United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2003
National AMBER Alert Network Act of 2003 - Requires the Attorney General to assign an AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice to act as the national Coordinator of the AMBER Alert communications network regarding abducted children. Requires the coordinator to: (1) seek to eliminate gaps in the network; (2) work with States to encourage the development of additional network elements and to ensure regional coordination; and (3) act as the nationwide point of contact for network development and for regional coordination of alerts on abducted children through the network. Directs the Coordinator to: (1) notify and consult with the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning each child abduction for which an AMBER Alert is issued; and (2) establish minimum standards for the issuance of alerts and for the extent of their dissemination (limited to the geographic areas most likely to facilitate the recovery of the abducted child). Requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide grants to States for the development or enhancement of notification or communications systems along highways for alerts and other information for the recovery of abducted children. Includes among permissible activities the development or enhancement of electronic message boards, and the placement of additional signage, along highways. Directs the Attorney General to provide grants to States for the development or enhancement of programs and activities for the support of AMBER Alert communications plans.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2003 - Permits retired members of the armed forces with service-connected disabilities to be paid both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation. Repeals provisions providing for special compensation for certain severely disabled military retirees and certain combat-related disabled uniformed services retirees.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Access to Hospitals Act of 2003 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to repeal specified reductions after FY 2000 and thereby extend certain modifications to disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments provided under the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000. Increases the Medicaid DSH allotment for the District of Columbia.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Act - Requires the Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to expand activities addressing inflammatory bowel disease, emphasizing genetic, animal model, and clinical research. Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish a national program of prevention and epidemiology concerning such disease, addressing its prevalence and public and professional awareness. Directs the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science to study public and private insurance standards for coverage of inflammatory bowel therapies. Directs the General Accounting Office to study problems inflammatory bowel disease patients have applying for disability insurance benefits under the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Student Bill of Rights - Directs the Secretary of Education to make annual determinations as to whether each State's public school system provides all its students with educational resources to succeed academically and in life. Requires such education to enable students to: (1) acquire knowledge and skills necessary for responsible citizenship; (2) meet challenging academic achievement standards; and (3) compete and succeed in a global economy. Requires each system to do so through: (1) providing specified fundamentals of educational opportunity to students at each public elementary and secondary school; (2) providing educational services in school districts that receive funds for disadvantaged students that are, taken as a whole, at least comparable to educational services provided in school districts not receiving such funds; and (3) complying with any final Federal or State court order in any matter concerning the adequacy or equitableness of the system. Requires withholding of specified portions of its Federal funding for administrative expenses if a system: (1) fails to meet a yearly interim goal; (2) does not remedy, after two school years, a failure to provide comparable educational services to schools that receive funds for disadvantaged children; or (3) does not comply with a court order. Allows students or parents aggrieved by violations of this Act to bring civil actions for enforcement in Federal district courts. Directs the Commissioner of Education Statistics to study the effects of educational disparities on economic growth and on national defense.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Amends the Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act of 2000 to make as one of its purposes that in implementation of this Act at least 50 percent of all microenterprise assistance be targeted to the very poor, that is, those persons living either in the bottom 50 percent below the poverty line or on less than the equivalent of one dollar per day. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1964 to authorize the President to provide assistance to increase the availability of financial services (not just credit) to microenterprise households lacking full access to credit, including through: (1) loans and guarantees to microfinance institutions to expand the availability of savings and credit to poor and low-income households; (2) training programs to enable such institutions to better meet the financial services needs of their clients; and (3) training programs to enable clients to make better use of credit, increase their financial literacy, and to better manage their enterprises to improve their quality of life. Declares that, in order to maximize the sustainable development impact of microenterprise development grant assistance authorized under the Act, the Administrator of the agency primarily responsible for administering such assistance shall establish a monitoring system that, among other things, adopts the widespread use of proven and effective poverty assessment tools to identify the poorest of the poor and ensure that they receive needed microenterprise credits, loans, and assistance. Requires the Administrator of the Agency for International Development to develop and