United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Title X Pregnancy Counseling Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from making a grant for the provision of family planning methods or services unless the applicant agrees to provide complete information and counseling regarding pregnancy, and for a pregnant woman who requests information on options for an unintended pregnancy, to provide: (1) nondirective counseling on prenatal care and delivery, infant care, foster care and adoption, and termination of pregnancy; and (2) referrals for the services that are appropriate to the decision of the woman.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Amends the National School Lunch Act to extend eligibility for the child care food program to children receiving day care services pursuant to a State's job opportunities and basic skills training program.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Sport Hunting Safety and Preservation Act of 1991 - Prescribes civil penalties for knowingly interfering with the conduct of a lawful hunt in a national forest or on other Federal lands. Authorizes injunctive relief, the recovery of actual and punitive damages, and the awarding of attorney's fees. Grants hunting and sportsman's organizations standing to sue under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Enterprise Zone Tax Incentives Act of 1991 - Declares it to be the purpose of this Act to establish a demonstration program of providing incentives for the creation of tax enterprise zones in order to: (1) revitalize economically and physically distressed areas; (2) promote meaningful employment for zone residents; and (3) encourage individuals to reside in the zones in which they are employed. Title I: Designation and Tax Incentives - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the designation of tax enterprise zones by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during calendar years 1992 through 1995. Sets forth eligibility criteria for rural areas. Sets forth the eligibility criteria for such designation, including: (1) a population of not less than 4,000; (2) pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress; (3) a high unemployment rate; and (4) a required course of action designed to reduce the various burdens borne by employers or employees in the area. Provides that a course of action under private entities may not be federally funded and may include: (1) a reduction of tax rates or fees; (2) an increase in public services; (3) a reduction in government paperwork requirements; (4) business community commitments to provide jobs and job training; (5) special preference to minority contractors; (6) gifts of land for the operation of neighborhood businesses; (7) pooled health insurance; (8) loans by local financial institutions for business start-ups; and (9) special preference to low-income housing projects and private activity bonds. Allows an enterprise zone employment credit to small employers as a general business credit of ten percent of the qualified zone wages paid plus qualified zone employee health insurance costs. Allows such credit for the first five years of the employee's employment. Makes the rehabilitation credit available for buildings in the tax enterprise zone that are at least 30 years old. Allows a 60-month amortization period (in lieu of depreciation) for child care facilities. Allows the deferral of capital gain for ten years if the gain is reinvested in tax enterprise zone property. Limits the dollar amount of deferred gain. Declares that loss on any qualified zone corporate investment shall be treated as an ordinary loss. Sets forth limitations on the aggregate amounts of zone incentives to be allocated by the governmental official responsible for making such allocations in the tax enterprise zone. Allows for purposes of the low-income housing credit any parts of low-income rental buildings that are used for child care centers for children of zone residents to be included in the basis for such credit. Title II: Establishment of Foreign-Trade Zones in Tax Enterprise Zones - Requires enterprise zones to receive priority in the designation of foreign trade zones. Title III: Studies - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller General each to report to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance on the effectiveness of the incentives provided by this Act in achieving its purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Merchant Mariners Fairness Act of 1991 - Provides that certain qualified service of a member of the U.S. merchant marine, including a vessel crewmember of the U.S. Army Transport Service, during World War II constituted active military service for purposes of eligibility for various veterans' benefits under the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977. Requires the Secretary of Defense to issue an honorable discharge under such Act to each merchant marine member whose qualified service warrants such a discharge. Defines "qualified service." Prohibits the payment of any retroactive benefits under this Act. Mandates a processing fee of a specified amount for any benefit application for such qualified service. Amends the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 to add references to components or ingredients of equipment, materials, or commodities in certain cargo preference provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Freedom of Choice Act of 1991 - Provides that a State may not restrict the right of a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy: (1) before fetal viability; or (2) at any time, if such termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman. Allows a State to impose requirements medically necessary to protect the life or health of such women.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Authorizes the Secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Defense to make joint grants to qualifying medical schools to assist in the establishment of new medical research centers. Outlines qualifications for medical schools eligible for such grants, including: (1) being primarily State-supported; (2) having no established research center in the field for which application is made; (3) being located in proximity to a Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility which has an affiliation with a medical facility of the Department of Defense; and (4) having demonstrable potential for successful development of such a new research center. Requires the Secretaries to ensure that centers for which grants are made are geographically dispersed within the United States. Requires the Secretaries to establish an advisory committee to advise a medical school with respect to activities of the center for which a grant is made. Prohibits the Secretaries from entering into an agreement to make a grant unless the Secretaries find that the school will maintain arrangements with the Department medical facility with which it is affiliated as to be mutually beneficial in carrying out the mission of the respective medical facilities and the school. Requires facilities of such research centers to be made available on a competitive basis. Requires the Secretaries to ensure that Federal funding for such centers be acknowledged in the activities and publications of the center. Requires one-half of the grant amounts to be provided by each Secretary. Specifies fund sources which may be used for such grants. Requires an agreement for such grants to include certain assurances with respect to the sufficiency of non-Federal funding for such research centers. Authorizes the Secretaries to increase grant amounts due to cost increases, within specified limits. Sets forth application requirements for medical schools desiring to receive such grants. Requires the Secretaries, in considering such applications, to give priority to applications which emphasize research in one or more of the following areas: (1) diabetes and metabolic diseases; (2) prosthetics and rehabilitation medicine; (3) mental health, behavioral medicine, and neurological disease; (4) acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and related diseases; (5) Alzheimer and dementia; (6) degenerative cardiopulmonary disease; (7) cancer; (8) technology assessment; and (9) toxicology. Requires the Secretaries to use a merit review process in considering applications and awarding grants under this Act. