The White House announced that President Donald Trump signed 10 bills into law on Tuesday October 20, covering a wide range of issues from Social Security and online dating scams to human trafficking and domestic manufacturing. The measures include new protections for dating-app users who have communicated with suspected fraudsters, the redesignation of an Arizona national monument as a national park, and an opportunity for some clergy members to reverse their Social Security exemption. H.R. 227, known as the Clergy Act, affects members of the clergy, which include church ministers, members of religious orders, and Christian Science practitioners, who had previously obtained an exemption from Social Security coverage.
The new law creates a two-year period during which eligible members of the clergy can apply to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to revoke that exemption, allowing them to rejoin Social Security coverage. The legislation is designed to create another opportunity for clergy members who previously opted out of Social Security coverage to reverse that decision. Existing law generally prevents such an exemption from being revoked, so H.R. 227 creates a specific exception to that rule.
H.R. 837 concerns federal land in Arizona. The law requires the federal government to transfer the ownership of the Pleasant Valley Ranger District Administrative Site, which is in Arizona's Tonto National Forest, to Gila County. The property is being transferred without payment for the land itself, although the county must pay costs associated with the conveyance, such as surveys and required environmental analyses.
The law is now enacted, but the land doesn't simply change hands immediately. Gila County must make a written request for the property within 180 days of enactment. H.R. 1721, the Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act, is aimed at establishing whether high-demand products that are needed by America's “16 designated critical infrastructure sectors,” which include Chemical, Energy, Healthcare, Transportation Systems and Water and Wastewater, could be manufactured domestically.
The law directs the Secretary of Commerce to identify products that are in high demand but are being imported because of U.S. manufacturing, material, or supply-chain constraints. Officials must examine the costs and benefits of making them in America, including potential effects on jobs, working conditions, and product prices. The study must be conducted within one year, while a report containing its findings and recommendations must be submitted to Congress and published on the Department of Commerce website within 18 months.
H.R. 2388, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Project Lands Restoration Act, gives approximately 1,082.63 acres of federal land in Washington to the Lower Elwha Tribal Community, or Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, making the land part of the Lower Elwha Indian Reservation and restoring it to tribal trust status. The legislation directly benefits the tribe and changes the legal status of the specified federal land. It also directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a survey to define the property's boundaries “as soon as practicable” after enactment.
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