Senate Republican leaders unveiled a plan to provide an additional $1 trillion in coronavirus relief funding this week, Bloomberg reports. The “HEALS” Act also provides liability protection from COVID-19-related lawsuits for businesses, schools, charities through Oct. 1, 2024, so long as the organizations made “reasonable” efforts to follow public health guidelines and did not commit acts of “gross negligence” or “intentional misconduct.” In addition, the plan would move medical liability claims against caregivers to federal courts and protect them from liability unless they engaged in gross negligence or intentional misconduct. The plan also contains a number of business tax provisions, including tax breaks for meals and entertainment, tax credits for expenses to protect workers and customers against the virus, an employee retention tax credit, and tax credits to spur U.S. manufacturing of personal protective equipment. Finally, the proposal includes a second round of stimulus payments, a new formula for enhanced unemployment benefits, extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, funds for states to ramp up testing and contact tracing, and funds for schools to prepare for fall classes. Despite reports that the bill would include an extension of an eviction moratorium originally included in the CARES Act, no such provision was part of the final proposal, NBC News reports.

Senate Republicans are preparing to offer a five-year shield from COVID-19 lawsuits as part of a new relief proposal, The Hill reports. The proposal reportedly would be retroactive from December 2019 through 2024. Other proposed provisions include: moving all lawsuits related to personal injuries and medical liability to the federal courts; protecting health care facilities and workers from all claims except those for "gross negligence and intentional misconduct"; and protecting businesses, colleges, schools and churches from all claims except in cases where they did not make "reasonable efforts" to follow public health guidelines and "committed an act of gross negligence or intentional misconduct." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to unveil the proposal next week.

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed criminal justice reforms aimed at curbing the use of excessive force by law enforcement following the death of George Floyd. The package was crafted exclusively by House Democrats and only three Republicans supported it. On the Senate side, an attempt to consider a Republican-drafted bill was blocked earlier this week by Democrat members. The Hill looks at the similarities and differences between the two bills.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, says he will introduce legislation to prohibit police officers across the country from using no-knock warrants like the one that led to the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by three police officers in Louisville, the Daily News Journal reports. Under the bill, federal law enforcement officers would be required to provide notice of their authority and purpose before they could execute a warrant, and any state or local law enforcement agency that receives funds from the U.S. Department of Justice would be required to do the same. At the local level, the Louisville Metro Council voted unanimously yesterday to ban the controversial practice in the city.

Congressional Democrats in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate introduced legislation today designed to combat racial disparities in the criminal justice system, The Hill reports. Crafted by leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, the “Justice in Policing Act” would establish a federal ban on chokeholds, eliminate the legal shield protecting police from lawsuits, mandate the use of body cameras nationwide, limit federal transfers of military-style weapons to local police, ban military-style weapons for police, and create a national database disclosing the names of officers with patterns of abuse. It also includes a bill passed by the House earlier this year that would make lynching a federal hate crime. The proposals come in response to the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man killed in the custody of the Minneapolis police two weeks ago.

The U.S. House on Thursday passed legislation that grants flexibility to small businesses using loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, The Hill reports. The bipartisan bill from Reps. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and Chip Roy, R-Texas, would give small businesses up to 24 weeks, up from the current eight weeks, to use the loans and extend the deadline for rehiring workers from June 30 to the end of this year. It would also allow the businesses to spend more of the money on non-payroll costs. The bill passed easily on a 417-1 vote, but lawmakers say more changes to the program are needed following complaints from small businesses that cannot qualify for the loans under the current terms.  

Sen. Lamar Alexander told reporters today that university presidents across the state have concerns about facing legal actions for reopening in the fall, WPLN reports. The Republican senator, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Education Committee, said that members of his party would push for liability protections for universities if a new COVID-19 relief bill is passed.  Alexander said a failure to do this could make what has been an already “difficult financial year” even more difficult. He also said more testing will be available for universities and businesses before the beginning of the fall semester.

The U.S. House today passed legislation that would classify lynching as a federal hate crime, The Hill reports. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act, introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois, passed on a 410-4 vote. Today’s vote held historic significance as it came 120 years after a committee in the lower chamber defeated legislation that would have criminalized lynchings. The first bill to make lynchings a federal crime passed the House in 1900, but was ultimately filibustered in the Senate. Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville announced Friday that he has invited Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, to attend the 2020 State of the Union address as his guest. Cooper said he invited Johnson because she “has devoted her career to helping underserved Tennesseans access the health care that they deserve.” With the state’s decision not to expand Medicaid and to seek a special waiver to block grant federal aid, Cooper says he wanted to highlight the importance of health care at the annual event tomorrow night in Washington, D.C.

Rep. Phil Roe, a Republican from Jonesborough, announced Friday he will retire from the U.S. House of Representatives at the end of the current Congress, Chattanoogan.com reports. Roe, a retired OB-GYN, also served as mayor of Johnson City before running for Congress. He is currently serving his sixth term in the House. During his time in Congress, Roe has focused on veterans’ issues — serving as chair and now the top Republican on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee — and has been an outspoken critic of the Affordable Care Act. CNN has more on his career.