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1995. Entitles the Secretaries to recover from grant recipients any amount not used for appropriate grant purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Civil Rights Act of 1991 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide for the burdens of proof which must be met by the various parties when an allegation of an unlawful employment practice is based on disparate impact. ( Wards Cove Packing Co. Inc. v. Atonio, 1989, held that, in cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the burden is on the plaintiff to prove an employer had no business necessity for a practice with discriminatory effects.) Allows a rule barring employment based on illegal discriminatory intent. Declares that, when an employment practice is alleged to have mixed motives, an unlawful employment practice is established when it is shown that a discriminatory basis was a contributing factor, even though other factors also contributed. Bars certain types of relief and limits damages to the injury that is attributable to the unlawful practice. Provides for the finality of litigated or consent judgments or orders resolving an employment discrimination claim, barring actions (challenging an employment practice that implements and is within the scope of a judgment or order) by persons who had certain types of notice and opportunity. Modifies the time limitations within which certain actions must be taken in alleged employment discrimination cases. (In Lorance v. AT&T Technologies, the Supreme Court held that seniority plans cannot be challenged as discriminatory unless complaints are filed soon after the plans are adopted.) Declares the application of a seniority system, if the system was included in a collective bargaining agreement with discriminatory intent, an unlawful employment practice. Allows punitive damages, certain types of compensatory damages, and jury trials only in connection with certain claims of intentional discrimination under the Act or under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Allows any party, if compensatory or punitive damages are sought, to demand a jury trial. Includes expert fees and other litigation expenses in attorney's fees which may be awarded in certain circumstances. Prohibits consent orders or judgments settling a claim, or stipulations of dismissal, unless the parties or their counsel attest that a waiver of all or substantially all attorney's fees was not compelled as a condition of the settlement.( Independent Federation of Flight Attendants v. Zipes held that attorneys' fees can be recovered under Title VII against losing intervenors only if the intervenor's action is frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation.) Allows the court, in its discretion to promote fairness, in a proceeding in which a judgment or order granting relief under employment discrimination provisions is challenged, to allow the prevailing party in the original action to recover attorney's fees and costs incurred in defending the judgment or order. Extends the time limit for filing against the Government a civil action involving employment discrimination. Requires, except for prejudgment interest on compensatory damages, the same interest payment by the Government as in cases involving non-public parties. Requires all Federal civil rights laws to be interpreted broadly to provide equal opportunity and provide effective remedies. Prohibits, except as expressly provided, interpreting any Federal civil rights law to repeal or amend by implication any other such law. Prohibits using this Act as a basis for limiting civil rights laws not expressly amended by this Act. Amends Federal law to declare that: (1) for purposes of provisions relating to equal rights under the law, the right to make and enforce contracts includes the making, performance, modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the contract; and (2) the rights protected by the amended provisions are protected against impairment by non-governmental discrimination as well as against impairment under color of State law. (In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled, in Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, that an 1866 law forbidding discrimination in contracts applies only to hiring agreements, not on-the-job bias.) Prohibits construing the amendments made by this Act to: (1) require or encourage an employer to adopt hiring or promotion quotas; or (2) affect court-ordered remedies, affirmative action, or conciliation agreements that are otherwise in accordance with the law. Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to apply equal employment opportunities provisions to the Congress, with enforcement as determined by each House of the Congress. Amends the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to modify requirements, including time limitations, regarding filing of a civil action. Requires the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to notify the person aggrieved if an age discrimination charge is dismissed by the Commission. Allows a civil suit to be brought within a specified time limit after the dismissal. Encourages the use of alternative means of dispute resolution to resolve disputes arising under the Acts amended by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Veterans' Compensation Amendments of 1991 - Increases the rates of: (1) veterans' disability compensation; (2) additional compensation for veterans' dependents; (3) the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans; (4) dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children; and (5) supplemental dependency and indemnity compensation for disabled adult children. Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to adjust administratively the rates of disability compensation payable to persons who are not in receipt of compensation for service-connected disability or death.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
National Commemorative Advisory Act - Establishes the President's Advisory Commission on National Commemoratives to: (1) establish criteria for recommending to the President that a proposed national observance be approved or disapproved; (2) review proposals for national observances submitted in accordance with procedures published by the Commission; and (3) issue recommendations to the President concerning each proposal reviewed.