Bill Announcement

On Monday, December 30, 2019, the President signed into law:

H.R. 150, the "Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2019 or the GREAT Act," which requires the Office of Management and Budget, jointly with the executive department that administers the most programs issuing Federal awards each year, to establish government-wide data standards for information reported by grant recipients and issue guidance directing Federal agencies to apply those standards;

H.R. 777, the "Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2019," which authorizes appropriations to the Department of Justice for each of Fiscal Years 2019-2024 in the amount of $151 million for the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program; $12.5 million for DNA training and education programs; and $30 million for the Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Grant Program; and

S. 151, the "Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act" or the "Pallone-Thune TRACED Act," which authorizes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue additional civil penalties on individuals who intentionally violate restrictions on the use of automated telephone equipment (i.e., illegal robocalls and spoofing); and directs the FCC to require voice service providers to offer call authentication technologies to consumers.