President Joe Biden signed 50 bills into law on Christmas Eve as one of his final acts before he leaves the White House in January.
With less than a month until he is set to give up the Oval Office, Biden gave sweeping authorizations on Tuesday to a slew of legislation that does everything from targeting child abuse to designating the balk eagle as the country’s national bird.
Here’s a look into a few of the bills Biden signed.
The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act
One of the bills Biden approved was the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which was championed by celebrity Paris Hilton.
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Congress passed the legislation earlier this month after Hilton, widely known as a socialite and media personality, testified during a congressional hearing in June about the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she endured while at a “youth treatment facility.”
“I was strangled. I was hit. And I was cut off from the outside world,” Hilton said. “My parents had no idea. They were deceived.”
With Biden’s signature, the legislation will create a federal work group on youth residential programs to create reporting standards and act as state guidelines to determine the best treatment and placement of distressed minors in rehabilitation and other facilities.
Designating the bald eagle the US national bird
Another piece of legislation Biden signed into law finally made the bald eagle the national bird.
Although the bald eagle has historically been believed to be the country’s official bird, sitting on the front of the Great Seal since 1782, and despite some government departments touting its status as the national bird in official documents, the bird has never received the designation. Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Tina Smith (D-MN) pointed out in June that the federal government had yet to make the designation formal.
“These majestic creatures have long been viewed as the official bird of this country and it is past time we made it official without costing taxpayers a single cent,” Lummis said as she joined her colleagues in introducing the legislation.
The No Corruption Act
Another bill Biden signed will strip lawmakers of their taxpayer-funded pensions if convicted of using their office to commit corruption-related offenses.
Congress passed the bipartisan No Corruption Act in the wake of ex-Sen. Bob Menendez‘s (D-NJ) bribery scandal. The legislation addresses a “loophole” in current law that allows lawmakers to receive pensions as long as their case is going through the courts.
Now, all payments will be suspended upon the initial finding of guilt, with the pension restored only if an appeals court overturns the conviction.
The Stop Campus Hazing Act
Biden also signed the first-ever federal anti-hazing standards into law, clinching a final victory for legislation spearheaded by Reps. Lucy McBath (D-GA) and Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
With more than half of college students involved in some form of campus hazing, Biden’s signature requires higher education institutions to report incidents disclosed to authorities in their annual security reports.
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The law defines hazing as “any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person against a student” that “causes or is likely to contribute to a substantial risk … of physical injury, mental harm, or degradation,” in connection to a student’s affiliation with campus organizations.
Biden’s eleventh-hour signatures come after he handed out a historic number of pardons and clemency orders during his final days in the White House and commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 inmates on federal death row on Monday.