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Federal Employees' Political Activities Act of 1991 - Prohibits an employee from using or attempting to use official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of any election. Prohibits an employee from using or attempting to use official authority to intimidate, threaten, coerce, command, or influence: (1) any individual for the purpose of interfering with the right of any individual to vote as the individual may choose, or of causing any individual to vote, or not to vote, for any candidate or measure in any election; (2) any person to give or withhold any political contribution; or (3) any person to engage, or not to engage, in any form of political activity. Prohibits an employee from using, attempting to use, or permitting the use of any official information, unless such information is available to the general public. Prohibits an employee from: (1) giving or offering to give a political contribution to any individual either to vote or to refrain from voting, or to vote for or against any candidate or measure, in any election; (2) soliciting, accepting, or receiving a political contribution to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote for or against any candidate or measure, in any election; or (3) giving or handing over a political contribution to a superior of the employee. Prohibits an employee from soliciting, accepting, or receiving, or from being in any manner concerned with soliciting, accepting, or receiving, a political contribution: (1) from another employee (or a member of another employee's immediate family) with respect to whom the employee is a superior; or (2) in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties by a Federal employee or official or an individual receiving salary or compensation from the Treasury. Prohibits an employee from soliciting, accepting, or receiving a political contribution from, or giving a political contribution to, any person who: (1) has, or is seeking to obtain, contractual or other business or financial relations with the employing agency; (2) conducts operations or activities which are regulated by that agency; or (3) has interests which may be substantially affected by the performance of the employee's official duties. Directs the Special Counsel of the Merit Systems Protection Board to prescribe regulations which exempt employees from such prohibitions. Prohibits an employee from engaging in political activity: (1) while on duty; (2) in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties by a Federal employee or official; (3) while wearing a uniform or official insignia identifying the office or position of the employee; or (4) while using any vehicle owned or leased by the Government. Exempts certain high level political appointees from such prohibitions if the costs associated with the political activity are not paid for by money derived from the Treasury. Authorizes leave without pay or accrued annual leave to an employee who is a candidate, upon request, to allow such employee to engage in activities relating to that candidacy. Declares that such request may be denied if the exigencies of the public business so require. Declares that such employee may be required to take leave without pay or accrued annual leave in order to be a candidate if activities relating to the candidacy interfere with the employee's performance of duties. Applies this Act to postal employees and employees of the Postal Rate Commission.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Extends the time for performing certain tax-related acts by reason of service in a combat zone for those individuals performing Desert Shield services. Declares such extended time to be the period during which such individual performs such services and the next 60 days thereafter. Allows the payment of interest on any overpayments due such individuals, starting April 15. (Generally, interest will be paid only on refunds made more than 45 days after a return is filed.) Applies this Act for any period of continuous hospitalization outside the United States attributed to an injury incurred while performing Desert Shield services.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 1990
Vehicular Natural Gas Jurisdiction Act of 1990 - Declares that for purposes of the Natural Gas Act: (1) natural gas for ultimate use in a motor vehicle fuel (VNG) shall be deemed to be "ultimately consumed" within the State in which physical delivery of such VNG occurs, whether or not physical combustion occurs in another State; (2) in the case of a wholesale of VNG by the holder of a service area determination such holder shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the State commission in the State in which physical delivery of VNG occurs; and (3) in the case of VNG transportation by such holder, the VNG shall be deemed to be "consumed" within the State in which physical delivery occurs.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Civil War Sites Study Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to prepare a study of Shenandoah Valley Civil War sites in Virginia to: (1) identify and determine the relative significance of such sites; (2) assess short- and long-term threats to their integrity; and (3) provide alternatives for the preservation of such sites by Federal, State, and local governments, or other public or private entities. Includes among such alternatives the designation of such sites as units of the National Park System. Requires the Secretary to transmit such study to specified congressional committees. Establishes the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission to prepare a study of historically significant sites and structures associated with military action during the Civil War, other than Shenandoah Valley Civil War sites. Requires the Commission to transmit such study to the President and the same congressional committees. Terminates such Commission 180 days after transmittal of such report to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Amends the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act to authorize the Commissioner of Customs to make a grant to assist an institution of higher education in establishing in Texas a North-South Center for the Study of Western Hemisphere Trade, which shall promote cultural exchange and trade between Western Hemisphere countries. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Small Business Tax Incentive Act of 1990 - Title I: Treatment of Costs of Providing Nondiscriminatory Public Accommodations - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for small businesses for the expense of providing public accommodations access to the disabled. Makes such tax credit a part of the general business credit for eligible small businesses. Reduces the tax deduction for expenditures to remove architectural and transportation barriers to the handicapped and elderly. Title II: Other Provisions - Repeals a provision that disallows the income tax deduction of 25 percent of the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals after tax year 1989 (thus extending the deduction permanently). Revises provisions regarding the review of the impact of tax regulations on small businesses with respect to procedures in promulgating final regulations. Requires the booklets of instructions for individual income tax returns to include pie-shaped graphs showing the relative sizes of the major outlay and income categories.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1990
Medicare-Medicaid Reimbursement Act of 1990 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose an additional occupational tax on manufacturers and importers of cigarettes equal to the amount of smoking-related medical costs multiplied by the percentage of cigarettes sold during the preceding year in the United States. Sets forth the smoking-related medical costs for the three-year period beginning after December 31, 1990. Declares the costs for the three-year period beginning after December 31, 1993, to be the amount determined to be equal to: (1) the average annual amount estimated to have been expended for the care and treatment of smoking-related cancers, circulatory system diseases, and respiratory diseases under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (Medicare); and (2) the average annual amount of estimated expenditures under title XIX of such Act (Medicaid) for such cancers and diseases. Appropriates a portion of increased cigarette tax revenues to the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund under the Medicare program for smoking-related medical costs. Authorizes appropriations of a portion of such revenues to the Medicaid program for such costs.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 1990
