United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2001 - Provides collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed by States or local governments. Directs the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to determine whether State law provides specified rights and responsibilities for public safety officers, including: (1) granting public safety employees the right to form and join a labor organization which excludes management and supervisory employees, and which is, or seeks to be, recognized as the exclusive bargaining agent for such employees; and (2) requiring public safety employers to recognize and agree to bargain with the employees' labor organization. Requires the FLRA to issue regulations establishing collective bargaining procedures for public safety employers and employees in States that do not substantially provide for such public safety employee rights and responsibilities. Directs the FLRA, in such cases, to: (1) determine the appropriateness of units for labor organization representation; (2) supervise or conduct elections to determine whether a labor organization has been selected as an exclusive representative by a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit; (3) resolve issues relating to the duty to bargain in good faith; (4) conduct hearings and resolve complaints of unfair labor practices; and (5) resolve exceptions to arbitrator's awards. Grants a public safety employer, employee, or labor organization the right to seek enforcement of such FLRA regulations and authority through appropriate State courts. Prohibits public safety employers, employees, and labor organizations from engaging in lockouts or strikes. Provides that existing collective bargaining units and agreements shall not be invalidated by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Energy Price and Economic Stability Act of 2001 - Instructs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to establish cost-of-service-based rates for electric energy (unless generated by a new generation facility) that is sold at wholesale, through April 30, 2003, for use in the area covered by the Western Systems Coordinating Council of the North American Electric Reliability Council. Provides for State enforcement of this Act. Instructs FERC to order refunds of rates and charges in the area covered by the Coordinating Council if electric energy sales were not just and reasonable. Amends the Federal Power Act to prohibit any FERC order for emergency connection or exchange of facilities unless the person subject to such order has been guaranteed full payment or reimbursement by either the Federal or State government.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Nurse Reinvestment Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop and issue public service announcements that advertise and promote the nursing profession, highlight the advantages and rewards of nursing, and encourage individuals from diverse communities and backgrounds to enter the nursing profession; and (2) award grants to designated eligible entities in order to increase the number of nurses. Establishes a fast-track nursing school faculty training program. Establishes a National Nurse Service Corps Scholarship program that provides scholarships to individuals seeking nursing education in exchange for service by such individuals in areas with nursing shortages. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the exclusion from gross income of accounts received under the National Nursing Service Corps Scholarship Program. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for nurse education training payments to qualified entities. Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to temporarily increase the matching rate for Medicaid nurse aide training and competency evaluation programs.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Downed Animal Protection Act - Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to make it unlawful for any stockyard owner, market agency, or dealer to buy, sell, give, receive, transfer, market, hold, or drag any nonambulatory livestock unless such livestock has been humanely euthanized. Imposes civil and criminal penalties for violations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2001 - Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to prohibit the use of appropriated funds for: (1) any system to implement the Act that does not require and result in the immediate destruction of all information submitted by or on behalf of any person who has been determined not to be prohibited from owning a firearm; and (2) the implementation or collection of any tax or fee by any Federal officer, agent, or employee, or by any State or local officer or agent acting on behalf of the United States, in connection with such implementation. Authorizes any person aggrieved by a violation of this Act to bring an action in Federal district court and, if successful, to receive damages, punitive damages, and such other remedies as the court may determine to be appropriate, including a reasonable attorney's fee.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Get Arsenic Out of Our Drinking Water Act - Provides that effective on the date of enactment of this Act, the rule establishing a maximum contaminant level (MCL) and MCL Goal for arsenic in drinking water published by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency on January 22, 2001, shall have the force and effect of law.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the provision providing for the alternative minimum tax treatment of the transfer of incentive stock options (thereby changing the taxable event from the exercise of a stock option to the sale of stock).
