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United States · Official source
1,716 records where Rep. Callahan, Sonny [R-AL-1] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 1999
Calls for the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend and the Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring the U.S. Submarine Force on its 100th anniversary.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Father Theodore M. Hesburgh Congressional Gold Medal Act - Authorizes the President to present, on behalf of Congress, a congressional gold medal to Father Theodore M. Hesburgh in recognition of his outstanding and enduring contributions to civil rights, higher education, the Catholic Church, the Nation, and the global community. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to strike and sell bronze duplicates. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Citizen Legislature and Political Freedom Act - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) to terminate limitations on Federal election campaign contributions after 2000. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to terminate after December 31, 1999, the designation of income tax payments to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Terminates the Fund itself and the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account after December 31, 2000, and transfers any amounts remaining in the Fund to the general fund of the Treasury. Amends FECA, in the case of a political committee of a national political party, to require reports of all funds transferred to any political committee of a State or local political party, without regard to whether or not the funds are otherwise treated as contributions or expenditures under such Act (soft money). Requires any political committee of a State or local political party to file with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) a copy of any report on disbursements it is required under a State or local law, rule, or regulation to submit to the State or local government. Directs the FEC to make electronic filing of reports mandatory. Revises current deadlines for notification of contributions by a campaign committee. Applies such deadlines to each campaign committee of a candidate, not (as currently) just the principal campaign committee. Requires each political committee to notify, in writing, the appropriate office of any contribution (currently, of $1,000 or more) received by the committee during the period which begins on the 90th day before an election (currently, after the 20th day after, but more than 48 hours before, an election) and ends at the time the polls close for such election. Requires such notification to be made within 24 hours (or, if earlier, by midnight of the day on which the contribution is deposited) (currently, within 48 hours) after receipt of the contribution. Requires the FEC to make report information available on the Internet and at FEC offices as soon as practicable after its receipt. Declares that the "best efforts" exception to noncompliance with FECA shall not apply with respect to information regarding the identification of any contributor of more than $200 in the aggregate during a calendar year (thus requiring strict observance of reporting deadlines for all such contributions).
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Calls for the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend and the Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of the S.S. LANE VICTORY.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 1999
Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program - Establishes the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program, and the Loan Guarantee Board to administer it, composed of the Secretaries of Commerce, the Treasury, and Labor. Authorizes such Program to guarantee loans by private banking and investment institutions to qualified steel companies, in accordance with Board-established procedures. Sets forth loan guarantee parameters. Authorizes appropriations. Treats an iron ore company as a qualified steel company for purposes of the Program.
United States · United States Congress · 13 May 1999
Access to Women's Health Care Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code to establish standards relating to patient access to unrestricted obstetric and gynecological services under group and individual health insurance coverage and group health plans.
United States · United States Congress · 12 May 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Estuary Habitat Restoration Title II: Chesapeake Bay Program Estuary Habitat Restoration Partnership Act of 1999 - Title I: Estuary Habitat Restoration - Establishes the Estuary Habitat Restoration Council (Council), which shall: (1) develop a national strategy for estuary habitat restoration; and (2) review project applications. (Sec. 105) Establishes six Regional Councils to represent the: (1) Gulf region; (2) Middle Atlantic region; (3) Northeast region; (4) Northwest region; (5) Southeast region; and (6) Southwest region. States that such Councils shall: (1) be made up of the Governors and their appointees for each member State; (2) develop regional strategies for project prioritization and selection; and (3) evaluate and forward project applications to the Council. Directs the Secretary of the Army to coordinate technical support and provide, upon request, administrative support to the Councils. (Sec. 106) Directs the Council to develop an estuary restoration strategy within a specified time which shall provide for the integration of estuary restoration plans, programs, and partnerships. (Sec. 107) Sets forth project application and administrative provisions, including Federal cost-sharing limits. (Sec. 109) Directs the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere of the Department of Commerce to develop a project monitoring database. (Sec. 110) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) estuary restoration activities; and (2) database monitoring. Obligates administrative funds for the Council and Regional Councils. Title II: Chesapeake Bay Program - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize appropriations for the Chesapeake Bay Program, with an annual limitation on funds available for the Program office in the Environmental Protection Agency.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1999
