United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1978
Amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to authorize appropriations to carry out the purposes of this Act during fiscal years 1979, 1980, and 1981.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1978
Maritime Appropriation Authorization Act - Authorizes appropriations in specified amounts to the Department of Commerce for fiscal year 1979 for: (1) vessel construction or reconditioning; (2) the payment of obligations incurred for the operating - differential subsidy; (3) research and development expenses; (4) operating expenses including reserve fleet expenses; (5) financial assistance to State marine schools; and (6) the Merchant Marine Academy.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1978
Veterans' and Survivors' Pension Improvement Act - Title I: Amendments to Pension Program for Non-service-connected Disability or Death - Revises the list of specified catagories of payments excluded from the determination of annual income for benefit payment purposes. Requires persons applying for a non-service-connected disability pension to report the income and estate of each spouse and child on account of whom added pension is applied for or received. Sets increased flat pension and aid-and-attendance allowance rates, reduced by the amount of a veteran's annual income, and in specified instances, by the amount of a spouse's or child's income which is reasonably available to or for such veteran. Sets increased flat benefit rates, with similar reductions, for the surviving spouses and children of such veterans. Requires annual adjustments in such pension and benefit rates in conjunction with cost-of-living increases in Social Security benefits. Title II: Miscellaneous Provisions and Effective Dates - Sets the effective dates for provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1978
Renewable Resources Extension Act - Provides for a nationally coordinated program to insure the most efficient utilization of forest and range land renewable resources. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a Renewable Resources Extension Program in cooperation with State directors of cooperative extension service programs and eligible colleges and universities. Requires the Secretary and relevant State officials to cooperate in the identification and study of needed areas of research, and in the dissemination of the results of such research. Requires the Secretary to coordinate the establishment of ongoing training programs for landowners, processors and other interested parties. Directs the Secretary to prepare a five-year Renewable Resources Extension Program to provide national guidance for State programs. Requires annual reporting to Congress on implementation of the plan.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1978
Agricultural Trade Act - Title I: Establishment of United States Agricultural Trade Offices - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish abroad not less than six nor more than 25 United States Agricultural Trade Offices, for the purpose of developing, maintaining, and expanding international markets for United States agricultural commodities. Title II: Intermediate Commercial Credit - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to require the Corporation to finance, under its export credit sales program, export sales of agricultural commodities out of its own private stocks on credit terms in excess of three years, but not more than ten years. Title III: Reorganization - Establishes in the Department of Agriculture: (1) an Assistant Secretary for Commodity Programs, to perform duties related to agricultural stabilization and conservation; and (2) an Under Secretary for International Affairs to perform duties related to foreign agriculture. Title IV: Agricultural Counselors - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to change the title of Agricultural Attaches to Agricultural Counselors, and to require each Counselor to submit to the Secretary an annual report detailing the social, political and economic factors affecting agriculture and agricultural trade in the country or area to which such Counselor is assigned. Title V: General Provisions - Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress annual reports on the activities and accomplishments of the Department, especially those of the United States Agricultural Trade Offices, in developing, maintaining, and expanding foreign markets for United States agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1978
Palm Oil and Palm Oil Products Inspection and Identification Act - Prohibits the importation of palm oil unless the Secretary of Agriculture has certified that such imports originate from pure and wholesome supplies and that such imports were processed in plants meeting minimum sanitation standards. Directs the Secretary to establish standards which are comparable to domestic standards for purity, wholesomeness, and sanitation. Directs the Secretary to inspect such imports. Subjects such imports to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act after entry. Requires that such imports be labeled (1) to indicate country of origin, and (2) as containing palm oil. Imposes a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year or both for violation of the content labeling requirements. Increases this penalty to a fine of $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than three years or both where such violation involves intent to defraud.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1978
Declares the sense of the House that the Secretary of Agriculture study the impact of the foreign palm oil industry on the domestic vegetable oil industry and, if justified, recommend that the administration negotiate agreements with the principal palm oil producing countries to restrain excessive imports of palm oil into the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1978
Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to raise the ceiling on aggregate water and waste facility grants from $300,000,000 in any fiscal year to $750,000,000 in fiscal year 1978, and $1,000,000,000 in any fiscal year thereafter. Raises the amount of each grant from 50 to 75 percent of the development cost of a project. States that, if an association receives a 25 percent grant from other sources, a project's economic feasibility shall be based exclusively on the association's ability to meet normal operation and maintenance costs of the proposed systems.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1978
Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to make real estate and operating loans available to private domestic corporations and partnerships controlled by farmers and ranchers engaged primarily in farming or ranching who, individually or as to their principal stockholders and partners, are United States citizens. Excepts ability to obtain credit for guaranteed loans from the eligibility requirement that applicants for real estate or operating loans must be unable to obtain sufficient credit elsewhere to finance their actual needs at reasonable rates and terms. Increases the maximum allowable total principal indebtedness for real estate loans which may be outstanding by any one borrower to $200,000 or $300,000 in the case of a guaranteed loan. States that special consideration for: (1) water and waste facilities loans may be given rural areas having a population of more than 5,500; and (2) soil and water conservation, pollution control and private business enterprise loans given to rural areas having a population or more than 25,000. Removes the $500,000 ceiling from the aggregate principal of loans made using the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund. Increases the amount of indebtedness which may be outstanding for operating loans for an individual from $50,000 to $100,000 or in the case of a guaranteed loan, $200,000. States that the interest rates on such loans which are guaranteed shall be the rate agreed upon by the borrower and lender. Authorizes the Secretary to purchase the guaranteed portion of any rural development loan using funds from the Rural Development Insurance Fund and the guaranteed portion of all other loans with funds from the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund; but only when an adequate secondary market is not available in the private sector. Replaces the current provision for an up to five-year renewal of an operating loan with a provision for the consolidation or rescheduling of outstanding loans for payment over a period not to exceed seven years from the date of such consolidation or rescheduling. Authorizes the Secretary to make loans and grants and approve transfers and assumptions under such act in connection with property securing a loan made, insured, or held by the Secretary notwithstanding the fact an area ceases to be eligible for assistance under such Act. Authorizes the Secretary to provide a procedure for appeal and review of determinations by a county committee that a loan applicant is able to obtain sufficient credit elsewhere to finance his actual needs at reasonable rates and terms.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1978
Amends the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act of 1927, relating to monthly crop progress reports by the Secretary of Agriculture during the cotton growing and harvesting season, to change the month of the first required report from August to September.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 1977
Amends Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide payment for certain clinical psychologists' services under the supplementary medical insurance program.
United States · United States Congress · 7 December 1977
Nongame Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to make grants to any State to assist such State in developing a comprehensive fish and wildlife resource management plan. Directs the Secretary to prescribe by regulation standards to provide that management plans developed by the States under this Act result in the conservation of fish and wildlife. Sets forth the procedure by which the Secretary shall consider for approval State management plans. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States having approved nongame fish and wildlife conservation programs to assist such States in implementing such programs. Establishes limitations on the amount of such grants and the procedure for allocation among States. Sets forth the terms and conditions of such grants.
United States · United States Congress · 29 November 1977
Excludes from the Federal law limiting and restricting the corporate powers of national banking associations to deal in and underwrite investment securities specified dealing in and underwriting of all other nongeneral obligations issued or guaranteed by or on behalf of a State or any political subdivision thereof or agency of a State or any political subdivision thereof (except special assessment obligations and industrial revenue bonds) which are at the time eligible for purchase by a national bank for its own account, subject to specified limitations. Requires the Secretary of Treasury to submit an annual report to the Congress showing the extent to which the business of underwriting and dealing in State and local obligations is being carried on by commercial banks as compared with other banking institutions with a view to determining the effect of the amendment made by the first section of this Act on the institutional distribution of such business.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide identical income tax rates for single persons and married couples filing joint returns. Limits the earned income that must be reported by a married individual filing a separate return to the amount actually earned by that individual.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Expresses the sense of the Congress that any right to, title to, or interest in the property of the United States Government agencies in the Panama Canal Zone or any real property and improvements thereon located in the zone should not be conveyed, relinquished, or otherwise disposed of to any foreign government without specific authorization of such conveyance, relinquishment, or other disposition by any Act of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 1977
Declares that the President should establish a Commission on Domestic and International Hunger and Malnutrition which should: (1) collect and generate information and resources on food, hunger, malnutrition and related concerns; (2) assess current programs affecting domestic and international hunger and malnutrition; (3) analyze and report its findings and recommendations to the President, the Congress, and the public; and (4) assist the President and the Congress in implementing its recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1977
Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that there be no reduction of customs duties on textile or apparel products and that such products be excluded from the current Tokyo Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations in Geneva.