certify no fewer than two low-cost methods for measuring the poverty levels of the current or prospective clients of microenterprise organizations for purposes of the provision of microenterprise development grant assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Houston, Texas, as the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Keep Our Promise to America's Military Retirees Act - Includes as an employee, for purposes of Federal provisions authorizing enrollment under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program: (1) a member of the armed forces who began service before June 7, 1956, and retired after a minimum of 20 years of such service or by reason of a service-connected disability; and (2) the surviving widow or widower of such member. Directs the Secretary of Defense to enter into an agreement with the Office of Personnel Management to provide FEHB coverage to the following eligible beneficiaries: (1) a member or former member entitled to military retired or retainer pay; (2) an unremarried former spouse who was married to a member for at least 20 years, during which such member performed at least 20 years of retirement-creditable military service; (3) a dependent of a deceased qualifying member or former member; (4) a dependent of a living member or former member; and (5) a family member.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Community Choice in Real Estate Act - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, and the Revised Statutes of the United States, to prohibit the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Secretary of the Treasury, respectively, from determining that real estate brokerage activity or real estate management activity is financial in nature, is incidental to any financial activity, or is complementary to a financial activity. (In effect, prohibits financial holding companies and national banks from engaging, directly or indirectly, in real estate brokerage or real estate management activities.) Exempts from such prohibition: (1) activities of a bank holding company (or any affiliate) that directly relate to managing any real property owned by national banks or their affiliates; and (2) the right, power, or ability of any financial holding company to engage in any activity, or acquire or retain the shares of any company engaged in an activity authorized for financial holding companies on December 6, 2001 ("grandfather clause").
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Renames the Technology Assessment Act of 1972 as the Office of Technology Assessment Reestablishment Act of 2003. Authorizes appropriations for the Office of Technology Assessment for FY 2004 through 2009.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Medicare Physician Protection Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to specify the conversion factor (update) for payments under the Medicare physician fee schedule for 2003.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Medicare Disability Eligibility Improvement Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the 24-month waiting period for disabled individuals to become eligible for Medicare benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2003 - Amends the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 (TEUCA, which is title II of the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002, PL107-147) to extend the TEUCA program through weeks of unemployment ending before July 1, 2003. Provides for a transition period of continuing payments to individuals with amounts remaining in their TEUC account after June 30, 2003, for weeks beginning before December 31, 2003. Entitles eligible individuals in all States to a total of 26 weeks of TEUCA compensation (13 weeks beyond the current 13 weeks). Provides an additional seven weeks of TEUCA benefits for workers in high unemployment States (entitling them to a total of 33, which is 20 weeks beyond the current 13). Applies a revised adjusted insured unemployment rate State trigger. Sets an additional TEUCA benefit period State trigger based on total unemployment rate.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Clean Water Infrastructure Financing Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to remove certain requirements for States with respect to construction of treatment works under capitalization grant agreements. Requires architectural and engineering contracts to be awarded consistent with procedures under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 or an equivalent State qualifications-based requirement. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to assist States in establishing simplified procedures for small water systems to obtain assistance under the Act. Requires revolving funds to be used only for providing assistance for activities which have as a principal benefit the improvement or protection of water quality of navigable waters. Makes revisions concerning uses of funds for: (1) innovative technologies; (2) administrative expenses; (3) small system technical, planning, and management assistance; and (4) financially distressed communities. Revises requirements related to consistency with plans and eligibility of treatment works not considered publicly owned. Requires States to make grants to financially distressed communities in any fiscal year in which the Administrator has more than $1.4 billion available for obligation and allows a State to give priority to such communities in making loans. Directs the Administrator to provide technical and financial assistance to owners and operators of publicly-owned treatment works for: (1) inventorying critical treatment works assets; (2) evaluating the performance and condition of these assets; and (3) developing a plan for maintaining and replacing treatment works. Reauthorizes appropriations for FY 2004 through 2008 for the revolving fund program.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the full realization of the rights of women is vital to the development and well-being of people of all nations; and (2) the Senate should, therefore, give its advice and consent to the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) a commemorative postage stamp should be issued in honor of George Thomas `Mickey' Leland; and (2) the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee of the United States Postal Service should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.
