United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1979
Biennial Budgeting Act - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to establish a two-year cycle for the congressional budget process. Requires each standing committee of Congress to review the laws and programs under its jurisdiction every other year and to consider the desirability of new legislation in such areas. Requires separate consideration for authorizing legislation, budget resolutions, and appropriation bills.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1979
Consumers' Energy Hearings Act of 1979 - Requires that at least one hearing held by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on any rule, regulation, or order which would result in a significant increase of gas or electricity rates be held, upon application by any interested party, in the State or region affected by such rule, regulation, or rule.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1979
Amends the Administrative Procedure Act to require Federal agencies to prepare and publish in the Federal Register an economic impact analysis of all proposed and final rules subject to the provisions of the Act.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1979
Public Disclosure of Lobbying Act of 1979 - Requires organizations which expend more than $2,500 per quarter year or which employ at least one individual who spends all or part of each of 13 days or more per quarter year for lobbying purposes to register with the Comptroller General and to update annually such registration. Requires the identification of any such person retained for such lobbying purposes. Requires such organization to file quarterly reports concerning such lobbying activities including: (1) listing of total lobbying expenditures including each expenditures over $35 made to or for the benefit of any Federal officer, congressional employee, or Member of Congress; (2) the identification of retainees of an organization or certain employees making lobbying communications and the disclosure of certain expenditures; (3) a description of the issues for which such an organization has lobbied; (4) the identification of the means of communicating an advertisement intended to solicit over 500 people; (5) known business contacts with the person whom such organization is attempting to influence; and (6) the disclosure of any lobbying communication made on the floor of either House of Congress. Requires that the final quarterly report identify by amount each organization which contributed $3,000 or more to the reporting organization. Requires the Comptroller General to make copies of each registration and report required by this Act available for public inspection and copying. Makes it the duty of the Attorney General to investigate alleged violations of any provision of this Act or regulations promulgated thereunder. Requires the Attorney General to attempt to correct any violation by informal methods of conference or conciliation. Authorizes the Attorney General to institute civil or criminal actions in appropriate circumstances. Grants to the United States district courts jurisdiction for actions brought under this Act. Directs the Comptroller General to transmit reports to the President and each House of the Congress no later than March 31 of each year concerning activities under this Act. Provides a Congressional veto of rules and regulations promulgated by the Comptroller General pursuant to this Act. Makes any person or organization who knowingly fails to comply with the registration, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements of this Act, or regulations promulgated thereto, subject to a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each such violation. Provides criminal penalties of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than two years, for knowing and willful violations of this Act, and for knowingly and willfully making misstatements or omitting material facts. Repeals the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act and specified provisions of the Legislative Reorganization Act.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1979
Regulatory Flexibility Act - Requires Federal agencies to include the following information in the general notice of a proposed rule: (1) the goals and purpose of the rule; (2) the estimated number of individuals, businesses, organizations, and governmental jurisdictions affected by the rule; (3) a statement that the agency seeks alternative proposals which could achieve the goal of the proposed rule at a lower cost to individuals, small businesses, small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions; and (4) a list of the measures necessary for compliance with any reporting requirement affecting more than ten persons. Requires Federal agencies to accept and consider alternative proposals to a proposed rule and to publish those proposals with justification of the selection of the final rule. Defines a small business, small organization, small governmental jurisdiction, and an individual as used in this Act. Directs each agency to publish a plan for reviewing its rules within 180 days after enactment of this Act. Requires each agency to determine whether such rules are efficiently achieving the goals of the implementing legislation. Directs each agency to publish annually a list of the rules to be issued and reviewed during the next year.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1979
Requires the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to pay a monthly pension at a rate not to exceed $150 to: (1) each veteran of World War I who meets specified service requirements and whose annual income does not exceed $10,000; (2) certain qualified surviving spouses of each such veteran (whose own annual income does not exceed $10,000); or (3) the child or children of each such veteran.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1979
