parés announced that $215 million in previously awarded American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds would be disbursed to schools across the island ahead of the new school year…

Officials at the Education Department have developed plans to cancel student debt for millions of borrowers, awaiting a final decision from President Biden. Biden is considering providing $10,000 of debt relief per borrower, a decision he said he will make before the pause on student loan payments ends Aug. 31… 

Before the nationwide pause on federal student loan payments, one-third of the nation’s nearly 43.4 million borrowers in repayment before the start of the pandemic had defaulted at some point…

Last week, ED released proposed regulations that would implement critical changes in the American Rescue Plan that better protect veterans and service members from being subject to aggressive targeting practices by requiring private for-profit institutions to obtain at least 10 percent of revenue from non-federal sources…

The Education Department projected that student loans would generate $114 billion in income over the last 25 years…

A new Government Accountability Office report has found that over 7,800 predominantly same-race schools are located within just five miles of a different same-race school… 

The push to get rid of the Education Department is bubbling up again, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress…

A new RAND report found that districts continue to struggle with how to manage teacher shortages, political polarization in schools, student and staff mental health concerns, and pandemic-related student learning loss…

A June 2022 national EdChoice poll found that teachers report spending over $500 of their own money in the last school year on classroom materials, and they spent around $300 on professional development… 

Public Safety Update 7/29/22

House Democratic leaders delayed planned votes this week on a package of public safety bills that included police grant funding and an assault weapons ban, amid division within their caucus… 

Congress has a history of failing to move on gun reform after mass shootings, but  a study found state gun laws do change after mass shootings…

Concerns over the gun industry’s marketing practices and accountability grew this week, prompting more proposed legislation, a day after the CEOs of two leading gun manufacturers told Congress they bore no blame in the recent mass shootings…

Following last month’s Supreme Court decision that struck down New York state’s strict gun control laws, Governor Kathy Hochul called an extraordinary legislative session to pass a new gun control bill… 

After several mass shootings this year, the U.S. seems more prone to mass shootings than other countries… 

This week, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing titled Law Enforcement Officer Safety: Protecting Those Who Protect and Serve…

Last week saw the implementation of the National 988 Lifeline…

A network of conservative activists falsely claiming former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election is working to recruit county sheriffs to investigate elections based on the false notion that voter fraud is widespread…

Weekly CA-COVID Update 7/26/22

California

The recent rise in cases have been met with little reaction from the public…

One year after Congress passed record funding in COVID-19 relief, a new analysis reveals that California school districts so far have spent little of it on efforts to address learning setbacks caused by the pandemic…

Researchers found that between 2019 and 2021, the life expectancy for Latino Californians fell by almost six years — from 82.5 years to 76.8…

The projected 2023 rates released last week follow an usually low streak: a 1.8 percent increase for this year, a record-low 0.5 percent bump in 2021 and a 0.8 percent rise the previous year…

Coronavirus

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that a newly authorized vaccine from Novavax be used as an option for adults seeking a primary immunization against COVID-19…

COVID-19 is surging around the U.S. again in what experts consider the most transmissible variant of the pandemic yet…

The Biden administration is creating a new division within the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate the nation’s response to pandemic threats and other health emergencies, a recognition that the department is structurally ill equipped to handle disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic…

Weekly Federal Update 7/25/22

President and Administration

Microsoft has released a new Digital Equity Data Dashboard to help create a better understanding of the economic opportunity gaps in towns, cities and neighborhoods across the United States…

Nearly two months after the first case of monkeypox was identified in the U.S., the pace of the nation’s response continues to echo mistakes made in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak…

On Wednesday, 7/20, President Joe Biden announced a series of climate change actions as heatwave records topple in the U.S. and Europe and his climate goals drift further out of reach… 

President Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, 7/21…

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Education Department’s Title IX guidance , which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation… 

Congress  

Congress is gearing up for August break… 

The House passed the $405 billion six-bill spending package Wednesday, 7/20, but there is still an increasing chance that a continuing resolution will be needed come October… 