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Recognizes those law enforcement officers who have been injured or killed in the line of duty during the enforcement of methamphetamine-related laws. Praises the cooperation and coordination between Federal, State, and local law enforcement organizations. Honors the families of law enforcement officers who must subject their families to the dangers posed by methamphetamine law enforcement.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should develop, promote, and implement, at the earliest possible time, policies to reduce domestic emissions of fossil fuel generated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, with the goal of achieving stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States at the 1990 level by the year 2010.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Hunger to Harvest Resolution: A Decade of Concern for Africa - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the United States should declare "A Decade of Concern for Africa" and commit to increased levels of effective, poverty-focused development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa until significant progress is made toward reversing current levels of hunger and poverty; (2) the President should work with the heads of other advanced industrial and sub-Saharan African countries, and with United States and sub-Saharan African private voluntary and other civic organizations, to increase development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa; (3) Congress should undertake a multi-year commitment with other donors to provide the resources necessary to cut hunger by one-half in that region; (4) such funding should support both bilateral and multilateral poverty-focused development efforts; and (5) the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development should annually submit to Congress a progress report.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2001 - Authorizes the Attorney General to provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or other assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any crime that: (1) constitutes a crime of violence under Federal law or a felony under State or Indian tribal law; and (2) is motivated by prejudice based on the race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the victim or is a violation of the hate crime laws of the State or tribe. Directs the Attorney General to give priority for assistance to crimes committed by offenders who have committed crimes in more than one State and to rural jurisdictions that have difficulty covering the extraordinary investigation or prosecution expenses. Authorizes the Attorney General to award grants to assist State, local, and Indian law enforcement officials with such extraordinary expenses. Directs the Office of Justice Programs to: (1) work closely with funded jurisdictions to ensure that the concerns and needs of all affected parties are addressed; and (2) award grants to State and local programs designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles. Prohibits specified offenses involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to study and provide sentencing enhancements for adult recruitment of juveniles to commit hate crimes. Amends the Hate Crimes Statistics Act to require the crime data to be collected and published by the Attorney General to include data about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on gender.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Native American Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Technical Amendment Act of 2001 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act and Federal law commonly known as the Benefits Improvement and Protection Act to ensure that Indian women with breast or cervical cancer, who are eligible for health services provided under a medical care program of the Indian Health Service or of a tribal organization, are included in the optional Medicaid eligibility category of breast or cervical cancer patients added by the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act of 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Food Ingredient Right to Know Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide that a food shall be deemed to be misbranded if it contains any spice, flavoring, or coloring derived from meat, poultry, any other animal product (including insects), or a known food allergen unless its labeling bears a statement with appropriate prominence on the information panel providing that fact and the name of the meat, poultry, other animal product, or known food allergen.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2001
Motor Vehicle Franchise Contract Arbitration Fairness Act of 2001 - Provides that whenever a motor vehicle franchise contract provides for the use of arbitration to resolve a controversy arising out of or relating to the contract, arbitration may be used to settle the controversy only if both parties consent in writing after such controversy arises. Requires the arbitrator to provide the parties with a written explanation of the factual and legal basis for the award.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2001
Requires the American flags on all Federal office buildings to be lowered to half-staff each year in honor of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service in Emittsburg, Maryland.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2001
Investment Competitiveness Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt interest-related dividends and short-term capital gain dividends received from a regulated investment company from the 30 percent tax on the income of nonresident aliens and foreign corporations not connected with a U.S. business, subject to exception. Revises provisions concerning: (1) the estate tax treatment of stock in certain regulated investment companies owned by a nonresident; and (2) the distribution of U.S. property by a qualified investment entity (currently, a real estate investment trust).