Beginning Farmers Entry Assistance Act - Title I: Findings - States the findings of Congress and the purposes of this Act. Title II: Establishment of Farm Entry Assistance Program - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program to provide financial assistance to individuals who are seeking to establishing and operate full-time family farms. Prescribes the general criteria for State programs. Title III: Application for the Program - Limits qualification for such assistance to applicants who: (1) are seeking to operate a family farm; (2) are entering farming on a full-time basis for the first time during the ten years prior to the date of application; (3) have been denied credit on reasonable terms from a commercial source and the Farmers Home Administration, and could not obtain credit with the program's assistance; (4) demonstrate they are qualified to operate a family farm on a full-time basis; and (5) have net worths of less than $75,000 in 1979 dollars. Title IV: Federal Assistance to Applicants through State Agencies - Directs the Secretary to make available to qualified applicants guarantees of no more than 90 percent of the principal and interest of certain loans, nor more than 90 percent of payments due under certain leases or contracts. Subjects to the specified guidelines of this program: (1) loans for the purchase of farmland, for operating purposes, or for both; (2) payments on a land purchase contract with a ten-year repayment period; and (3) payments on leases of not more than ten years. Requires the availability of guarantees for other State programs consistent with specified requirements. Prescribes the general procedures the Secretary is to follow in the event of defaults by any beneficiary on such guaranteed loans, contract obligations, or leases. Title V: Funding - Authorizes the appropriation of necessary funds. Directs the Secretary to make available not more than $400,000,000 in guarantees for each of the four fiscal years following the first fiscal year commencing at least one year after enactment. Prescribes a general allocation formula for distribution of such guarantees among participating States. Creates a Farm Entry Assistance Fund for the discharge of the obligations of the Secretary under contracts guaranteeing loans or leases under this Act. Title VI: Reports - Requires the Secretary to report annually on the operation of the program to the appropriate committees of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1979
Occupational Alcoholism Prevention and Treatment Act of 1979 - Authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, acting through the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, to make grants to employers, labor organizations, consortiums of employers or labor organizations, and to public or private nonprofit agencies and organizations to pay no more than 50 percent of the cost of establishing and operating occupational alcoholism programs. Authorizes an appropriation not to exceed 2.5 percent of Federal taxes collected on alcohol to finance such programs.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1979
Directs the Federal Communications Commission to examine the use of the AM radio broadcasting band and to assign such spectrum and distribute licenses so as to ensure that each community, regardless of size, is provided with the maximum local full-time radio broadcasting service.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1979
Zero-Based Paperwork Act of 1979 - Requires a biennial justification for the continued use of any form used to solicit information from private sources and State and local government agencies.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the excise tax on small cigarettes to $8 per thousand, and the tax on large cigarettes to $16.80 per thousand.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit taxpayers who do not itemize income tax deductions to claim a deduction from gross income for charitable contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1979
Requires any Federal agency that makes an expenditure with respect to the travel of a Member of Congress or an employee of a Member or committee of Congress to submit to the chairman of the committee of Congress which approved such travel a public report containing the amount and an itemization of such expenditures and expenses. Directs the chairman of any committee which receives such a report to reimburse the Federal agency involved within 30 days.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1979
Small Business Regulatory Relief Act - Amends the Small Business Act to direct each Federal department, agency, and instrumentality engaged in rulemaking to prepare a written analysis of whether it is legal, feasible, and desirable to exempt small businesses (or classes thereof) from a rule or whether the agency should promulgate a rule with lesser compliance standards for small businesses. Sets forth information which must be present in such analysis.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit the executor of an estate, in calculating the value of the gross estate, to disregard that portion of the value of any copyright, or literary, musical, or artistic work created by the decedent which would not have been capital gain if such work had been sold by the decedent at its fair market value.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1979
Product Liability Tax Assistance Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for amounts contributed to a product liability trust, up to the fair market value of product liability insurance for the taxpayer. Sets forth the requirements such a product liability trust must meet to be tax-exempt. Includes distributions from such a trust other than for payment of product liability claims in the recipient's gross income. Imposes excise taxes on such trusts for self-dealing, unqualified expenditures, and contributions in excess of the fair market value of product liability insurance.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1979
Congressional Oversight Improvement Act - Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to direct any Government agency, when it finds it may not be administering a law according to legislative intent, to consult the standing committee having jurisdiction over the subject matter of the law. Requires an agency, at the request of such committee, to furnish the committee, the Comptroller General, and the Directors of the Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Research Service, and the Office of Technology Assessment with a report containing: (1) a summary of the rules such agency issued in administering a law; (2) an assessment of the impact of such rules; and (3) recommendations for modifying such law. Requires the Directors and the Comptroller General to submit an evaluation of such report to the standing committee. Provides for the establishment of a strike force to investigate any failure of an agency to file such report. Requires that each report accompanying a measure reported by a standing or conference committee of Congress must contain a Congressional Oversight Statement which: (1) identifies the agency which will administer any law; and (2) indicates ways such agency may assist the committee which is responsible for overseeing the administration of such law. Stipulates that any such report which does not contain such statement must contain an explanation of why the inclusion of such a statement is impracticable.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1979
