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New Bills of Interest

The following are some bills that have been introduced in the first weeks of the 113th Congress that may be of interest to members of the UW community:

HR 118 (Holt, D-NJ) – National STEM Education Tax Incentive for Teachers Act of 2013, which would provide a credit for qualified tuition expenses up to $1000 for K-12 teachers in the STEM fields who have received a STEM-related degree from an institution of higher education. The bill is vague in exactly how “qualified educational expenses” would be measured or verified.

HR 267 (McMorris Rodgers, R-WA) – The Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013 would ease regulations on certain small hydropower projects and aims to make the process of constructing a conduit hydropower facility-one operated for the purpose of distribution of water for agricultural, municipal, or industrial uses, on a nonworking dam more efficient and streamlined.

HR 274 (Barber, D-AZ) – The Mental Health First Act of 2013, would direct the Secretary of DHHS to award grants to various state and local government organizations and non profits (institutions of higher education included), to develop and train individuals on the skills, resources and knowledge to assist individuals in crisis to connect with appropriate local mental health care services. The objectives of the training include safe de-escalation of crisis situations, recognition of the signs and symptoms of mental illness, and timely referral to mental health services in the early stages of developing mental disorders.

The full text of these bills can be found by going to thomas.loc.gov and searching for the respective bill number.