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the use of the 150 percent declining balance method of depreciation for computer equipment for alternative minimum tax purposes. Allows the use of the straight-line method for the first year for which such method will yield a higher allowance.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1990
Church Retirement Benefits Simplification Act of 1990 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to recodify and revise qualifications for church retirement and pension plans. Makes employee contributions to such plans nonforfeitable. Allows ten-year vesting with a nonforfeitable right to 100 percent of accrued benefits derived from employer contributions. Allows five-to-fifteen year vesting with a nonforfeitable right to a percentage (25% to 100%) of such accrued benefits. Requires the plan to meet minimum vesting requirements. Provides that no employee shall be considered an officer, shareholder, supervisor, or highly compensated employee if such employee receives less than $50,000 per year. Excludes from such consideration employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement if retirement benefits were a subject of good faith bargaining. Recodifies the authority of a church or a convention or association of churches to be treated as an employer making contributions to retirement income accounts. Subjects church-related hospitals and universities to certain coverage and related rules in the case of a contract purchased by a church. Requires distributions from retirement income accounts provided by churches to be in accordance with distributions under cash or deferred arrangements. Provides for determining the beginning date for such distributions. Allows self-employed ministers and chaplains who work for non-church employers to participate in their church plans. Provides that certain rules aggregating employees do not apply to churches. Restores qualified voluntary employee contributions to church plans. Treats self-employed ministers as employees for purposes of certain welfare benefit plans and retirement income accounts. Allows a deduction for contributions to retirement income accounts by such ministers. Provides that a church plan maintained by more than one employer shall not be treated as a single plan. Provides that accounting methods of deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations do not apply to a church plan. Exempts a church plan from the requirement to maintain separate accounts for medical benefits for key employees. Provides that the special rules for computing employee contributions to pension plans do not apply to certain foreign missionaries. Repeals the elective deferral catch-up limitation for church retirement income accounts. Allows church plans to annuitize benefits and increase benefit payments. Provides that rules for self-insured medical reimbursement plans are not applicable to church plans.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1990
United States-Mexico Border Health and Environment Act - Directs the Secretary of State to establish within the Department of State an organizational unit to address health and environmental problems along the U.S.-Mexican border. Requires the President to appoint a Coordinator of Border Health and the Environment to operate such unit. Establishes an Advisory Committee on Border Health and the Environment. Requests the President to direct the Secretary to enter into negotiations with the Government of Mexico to encourage the appointment of a Coordinator of Border Health and the Environment in Mexico for purposes of developing joint solutions and prevention programs regarding health and environmental problems in the area adjacent to the U.S.-Mexican boundary. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1990
Nonconventional Fuels Credit Extension and Modification Act of 1990 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the credit for producing fuel from a nonconventional source to wells or facilities in service before January 1, 1993 (currently, January 1, 1991) and sold before January 1, 2001. Redefines gas produced from a tight formation to include only gas: (1) which is committed or dedicated on April 20, 1977, to interstate commerce; or (2) which is produced from a well drilled after the date of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 1990
Title X Pregnancy Counseling Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from making a grant for the provision of family planning methods or services unless the applicant agrees to provide complete information and counseling regarding pregnancy, and for a pregnant woman who requests information on options for an unintended pregnancy, to provide: (1) nondirective counseling on prenatal care and delivery, infant care, foster care and adoption, and termination of pregnancy; and (2) referrals for the services that are appropriate to the decision of the woman.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 1990
Aid for Trade Act of 1990 - Title I: Use of Foreign Assistance Funds - Allocates, on a percentage basis, bilateral economic assistance for FY 1992 through 1996 for the construction, design, or servicing of capital projects. Limits the use of such assistance to the procurement of U.S. goods and services. Sets specified percentage limits on cash transfers with respect to such economic assistance and Economic Support Funds for FY 1992 through 1996. Requires the Comptroller General to submit to the Congress a study of cash transfer assistance. Declares that nothing in this Act is intended to reduce the amount of bilateral economic assistance (including grants) for any fiscal year for least-developed beneficiary developing countries. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require the Administrator of each agency, in determining the geographic code for the purchase of goods and services, not to grant any waivers from Geographic Codes 000 (United States only) or 941 (United States and least-developed countries) except for specified reasons. Requires the Administrator of the Agency for International Development to report annually to the Congress on such waivers. Title II: Increase in Credit Authority - Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to direct the Export-Import Bank to increase its direct loans for FY 1992 through 1996 by 15 percent per year. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 to the Tied Aid Credit Fund. Amends the Trade and Development Enhancement Act of 1983 to authorize appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 to finance a tied aid credit activity. Title III: Eastern Europe Recovery Program - Establishes the Eastern European Loan Guarantee Program to be administered through the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to provide guarantees to U.S. lenders and exporters for projects which provide for the export of U.S.-made products and services to Eastern Europe. Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to extend the authority of the Bank to make interest subsidy payments to lenders who provide loans in support of U.S. exports through October 1, 1993. Authorizes appropriations to the Bank for FY 1992 and 1993 with respect to such payments for use in Eastern Europe only. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to increase the amount of direct investment loans that the Corporation must make each fiscal year. Earmarks a specified amount of such loans to promote the activities of U.S. small businesses in Eastern Europe. Title IV: General Provisions - Defines "bilateral economic assistance."