United States · United States Congress · 16 October 2002
Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Houston, Texas, as the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
United States · United States Congress · 15 October 2002
Recognizes and congratulates former President Jimmy Carter for his receipt of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, and commends him for his tireless work for and dedication to peace.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 2002
Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to exempt State and local committees of candidates and of political parties from specified notification requirements. Exempts a "qualified State or local political organization" from specified reporting requirements. Defines "qualified State or local political organization." Requires an annual income tax return from political organizations only with respect to political organization taxable income. (Currently, such a return is required with respect to such income or if gross receipts exceed $25,000.) Exempts such returns from disclosure. Requires the filing of an annual information return by a political organization with gross receipts of $25,000 or more or with gross receipts of $100,000 or more in the case of a qualified State or local political organization, except for certain organizations including: (1) a State or local committee of a political party, or political committee of a State or local candidate; (2) a caucus or association of State or local officials; (3) an authorized committee of a candidate for Federal office; (4) a national committee of a political party; or (5) a U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate campaign committee of a political party committee. Requires publicizing the effects of this Act and the interaction of IRC requirements with Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 requirements. Permits the waiver of an organization's failure to comply tax if due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect. Makes additional amendments to IRC section 527 (Political Organizations) concerning: (1) unsegregated funds; (2) penalty assessment and collection procedures; (3) electronic filing; (4) public availability of notices and reports; and (5) timing of notice of material change.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 2002
Stealth Lobbyist Disclosure Act of 2002 - Amends the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to redefine the term "client" with respect to coalitions and associations on whose behalf a lobbyist must file a registration. Provides that, in the case of a coalition or association that employs or retains other persons to conduct lobbying activities, each of the individual members of the coalition or association, and not the coalition or association itself as under current law, is the client for whom a registration must be filed. Makes an exception for certain tax-exempt associations and for certain members of a coalition or association if the amount reasonably expected to be contributed by such member toward specific legislation-influencing activities of the coalition or association is less than $1,000 per any semiannual period.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 2002
Stealth Lobbyist Disclosure Act of 2002 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat certain associations or coalitions as political organizations and thus require disclosure of their lobbying activities. Sets forth disclosure requirements, including notice requirements. Exempts certain tax-exempt organizations from such provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 2002
Restoring Budget Disciplines Act of 2002 - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to extend Pay-As-You-Go provisions through FY 2007. Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should agree upon an extension of the discretionary spending limits by establishing caps for FY 2003 through 2007. Extends discretionary spending limits.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 2002
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase, for a corporate insider, the applicable tax by 50 percent of the amount realized by such insider from the disqualified disposition of stock (a sale violating specified restrictions) acquired by such corporate insider upon the exercise of a stock option granted by the corporation; (2) increase, for a publicly traded corporation, the applicable tax by 50 percent of the net cost to the corporation of personal perks provided to a retired executive of the corporation; and (3) include in the gross income of a corporate insider funded deferred compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 2002
Congratulates Lance Armstrong and his team on his historic victory in the 2002 Tour de France. Commends the unwavering commitment to cancer awareness and survivorship demonstrated by him.