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat as a scholarship and to exclude from gross income any amounts received by an individual under the Armed Forces health professions scholarship program or the National Health Service Corps scholarship program, without regard to whether such individual is receiving training while on active duty or in an off-duty or inactive status, and without regard to whether a period of active duty or other service is required of such individual as a condition of receiving such payments.
United States · United States Congress · 14 October 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize any taxpayer to elect to have any portion of any overpayment of tax or any contribution in money which the taxpayer forwards with the return for such taxable year be available, as the taxpayer may designate on such return, for the National Endowment for the Arts or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individuals a limited, nonrefundable income tax credit for expenses incurred for the higher education of the taxpayer his spouse or dependents.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1977
Federal Construction Costs Reduction Act - Raises from $2,000 to $40,000 the dollar value of contracts to which the Davis-Bacon Act setting minimum wages on federally-affected construction projects applies. Directs the Secretary of Labor to increase such threshold level yearly in proportion to the rise in the Consumer Price Index. Makes the Act applicable only to the wages of unskilled laborers. Exempts apprentices, helpers, and trainees from the Act and forbids the Secretary from taking any action which discourages the customary utilization of apprentices, helpers, and trainees. Requires the "prevailing wage" (contracts covered by the Act must provide that covered employees are paid at a rate determined by the prevailing wage) to be set at the average wage paid laborers employed on at least three projects similar to the subject project which were carried out in the immediate geographic area during the previous two years. Requires such determination to be made no later than 60 days prior to the opening of invitations for bids for projects covered by the Act. Requires, in lieu of the weekly wage reports presently required by the Act, that in the event there is no evidence that a contractor is violating the Act, such contractor need only submit an affidavit certifying his compliance. States that where evidence of such violation exists, the contractor must submit weekly certified payroll statements and other records required by the Secretary. Establishes a Federal Construction Appeals Board to which any interested party may appeal wage rate determinations or other Labor Department rules likely to have a substantial effect on future wage rate determinations.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1977
Amends the Panama Canal Zone Code to prescribe procedures preventing Presidential disposition of land within the zone without approval of both Houses of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide identical income tax rates for single persons and married couples filing joint returns. Limits the earned income that must be reported by a married individual filing a separate return to the amount actually earned by that individual.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 1977
Exempts disaster payments made in connection with the 1977 crops of wheat, feed grains, upland cotton, and rice from the payment limitations contained in the Agricultural Act of 1970 and the Agricultural Act of 1949.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1977
Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Act - Directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, to establish a grant program designed to support projects which: (1) develop methods for the identification, prevention, and treatment of domestic violence; and (2) provide for family rehabilitation and support, and for emergency shelter and protection for individuals who are threatened by domestic violence. Directs the Director to establish a national information and resource clearinghouse to collect, analyze, prepare, and disseminate information relating to domestic violence. Requires the Director, in cooperation with the Administrator of Law Enforcement Assistance and the head of any other Federal agency involved with domestic violence, to study state laws, practices, and policies relating to domestic violence. Requires the Director to annually review the effectiveness of projects carried out under this Act and to report the findings to the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to transmit each such report to the President and to each House of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1977
Grants the court of claims jurisdiction to render judgments against the United States upon claims for losses other than lost profits sustained by producers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or other persons resulting from the ban on apparel, fabric, yarn, or fiber containing Tirs phosphate.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1977
Solar Energy Bank Act - Creates a Government corporation 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 dwellings. Establishes procedures governing the processing and approval of loan applications by the Bank. Prohibits conflicts of interest, on the part of officers or employees of the Bank. Prohibits the Bank or its employees from utilizing the Solar Bank to finance political activities. Imposes criminal penalties for the furnishing of false or misleading information by applicants for loans under this Act. Declares that the Solar Bank and its assets shall be exempt by Federal, State, and local taxation. Establishes a Solar Energy Fund in the Treasury of the United States to pay the expenses of the Bank. Authorizes the appropriation of $5,000,000,000 to the Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1977