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to authorize payment for specified services performed by chiropractors, including x-rays and for physical examinations, and for related routine laboratory tests.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1979
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to require the financing of disability insurance benefits from general revenues, rather than through the imposition of employment and self-employment taxes. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce employment and self- employment tax rates below the level established by the Social Security Amendments of 1977 for purposes of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance program and the Hospital Insurance program. Requires deductions from disability benefits based on family income to be made on the same basis that such deductions are made from old-age and survivors benefits. Directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to establish within the Social Security Administration an Office of Training to provide specialized training for State and Federal officials required to make determinations of disability. Requires that such officials be certified by the Secretary as having successfully completed such training before engaging in making disability determinations. Entitles an individual whose disability claim has been rejected or partially disallowed to a personal interview with the examiner making the determination. Directs the Secretary to publish in the Federal Register regulations defining physical and mental impairments which would qualify an individual for disability benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1979
Amends rule XXXII of the Rules of the House of Representatives to allow admission to the House floor to clerks of committees when business from their committees is under consideration, and to not more than one person from a Member's staff when that Member has a bill or an amendment under consideration.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend to permanently and totally disabled individuals the one time $100,000 exclusion of gain from the sale of a principal residence.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1979
Small Business Tax Relief Act of 1979 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to limit recognition on the gain from the sale or exchange of an unincorporated trade or business prior to the time that the taxpayer attains age 55 by providing that such gain shall be recognized only to the extent that it exceeds the cost of reinvesting in replacement property for another small business venture. Provides for the taxation of such gain, after age 55, as ordinary income according to the ten year averaging rules applicable to lump sum distributions from employee benefit plans. Increases the additional first year depreciation allowance for small businesses. Permits a taxpayer election to amortize over a 36 month period expenses for depreciable property which is acquired to put a small business in compliance with Federal regulations and which does not have any economic usefulness for the business. Exempts domestic international sales corporations (DISC) which have adjusted taxable income of $1,000,000 or less from the limitations on deferral of base period export gross receipts which are applicable to larger corporations. Permits businesses with gross receipts of less than $1,000,000 to elect the cash method of accounting in reporting income. Allows a refund to employers of their proportionate share of excess social security payments made on behalf of employees who were employed by two or more employers during the taxable year. Permits an income tax credit of $5 for each form or document which a small business is required to file pursuant to Federal law.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1979
Amends the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 to provide that provisions of such Act shall not apply to stone mining or sand and gravel mining operations.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain individuals to compute the amount of the income tax deduction for retirement savings on the basis of the earned income of their spouses.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1979
Amends the Saccharin Study and Labeling Act to extend to January 3, 1981 (or to the enactment, if earlier, of any law changing the conditions under which a food additive shall not be deemed safe) of the period during which the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare is prohibited from taking specified actions restricting the continued use of saccharin as a food, drug, or cosmetic. Declares void of all legal force or effect any such prohibited action which the Secretary may have taken after the expiration of the initial 18-month prohibition period.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1979
Terminates the authorization for duplicate locks on the Illinois River, Illinois. Terminates the flood control projects authorized for: (1) Salt Creek Lake, Ohio; (2) Trexler Lake, Pennsylvania; (3) Spewrell Bluff Lake, Georgia; (4) Lincoln Dam and Reservoir, Illinois; (5) Pattonsburg Lake, Missouri; (6) Helm Lake, Illinois; (7) Mill Creek Lake, Ohio; (8) Salem Church Dam and Reservoir, Virginia; and (9) Big Darby Lake, Ohio. Directs the Secretary of Army to convey certain lands acquired for the Big Darby Lake flood control project to the State of Ohio to be administered as a wildlife refuge. Terminates the authorization for further construction of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal. Extends the boundaries of the Ocala National Forest, Florida, to include land owned by the United States as part of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal project. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to acquire lands owned by the State of Florida within the extended boundaries of the Forest. Terminates the Meramec Park Lake flood control project, Missouri. Requires the Secretary of the Army, through the Chief of Engineers to study and report to Congress concerning the manner of disposition and future utilization of the project's land and structures which best serves the public interest.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1979