United States · United States Congress · 9 September 2002
Chance to Succeed Act of 2002 - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to include as a work activity satisfactory participation in services to address barriers designed to improve future employment opportunities, including substance abuse treatment and physical rehabilitation, mental health, and mental retardation and developmental disabilities services. Requires the assessment for each assistance recipient to determine whether the recipient has any such barriers. Prohibits a TANF-recipient State from imposing a sanction against an individual or family on the basis of noncompliance with a program requirement if the individual whose conduct is the basis of the sanction is in the uncompleted process of being screened or assessed for a mental health problem, disability, substance abuse problem, or sexual or domestic violence situation, or if the services outlined in the service plan developed for the individual or family were not offered, available, and accessible to the individual or family at the time of the noncompliance. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed as prohibiting a State in compliance with its requirements from imposing a sanction for noncompliance with work requirements against an individual or family who opts to not take full advantage of the opportunity for assessment or the services and supports made available. Requires each State receiving a State family assistance grant to establish an advisory panel to review the efficacy of each TANF-funded program.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Medical Liability Insurance Crisis Response Act of 2002 - Amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act (antitrust) to exempt from the antitrust laws joint conduct concerning data, forms, manuals and the provision of medical malpractice insurance pursuant to a public necessity market mechanism or the administration of such mechanism in a State. Amends the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the prompt payment of claims. Amends the Public Health Service Act to address the issue of the nursing shortage through the Nursing Workforce Development Student Loan Repayment program, the establishment of a National Nurse Corps Scholarship program, and other grant and scholarship programs to train and retain nurses. Establishes an alternative dispute resolution system for medical malpractice cases which preempts other State and Federal law, excluding vaccine-related claims. Mandates mediation before trial. Requires certifications and affidavits by participating parties and attorneys that certain consultations and investigations have taken place and that their case is reasonable and meritorious. Imposes sanctions, including payment of attorney's fees and costs, for submitting false allegations. Permits the periodic payment of awards over $250,000. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to appoint an Advisory Commission on Medical Malpractice. Freezes medical malpractice insurance rates until after the Commission's report. Addresses other medical malpractice insurance issues, including withdrawal from the market, guaranteed coverage and renewability, and disclosure. Requires the Secretary to establish an interactive, secure Internet site to provide medical malpractice insurance quotes. Amends the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986 to mandate equal treatment between traditional insurers and risk retention groups.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Tobacco Smuggling Eradication Act of 2002 - Amends chapter 52 (Tobacco Products and Cigarette Papers and Tubes) of the Internal Revenue Code to require all packages of tobacco products to carry a unique legibly printed serial number by which the Secretary of the Treasury can identify the manufacturer or importer and the location and date of manufacture or importation. Requires tobacco products sold on Indian reservations to be labeled as such. Requires a tobacco wholesaler to have a permit and to maintain certain records. Requires export warehouse proprietors to file certain reports with the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into certain tobacco related information agreements with foreign countries. Establishes new offenses relating to the distribution of tobacco. Raises the $1,000 civil penalty under chapter 52 to $10,000. Amends the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act to: (1) expand the applicability of such Act from cigarettes only to "tobacco product" (cigars, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and pipe tobacco); (2) define "contraband tobacco product" as a quantity of tobacco product that is equivalent to or more than 30,000 cigarettes (currently, 60,000) which bear no evidence of the payment of applicable State tobacco taxes; (3) establish new unlawful acts; and (4) require additional recordkeeping. Repeals Federal law provisions concerning reports required to State tobacco tax administrators by individuals engaged in interstate cigarette commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Authorizes the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor the victims of the Ukrainian famine-genocide of 1932-1933. Prohibits the U.S. Government from paying any expense for the establishment of the memorial or its maintenance.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Social Security Preservation Act of 2002 - Repudiates the statements of: (1) the Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neill, that the social security program (title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act) is a "pyramid game" and that the social security trust funds (Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund) have "no assets;" and (2) the statements of congressional leaders that the social security trust funds are "empty," a "total fraud," "a mere accounting device", and consist of "worthless IOUs." Prohibits the use by the Treasury of amounts borrowed from the social security trust funds to pay for other Government expenditures in a fiscal year, unless, during the nine month period immediately preceding the year, the Congress has enacted legislation explicitly affirming that the Treasury will repay these funds. Amends Federal law to require the President to include in each budget: (1) the total amount the Treasury has borrowed from the social security trust funds; and (2) explanations of repayment plans and the impact any legislation enacted in the preceding year will have on them. Requires the Secretary to affirm annually that the Treasury will honor the securities in such trust funds. Allows any individual credited with wages or self-employment income under Medicare to bring an action in an appropriate Federal district court to enjoin any act or practice: (1) by which the Secretary contests an obligation issued for purchase by either social security trust fund; or (2) which constitutes a failure to provide for redemption of the obligation in accordance with its terms or to otherwise honor the full faith and credit of the United States supporting such obligation.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2002