Small Investors Tax Simplification Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that a partner's distributive share of all items of income, gain, loss, deduction, or credit of a qualified investment club shall be determined under the simplified method. Defines such method, in general, as a method pursuant to which a partnership allocates each of the items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit for its taxable year to its partners based on their proportionate interests on the last day of such taxable year in partnership profits.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1999
Made in USA Label Defense Act of 1999 - Amends Federal law to prohibit the affixation of the "Made in the USA" label to a product of the Northern Mariana Islands. Prohibits such products from being imported into the United States free of duty or quotas.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact Title II: Southern Dairy Compact Dairy Consumers and Producers Protection Act - Title I: Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact - Amends the Agricultural Market Transition Act to include Maryland, New Jersey, and New York within the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact. Includes Ohio among the additional States that may join such Compact, and eliminates Virginia from such group. Eliminates and revises specified provisions regarding Compact implementation, duration, restricting authority, and Commodity Credit Corporation compensation. Title II: Southern Dairy Compact - States that Congress consents to the Southern Dairy Compact entered into by Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Includes Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas as additional States that may join such Compact. Limits price regulatory authority to Class I fluid milk unless otherwise consented to by Congress. Provides for Commodity Credit Corporation compensation. Sets forth the Southern Dairy Compact.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1999
Patent Fairness Act of 1999 - Amends Federal law to require, if the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks determines that certain standards are met, restoration of the term of any patent, in force on September 24, 1984, and on the filing date of a patent term restoration application under this Act, that claims: (1) a drug product; (2) a method of using a drug product; or (3) a method of manufacturing a drug product. (Sec. 2) Defines such standards as: (1) a regulatory review period from application submission to application approval exceeding 60 months; and (2) the absence of substantial evidence overcoming the rebuttable presumption that the applicant for patent term restoration for the drug product acted with due diligence. Requires subtraction from the total amount of the restoration term of any time during the regulatory review period during which the Commissioner finds that the applicant for patent term restoration did not act with due diligence. Limits a restoration period, after specified adjustments, to five years. Requires restoration term applications to be filed within 90 days after enactment of this Act. Provides for: (1) claim determination procedure; (2) interim restoration of the patent term pending final disposition; and (3) appeal of the Commissioner's determinations to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit only. Entitles to compensation by the patent owner of any person who has submitted an new drug application under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for a drug product covered by a patent for which a patent term was restored under this Act, if such application has been found by the Food and Drug Administration on or before enactment of this Act to be sufficiently complete to permit substantive review. Sets the amount of compensation at: (1)$1 million; or (2) $500,000 for any holder of a Type II Drug Master File that has permitted a reference to its File to be made in such application. Limits a patent owner's overall liability to: (1) $5 million to persons submitting new drug applications; or (2) $2.5 million to holders of Type II Drug Master Files. Requires the Commissioner to report to Congress: (1) an evaluation of the patent term restoration review procedure established by this Act; and (2) a recommendation whether Congress should consider establishing such a patent term review procedure for patents not covered by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1999
Regulatory Fairness and Openness Act of 1999 - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a transition analysis report with respect to pesticide tolerances before releasing any product safety information to the public, or making final tolerance decisions. Includes within such report's requirements a description of the extent to which specified assumptions have been used to support findings or regulatory recommendations. (Sec. 5) Sets forth interim review or reassessment procedures. (Sec. 6) Requires the Administrator to issue within one year of enactment of this Act final implementing rules for tolerances and exemptions for pesticide chemical residues. (Sec. 7) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Administrator to issue guidelines specifying required data in support of tolerances and exemptions. Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to provide for related notice and opportunity for hearing. (Sec. 8) Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to provide for an expedited replacement product registration process. Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to authorize an expedited tolerance for an emergency exemption if no significant (food) consumer risk exists. (Sec. 9) Requires the Administrator and the Secretary of Agriculture to report with respect to related pesticide, residue, and food use priorities and resources. (Sec. 10) Requires the Secretary to develop a program to monitor the competitive international market strength of major U.S. agricultural commodity sectors. (Sec. 11) Establishes the Pesticide Advisory Committee.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1999