Foster Care and Adoption Reform Act of 1979 - Title I: Child-Welfare Services Program - Amends part B of title IV (Child-Welfare Services) of the Social Security Act to: (1) revise procedures for the payment to States for child-welfare service programs; and (2) prohibit payment to any State for such programs unless that State has in effect an action plan to assure foster care protection. Title II: Aid to Families with Dependent Children - Amends part A of title IV (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) to require States receiving payments under part A to make adoption support payments. States that parents of adopted children are eligible for such payments while the adopted child is either under the age of 18, or is under the age of 21 and is a student.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1979
Expresses congressional concern that Mexico be given full consideration as a major source for imported oil and natural gas in the formulation of our national and international energy policies. Encourages the President to agree to cooperate with Mexico on common concerns, including the mutually beneficial development of Mexico's oil and natural gas reserves.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1979
Transportation Users Equity Act of 1979 - Directs the Secretary of the Army to promulgate regulations establishing a user charge for shallow-draft cargo vessels for the use by such vessel of any navigation project on any inland or intracoastal waterway of the United States. Stipulates that such charges shall be structured to recover 25 percent of the Federal costs of the operation and maintenance of all navigation projects maintained by the Secretary five years after the enactment of this Act and that in five years such charges shall be structured to recover 25 percent of the Federal costs of the construction and rehabilitation of such navigation projects. Sets forth the methods by which such user charges may be collected. Establishes civil penalties for owners or operators of shallow-draft cargo vessels who fail to pay such charges.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1979
Entitles veterans meeting specified service requirements to 54 instead of 45 months of educational assistance. Eliminates the time limitation within which educational assistance must be used. Restores unused educational assistance benefits to veterans of World War II, the Korean conflict, or the Vietnam era.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1979
Declares the public policy of the United States to prohibit the manufacture, sale, interstate shipment, and use of leg-hold and steel-jaw traps in the United States and abroad. Prohibits the shipment into interstate or foreign commerce of fur or leather products which come from animals trapped in any State or foreign country which has not banned such traps. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to publish a list of States and foreign countries which have not banned the manufacture, sale, and use of leg-hold and steel-jaw traps. Sets forth penalties for violations of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1979
Parental Kidnapping Act of 1979 - Requires appropriate State authorities to give full faith and credit to a child custody determination by a court of another State which has jurisdiction and meets specified conditions. Authorizes a State court with jurisdiction to modify a custody determination of another State court which no longer has or has declined to exercise jurisdiction. Amends title IV (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of the Social Security Act to include as a function of the Parent Locator Service the provision of information to authorized persons about any absent parent or child for the enforcement of a child custody determination or with regard to parental kidnapping. Prohibits the intentional restraint of a child in violation of any other persons' right of custody or visitation arising from: (1) a State custody determination; (2) a valid written agreement between the child's parents, foster parents, or guardians; or (3) a parental or guardian relationship. Specifies (1) the jurisdictional basis for such offense, including the willful transportation of a child in interstate commerce, and (2) Federal investigation procedures.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Title I: Nurse Training - Nurse Training Amendments of 1979 - Amends title VIII of the Public Health Service Act to extend the assistance program for nurse training and students, generally at current levels of authorization through fiscal year 1980. Increases and extends the authorization for special project grants and contracts for nurse training programs from $15,000,000 per fiscal year to $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1979 and 1980. Establishes a new assistance program for training nurse anesthetists. Authorizes appropriations of $2,000,000 for fiscal year 1979 and $3,000,000 for fiscal year 1980 for such purpose. Directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to: (1) arrange for the conduct of a study, either with the National Academy of Sciences (if such body agrees) or with another public or nonprofit private entity (if the Academy declines), to determine the need to continue a specific Federal assistance program for nursing education, taking into account specified factors; and (2) report to Congress on such study by October 1, 1979. Title II: Other Health Professions Programs - Amends title VII of the Public Health Service Act (Health Research and Teaching Facilities and Training of Professional Health Personnel) to authorize the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to increase the ceiling on federally insured loans in any academic year to a medical student in a school of medicine, osteopathy, or dentistry from $10,000 to $15,000 upon a determination that educational costs require such increase. Increases the aggregate insured unpaid principal amount for all such insured loans made to any such borrower from $50,000 to $60,000. Authorizes the Secretary to defer the date used with respect to service requirements for National Health Service Corps scholarships for students of medicine, osteopathy, or dentistry for a period longer than the current three-year limit for such deferment. Exempts a medical or osteopathic school participating in an area health education center program from the requirement that such school conduct a program for training physician assistants or nurse practitioners which emphasizes enrolling individuals from the area served by the center of