Grants survivor benefits to dependents of present or former members of the armed forces who die before becoming entitled to retired pay for non-regular service. Stipulates that such amount be 55 percent of the retired pay to which such member would have been entitled. (Adds 10 U.S.C. 1448(e))
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1977
Constitutional Amendment - Permits religious observances in governmental institutions and public places. Permits reference to a supreme being in a governmental or public document, activity, place, or on money. Declares that this amendment shall not constitute establishment of religion.
United States · United States Congress · 5 August 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide identical income tax rates for single persons and married couples filing joint returns. Limits the earned income that must be reported by a married individual filing a separate return to the amount actually earned by that individual.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1977
Amends the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to continue for two years assistance to child development programs under such Act. Directs the Appalachian Regional Commission to conduct a study of such programs with special regard to a procedure to transfer complete sponsorship of such programs from the Commission to State or private agencies. Directs the Commission to report its findings to the Congress within one year after enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 1977
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal Communications Commission should maximize local primary radio broadcast service in any proceeding respecting the provision of class I-A and I-B radio service. Prohibits the operation of a standard broadcast station with power in excess of 50,000 watts.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1977
Young Families' Housing Act - Graduated Payment Mortgage Insurance Act - Amends the National Housing Act to permit the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to insure, on a regular basis, mortgages and loans with provisions for varying rates of amortization corresponding to anticipated variations in family income. Sets a percentage limit on the mortgage value ratio of mortgages which will be insurable under this Act. Prescribes eligibility requirements for such insurance. States that mortgages or loans insured pursuant to this Act shall not be subject to State usury laws in most cases. Individual Housing Account Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction for amounts paid in cash into an individual housing account. Defines the term "individual housing account" for the purposes of this Act. Limits annual tax deductions to $2,500 and lifetime deductions to $10,000. Makes provisions for tax treatment upon distribution of such accounts. Exempts individual housing accounts from taxation under the Internal Revenue Code.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 1977
Declares that the Federal Power Commission and other Federal agencies with authority over the allocation of natural gas shall give the highest priority to specified agricultural uses, including irrigation, grain drying, and the production of fertilizer and other agricultural chemicals.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the limitations on charitable deductions and investment tax credits taken by cooperative corporations. Allows cooperatives to allocate their investment tax credits among their patrons.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1977
International Safe Container Act - Requires that all containers used in international transport meet minimum safety standards and other requirements as prescribed by the International Convention for Safe Containers. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to prescribe regulations regarding (1) procedures to revoke approval and to invalidate safety approval plates on containers which no longer meet the requirements of the Convention or this Act; (2) fees to be charged for services associated with the approval and examination of containers; (3) initial approval of containers or container designs to meet the safety standards of the Convention; (4) the authorizing and attaching of safety approval plates; and (5) periodic examinations of approved containers to assure continued compliance with Convention safety standards. Authorizes the Secretary to issue detention orders for containers not having valid safety approval plates. Establishes civil penalties for moving containers in violation of a detention order. Prohibits discrimination against employees who have reported the existence of an unsafe container or who have reported violations of this Act. Authorizes the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of Transportation, to propose amendments to the Convention or to request a conference to amend the Convention. Authorizes the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, to modify the application of this Act with respect to cargoes of military significance moving in response to an emergency situation in containers aboard transportation assets owned by, controlled by, or under contract to the United States Government. Authorizes appropriations in such amounts as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1977