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the court-martial charges against then-Captain Charles McVay, U.S. Navy, arising from the sinking of the USS INDIANAPOLIS on July 30, 1945, while under his command were not morally sustainable; (2) Captain McVay's conviction was a miscarriage of justice; (3) the American people should now recognize Captain McVay's lack of culpability for the loss of such ship and the lives of the men who died as the result of her sinking; and (4) the President should award a Unit Citation to the final crew of the INDIANAPOLIS in recognition of their courage and fortitude in the face of tremendous hardship and adversity after their ship was torpedoed and sunk.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1999
Children's Hospitals Education and Research Act of 1999 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payment as specified to each children's hospital for each hospital cost reporting period under Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act (SSA)) for FY 2000 and 2001 for the direct and indirect expenses associated with operating approved medical residency training programs. Provides that such payments are in lieu of certain Medicare payments to hospitals for inpatient hospital services, but shall not affect the amounts otherwise payable to such hospitals under a State Medicaid (SSA title XIX) plan. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Safeguard Amendments Title II: Amendments to Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 Title III: Steel Import Notification Fair Trade Law Enhancement Act of 1999 - Title I: Safeguard Amendments - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to repeal the requirement that the cause of serious injury (or threat of it) be substantial to the domestic industry producing an article like or directly competitive with an article that is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities with respect to the President taking action to facilitate efforts by such industry to make a positive adjustment to the import competition. (Sec. 101) Declares that imports shall be considered to be a "cause of serious injury, or threat thereof," when a causal link is established between imports and injury to the domestic industry. Revises certain factors the International Trade Commission (ITC) must consider when investigating whether an article is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury (or threat of it) to the domestic industry producing an article like or directly competitive with the imported article. Repeals, similarly, the requirement that such injury be substantial. (Sec. 102) Requires the ITC, for purposes of an investigation, to focus on the merchant market when determining the domestic industry's market share in producing an article like or directly competitive with the imported article in cases in which domestic producers transfer internally (including related parties) significant production of the like or directly competitive article for the production of a downstream article and sell significant production of such article in the merchant market (captive production). (Sec. 103) Directs the ITC to find that a rebuttable presumption that a domestic industry is threatened with serious injury, or a rebuttable presumption of critical circumstances, exists due to such imports if it finds there has been a rapid decline in domestic prices for the like or directly competitive article and a rapid increase in the imported articles. Requires the ITC in any case in which such presumptions do not apply, or in which they apply but are rebutted, to conduct a threat of serious injury or of critical circumstances analysis as if no such presumption applied. Title II: Amendments to Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to make similar changes with respect to its countervailing duty and antidumping duty provisions. (Sec. 207) Prohibits the administering authority (Secretary of Commerce), for purposes of suspending an antidumping duty or countervailing duty investigation, from accepting an agreement with another country to eliminate or offset a countervailable subsidy placed by such country on an export to the United States or an agreement to cease such exports to, or eliminate their injurious effect on, the United States unless, among other things, such agreement is supported by domestic producers or workers accounting for more than 50 percent of the total production of the domestic like product. (Sec. 209) Revises the method for calculating the constructed export price of subject merchandise by reducing such price, among other things, by an amount equal to the dumping margin or the net countervailable subsidy unless the producer or exporter is able to demonstrate that the importer of such merchandise was in no way reimbursed for any antidumping duties paid on such merchandise. (Sec. 211) Requires the ITC, for purposes of an antidumping duty or countervailing duty investigation, to treat the producers of an agricultural product that has a short shelf life (perishable product) in a defined period or season as the domestic industry. Sets forth certain factors that the ITC can, cannot, or shall consider when making material injury determinations with respect to such products for the seasonal period. (Sec. 212) Requires the ITC, when making a determination of whether a countervailable subsidy exists in a country where transactions do not reflect market conditions due to government action associated with provision of the subject good or service or purchase of such goods, to make such determination through comparison with the most comparable market price elsewhere in the world. Title III: Steel Import Notification - Directs the Secretary to establish and implement a steel import notification and monitoring program. Requires: (1) a person to have a steel import notification certificate before he or she can import certain steel products into the United States; and (2) the Secretary to issue such certificate to any person who files an application that meets specified requirements. Requires the Secretary to compile and publish certain information with respect to such imported steel.