the program, if another school participating in the same program meets such requirement. Increases from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 the sums which may be obligated for schools of medicine and other types of health care which are financially distressed or unaccredited, from the total authorizations for start-up assistance, financial distress training, and curriculum development of medical schools. Amends the Health Professions Educational Assistance Act of 1976 to extend authorization of appropriations through fiscal year 1981 for certain area health education programs which were funded under the Public Health Service Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Family Farm Antitrust Act of 1979 - Finds that vertical integration of the agricultural industry by corporations engaged in the processing, distributing and retail industries, and other conglomerate corporations, tends to create monopolies in the agricultural industry and produce unfair competition for family farms, contributing to the decline of rural populations and the consequent crowding of metropolitan centers. Declares it to be the national policy to restore competition to the agricultural industry and to provide for the continuance of the family farm. Provides that no person engaged in commerce in a business other than farming, whose nonfarming business assets exceed $3,000,000, shall engage in farming or the production of agricultural products, or participate in farming by any means of acquisition or control of another person who is engaged in farming. Specifies exceptions including charitable, educational, or nonprofit institutions, and farmer-owned and controlled cooperatives. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to acquire at fair market value any property or interest of which a person is required to divest himself under the provisions of this Act, if the person is otherwise unable to divest himself of such property.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Radioactive Waste Management Act of 1978 - Requires the Secretary of Energy, before investigating any site for construction of a radioactive waste storage facility, to notify each chamber of the concerned State legislature and publish notice of such investigation in the Federal Register. Requires notice to State legislatures of decisions and contracts for the construction of such facilities. Allows a 120-day period for disapproval of construction by the affected State's legislature or by statewide referendum.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to provide, through demonstration projects, payments to individuals who are receiving, or are eligible to receive, benefits with respect to post-hospital extended care services under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act or intermediate care facility services or skilled nursing facility services under title XIX (Medicaid) of such Act, who do not require 24-hour nursing care or supervision, and who desire to establish noninstitutional living arrangement which will meet their medical and other needs. Requires payments received to be used to finance appropriate noninstitutional living arrangements which meet the medical and other needs of the individual. Provides that such payments shall not be includable in gross income under the Internal Revenue Code. Requires the Secretary to design demonstration projects for the purpose of determining: (1) the feasibility of transferring inpatients of skilled nursing and intermediate care facilities to noninstitutional living arrangements; (2) the types and percentage of such inpatients who could live effectively in a noninstitutional living arrangement; and (3) the types and percentages of such inpatients who would benefit economically and qualitatively from transferring to a noninstitutional living arrangement. Directs that funds for such payments be made from the Federal Hospital Insurance Fund established under the Social Security Act and from funds appropriated for Medicaid.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Gasohol Motor Fuel Act of 1979 - Requires the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to promote the development and use of alcohol-blended fuels in the United States. Directs the Secretary to study the most suitable raw materials for the production of alcohol-blended fuels. Requires that such study emphasize alternative fuel sources to petroleum and natural gas, and evaluate the efficiency of various production and distribution systems. Requires the Secretary to report to Congress within six months after the enactment of this Act concerning the results of such study. Directs the Secretary to set production goals for alcohol-blended fuel development within six months after the completion of the study. Directs the Secretary to require that motor fuel sold in 1981 be one percent alcohol-blended. Sets increasing percentage requirements for succeeding years ending in 1990 where motor fuel shall be ten percent alcohol-blended. Empowers the Secretary to enforce the provisions of this Act and enumerates the enforcement procedures and penalties. Requires that all facilities constructed to distill alcohol for motor fuel use shall use fuel sources which are renewable. Directs the Secretary to establish, within six months after the enactment of this Act, procedures for the certification of alcohol distilling facilities. Requires the Secretary to give first priority for fuel sources to operate such distillation facilities to renewable energy resources. Grants last priority for fuel sources to petroleum, petroleum derivatives and natural gas. Empowers the Secretary to waive the preference for renewable resources upon a finding that they are economically or technically infeasible for use as fuel sources to power distillation facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 to require House of Representatives committee reports on proposed legislation of a public character to contain statements estimating the reporting and recordkeeping requirements imposed on individuals, private industry, and State and local governments as a result of the enactment of such legislation. Prohibits the House of Representative from considering any legislation reported in the House unless it contains such a statement. Declares that the requirements of this Act shall be considered as part of the rules of the House.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Authorizes and requests the President to designate the week beginning on the Sunday preceding the fourth Thursday in November of each year as "National Family Week."