Comprehensive Veterans' Employment Training and Supportive Services Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor to provide (1) such comprehensive, coordinated, and interrelated programs as are deemed necessary to facilitate training, readjustment, and rehabilitation, and (2) career, veterans benefits and rights, and personal adjustment and motivational counseling to promote the productive employment of Vietnam era veterans, especially disabled veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1977
Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that the Government of the United States should maintain its rights and jurisdiction over the Panama Canal and the Panama Canal Zone.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1977
Directs the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a one year review of toxic and carcinogenic substances including: (1) current capabilities to predict the effect on humans of substances found to induce cancer in animals; (2) the benefits and risks to the public of such substances; (3) the validity of benefit-risk analysis of such substances; and (4) the relationship of Federal regulatory policies concerning the use of such substances for food and for non-food purposes. Directs the Institute to report its findings and legislative and administrative recommendations to the Congress and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare within one year. Authorizes the continued use of saccharin for eighteen months. Prohibits the Secretary from taking any action under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit or restrict the sale or distribution (other than requiring labeling) of saccharin.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1977
Franchising Termination Practices Reform Act - Requires a franchisor to notify a franchisee at least 90 days in advance of the franchisor's intention to terminate the franchise and to state the reasons for termination. Prohibits a franchisor from cancelling a franchise or failing to renew a franchise unless the franchisor is effecting a market area withdrawal or the franchisor has good cause for failure to renew and has given proper notice. Makes any franchisor who has violated the requirements of this Act civilly liable to the aggrieved franchisee.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1977
Repeals the McSweeney-McNary Act of 1928 and amends the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 to substitute for the existing reforestation and forest products research program a new program of investigations, experiments, tests, and other activities necessary to obtain, analyze, demonstrate, and disseminate scientific information about protecting, managing, and utilizing forest and rangeland renewable resources in rural, suburban, and urban areas. Specifies the content of renewable resource management, environmental, protection, utilization, and assessment research fields. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to establish forest and rangeland research facilities and to make competitive grants to public and private institutions and agencies and to individuals to further such research activities. Directs the Secretary to make and keep current a comprehensive survey and analysis of the present and prospective conditions of and requirements for the renewable resources of the forests and rangelands of the United States and of the supplies of such renewable resources. Authorizes such appropriations as may be necessary.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1977
Forest Resources Extension Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, in cooperation with State extension directors, to conduct educational programs for professionals in forestry and related fields disseminating the results of forestry research. Requires, within one year of the enactment of this Act, a report to the appropriate Congressional Committee outlining a coordinated five-year plan to follow in carrying out this Act. Authorizes, in addition to any sums already authorized, annual appropriations of $15,000,000 to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1977
Amends the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 to consolidate specified existing programs of cooperative forest resources assistance under such Act. Authorizes appropriations: (1) up to $25,000,000, annually, for rural forestry assistance; (2) not more than $50,000,000, annually, for the forestry incentive program; (3) as may be necessary for insect, and disease, and environmental pollutant control; (4) as may be necessary for urban and community forestry assistance; (5) up to $5,000,000, annually, for fire prevention and control in rural communities; (6) up to $15,000,000, annually, for fire prevention and control in rural areas generally; (7) up to $60,000,000, annually, for fire prevention and control on non- Federal forest and rural lands; (8) up to $5,000,000, annually, for forest resources management and planning assistance; and (9) up to $10,000,000, annually, for cooperative technology implementation programs. Permits the Secretary of Agriculture to make consolidated payments to a State in lieu of functional cost-sharing mechanisms, formulas, or agreements. Establishes within the Treasury of the United STates special emergency funds: (1) for insect, disease, and environmental pollutant control for lands within urban and community areas, and for lands outside such areas and for Federal lands; and (2) for rural fire disasters. Requires annual reports to Congress on these programs.