ShakeAlert, the West Coast-wide earthquake early warning system under joint development for a number of years by the USGS, UW, University of Oregon, UC Berkeley, and Cal Tech, will be ready to test a public alert system this Thursday in parts of Washington. Residents of King, Pierce, and Thurston Counties who opt in to receive the alert on their wireless devices will receive a notice at 11 AM PT.
News and updates
Democrats Introduce Immigration Reform Bill
Democrats have introduced an immigration bill – The US Citizenship Act- which could provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented people. The bill is being championed by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). President Biden has already indicated support. Among other things, the bill will:
- Provide an 8-year pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US by January 1st, 2021 and pass a background check. The first 5 years would be provisional, after which the non-citizen could apply for a green card, and then 3 years later could apply for citizenship.
- There would be an expedited pathway for farmworkers and persons holding DACA status. No specific timeline was announced.
- Replace “alien” with “non-citizen” in law.
- Increase caps on family and employment based green cards. Eliminate the caps for STEM doctoral students.
- Establish dual-intent for international students with regards to immigration.
- Prevent states from charging non-resident tuition to refugees, asylum seekers, and other special categories of non-citizens.
- H-4 visa reform including adding work authorization for spouses and children.
- Expand transnational anti-drug task forces in Central America and improve technology at the southern border.
The bill is expected to be introduced in the House this week, and in the Senate next week, where it would need 10 Republican Senators to vote in favor. Bill text is available here (Senate) and here (House).
The bill contains numerous, wide-ranging provisions, and our office is still working through the text.
Hearing on Research Infrastructure
The US House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology will host a hearing titled “Building Back the U.S. Research Enterprise: COVID Impacts and Recovery”.
Date: Thursday, February 25, 2021
Time: 10:00 a.m. EST (7:00 a.m. PST)
Place: Online via videoconferencing. Link will be posted here.
Witnesses:
• Dr. Sudip Parikh, Chief Executive Officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Dr. Christopher Keane, Vice President for Research, Washington State University
• Dr. Felice J. Levine, Executive Director, American Educational Research Association
• Mr. Thomas Quaadman, Executive Vice President, Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
House Reconciliation Package Now Headed to Budget Committee
With the Reform and Oversight Committee wrapping up its markup late Friday, the nine committees scheduled to act on pieces of the larger budget reconciliation measure concluded their work, sending the individual components to the Budget Committee for the next step in the process, which is to craft a much more comprehensive $1.9-trillion package.
The following committees marked up measures under jurisdiction: Agriculture, Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Oversight and Reform, Small Business, Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans’ Affairs, and Ways and Means. Among the committees which received reconciliation instructions but did not hold a markup was the House Science Committee.
House Committees March Through Reconciliation Process
The vast majority of House committees with reconciliation instructions continue to march towards completing that process.
The following committees have completed their bills, as of Friday morning: Education and Labor, Ways and Means, Financial Services, Transportation and Infrastructure, Small Business, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs.
The Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to reconvene today to complete consideration of its bill while the Oversight Committee is also scheduled to meet today.
The Science, Foreign Affairs, and Natural Resources Committees are not scheduled to hold markups for their instructions.
Our colleagues at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities have produced an initial analysis of the provisions of interest to the public research university community, which is available here.