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that no person shall be a Senator or Member of the House of Representatives during more than six consecutive Congresses.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt taxpayers from the payment of interest or a penalty on tax deficiencies attributable to erroneous advice obtained in writing from an Internal Revenue Service Officer or employee acting in an official capacity.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Individual Housing Act of 1979 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individuals an income tax deduction of up to $2,500 annually and $10,000 in a lifetime for cash contributions to an individual housing account (IHA) established to finance the purchase of a principal residence for the taxpayer. Exempts IHA's from income taxation. Excludes from gross income distributions to a taxpayer from an individual housing account used to purchase a principal residence.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Solar Energy Bank Act - Establishes a Government corporation in the Department of Housing and Urban Development to be known as the Solar Energy Development Bank to make long-term, low-interest loans to encourage the use of solar energy in commercial and residential structures. Sets forth requirements for loan eligibility concerning the term and amount of the loan and necessary warranties for the solar energy systems covered by such loan. Prohibits conflicts of interest on the part of officers or employees of the Bank. Imposes criminal penalties for the furnishing of false or misleading information by applicants for loans under this Act. Establishes a seven-member Advisory Board to make annual reports to Congress and the President on the operation of the program established by this Act. Prohibits subsidy payments under this Act to any person who has received other Federal assistance for purchase and/or installation of energy systems similar to the solar systems assisted under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Nuclear Incident Liability Reform Act of 1978 - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to require that licensees for nuclear facilities obtain the maximum amount of liability insurance available from private sources. Requires that such licensees participate in an industry retrospective rating plan in addition to maintaining such insurance. Directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish rules specifying the rates for deferred premiums charged to licensees under such plan in the event of any nuclear incident resulting in public liability which exceeds or appears likely to exceed the level of a licensee's primary financial protection and the amount otherwise available from such licensee for the satisfaction of such liability. Authorizes the Commission to loan to a licensee, at prescribed interest rates, the amount by which an assessment of deferred premiums exceeds the amount which the licensee is able to pay within a reasonable time following any nuclear incident without impairing its ability to provide electric utility service. Repeals the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 relating to indemnification of licensees from liability which is in excess of the level of financial protection required of the licensee. Eliminates the $500,000,000 ceiling on indemnification of contractors of the Commission against claims for liability, arising out of contractual activities, which are above the amount of financial protection required of contractors. Repeals provisions of such Act relating to: (1) the $560,000,000 maximum aggregate liability for a single nuclear incident; (2) the collection of fees for indemnification agreements, and (3) compensation to private insurance organizations for services connected with handling indemnifications. Eliminates the exemption from the requirements of financial protection of nonprofit, educational institution licensees. Repeals the Commission's authority to indemnify persons engaged in activities relating to the Nuclear Ship Savannah from liability for nuclear incidents. Terminates the Commission's authority to enter agreements with other indemnitors with respect to emergency assistance payments. Makes technical and conforming amendments to carry out the purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income up to $1,000 ($1,500 for joint returns, $750 for married individuals filing separately) of the interest earned from savings accounts. Reduces the amount of such exclusion, dollar for dollar, by the amount the taxpayer's adjusted gross income exceeds $10,000 ($15,000 for joint returns, $7,500 for married individuals filing separately).
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to include rural health facilities of 100 beds or less within the definition of the term "hospital." Makes special provision with respect to nursing services, health, fire, and safety requirements for such facilities.
![Official portrait of Rep. Bedell, Berkley W. [D-IA-6]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/b000298_200.jpg)