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2001
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow, through December 31, 2006, a limited credit for energy-efficient building property. Defines such property as a stationary fuel cell power plant that: (1) generates electricity using an electrochemical process; and (2) has an electricity-only generation efficiency greater than 30 percent. Allows, through December 31, 2006, a credit to an individual for nonbusiness energy-efficient building property expenditures.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2001
Secret Evidence Repeal Act of 2001 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require the Attorney General to provide advance notice to an alien and the presiding officer in any immigration proceeding in which classified information is intended to be used. Limits such information's use to: (1) terrorist activity deportation; or (2) opposition to an alien's admission or relief from removal upon certification that such information could not be developed from open sources and that an agency declassification request has been made. Provides: (1) for Federal district court review of classified material upon Attorney General or alien request; and (2) that the court will issue an order indicating any unclassified summary of such material that may be used in the immigration proceeding. Applies the provisions of the Classified Information Procedures Act to an immigration proceeding under district court review in the same manner as a criminal proceeding subject to such Act. Amends the Act to entitle an alien, subject to the classified information provisions of this Act, who is subject to arrest and detention for removal or deportation to: (1) non-federally provided counsel; (2) examine all evidence, present evidence, and question witnesses; (3) have a complete record of the proceeding kept; and (4) judicial review. Exempts an alien who is a lawful permanent resident, parolee, or asylee from the security and related removal provisions. (Such provisions provide for limited hearings and use of nondisclosed information.) Provides for transitional application of information access provisions to alien detainees and aliens seeking immigration benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 2001
Amends the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1994 (which is title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) to allow local educational agencies to use all of specified funds they receive for comprehensive local drug and violence prevention programs to establish school-based partnerships between local law enforcement agencies and local school systems by using school resource officers (career law enforcement officers) who operate in and around elementary and secondary schools to combat school-related crime and disorder problems, gangs, and drug activities.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 2001
Clean Smokestacks Act of 2001 - Amends the Clean Air Act (CAA) to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate regulations to achieve specified reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, and mercury from powerplants (electric generation facilities with a nameplate capacity of 15 megawatts or more that use a combustion device to generate electricity for sale) by January 1, 2007. Requires powerplants, on the later of the date 30 years after the powerplant commenced operation or five years after this Act's enactment, to comply with the most recent new source performance standards under CAA provisions regarding air quality and emissions limitations and with specified requirements for modified sources.
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 2001
Family-Owned Business Survival Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the limitation on the estate tax deduction for family-owned business interests.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Honesty in Budgeting Act - Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Members of Congress, executive branch officials, and their respective representatives should use on-budget numbers when making public statements regarding the Federal budget. Prohibits receipts and disbursements of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors, Disability, and Hospital Insurance Trust Funds from being counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, deficit, or surplus for purposes of the national budget, the congressional budget, or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require official statements issued by the Office of Management and Budget or the Congressional Budget Office of Federal surplus or deficit totals to exclude the receipts and disbursements totals of the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program and Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Reading Readiness Act of 2001 - Amends the Head Start Act to require Head Start programs to include a strong focus on reading readiness. Requires research, demonstration, and evaluation activities to: (1) determine whether every Head Start program is providing participating children the tools necessary to succeed in school, including reading readiness; and (2) review current best practices of Head Start programs with respect to reading readiness. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award competitive grants to selected Head Start applicants to carry out current best practices in reading readiness activities. Allows Head Start programs that demonstrate by community assessment that all reasonable attempt has been made to enroll children whose families' incomes are below the poverty line to make eligible for program participation children whose families' incomes are no greater than 150 percent of the poverty line. Directs the Secretary to implement an outreach campaign to promote enrollment in Head Start programs and Early Head Start programs. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Secretary should allow Head Start grantees that find evidence of community need to modify the use of their current grants so as to enroll infants and toddlers without obtaining a separate Early Head Start grant; and (2) Congress should appropriate sufficient funds to carry out the Head Start Act so that all eligible children may participate.