United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2001 - Authorizes the Attorney General to provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or other assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any crime that: (1) constitutes a crime of violence under Federal law or a felony under State or Indian tribal law; and (2) is motivated by prejudice based on the race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the victim or is a violation of the hate crime laws of the State or tribe. Directs the Attorney General to give priority for assistance to crimes committed by offenders who have committed crimes in more than one State and to rural jurisdictions that have difficulty covering the extraordinary investigation or prosecution expenses. Authorizes the Attorney General to award grants to assist State, local, and Indian law enforcement officials with such extraordinary expenses. Directs the Office of Justice Programs to: (1) work closely with funded jurisdictions to ensure that the concerns and needs of all affected parties are addressed; and (2) award grants to State and local programs designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles. Prohibits specified offenses involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to study and provide sentencing enhancements for adult recruitment of juveniles to commit hate crimes. Amends the Hate Crimes Statistics Act to require the crime data to be collected and published by the Attorney General to include data about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on gender.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Conservation Act of 2001 - Prohibits, for specified periods annually, pelagic longline fishing in the Gulf of Mexico Conservation Zone for Highly Migratory Species, the Northern Mid-Atlantic Conservation Zone for Highly Migratory Species, and the Southern Mid-Atlantic Conservation Zone for Highly Migratory Species. Describes such zones. Establishes under the National Marine Fisheries Service a pelagic longline fishing vessel capacity reduction program. Directs the Secretary to conduct a voluntary Pelagic Longline Vessel Permit Holder Compensation Program, under which vessels prohibited from engaging in such commercial fishing are compensated for fish catch losses. Requires the revocation of all commercial fishing permits or licenses held by those accepting payments under this Act, prohibiting such vessels from being used anywhere in the world for commercial fishing. Permits the transfer of a permit if the Secretary determines that the permit will not be used for pelagic longline fishing. Sets forth penalties for violators. Establishes within the National Marine Fisheries Service at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center a Pelagic Longline Billfish Bycatch and Mortality Reduction Research Program to identify and test a variety of fishing gear configurations and uses for reducing highly migratory species mortality and sea turtle mortality in the exclusive economic zone of the United States in the Atlantic Ocean. Provides for the reallocation to the United States commercial swordfish hand gear fishing fleet the portion of total allowable catch of swordfish by the United States pelagic longline fishing fleet that was attributable to vessels that were authorized to engage in fishing under revoked permits and licenses. Prohibits any pelagic longline vessel from operating within the Atlantic Ocean highly migratory species fishery without an approved vessel monitoring device.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Business Method Patent Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends Federal law to add patent procedures for patents on business method inventions. Defines a "business method" as: (1) a method of processing data or performing calculation operations which is uniquely designed for or utilized in the practice, administration, or management of an enterprise; (2) any technique used in athletics, instruction, or personal skills; and (3) any computer-assisted implementation of such methods or techniques.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Patent Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends Federal law to require the Director of the Patent and Trademark Office to establish an Administrative Opposition Panel to conduct proceedings, under specified conditions, to hear opposition to patent claims and cancel, confirm, or modify them.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Makes it out of order in the House of Representatives to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that makes funds available to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in amounts less than the total amount of patent and trademark fees collected by the Office.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2001
Emergency Retiree Health Benefits Protection Act of 2001 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide emergency protections for retiree health benefits. Prohibits group health plans from making post-retirement reductions of retiree health benefits. Requires group health plans to adopt provisions barring post-retirement reductions in retiree health benefits. Requires group health plans to restore benefits reduced after retirement. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to waive or vary such requirements, if a plan sponsor applies for such exemption, upon finding that compliance would: (1) be adverse to the interests of plan participants in the aggregate; (2) not be administratively feasible; and (3) cause substantial business hardship to the sponsor. Establishes the Emergency Retiree Health Loan Guarantee Program and its Board. Authorizes the Program, through its Board, to guarantee loans provided by private banking and investment institutions to eligible plan sponsors to assist them in meeting obligations under this Act to restore benefits reduced after retirement. Authorizes the Secretary to assess civil penalties for violations of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2001