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 1990
Enterprise Zone Tax Incentives Act of 1990 - Declares it to be the purpose of this Act to establish a demonstration program of providing incentives for the creation of tax enterprise zones in order to: (1) revitalize economically and physically distressed areas; (2) promote meaningful employment for zone residents; and (3) encourage individuals to reside in the zones in which they are employed. Title I: Designation and Tax Incentives - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the designation of tax enterprise zones by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during calendar years 1992 through 1995. Sets forth the eligibility criteria for such designation, including: (1) a population of not less than 4,000; (2) pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress; (3) a high unemployment rate; and (4) a required course of action designed to reduce the various burdens borne by employers or employees in the area. Provides that a course of action under private entities may not be federally funded and may include: (1) a reduction of tax rates or fees; (2) an increase in public services; (3) a reduction in government paperwork requirements; (4) business community commitments to provide jobs and job training; (5) special preference to minority contractors; (6) gifts of land for the operation of neighborhood businesses; (7) pooled health insurance; (8) loans by local financial institutions for business start-ups; and (9) special preference to low-income housing projects and private activity bonds. Allows an enterprise zone employment credit to small employers as a general business credit of ten percent of the qualified zone wages paid plus qualified zone employee health insurance costs. Allows such credit for the first five years of the employee's employment. Makes the rehabilitation credit available for buildings in the tax enterprise zone that are at least 30 years old. Allows a shorter recovery period (depreciation) for nonresidential real property. Allows a 60-month amortization period (in lieu of depreciation) for child care facilities. Allows the deferral of capital gain for ten years if the gain is reinvested in tax enterprise zone property. Declares that loss on any qualified zone corporate investment shall be treated as an ordinary loss. Sets forth limitations on the aggregate amounts of zone incentives to be allocated by the governmental official responsible for making such allocations in the tax enterprise zone. Allows the continued issuance of qualified small issue bonds for tax enterprise zones. Allows, for purposes of the low-income housing credit, any parts of low-income rental buildings that are used for child care centers for children of zone residents to be included in the basis for such credit. Increases such credit for buildings in enterprise zones. Title II: Establishment of Foreign-Trade Zone in Tax Enterprise Zones - Requires enterprise zones to receive priority in the designation of foreign trade zones. Title III: Study - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller General each to report to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance on the effectiveness of the incentives provided by this Act in achieving its purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 1990
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the memory of Walt Disney should be honored on the 35th anniversary of his contribution to the American dream (the opening of Disneyland).
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 1990
House of Representatives Clean Indoor Air Act - Prohibits an individual from possessing a lit tobacco product in any public area within a House office building unless it is in an area designated by the House Office Building Commission. Requires the Clerk of the House of Representatives to study and report to the Committee on House Administration on the feasibility of offering a smoke cessation assistance program for Representatives, officers, and employees of the House.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 1990
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire and manage the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site in Washington, D.C. Establishes the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site Advisory Commission. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1990
Older Women's Breast Cancer Prevention Act of 1990 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover screening mammographies for Medicare-eligible women whose last screening mammographies were performed more than 11 months previously. Determines the payment amount for such service pursuant to a fee schedule.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1990
Tobacco Control and Health Protection Act - Makes it unlawful to manufacture, package, or distribute for sale any cigarettes or smokeless tobacco product unless its package bears one of specified warnings. Regulates the label format and requires rotation of the warning labels. Requires the advertising for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to bear one of the same list of warnings. Sets forth a separate list of warnings for use on billboards advertising cigarettes. Regulates the warning format and requires rotation of warnings. Prohibits advertising any tobacco product on any medium of electronic communication subject to Federal Communications Commission regulation. Prohibits, subject to exception, the use in advertising of a human or cartoon figure, tobacco trademark logo or symbol, or picture other than a single package on a neutral white background. Requires advertising print to be black on a white background. Prohibits: (1) advertising in conjunction with sports or near schools with students under 21 years of age; (2) free or reduced cost distribution; (3) publicly identified sponsorship of any athletic, music, artistic, or other event; (4) marketing of nontobacco products (including toys) bearing a tobacco trademark; (5) payment to have any tobacco product appear in any entertainment; or (6) payment to have any tobacco trademark appear on sporting equipment, including vehicles. Applies the prohibitions and requirements of this paragraph to advertising, promotion, and packaging of nontobacco products or services which: (1) are manufactured or marketed by a corporation which manufactures or distributes tobacco products, including related companies or licensees, or any person acting with the concurrence or acquiescence of such a corporation; and (2) bear the trademark of a tobacco product manufactured or sold by that corporation. Prohibits packaging from containing a picture or human or cartoon figure unless the picture or figure appeared on the package for five consecutive years before January 1, 1989. Prohibits advertising on any audio tape, audio disc, videotape, video arcade game, or film. Prohibits advertisements and packaging from containing any representation regarding health or safety, including the level of or removal, reduction, or addition of ingredients, tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, filters, or any other mechanism or device unless the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines that the representation is significant in terms of affecting health and safety and is based upon significant scientific agreement. Prohibits any person from manufacturing, packaging, or distributing any tobacco product unless the person has provided the Secretary a list of all brands, with certain information about their constituents, and the label states the ingredients in descending order. Directs the Secretary to make the information public. Allows the Secretary, if the Secretary determines that any ingredient other than tobacco is unsafe or presents risks to health to the consumer or general public, to require that the levels of that ingredient be reduced or eliminated. Allows the Secretary to require that the manufacturer, packager, or distributor of tobacco products provide consumers with additional information about the adverse effect of tobacco products. Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit a State from receiving an allotment under alcohol and drug abuse and mental health services block grant provisions unless the State has in effect a law which: (1) prohibits sale of any tobacco product to any person under the age of 19; (2) requires a place to be licensed to sell any tobacco product; (3) meets other requirements. Authorizes the Secretary to suspend such block grant payments if the Secretary determines a State is not adequately enforcing the law. Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to deem a food misbranded if it is a confectionary or chewing gum in a form resembling cigarettes or other tobacco products. Provides for enforcement of this Act, including through action by the Secretary, injunctions, civil actions by any interested organization, and civil monetary penalties. Sets forth the authority of the Secretary with regard to: (1) research and public information on the effects of tobacco products on human health; (2) implementation of strategies for reducing the consumption of tobacco products; (3) coordination of activities inside the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), within other Federal agencies, and within private agencies; and (4) liaison with public and private entities. Directs the Secretary to establish a Center on Tobacco and Health to educate the public, support research, assist State and local law enforcement, and take other actions. Establishes within the Center an Interagency Committee on Tobacco and Health to: (1) coordinate research and educational programs within HHS and coordinate those activities with other Federal and private agencies; and (2) maintain liaison with private and public entities. Prohibits any Federal agency, or any State or local statute or regulation, from requiring any statement relating to tobacco and health, other than those required by this Act, to appear on any package or advertisement. Declares that compliance with this Act, the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, or the Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986 shall not relieve any person from liability to any other person at common law or under State statutory law. Repeals those Acts one year after enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1990
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat qualified instructional materials as research and experimental expenses deductible from a publisher's gross income as business expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1990
Family Preservation Act of 1990 - Title I: Child Welfare Services - Amends part B (Child Welfare Services) of title IV of the Social Security Act to convert the Child Welfare program from an authorization to a capped entitlement program. Repeals provisions providing incentive payments to States which maintain a foster care inventory, information system, and case review system, but requires States to provide such protections and other services designed to keep families together or reunify them. Reserves portions of part B funding for incentive grant programs which encourage: (1) States to provide family-centered child welfare services to families affected by drug or alcohol abuse; and (2) the highest State courts to assess and improve the procedures and functions of State courts in carrying out the Child Welfare Services program and part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act. Requires each State to annually compile a detailed directory of programs designed to keep families together or reunify them and programs providing services or treatment to individuals directly affected by substance abuse. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to annually publish a summary of such directories. Title II: Foster Care and Adoption Assistance - Amends the Foster Care and Adoption Assistance program to require States to reevaluate their foster care benefit levels every three years. Requires that the dispositional hearing to determine the final status of a foster child occur within 12 months of his or her original placement, rather than the current 18 months. Provides Federal coverage of child placement services on the same basis as such coverage is provided for administrative costs. Defines child placement services and administration. Prohibits the Secretary from paying a State for expenditures made more than one year prior to the State's submission of a claim for reimbursement of such expenditures or for increases in administrative costs which are not due to inflation. Eliminates the ceilings on Federal foster care payments to States and the States' authority to transfer unused foster care funds to the Child Welfare Services program. Covers respite care for foster parents with children who have special needs. Makes abandoned children eligible for foster care maintenance payments. Allows an out-of-State foster care placement only after a written finding that the affected child needs services not available in the State. Requires that States keep track of foster children placed outside the State and the quality of care they receive. Directs the Secretary to annually publish information, on a State-by-State basis, on expenditures for, and the operation of, the Child Welfare Services program and the Foster Care and Adoption Assistance program. Provides Federal coverage of 90 percent of State costs in developing and installing statewide mechanized data collection and information retrieval systems which the Secretary determines are likely to enhance the administration of such programs. Provides foster care maintenance payments to children whose adoption has been set aside by a court on the same basis as such benefits were provided prior to such disrupted adoption. Title III: Emergency Assistance - Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act to require States to provide emergency assistance to needy families with children, including services designed to prevent homelessness. Title IV: Social Services Block Grant - Amends title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) of the Social Security Act to authorize increased appropriations under such program through FY 1993. Title V: Research, Demonstration and Evaluation - Amends the Child Welfare Services program to authorize demonstration projects to: (1) test whether preplacement services result in fewer and shorter foster care placements and lower foster care costs; (2) develop and implement innovative recruitment or retention strategies for trained staff in public and private nonprofit agencies working with children and adolescents at risk of being placed in foster care; (3) test the effect of joint training programs for the staff of child welfare, mental health, and juvenile justice agencies; (4) test innovative procedures which enable a permanent decision to be made on the placement of children abandoned in a hospital at or shortly after birth, before such children attain the age of six months; and (5) review the procedures in effect for administrative and judicial review of cases involving foster care and termination of parental rights and implement new procedures which expedite such review. Directs the Secretary to evaluate the effectiveness of family preservation services and to inventory substance abuse programs available to families with children at risk of foster care placement. Requires the Comptroller General to evaluate strategies for the recruitment and retention of foster parents, and the effects of foster parent training programs on the retention of foster parents.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 1990