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Makes it unlawful to: (1) import, export, or transport in interstate commerce conventional steel jawed leghold traps and articles of fur derived from animals trapped in such traps; or (2) sell or acquire such a trap transported in violation of such provision. Prescribes criminal penalties for violations. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to reward persons (other than Government employees performing official duties) for information leading to a conviction under this Act. Empowers enforcement officials to detain, search, and seize suspected containers or merchandise and any accompanying documents, to make arrests without warrants with probable cause, and to execute warrants. Subjects seized merchandise to forfeiture.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to limit the late enrollment penalty to a ten percent increase in the monthly part B premium due over a period equal to twice the number of years that the part B beneficiary could have been but was not enrolled under Medicare part B.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins emblematic of the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act of 2001 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to outline requirements for equal protection of voting rights in Federal elections and voting rights in State and local elections. Establishes a grant program to provide equal protection of voting rights with regard to States and localities. Creates the Commission on Voting Rights and Procedures to study and report to the President and Congress on specified issues with respect to elections for Federal, State, and local office, including alternative voting methods, ballot designs, ballot uniformity, and absentee voting, in order to develop specific recommendations of best practices in voting and election administration.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Constitutional Amendment - States that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to increase benefits to railroad employees and their beneficiaries and to revise financing of the pension part (tier II) of the railroad retirement system. Establishes a Railroad Retirement Trust Fund and a Railroad Retirement Investment Trust to manage and invest Fund assets. Abolishes the Railroad Retirement Supplemental Annuity Account and provides for transfer of its funds to the Fund. Provides for transfer to the Fund of certain portions of the Railroad Retirement Account and of Social Security Equivalent Benefit account funds. Transfers to the disbursing agent from the Dual Benefits Payments Account the amount necessary to make dual benefit payments. Requires the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) to calculate the ratio of assets to benefits to determine annual tier II tax rates for employers, employee representatives, and employees. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt the Fund from taxation. Repeals a supplemental annuity tax that railroad employers pay to finance a benefit for long-time rail employees. Provides for adjustments to railroad employers, employee representatives, and employee tier II tax rates.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Pacific Salmon Recovery Act - Requires the Secretary of Commerce, subject to appropriations, to provide financial assistance for salmon conservation and habitat restoration activities to: (1) Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California, and Idaho (qualified States); and (2) tribal governments in such States and Alaska Native villages or regional or village corporations that are involved in salmon management and recovery or conservation activities and have the organizational capability to maximize the benefits of assistance provided under this Act (qualified tribal governments). Allocates 85 percent of assistance per fiscal year equally among such States and 15 percent among qualified tribal governments. Requires qualified States, to receive assistance under this Act, to submit a Salmon Conservation and Salmon Habitat Restoration Plan to the Secretary. Directs qualified tribal governments, to receive such assistance, to enter into memoranda of understanding with the Secretary regarding use of the assistance. Requires funds allocated to qualified States to be used for local and regional projects. Permits the use of assistance outside the jurisdiction of the recipient if the assisted activity will provide conservation benefits to naturally produced salmon in streams of concern to the recipient. Requires States to match, in the aggregate, financial assistance provided under this Act. Directs States seeking assistance under this Act to establish citizens advisory committees or other similar fora for the public to participate in obtaining and using assistance under this Act. Requires qualified tribal governments to hold public meetings to receive recommendations on the use of such assistance. Includes: (1) Lahontan cutthroat trout and bull trout within the definition of "salmon" for purposes of applying this Act in Oregon; and (2) bull trout within such definition for purposes of applying this Act in Washington and Idaho. Amends the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 to extend the authorization of appropriations for capitalizing the Northern and Southern Funds under the 1999 Pacific Salmon Treaty Agreement through FY 2004. Directs the President, for U.S. citizens who served as employees of the International Pacific Salmon and North Pacific Fisheries Commissions who worked in Canada during the course of such employment, to: (1) calculate the difference in amount between the valuation of the Commissions' annuity for each employee's payment in U.S. and Canadian currency for past and future annuity payments; and (2) compensate such employees for past and future benefits resulting from the exchange rate inequity.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