Motor Vehicle Franchise Contract Arbitration Fairness Act of 2001 - Provides that whenever a motor vehicle franchise contract provides for the use of arbitration to resolve a controversy arising out of or relating to the contract, arbitration may be used to settle the controversy only if both parties consent in writing after such controversy arises. Requires the arbitrator to provide the parties with a written explanation of the factual and legal basis for the award.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2001
Veterans' Higher Education Opportunities Act of 2001 - Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions to change the amount of monthly veterans' educational assistance allowance under the Montgomery GI Bill from a fixed amount adjusted for inflation to an amount equal to the average monthly costs of tuition and expenses for commuter students at public institutions of higher education that award baccalaureate degrees (75 percent of such amount for veterans whose initial obligated period of active duty is two years). Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to determine such average monthly costs each year and to publish such amounts in the Federal Register.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2001
Global Health Act of 2001 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to mandate that activities supported in connection with health programs include activities to improve the capacity of developing nations to conduct disease surveillance and prevention programs, and to respond promptly and effectively to disease outbreaks. Authorizes additional appropriations for FY 2002 and for each subsequent fiscal year for specified allocations, including the health and nutrition of children and pregnant women and mothers, voluntary family planning, and the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. Expresses the sense of Congress that the President, acting through the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, should coordinate with specified Federal departments and agencies to ensure that U.S. funds available for population planning and health programs in developing nations are used effectively.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2001
Secret Evidence Repeal Act of 2001 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require the Attorney General to provide advance notice to an alien and the presiding officer in any immigration proceeding in which classified information is intended to be used. Limits such information's use to: (1) terrorist activity deportation; or (2) opposition to an alien's admission or relief from removal upon certification that such information could not be developed from open sources and that an agency declassification request has been made. Provides: (1) for Federal district court review of classified material upon Attorney General or alien request; and (2) that the court will issue an order indicating any unclassified summary of such material that may be used in the immigration proceeding. Applies the provisions of the Classified Information Procedures Act to an immigration proceeding under district court review in the same manner as a criminal proceeding subject to such Act. Amends the Act to entitle an alien, subject to the classified information provisions of this Act, who is subject to arrest and detention for removal or deportation to: (1) non-federally provided counsel; (2) examine all evidence, present evidence, and question witnesses; (3) have a complete record of the proceeding kept; and (4) judicial review. Exempts an alien who is a lawful permanent resident, parolee, or asylee from the security and related removal provisions. (Such provisions provide for limited hearings and use of nondisclosed information.) Provides for transitional application of information access provisions to alien detainees and aliens seeking immigration benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 2001
Military Survivors Equity Act of 2001 - Repeals the social security offset applicable to certain annuities paid to surviving spouses under the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) for retired members of the armed forces, to the extent that such offset is due to integration with social security benefits when the surviving spouse reaches 62 years of age. Repeals the required reduction in such annuity when such person reaches age 62. Directs the Secretary of Defense to recompute the existing annuities of certain individuals under the SBP to reflect the changes made by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 2001
Work Opportunity Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) permanently extend the work opportunity credit; (2) permanently extend the temporary incentives for employing long-term family assistance recipients; and (3) redefine the term "qualified food stamp recipient" to raise the upper age limit from 25 to 51.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to reauthorize and revise provisions for the National Writing Project (NWP). Increases the maximum amount for any one contractor under limits on the Federal share of NWP teacher training programs. Repeals the classroom teacher grants program under NWP. Increases and extends through FY 2006 the authorization of appropriations for NWP.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Reading Readiness Act of 2001 - Amends the Head Start Act to require Head Start programs to include a strong focus on reading readiness. Requires research, demonstration, and evaluation activities to: (1) determine whether every Head Start program is providing participating children the tools necessary to succeed in school, including reading readiness; and (2) review current best practices of Head Start programs with respect to reading readiness. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award competitive grants to selected Head Start applicants to carry out current best practices in reading readiness activities. Allows Head Start programs that demonstrate by community assessment that all reasonable attempt has been made to enroll children whose families' incomes are below the poverty line to make eligible for program participation children whose families' incomes are no greater than 150 percent of the poverty line. Directs the Secretary to implement an outreach campaign to promote enrollment in Head Start programs and Early Head Start programs. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Secretary should allow Head Start grantees that find evidence of community need to modify the use of their current grants so as to enroll infants and toddlers without obtaining a separate Early Head Start grant; and (2) Congress should appropriate sufficient funds to carry out the Head Start Act so that all eligible children may participate.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Makes it unlawful to: (1) import, export, or transport in interstate commerce conventional steel jawed leghold traps and articles of fur derived from animals trapped in such traps; or (2) sell or acquire such a trap transported in violation of such provision. Prescribes criminal penalties for violations. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to reward persons (other than Government employees performing official duties) for information leading to a conviction under this Act. Empowers enforcement officials to detain, search, and seize suspected containers or merchandise and any accompanying documents, to make arrests without warrants with probable cause, and to execute warrants. Subjects seized merchandise to forfeiture.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Providing Annual Pap Tests to Save Women's Lives Act of 2001 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, to extend coverage of screening pap smears and screening pelvic exams to annual examinations regardless of whether a woman is of childbearing age or at high-risk.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins emblematic of the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Comprehensive Tuberculosis Elimination Act of 2001 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide for the ongoing operation of a committee to be known as the Committee on Interagency Collaboration for Tuberculosis Elimination. Requires the Committee to: (1) provide advice on coordinating the activities of the Public Health Service and other Federal agencies that relate to such disease and on efficiently utilizing Federal resources; (2) make recommendations on the development and implementation of a national plan; and (3) make recommendations for the development and implementation of a plan to guide the involvement of the United States in global tuberculosis-control activities. Revises provisions concerning preventive health services regarding tuberculosis by: (1) renaming such provisions national program for tuberculosis elimination; (2) revising the authorities of the Secretary of Health and Human Services under such provisions; and (3) authorizing appropriations through FY 2006. Revises provisions concerning tuberculosis with respect to the activities of the: (1) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; (2) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and (3) the John E. Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Stop Tuberculosis (TB) Now Act - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to declare that a major objective of the U.S. foreign assistance program is to control tuberculosis (TB) and that consequently Congress expects the agency primarily responsible for the administration of TB control health programs to: (1) coordinate with the World Health Organization and other designated health organizations toward the development and implementation of a comprehensive TB control program, including expanding the use of the strategy of directly observed treatment, short course (DOTS) and strategies to address multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) where appropriate at the local level, particularly in countries with the highest TB rate; and (2) set as a goal the cure of at least 85 percent of TB cases detected by focusing efforts on the use of DOTS strategy or other internationally accepted primary TB control strategies in those countries in which the agency has established development programs, and the reduction of TB -related deaths by 50 percent, by December 31, 2010.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act of 2001 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to outline requirements for equal protection of voting rights in Federal elections and voting rights in State and local elections. Establishes a grant program to provide equal protection of voting rights with regard to States and localities. Creates the Commission on Voting Rights and Procedures to study and report to the President and Congress on specified issues with respect to elections for Federal, State, and local office, including alternative voting methods, ballot designs, ballot uniformity, and absentee voting, in order to develop specific recommendations of best practices in voting and election administration.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Constitutional Amendment - States that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to increase benefits to railroad employees and their beneficiaries and to revise financing of the pension part (tier II) of the railroad retirement system. Establishes a Railroad Retirement Trust Fund and a Railroad Retirement Investment Trust to manage and invest Fund assets. Abolishes the Railroad Retirement Supplemental Annuity Account and provides for transfer of its funds to the Fund. Provides for transfer to the Fund of certain portions of the Railroad Retirement Account and of Social Security Equivalent Benefit account funds. Transfers to the disbursing agent from the Dual Benefits Payments Account the amount necessary to make dual benefit payments. Requires the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) to calculate the ratio of assets to benefits to determine annual tier II tax rates for employers, employee representatives, and employees. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt the Fund from taxation. Repeals a supplemental annuity tax that railroad employers pay to finance a benefit for long-time rail employees. Provides for adjustments to railroad employers, employee representatives, and employee tier II tax rates.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