Enterprise Zone Jobs-Creation Act of 1990 - Title I: Designation of Enterprise Zones - Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Secretary) to designate enterprise zones for purposes of providing tax and regulatory relief and improving local services. Limits choices to areas nominated by States and local governments. Limits the total number of areas that may be designated, and the time period of the designation. Authorizes the Secretary to designate a zone only if the area meets certain locational, demographic, unemployment, and poverty criteria. Requires nominating local governments, as a condition of the Secretary's designation, to agree in writing to follow a course of action that may include reducing tax rates, improving local services, simplifying or streamlining regulation of business, and providing job training to area residents. Describes areas to which the Secretary must give preference in selecting areas for designation. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress every four years on the effects of such enterprise zones' designation in accomplishing the purposes of this Act. Title II: Federal Income Tax Incentives - Allows a nonrefundable income tax credit to enterprise zone employees for five percent of any wages earned as do not exceed a specified amount. Phases out such credit. Provides for the nonrecognition of capital gain on the sale of enterprise zone property. Allows a taxpayer a deduction on the aggregate amount paid for the purchase of enterprise stock on its original issue by a qualified issuer. Requires any gain from the disposition of the stock to be treated as ordinary income. Title III: Regulatory Flexibility - Amends Federal law to revise the definition of "small entity" for purposes of the analysis of regulatory functions to include qualified business, government, and nonprofit enterprises operating within enterprise zones. Authorizes Federal agencies, upon request by a designating government, to waive or modify rules and regulations pertaining to the implementation of projects or activities within an enterprise zone. Requires agencies to approve the request if the resulting benefits of job creation, community development, or economic revitalization outweigh the public interest in retaining the rule unchanged. Disallows waiver or modification of a rule that would directly violate a statutory requirement or present a danger to the public health and safety. Title IV: Establishment of Foreign-Trade Zones in Enterprise Zones - Requires the Foreign-Trade Zone Board to consider on a priority basis and to expedite the processing of applications for the establishment of foreign-trade zones within enterprise zones. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to give priority to, and expedite applications for, the establishment of ports of entry necessary to establish such zones. Title V: Repeal of Title VII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 - Repeals Title VII (enterprise zone development) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 1990
Designates as South African Freedom Week the week in 1990 coinciding with the first visit of Nelson Mandela to the United States after his release from prison in South Africa.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1990
Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to declare that if the President proposes to extend in 1991 for a 12-month period (July 3, 1991, to July 3, 1992) the waiver of human rights and emigration requirements for nondiscriminatory treatment (most-favored-nation treatment) for China, such continuation shall be conditioned on progress made regarding human rights, termination of martial law (in Tibet and elsewhere), termination of assistance to the Khmer Rouge, and engagement in negotiations to settle the conflict in Cambodia. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should propose the withdrawal of China's observer status in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade if such nondiscriminatory treatment is withdrawn.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1990
Disaster Assistance Act of 1990 - Title I: Emergency Crop Loss Assistance - Subtitle A: Annual Crops - Extends disaster crop loss assistance through the 1990 crop year for wheat, feed grains, cotton, rice, peanuts, sugar, tobacco, soybeans, and other nonprogram crops. Extends crop quality reduction disaster assistance through the 1990 crop year. Reduces disaster assistance payments in relation to Federal crop insurance payments. Requires producers to obtain Federal crop insurance for 1991 in order to be eligible for disaster payments and other specified assistance for 1990 crop losses. Sets forth exempted circumstances. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to announce within a specified time the conditions for establishing a 1990 farm yield for forage-use-crops. Limits assistance under this Act to $100,000. Authorizes the substitution of crop insurance program yields for 1990 disaster assistance eligibility purposes. Subtitle B: Orchards - Provides disaster assistance (up to $25,000 or an equivalent value in seedlings) to orchardists who suffered qualifying tree losses as a result of 1990 freeze, earthquake, or related condition. Expresses the sense of the Congress that Federal crop insurance should be made available to all orchard crops. Subtitle C: Forest Crops - Provides disaster assistance (up to $25,000 or an equivalent in seedlings) to commercial tree farmers who suffered qualifying tree seedling losses as a result of 1990 drought, earthquake, or related condition. Subtitle D: Additional Assistance - Prohibits the Secretary from reducing rental payments to an owner or operator who hays or grazes livestock during the 1990 crop year on land subject to a conservation reserve program contract to the extent that such owner or operator carries out and pays for specified additional conservation practices. Subtitle E: Administrative Provisions - Makes a person with qualifying annual gross income (as defined by this Act) in excess of $2,000,000 ineligible for assistance under this Act. Title II: Disaster Credit and Forbearance - Makes producers who suffered 1990 crop losses eligible for emergency loans even if they had crop insurance. Directs the Secretary to make 1991 direct and guaranteed farm operating loans (including funds from the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund) available to producers who suffered 1990 crop losses due to moisture, freeze, or related condition, and 1989 or 1990 crop losses due to drought or related condition. Title III: Rural Businesses - Directs the Secretary to provide loan guarantees through the Rural Development Insurance Fund to rural business enterprises (including Indian tribes) which have suffered disaster damage in 1989 or 1990. Limits: (1) individual guarantees to the lesser of 90 percent of principal and interest or $2,500,000; and (2) aggregate guarantees to $200,000,000. Title IV: General Provisions - Amends the Disaster Assistance Act of 1989 to base the determination of the 1989 harvestable amount of sugarcane on the quantity of recoverable sugar.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1990
Oil and Gas Small Investor Incentive Act of 1990 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the amount of excess intangible drilling costs for non-geothermal oil and gas properties as an item of tax preference under the alternative minimum tax. Revises the exception of oil and gas working interests to the passive activity loss rules by including taxpayers who hold any working interest in any oil or gas property through an entity which limits the taxpayer's liability with respect to such interest to a specified extent.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1990
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the administration should: (1) be commended for its quick action in addressing the humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia; and (2) impress upon Ethiopia's opposition groups that the U.S. attitude toward each such group will be greatly influenced by their cooperation in facilitating relief efforts and by steps they take in negotiating a lasting political settlement. Requests the President to urge: (1) the parties to the conflict in northern Ethiopia to agree to a ceasefire, to accept free passage of relief, and to permit the United Nations (U.N.) to assume a prominent role in coordinating international relief efforts; (2) Soviet President Gorbachev to press the Ethiopian Government to agree to such actions; and (3) nations supplying military assistance to the warring parties in Ethiopia to use their influence to facilitate a ceasefire and end external military flows. Urges the President: (1) until the Ethiopian Government takes such actions, to oppose favorable treatment of such Government by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to continue to oppose upgrading of U.S. diplomatic relations with such Government, and to prohibit the importation of Ethiopian coffee; and (2) after the Ethiopian Government takes such actions and has made substantial progress in effecting macroeconomic reform and in negotiating a settlement of Ethiopia's internal wars, to begin the normalization of relations and to support an expanded World Bank and IMF role in Ethiopia.