National Education Technology Corps Act (NET Corps Act) - Amends the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to establish a National Education Technology Corps (NET Corps) as part of the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program, using VISTA volunteers and others with appropriate expertise, in partnerships to facilitate use of information technology in schools, libraries, and community centers. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a business-related tax credit for employers for assistance to the NET Corps through their employees' services either as volunteers or as participants in partnerships.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Amends the Animal Welfare Act to eliminate the provision permitting interstate movement of live fighting birds if the fighting venture is to take place in a State allowing such fights.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP) of the Social Security Act to grant States the option of covering certain categories of eligible women and child resident aliens under the Medicaid and SCHIP programs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act of 2001 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Public Health Service Act to prohibit a group health plan, and a health insurance issuer providing group coverage, from: (1) excluding or restricting benefits for prescription contraceptive drugs, devices, and outpatient services if the plan provides benefits for other outpatient prescription drugs, devices, or outpatient services; (2) denying eligibility based on use or potential use of such items or services; (3) providing monetary payments or rebates to a covered individual to encourage acceptance of less than the minimum protections available; (4) penalizing, reducing, or limiting a professional's reimbursement because the professional prescribed such drugs or devices or provided such services; or (5) providing incentives to a professional to induce the professional to withhold drugs, devices, or services. Amends the Public Health Service Act to apply those prohibitions to coverage offered in the individual market.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
FDA Tobacco Authority Amendments Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to, among other things: (1) include "nicotine in a tobacco product" in the definition of the term "drug" and to include "a tobacco product" in the definition of the term "device;" and (2) set forth provisions for tobacco products concerning special standards for such products, warnings regarding such products, and a rule of construction regarding farmers and related entities.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Quiet Communities Act of 2001 - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to reestablish an Office of Noise Abatement and Control. Requires the Administrator, using funds made available to the Office, to carry out a study of airport noise. Amends the Noise Control Act of 1972 to include the establishment of training programs on the use of noise abatement equipment and the implementation of noise abatement plans in the list of purposes for which grants under the Quiet Communities Program are provided.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2001
Assistant United States Attorneys Retirement Benefit Equity Act of 2001 - Makes applicable to Assistant United States Attorneys the provisions of the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System that apply to Federal law enforcement officers. Directs the Department of Justice to provide notice to incumbent Assistant U.S. Attorneys as to their election rights under this Act and the effects of making or not making a timely election under this Act. Allows such incumbents to elect the option to be treated either: (1) in accordance with the amendments made by this Act; or (2) as if this Act had never been enacted.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2001
Access to Innovation for Medicare Patients Act of 2001- Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, to provide for Medicare coverage of self-injected biologicals approved by the Food and Drug Administration that are prescribed as a complete replacement for a drug or biological that otherwise cannot be self-administered.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
America's Better Classroom Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a limited credit for qualified public school modernization bonds (qualified school construction bonds and qualified zone academy bonds). Amends the General Education Provisions Act to provide for the application of certain labor standards to projects financed under this Act. Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to establish provisions concerning employment and training activities related to the construction or reconstruction of public school facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to: (1) restrict the application of the windfall elimination provision to individuals whose combined monthly income from the individual's primary insurance amount under such title and the portion of the monthly periodic payment attributable to noncovered service performed after 1956 exceeds $2,000; and (2) provide for a graduated implementation of such provision by specified percentages with respect to incremental amounts above such threshold, up to 100 percent for combined amounts over $3,000.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a grants program to help States and local educational agencies recruit, train, and hire 100,000 additional teachers over a seven-year period in order to: (1) reduce class sizes nationally, in grades one through three, to an average of 18 students per classroom; and (2) improve teaching in the early grades so that all students can learn to read independently and well by the end of the third grade.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to classify qualified leasehold improvement property (defined as certain improvements made to an interior portion of nonresidential real property) as ten-year property for depreciation purposes under the Accelerated Cost Recovery System.