National Education Technology Corps Act (NET Corps Act) - Amends the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to establish a National Education Technology Corps (NET Corps) as part of the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program, using VISTA volunteers and others with appropriate expertise, in partnerships to facilitate use of information technology in schools, libraries, and community centers. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a business-related tax credit for employers for assistance to the NET Corps through their employees' services either as volunteers or as participants in partnerships.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Amends the Animal Welfare Act to eliminate the provision permitting interstate movement of live fighting birds if the fighting venture is to take place in a State allowing such fights.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Voting Opportunity Through Technology and Education Act of 2001 - Directs the Office of Election Administration of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to: (1) develop and publish revisions to the most recent version of voting system standards issued by FEC; and (2) expand the scope of such standards to include voluntary standards to promote for all individuals the accessibility of polling places and the effective use of voting systems and equipment that provide the opportunity for casting a secure and secret ballot. Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to direct the Office to serve as a clearinghouse of information on accessibility of voting systems and equipment and polling places for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. Provides that, after the issuance of the revised voting system standards by the Office, the FEC shall make grants to eligible States to: (1) bring voting systems and equipment, polling places, and voter registration facilities in the State into compliance with such revised standards; and (2) carry out other activities to promote the accessibility of voting systems and equipment, polling places, and voter registration facilities for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. Amends the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act to: (1) ensure that no citizen is denied the right to vote because the citizen is elderly or has a disability; and (2) restore certain reporting requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish to a veteran such drugs and medicines as may be ordered on prescription of a duly licensed physician in the treatment of any illness or injury of such veteran. (Currently, other requirements must be met before such veterans will be furnished drugs and medicines on private practitioner prescriptions.)
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Rural Education Development Initiative for the 21st Century Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to make: (1) formula grants to applicant State educational agencies to award competitive or formula subgrants to rural local educational agencies (LEAs) for elementary and secondary education development activities; and (2) direct competitive grants for such activities to specially qualified LEAs in nonparticipating States. Authorizes local use of such funds for: (1) certain local educational technology activities; (2) professional development designed to prepare teachers who are teaching out of their primary subject area; (3) certain academic enrichment programs; (4) innovative academic enrichment programs related to the educational needs of students at-risk of academic failure, including remedial instruction in one or more of the core subject areas of English, mathematics, science, and history; and (5) recruitment and retention of highly qualified teachers in special education, mathematics, or science.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
National Museum of the United States Army Site Act of 2001 - Directs the Secretary of the Army to designate Fort Belvoir, Virginia, as the location of the National Museum of the United States Army.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Student Athlete Protection Act - Amends the Federal judicial code to include as unlawful sports gambling a lottery, sweepstakes, or other betting, gambling, or wagering scheme based, directly or indirectly, on one or more: (1) competitive games in which high school or college athletes participate; (2) performances of high school or college athletes in competitive games; or (3) competitive games at the Summer or Winter Olympics.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2001
Assistant United States Attorneys Retirement Benefit Equity Act of 2001 - Makes applicable to Assistant United States Attorneys the provisions of the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System that apply to Federal law enforcement officers. Directs the Department of Justice to provide notice to incumbent Assistant U.S. Attorneys as to their election rights under this Act and the effects of making or not making a timely election under this Act. Allows such incumbents to elect the option to be treated either: (1) in accordance with the amendments made by this Act; or (2) as if this Act had never been enacted.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2001
Access to Innovation for Medicare Patients Act of 2001- Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, to provide for Medicare coverage of self-injected biologicals approved by the Food and Drug Administration that are prescribed as a complete replacement for a drug or biological that otherwise cannot be self-administered.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