SCHIP Web-Based Enrollment Act of 2002 - Amends title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP) of the Social Security Act to encourage the use of Internet web-based enrollment systems under SCHIP. Directs the Secretary to provide for grants to enable States to develop and implement web-based enrollment systems under their SCHIP child health plans.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2002
Recommends the restriction of coffee purchases by all executive, legislative, and judicial branch offices and entities to brands that are fair trade certified. Urges such entities to provide information to the public about the importance of fair trade certified coffee.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2002
Senior Nutrition Act of 2002 - Amends the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to make a person who is at least 60 years old eligible for the commodity supplemental food program (program) if such person: (1) is eligible for the food stamp program; or (2) has a household income that is not more than 185 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines. Authorizes permanent program appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2002
Executive Accountability Act of 2002 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to negate, in specified cases, the performance-based compensation exception to the $1,000,000 limitation on deductible compensation paid by publicly held corporations. Includes in gross income funded deferred compensation of a corporate insider if the insider's corporation funds its defined contribution plan with employer stock, with specified exceptions. Includes in gross income the net unrealized built-in gain on options held by a corporate insider to acquire stock in an expatriate corporation or in any member of an expanded affiliated group which includes such corporation. Applies the golden parachute excise tax to certain cases of deferred compensation paid by a corporation to a corporate insider after such individual has left the firm if the stock value of the corporation has recently suffered a major decline or the corporation has recently declared bankruptcy.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Corporate Executive Responsibility Act of 2002 - Mandates that every national securities exchange and national securities association adopt rules requiring qualitative listing standards for corporate governance of the exchange or association that prohibit loans or other extensions of credit to any corporate insider exceeding $50,000 in the aggregate. Requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to initiate proceedings to add such rules to the rules of such entities if they have not been adopted and made effective nine months after the date of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit trafficking in a physical authentication feature that: (1) is genuine but has been tampered with or altered without the authorization of the copyright owner to induce a third party to reproduce or accept distribution of a phono-record, a copy of a computer program, a copy of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, or documentation or packaging, where such reproduction or distribution violates the rights of the copyright owner; (2) is genuine but has been or is intended to be distributed without the authorization of the copyright owner and not in connection with the lawfully made copy or phono-record to which it was intended to be affixed or embedded by the copyright owner; or (3) appears to be genuine but is not. Authorizes an injured copyright owner to bring a civil action in an appropriate U.S. district court. Sets forth remedies for violations.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Drug Company Gift Disclosure Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require drug manufacturers, packers, and distributors to disclose to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs the value and purpose of gifts made to covered health entities in connection with marketing activities. Makes such information available to the public, but retains the confidentiality of trade secrets. Establishes civil penalties for violations.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Yellowstone Protection Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement the final rule to phase out snowplane use in Grand Teton National Park and snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park, the John. D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, and Grand Teton National Park. Prohibits the Secretary from modifying or superseding any provisions of that final rule.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2002
Dirty Bomb Prevention Act - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to establish a task force on sealed source protection (byproduct material or special nuclear material encased in a capsule designed to prevent leakage or escape of the material). Requires the task force to evaluate and make recommendations to ensure the security of sealed sources from potential terrorist threats, including acts of sabotage, theft, or use of such sources in a radiological dispersal device. Directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to arrange with the National Academy of Sciences for a study of industrial, research, and commercial uses for sealed sources.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2002
No Tax Breaks for Corporations Renouncing America Act of 2002 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny a foreign entity any reduced rate of withholding tax on any deductible foreign payment under any income tax treaty between the United States and the entity's country unless the entity is predominantly owned by residents of such country. Excepts specified conduit payments. Specifies what constitutes predominant ownership.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2002