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1990
Amends the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 to define what articles under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States are to be included in the term "steel" for purposes of the prohibition on the importation of South African iron and steel.
United States · United States Congress · 23 April 1990
Contraception and Infertility Research Centers Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the Institute of Child Health and Human Development to make grants and enter into contracts for centers for improving methods of contraception and centers for diagnosing and treating infertility. Requires the Director, subject to appropriations, to provide for three centers with respect to contraception and two centers with respect to infertility. Requires each center to: (1) conduct clinical and other applied research; (2) develop training protocols for and conduct training of physicians, scientists, nurses, and other health and allied health professionals; (3) develop model continuing education programs; and (4) disseminate information to such professionals. Allows a center to use the funds to provide: (1) stipends for health and allied health professionals enrolled in the training programs; and (2) fees to individuals serving as subjects in the clinical trials. Requires each center to use the facilities of a single institution, or be formed from a consortium of cooperating institutions, meeting requirements as prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Allows support for a center to be for a period of up to five years, with extensions of one or more periods of up to five years if the center's operations have been reviewed by a peer review group and the group has so recommended. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary to establish a program of entering into agreements with health professionals, including graduate students, under which the professionals agree to conduct research with respect to contraception or infertility in consideration of the Government agreeing to repay, for each year of such service, not more than a specified amount of the principal and interest of their educational loans. Applies provisions of the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program to this program, except as inconsistent. Authorizes appropriations. Requires amounts appropriated to remain available until the end of the second fiscal year after they are appropriated.
United States · United States Congress · 23 April 1990
Declares that the Congress should: (1) establish a program of research for the development of methods of contraception and methods of diagnosing and treating infertility; (2) provide adequate long-term resources for the program; (3) ensure that Federal programs with respect to sexually transmitted diseases adequately respond to the role of such diseases in infertility; (4) ensure public education on contraception and infertility; (5) establish as Federal goals the development, by the year 2010, of improved barrier methods to protect against pregnancy and diseases, new methods of contraception for use by men, a vaccine-like drug for women that prevents pregnancy for a significant period of time without other specified effects, and new and improved techniques of diagnosing and treating infertility; (6) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to reestablish the Ethical Advisory Board in order to facilitate research with respect to infertility; (7) review the policies and procedures of the Food and Drug Administration with respect to expediting approval of drugs and devices for use by the public, especially with respect to contraception and infertility; and (8) determine to what extent measures can be implemented by public or private entities to resolve liability issues involved with drugs and devices concerned with contraception and infertility.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Amends the Colorado River Storage Project Act to express the intent of the Congress that the Glen Canyon Dam be operated in a manner that protects, mitigates damages to, and enhances the natural resources of the Grand Canyon National Park and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) develop emergency interim operating criteria (EIOC) for the Glen Canyon Dam in consultation with the Department of the Interior, the Secretary of Energy, and the State of Arizona, and with the full participation of the general public, including environmental organizations, the recreation industry, Indian tribes, and those who contract for the purchase of Federal power produced at Glen Canyon Dam; and (2) implement such EIOC pending adoption of new long-term operating criteria. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to vary the EIOC if necessary to: (1) comply with requirements enumerated later under this Act; (2) respond to hydrologic extremes or power system operating emergencies; or (3) further reduce adverse impacts on resources downstream. Directs the Secretary, within three years after this Act's enactment, to complete the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies and the final Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement as required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Outlines certain evaluations and information with respect to the Park, the Area, and the Dam required to be included in the impact statement. Directs the Secretary to adopt new long-term operating criteria for the Dam based on the Studies and the Statement and to submit the Studies, the Statement, and the new criteria to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations.
![Official portrait of Rep. Andrews, Michael [D-TX-25]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/a000209_200.jpg)