America's Better Classroom Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a limited credit for qualified public school modernization bonds (qualified school construction bonds and qualified zone academy bonds). Amends the General Education Provisions Act to provide for the application of certain labor standards to projects financed under this Act. Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to establish provisions concerning employment and training activities related to the construction or reconstruction of public school facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to: (1) restrict the application of the windfall elimination provision to individuals whose combined monthly income from the individual's primary insurance amount under such title and the portion of the monthly periodic payment attributable to noncovered service performed after 1956 exceeds $2,000; and (2) provide for a graduated implementation of such provision by specified percentages with respect to incremental amounts above such threshold, up to 100 percent for combined amounts over $3,000.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Anti-Spamming Act of 2001 - Amends the Federal criminal code to make it unlawful for anyone to intentionally: (1) and without authorization initiate the transmission of a bulk unsolicited electronic mail (e-mail) message to a protected computer with knowledge that such message falsifies an Internet domain or other identifier; or (2) sell or distribute any computer program that is designed to conceal the source or routing information of such e-mail, has only limited commercial use otherwise, or is marketed for use in concealing such information. Provides civil penalties. Allows attorneys' fees and other litigation costs as part of civil relief from such violations.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Liberty Bill Act - Amends Federal law to require that the design of the reverse side of all Federal reserve notes incorporate: (1) the preamble to the Constitution; (2) a list describing the Articles of the Constitution; and (3) a list describing the Articles of Amendment. Prescribes the design format. States that such requirements do not limit the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) include other inscriptions or material on the reverse side of such notes; or (2) adopt other design features to deter counterfeiting of currency.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Small Business Telecommuting Act - Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to conduct, in not more than five of the SBA's regions, a pilot program to raise awareness about telecommuting among small business employers and to encourage such employers to offer telecommuting options to employees. Requires the Administrator to make special efforts to conduct outreach to businesses owned by or employing individuals with disabilities, including disabled American veterans, and agencies, groups, or organizations that aid such individuals. Terminates such program after two years.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Quality Cheese Act of 2001 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit: (1) using Federal funds to amend specified regulations to include dry ultra-filtered milk, milk protein concentrates, or casein in the definition of "milk" or "nonfat milk" as specified in the domestic natural standards for cheese and cheese products; and (2) amending such regulations and definitions to include wet ultra-filtered milk until 60 days after submission of the study required by this Act. Requires a study of the impact of wet ultra-filtered milk's use on dairy farmers.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) with respect to pensions. (All the following are amendments to the Code, except where the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, ERISA, is mentioned.) Increases: (1) annual dollar Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contribution limits; and (2) benefit and contribution limits, with indexes for inflation. Revises requirements relating to: (1) plan loans for subchapter S owners, partners, and sole proprietors; and (2) specified top-heavy rules. Provides that elective deferrals shall not be taken into account for purposes of limits on certain plan contributions. Repeals specified coordination requirements for deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations. Revises certain deduction limits for stock bonus and profit sharing trusts and for defined contribution plans. Provides for optional treatment of elective deferrals as after-tax contributions. Allows individuals age 50 or older to make additional contributions to an applicable employer plan (section 401(k) or similar plan). Sets forth requirements relating to equitable treatment for contributions of employees to defined contribution plans. Provides for faster vesting of certain employer matching contributions under the Code and ERISA. Revises: (1) minimum distribution rules; (2) requirements relating to tax treatment of division of section 457 plan benefits upon divorce; and (3) provisions for safe harbor relief for hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. Permits, under certain conditions, rollovers: (1) from and to various types of plans; (2) of IRAs into workplace retirement plans; and (3) of after-tax contributions in an exempt trust. Sets forth a hardship exception to the 60-day rule. Sets forth requirements for treatment of forms of distribution available under transferor and transferee plans under the Code and ERISA. Revises restrictions on distributions, including the same desk exception. Allows trustee-to-trustee transfers to purchase permissive service credit with respect to governmental defined benefit plans. Allows employers to disregard rollovers for purposes of cash-out amounts, under retirement plan provisions of the Code. Revises minimum distribution and inclusion requirements for section 457 plans. Repeals, for plan years beginning in 2004 and following years, the current liability full funding limit under the Code and ERISA. Revises maximum contribution deduction rules, and applies them to all defined benefit plans. Allows an employer, in determining the amount of nondeductible contributions for any taxable year, to elect not to take into account any contributions to a defined benefit plan except to the extent they exceed the full-funding limitation. Establishes an excise tax for the failure of a defined benefit plan or an individual account plan (except governmental, church, and other specified plans) subject to minimum funding standards to meet specified notice requirements, under the Code and ERISA, for plan amendments which significantly reduce benefit accruals. Makes certain compensation limitations for defined benefit plans inapplicable to governmental and multiemployer plans. Prohibits combining or aggregating a multiemployer plan with any other plan maintained by the employer for the purpose of applying such limitations. Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 to protect the investment of employee contributions to 401(k) plans by providing that specified requirements apply to elective deferrals for plan years beginning after December 31, 1998. Requires that pension benefit statements be furnished annually (once every three years for defined benefit plans) or on request. Establishes an excise tax for certain prohibited allocations of stock in an S corporation ESOP. Revises Code and ERISA requirements relating to timing of plan valuations. Allows applicable dividends of ESOPs to be reinvested without loss of dividend deduction. Repeals a transition rule relating to certain highly compensated employees under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations with respect to certain plan participation by employees of tax-exempt entities. Treats the provision of certain retirement planning services by an employer for an employee as a de minimis fringe benefit to the extent it is not treated as a working condition fringe. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to provide simplified annual filing requirements for retirement plans with assets below a specified amount, if they cover: (1) one participant (an owner and spouse); or (2) fewer than 25 employees. Directs the Secretary to continue to update and improve the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, or any successor program. Repeals a multiple use test. Allows certain alternative ways of satisfying nondiscrimination, coverage, and line of business rules. Exempts plans maintained by any governmental entity from certain nondiscrimination rules. Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations relating to the notice and consent period regarding distributions. Revises ERISA provisions relating to: (1) annual report dissemination; (2) the National Summit on Retirement Savings; (3) missing participants; (4) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) reduction of premiums for new plans of small employers and of additional premiums for new and small plans; (5) PBGC authority to pay interest on premium overpayment refunds; (6) substantial owner benefits in terminated plans; (7) civil penalties for breach of fiduciary responsibility; and (8) benefit suspension notices. Prescribes time requirements for plan amendments or annuity contract amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Death Tax Elimination Act - Repeals the estate tax, gift tax, and the tax on generation-skipping transfers, effective January 1, 2011. Provides for annual reductions of the tax until such date. Increases the unified estate and gift tax credit to $1.3 million. Repeals the estate and gift tax provisions applicable to family-owned businesses. Amends provisions concerning the special rules for allocation of the generation-skipping tax (GST) exemption to provide, as a general rule, that: (1) if any individual makes an indirect skip during such individual's lifetime, any unused portion of such individual's GST exemption shall be allocated to the property transferred to the extent necessary to make the inclusion ratio for such property zero; and (2) if the amount of the indirect skip exceeds such unused portion, the entire unused portion shall be allocated to the property transferred. Declares that, if a trust is severed in a qualified severance, the trusts resulting from such severance shall be treated as separate trusts thereafter. Revises valuation rules for gifts for which a gift tax return was filed or deemed allocation made. Provides that, if an allocation of the GST exemption to any transfers of property is deemed to have been made at the close of an estate tax inclusion period, the value of the property shall be its value at such time. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe circumstances and procedures under which extensions of time will be granted to make an allocation of GST exemption or an election not to apply specified allocation requirements to certain lifetime direct skips, indirect skips, or transfers to a particular trust. Increases the permissible number of partners or shareholders in a closely held business for purposes of eligibility for an extension of estate tax payments.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Budget Responsibility and Efficiency Act of 2001 - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to revise the Federal and congressional budget processes by establishing a two-year budgeting and appropriations cycle and timetable. Defines the budget biennium as the two consecutive fiscal years beginning on October 1 of any odd-numbered year. Conforms provisions of the Rules of the House of Representatives, provisions governing the President's budget, and requirements for certain strategic and performance plans and reports to the biennial framework. Provides a point of order against any measure that contains a specific authorization of appropriations unless such authorization is for each fiscal year in a biennium. Requires the President's budget submission for FY 2004 to identify budget accounts for which an appropriation should be made for each fiscal year of the FY 2004-2005 biennium. Directs congressional committees, during the 108th Congress, to work with the Comptroller General to develop plans to transition program authorizations to a multi-year schedule. Sets forth additional transition requirements. Makes this Act applicable to budget resolutions and appropriations for the biennium beginning with FY 2006.