Some members of Congress are trying to codify changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that would make it easier for teachers, social workers, and other public service workers to get debt relief…

Last week, a bipartisan group of senators finalized a deal to reform a 135-year-old law that governs the peaceful transition of power, hoping to pass it before the end of the year…

Education

A new report explores how Hispanic-serving institutions are serving Latino graduates after they earn their degrees… 

A new report by Lightcast, a company that provides labor market data, found that going back to college is an especially good investment for adults learners…

High school students among the class of 2022 completed 4.6 percent more FAFSA applications this year than in 2020, an early indicator of possibly more high school grads headed to college this fall according to the National College Attainment Network…

With the Supreme Court poised to reduce or even eliminate affirmative action in college admissions, a recent study has offered a unique window into the magnitude of racial preferences in America’s elite colleges…

Colleges and universities worldwide experienced a surge in ransomware attacks in 2021, and those attacks had significant operational and financial costs, according to a new report from Sophos, a global cybersecurity leader…

According to a new survey of higher education employees from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, 57.2 percent of respondents were somewhat likely (22.3 percent), likely (12.5 percent) or very likely (22.4 percent) to seek work elsewhere within the next year…

The Education Department released new guidelines for colleges to follow when requesting a change in accrediting agencies…

The American Federation of Teachers’ national Teacher and School Staff Shortage Task Force released a report outlining solutions to retain teachers… 

Schools should “redouble” their efforts to keep students with disabilities from being removed from the classroom for behavior problems and modify their discipline policies to avoid discrimination, according to new Department of Education discipline guidance released last week… 

New federal data show chronic absenteeism - defined as missing 10 percent or more of school days - has continued to rise among both students and teachers in public schools…

New NWEA research found that initial signs of academic rebounding were evident in 2021-22 with academic gains (fall to spring) that paralleled pre-pandemic trends, especially in math and among younger students…

Public Safety Update 7/22/22

The House Judiciary Committee advanced the Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2021 on 7/20, sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), that would ban the sale, import, manufacture or transfer of certain semi-automatic weapons…

The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary plans to meet Tuesday, July 26th for a hearing titled: Law Enforcement Officer Safety: Protecting Those who Protect and Serve…

Protesters allied and marched on Capitol Hill last week for a federal ban on assault weapons…

A Texas House committee released a 77-page report on 7/17 on the Uvalde school shooting, concluding that “systemic failures” allowed an 18-year-old gunman to enter Robb Elementary School on 5/24 and kill 19 children and two teachers…

Safety anxieties in the wake of recent mass shootings are fueling a multibillion-dollar industry of school security products…

The federal government must create a new “clearinghouse” of school safety practices backed by research as part of the gun reform legislation President Biden signed into law last month…

Leaders at Washington D.C.-area colleges and universities say they will spend the next several months researching solutions to reduce gun violence — an effort that comes as gun-related crimes rise throughout the region, mass shooters claim lives and campus leaders contend with a mental health crisis… 

Bellwether Education Partners examined juvenile justice education policies in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico and found that only about a third of states have policies for programs for incarcerated youth that underperform… 

San Jose Unified School District board has extended more than two dozen contracts with San Jose Police Department officers, allowing principals and school staff to use the officers at its middle and high schools through at least June 2023…

A new report asserts that ordering juvenile offenders to pay compensation to their victims often derails their lives, and victims’ rights groups see shortcomings as well…

Since 2017, approximately 600 people have been killed by police after being stopped for a minor infraction…

People experiencing a mental health crisis can now call or text the numbers 9-8-8 to receive help…

More than 230 San Diego police officers left the department in FY 21-22 — a 52 percent increase from the year before…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign a controversial gun control bill modeled after Texas’ vigilante abortion law on Friday, teeing up a legal battle with a U.S. Supreme Court friendly to 2nd Amendment groups and firearm owners…