More Stuff in the news: Guns, North Korea, Energy, Education, Labeling Food

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) with NYPD Chief of Department James P. O’Neill, Everytown for Gun Safety, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and Harlem Mothers Save today announced the introduction of bipartisan gun trafficking legislation aimed at cracking down on the daily flow of illegal guns on our nation’s streets. Authored along with Republican Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), the Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking & Crime Prevention Act of 2015 would make gun trafficking a federal crime to provide tools to law enforcement to get illegal guns off the streets, away from criminal networks and street gangs, and to prosecute those who traffic firearms. Just nine weeks ago, New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the arrests of multiple members of an illegal gun smuggling ring under “Operation Redrum” which netted 93 guns ranging from 22 caliber pistols to assault weapons over a six-month period. The guns came from out of state and were trafficked through the Bronx. In 2013, 331 weapons recovered in New York State came from Georgia alone. According to NYPD, 90 percent of the guns used in New York City gun crimes come from out of state, including those used in the murders of Detectives Wenjian Liu, Rafael Ramos and Brian Moore. Just this week, gang violence was reportedly responsible for the shooting death of a father holding his one-year-old child. Currently, there is no federal law that defines gun trafficking as a crime.

U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Bob Menendez (R-New Jersey) has introduced the 2015 North Korea Sanctions Act that would strengthen and expand sanctions against the regime in North Korea and those who might wish to assist them. The Senators introduced the bill following repeated violations of commitments by North Korea to end and dismantle its nuclear weapons development program and the perpetual brutal oppression on the vast majority of the North Korean people. Both Senators note that North Korea remains a significant threat to regional and global stability. (What makes Iran so special, then?)

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley made the following statement after the FBI acknowledged that inaccurate information was entered in the background check system and hindered follow-up analysis that should have prevented alleged Charleston shooter Dylann Roof from purchasing a firearm. “It’s disastrous that this bureaucratic mistake prevented existing laws from working and blocking an illegal gun sale. The facts undercut attempts to use the tragedy to enact unnecessary gun laws. The American people, and especially the victims' families, deserve better.”

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and U.S. Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (Ariz.-03), the Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, unveiled the Tribal Tax Incentive for Renewable Energy Act, a bill the lawmakers will introduce today to allow tribal governments to take advantage of the existing federal renewable energy investment tax credit in the same way any private developer already does.

U.S. Senators Dean Heller (R-NV) and Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) amendment to the Every Child Achieves Act passed the United States Senate. This amendment requires governors of states to be consulted during the development of a state education plan to improve education and workforce readiness. It also includes a 30-day “shot clock” for a state’s governor to approve the plan before it is submitted to the Secretary of Education.

Senator John Hoeven cosponsored bipartisan legislation to protect small businesses from potential health care premium increases under the Affordable Care Act. The Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees (PACE) Act allows states to maintain the current definition of a small group market as 1-50 employees to prevent premium increases and disruptions for small and mid-size businesses. Hoeven joins prime sponsor Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina on the legislation. Currently, almost all states define their small group market to include employers with 1-50 employees. Under the health care law, the definition of small business will expand to include employers with up to 100 employees starting January 1, 2016. Expanding the small group definition up to 100 could increase premiums for the vast majority of small employers and also prevent mid-size employers from keeping their current plans. According to Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, the expansion of small group from 50 to 100 will cause both rate and benefit disruption for about 150 North Dakota groups which cover almost 20,000 North Dakotans.

Following a letter from U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it will delay new menu labeling requirements at supermarkets, grocery stores, and similar retail locations for one year. In May, Senators Collins and King, along with several of their Senate colleagues, urged the agency in a letter to delay the regulations so that these establishments in Maine and around the country, which often sell food for in-store consumption, would receive adequate time and guidance to comply with the new regulations. In a written response to the senators, the FDA has said that it will delay implementation of the rules until December 1, 2016. The new menu labeling requirements are the result of a provision in the Affordable Care Act that calls for a national, uniform nutrition-disclosure standard for foodservice establishments, primarily intended for restaurants. The FDA first released draft regulations to implement this provision in 2011, however, the agency also unexpectedly incorporated grocery and convenience stores because of the food sold at deli counters, snack bars, salad bars, and other in-store options. The FDA issued its final menu labeling regulations in December of 2014, and businesses originally had until December 2015 to comply with the regulations. Following the FDA’s decision, they will now have until December 2016 to do so. The agency plans to issue a draft guidance document in August 2015 to answer some of the most frequently asked questions surrounding the menu-labeling rule and help stores as they work to comply.