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Consumer Assurance of Radiologic Excellence Act - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to prohibit certain payments to States for expenditures for medical imaging procedures or radiation therapy procedures, unless the State meets specified requirements for State medical radiation licenses, including minimum licensing standards the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to make optional the requirement that a State seek adjustment or recovery from an individual's estate of any medical assistance correctly paid on behalf of the individual under the State Medicaid plan.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Directs the Attorney General to increase by 50 for each of FY 2002 through 2006 the number of Immigration and Naturalization Service (full-time) investigators or other enforcement personnel assigned to combat alien smuggling. Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to promulgate or amend sentencing guidelines for alien smuggling-related activities so as to: (1) double specified minimum prison terms for smuggling, transporting, harboring, or inducement; (2) increase minimum fines; and (3) increase by at least two offense levels sentencing for intentionally or recklessly creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or causing bodily injury or death. Exempts from such provisions offenses: (1) committed other than for profit; or (2) involving the smuggling, transporting, or harboring only of the defendant's spouse, child, or both. Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) exempt from specified alien smuggling or harboring criminal penalties persons rendering life threatening emergency assistance to an alien in the United States; and (2) subject specified alien smuggling and harboring crimes under the Act committed by an armed person to enhanced penalties. Directs the Commission to revise Federal sentencing guidelines to provide that plea bargaining and other prosecutorial policies, and district policy differences, are not a ground for sentence imposition outside applicable guidelines. Authorizes appropriations for alien smuggling-related undercover and enforcement activities.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Small Business Pollution Prevention and Opportunity Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a dry or wet cleaning equipment credit for any taxable year equivalent to 20 percent of the basis of each qualified dry or wet cleaning property placed in service during the year (40 percent of such basis in the case of such property placed in service in an empowerment zone, enterprise community, or renewal community) which is designed primarily to clean textiles if: (1) such equipment does not use any hazardous solvent as the primary process solvent; (2) the original use of such property commences with the taxpayer; and (3) with respect to which depreciation (or amortization in lieu of depreciation) is allowable.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Heather French Henry Homeless Veterans Assistance Act - Encourages all Federal, State, and local departments and agencies and other entities and individuals to work toward the national goal of ending homelessness among veterans within a decade. Establishes within the Department of Veterans Affairs the Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to: (1) support the continuation within the Department of at least one center to monitor the structure, process, and outcome of Department programs addressing homeless veterans; and (2) assign veterans receiving specified services provided in, or sponsored or coordinated by, the Department as being within the "complex care" category. Directs the Secretary to: (1) make grants to Department health care facilities and to grant and per diem providers for the development of programs targeted at meeting certain special needs of homeless veterans; (2) require certain officials to initiate a plan for joint outreach to veterans at risk of homelessness; (3) carry out two treatment trials in integrated mental health services delivery; (4) ensure that each Department primary care facility has a mental health treatment capacity; (5) carry out a program of transitional assistance grants to eligible homeless veterans; and (6) make technical assistance grants to aid nonprofit community-based groups in applying for homeless program grants. Extends through FY 2006 the homeless veterans reintegration program.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Secure Access to Firearms Enhancement (SAFE) Act of 2001 - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide for reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms in different States by persons who are not prohibited by Federal law from possessing a firearm and who are: (1) carrying a valid State license or permit for carrying a concealed firearm; or (2) otherwise entitled to carry a concealed firearm in their State of residence.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Landmine Elimination and Victim Assistance Act of 2001 - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Department of Defense should field currently available weapons and other technologies, and use tactics and operational concepts, that provide suitable alternatives to anti-personnel mines and mixed anti-tank mine systems; and (2) the United States should end its use of such mines and join the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 to make permanent (currently terminates on October 23, 2003) the prohibition on the transfer of anti-personnel landmines. Directs the President to establish an interagency working group to develop a comprehensive plan for expanded mine action programs, including victim rehabilitation, social support, and economic reintegration.
![Official portrait of Rep. Boucher, Rick [D-VA-9]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/b000657_200.jpg)