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) with respect to pensions. (All the following are amendments to the Code, except where the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, ERISA, is mentioned.) Increases: (1) annual dollar Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contribution limits; and (2) benefit and contribution limits, with indexes for inflation. Revises requirements relating to: (1) plan loans for subchapter S owners, partners, and sole proprietors; and (2) specified top-heavy rules. Provides that elective deferrals shall not be taken into account for purposes of limits on certain plan contributions. Repeals specified coordination requirements for deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations. Revises certain deduction limits for stock bonus and profit sharing trusts and for defined contribution plans. Provides for optional treatment of elective deferrals as after-tax contributions. Allows individuals age 50 or older to make additional contributions to an applicable employer plan (section 401(k) or similar plan). Sets forth requirements relating to equitable treatment for contributions of employees to defined contribution plans. Provides for faster vesting of certain employer matching contributions under the Code and ERISA. Revises: (1) minimum distribution rules; (2) requirements relating to tax treatment of division of section 457 plan benefits upon divorce; and (3) provisions for safe harbor relief for hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. Permits, under certain conditions, rollovers: (1) from and to various types of plans; (2) of IRAs into workplace retirement plans; and (3) of after-tax contributions in an exempt trust. Sets forth a hardship exception to the 60-day rule. Sets forth requirements for treatment of forms of distribution available under transferor and transferee plans under the Code and ERISA. Revises restrictions on distributions, including the same desk exception. Allows trustee-to-trustee transfers to purchase permissive service credit with respect to governmental defined benefit plans. Allows employers to disregard rollovers for purposes of cash-out amounts, under retirement plan provisions of the Code. Revises minimum distribution and inclusion requirements for section 457 plans. Repeals, for plan years beginning in 2004 and following years, the current liability full funding limit under the Code and ERISA. Revises maximum contribution deduction rules, and applies them to all defined benefit plans. Allows an employer, in determining the amount of nondeductible contributions for any taxable year, to elect not to take into account any contributions to a defined benefit plan except to the extent they exceed the full-funding limitation. Establishes an excise tax for the failure of a defined benefit plan or an individual account plan (except governmental, church, and other specified plans) subject to minimum funding standards to meet specified notice requirements, under the Code and ERISA, for plan amendments which significantly reduce benefit accruals. Makes certain compensation limitations for defined benefit plans inapplicable to governmental and multiemployer plans. Prohibits combining or aggregating a multiemployer plan with any other plan maintained by the employer for the purpose of applying such limitations. Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 to protect the investment of employee contributions to 401(k) plans by providing that specified requirements apply to elective deferrals for plan years beginning after December 31, 1998. Requires that pension benefit statements be furnished annually (once every three years for defined benefit plans) or on request. Establishes an excise tax for certain prohibited allocations of stock in an S corporation ESOP. Revises Code and ERISA requirements relating to timing of plan valuations. Allows applicable dividends of ESOPs to be reinvested without loss of dividend deduction. Repeals a transition rule relating to certain highly compensated employees under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations with respect to certain plan participation by employees of tax-exempt entities. Treats the provision of certain retirement planning services by an employer for an employee as a de minimis fringe benefit to the extent it is not treated as a working condition fringe. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to provide simplified annual filing requirements for retirement plans with assets below a specified amount, if they cover: (1) one participant (an owner and spouse); or (2) fewer than 25 employees. Directs the Secretary to continue to update and improve the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, or any successor program. Repeals a multiple use test. Allows certain alternative ways of satisfying nondiscrimination, coverage, and line of business rules. Exempts plans maintained by any governmental entity from certain nondiscrimination rules. Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations relating to the notice and consent period regarding distributions. Revises ERISA provisions relating to: (1) annual report dissemination; (2) the National Summit on Retirement Savings; (3) missing participants; (4) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) reduction of premiums for new plans of small employers and of additional premiums for new and small plans; (5) PBGC authority to pay interest on premium overpayment refunds; (6) substantial owner benefits in terminated plans; (7) civil penalties for breach of fiduciary responsibility; and (8) benefit suspension notices. Prescribes time requirements for plan amendments or annuity contract amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Death Tax Elimination Act - Repeals the estate tax, gift tax, and the tax on generation-skipping transfers, effective January 1, 2011. Provides for annual reductions of the tax until such date. Increases the unified estate and gift tax credit to $1.3 million. Repeals the estate and gift tax provisions applicable to family-owned businesses. Amends provisions concerning the special rules for allocation of the generation-skipping tax (GST) exemption to provide, as a general rule, that: (1) if any individual makes an indirect skip during such individual's lifetime, any unused portion of such individual's GST exemption shall be allocated to the property transferred to the extent necessary to make the inclusion ratio for such property zero; and (2) if the amount of the indirect skip exceeds such unused portion, the entire unused portion shall be allocated to the property transferred. Declares that, if a trust is severed in a qualified severance, the trusts resulting from such severance shall be treated as separate trusts thereafter. Revises valuation rules for gifts for which a gift tax return was filed or deemed allocation made. Provides that, if an allocation of the GST exemption to any transfers of property is deemed to have been made at the close of an estate tax inclusion period, the value of the property shall be its value at such time. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe circumstances and procedures under which extensions of time will be granted to make an allocation of GST exemption or an election not to apply specified allocation requirements to certain lifetime direct skips, indirect skips, or transfers to a particular trust. Increases the permissible number of partners or shareholders in a closely held business for purposes of eligibility for an extension of estate tax payments.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Budget Responsibility and Efficiency Act of 2001 - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to revise the Federal and congressional budget processes by establishing a two-year budgeting and appropriations cycle and timetable. Defines the budget biennium as the two consecutive fiscal years beginning on October 1 of any odd-numbered year. Conforms provisions of the Rules of the House of Representatives, provisions governing the President's budget, and requirements for certain strategic and performance plans and reports to the biennial framework. Provides a point of order against any measure that contains a specific authorization of appropriations unless such authorization is for each fiscal year in a biennium. Requires the President's budget submission for FY 2004 to identify budget accounts for which an appropriation should be made for each fiscal year of the FY 2004-2005 biennium. Directs congressional committees, during the 108th Congress, to work with the Comptroller General to develop plans to transition program authorizations to a multi-year schedule. Sets forth additional transition requirements. Makes this Act applicable to budget resolutions and appropriations for the biennium beginning with FY 2006.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Home Health Fairness Act of 2001 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, to: (1) eliminate a specified 15 percent reduction in cost and per beneficiary limits with respect to payment rates for home health services under the Medicare prospective payment system for such services; and (2) provide for a permanent payment increase for such services furnished in a rural area. Makes this Act effective as if included in the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Home Energy Generation Act - Amends the Federal Power Act to mandate that: (1) each retail electric supplier make available an electric energy meter capable of net metering to certain retail customers that have installed an energy generation unit intended for net metering; and (2) rates, charges, and contract terms for electric energy sales to customer-generators be the same as those that would be applicable if the customer-generator did not own or operate a qualified generation unit and use a net metering system. Prescribes the manner in which such retail electric suppliers shall calculate the net energy measurement and billing for a customer using a net metering system. Subjects qualified generation units and net metering systems to specified safety, performance, and reliability standards. Authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to: (1) adopt additional control and testing requirements for customer-generators necessary to protect public safety and system reliability; and (2) prohibit additional charges by electric suppliers and local distribution systems for equipment or services for safety or performance additional to those necessary to meet such standards. Sets a deadline for FERC to promulgate: (1) model standards for the physical connection between local distribution systems and qualified generation units and other specified electric generation units; and (2) regulations ensuring simplified contracts will be used for the interconnection of electric energy by electric energy transmission or distribution systems and generating facilities with a power production capacity of 250 kilowatts or less.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Heather French Henry Homeless Veterans Assistance Act - Encourages all Federal, State, and local departments and agencies and other entities and individuals to work toward the national goal of ending homelessness among veterans within a decade. Establishes within the Department of Veterans Affairs the Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to: (1) support the continuation within the Department of at least one center to monitor the structure, process, and outcome of Department programs addressing homeless veterans; and (2) assign veterans receiving specified services provided in, or sponsored or coordinated by, the Department as being within the "complex care" category. Directs the Secretary to: (1) make grants to Department health care facilities and to grant and per diem providers for the development of programs targeted at meeting certain special needs of homeless veterans; (2) require certain officials to initiate a plan for joint outreach to veterans at risk of homelessness; (3) carry out two treatment trials in integrated mental health services delivery; (4) ensure that each Department primary care facility has a mental health treatment capacity; (5) carry out a program of transitional assistance grants to eligible homeless veterans; and (6) make technical assistance grants to aid nonprofit community-based groups in applying for homeless program grants. Extends through FY 2006 the homeless veterans reintegration program.
![Official portrait of Rep. Smith, Adam [D-WA-9]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/116_rp_wa_9_smith_adam_200.jpg)