Cancer Survivorship Research and Quality of Life Act of 2002 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to include demonstration, education, and other programs concerning cancer survivorship among the activities of the National Cancer Institute (Institute) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Requires the Director of NIH to: (1) expand and coordinate NIH activities related to cancer survivorship; and (2) establish an Office on Survivorship within the Institute. Creates the position of Associate Director for Survivorship. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, to: (1) study the health challenges associated with cancer survivorship and carry out projects and interventions; and (2) make grants for the monitoring and evaluation of cancer care and survivorship.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2002
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) greater attention should be paid to the negative impact on economic development of the denial of inheritance rights to women, particularly in Africa; (2) programs that focus on ensuring secure inheritance rights to widows and orphans of HIV/AIDS should be considered; (3) ensuring secure inheritance rights for women should be included in strategies addressing violence against women; (4) the rights of widows and other female heads of households to inherit land and property should be included in the priorities of reconstruction; (5) the Secretary of State should examine the issue of women's inheritance rights in Africa in the State Department's annual human rights report; (6) the U.S. Agency for International Development should consider conducting a study of African countries to document the effect of the denial of women's inheritance rights on economic development; and (7) the Annual Day of Acton on Women's Inheritance Rights should be acknowledged and supported.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2002
Health Care for Filipino World War II Veterans Act - Requires (current law authorizes) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish hospital and nursing home care and medical services to any individual who is a Commonwealth Army veteran or new Philippine Scout (current law) and who is: (1) residing in the United States; and (2) a U.S. citizen or alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence. Provides a rate of payment equal to the rate provided for active-service veterans and their survivors for: (1) dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of Commonwealth Army veterans or new Philippine Scouts; and (2) veterans' disability compensation for new Philippine Scouts residing in the United States. Provides national cemetery burial benefits for new Philippine Scouts.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2002
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish that all property of "covered expatriates" shall be treated as sold on the day before the "expatriation date" for its fair market value, and that gain and loss shall be taken into account for the taxable year of the sale (with proper subsequent adjustment). Defines "expatriate" and "expatriation date." Permits an individual to make an irrevocable decision to defer the additional tax attributable to such property provided that adequate security is furnished and that the individual waives any rights under treaties of the United States that would preclude assessment or collection of relevant tax. Excludes certain "United States real property interests" and interest in certain retirement plans from counting as sold under this Act. Establishes special rules applicable to "covered expatriates'" interests in trusts and qualified trusts, including a tax in instances of the latter. Sets forth that such tax shall be replaced by another tax under certain delineated conditions, including if a trust ceases to be a qualified trust. Imposes a tax on "covered gifts and bequests" of more than $10,000 from expatriates to American citizens and residents, with certain specified exceptions.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 2002
National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2002 - Identifies roadless areas within the National Forest System set forth in specified documents as National Forest Inventoried Roadless Areas, and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to manage such Areas to maintain their roadless character.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2002
Patriotic Purchasing Act of 2002 - Prohibits any foreign corporation that acquires a domestic corporation or partnership on or after the date that is ten years before this Act's enactment from being eligible to be awarded a Federal contract if immediately after such transaction, more than 80 percent of the stock of the acquiring corporation is held by former shareholders or partners of the domestic corporation or partnership. Substitutes 50 percent for 80 percent if: (1) the acquiring corporation does not have substantial business activities in the foreign country in which or under the law of which such corporation is created or organized; and (2) the stock of such corporation is publicly traded and the principal market for trading it is in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2002
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make the 10 percent additional tax on early distributions of pension plans inapplicable in the case of a "qualified public safety employee" receiving a specified type of benefit (DROP benefit) from a governmental pension plan. Defines "qualified public safety employee."
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 2002
Establishes a National Commission on Terrorist Acts Upon the United States. Directs the Commission to: (1) investigate facts and circumstances relating to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; and (2) evaluate lessons learned regarding the abilities of the Federal Government, and, if appropriate, of State and local governments and nongovernmental entities to detect, prevent, and respond to such attacks.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 2002
Amends the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the planning (including an appraisal and feasibility study), design, and construction of, and land acquisition for, a project to reclaim and reuse water within and outside of the service area of the City of Austin Water and Wastewater Utility, Texas.
![Official portrait of Rep. Doggett, Lloyd [D-TX-37]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/d000399_200.jpg)