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
National Retail Sales Tax Act of 1999 - Repeals the income, estate, gift, and certain excise tax provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. (Sec. 4) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a 15 percent tax on the use, consumption or enjoyment in the U.S. of any property or service produced or rendered within or without of the United States. Prohibits, subject to exception, imposing a tax on any property or service purchased for: (1) a business purpose in an active trade or business; or (2) export from the United States for use or consumption outside of the United States, provided that the purchaser provided the seller with either an intermediate sales certificate or an export sales certificate. Defines "purchased for a business purpose in an active trade or business" as property or services: (1) purchased for resale; (2) purchased to produce property or services; or (3) purchased in furtherance of other bona fide business purposes. Sets forth rules relating to the obligation of governmental units and not-for-profit organizations to collect, remit, and pay taxes. Sets forth provisions concerning credits and refunds. Allows for general credits against the tax, including: (1) a used property credit; (2) a business use conversion credit; (3) an administration credit; (4) a compliance equipment cost credit; (5) a bad debt credit; (6) an insurance proceeds credit; and (7) a transition inventory credit. Provides for installment payments of the tax on the purchase of a principal residence. Allows an eligible family unit to receive a sales tax rebate. Requires that a family member, to be counted for the purposes of determining family unit size, must: (1) if over two years old, have a bona fide social security number; and (2) be a lawful resident. Declares that no individual shall be considered part of more than one family unit. Sets forth definitions and special rules concerning such things as: (1) foreign financial intermediation services; (2) financing leases; and (3) installment sales. Imposes a 15 percent tax on gaming services. Directs an administering State to administer, collect, and remit to the Treasury the tax on gross payments for the use, consumption or enjoyment of taxable property or services within the State. Defines an administering State as one which maintains a specified conforming sales tax and enters into a specified cooperative agreement with the Secretary. Provides for administrative support for States. Sets forth provisions concerning, among other things: (1) monthly reports and payments; (2) records; (3) penalties; (4) appeals; (5) accounting; and (6) hobby activities. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to establish an Office of Revenue Allocation to arbitrate any claims or disputes among States. (Sec. 5) Prohibits the authorizing of any appropriations for the Internal Revenue Service after FY 2003. Establishes in the Treasury: (1) an Excise Tax Bureau to administer any excise taxes not repealed by this Act; and (2) a Sales Tax Bureau to administer the national sales tax. (Sec. 6) Authorizes the Social Security Administration to collect and administer self-employment income and employment taxes beginning in 2001. (Sec. 7) Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) the self-employment tax; (2) the indexing of social security benefits; (3) compensating payments to individuals on fixed incomes; and (4) the interest rate on tax underpayments and overpayments. (Sec. 11) Requires a supermajority in the House of Representatives or the Senate to raise rates.
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
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 2004 the authorization of appropriations for NWP.
United States · United States Congress · 14 April 1999
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to implement the Class I milk price structure known as Option A as part of the final rule to consolidate Federal milk marketing orders.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1999
Amends the Clean Air Act to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from listing liquefied petroleum gas under provisions regarding the accidental release of regulated substances (substances known to cause or which may reasonably be anticipated to cause death, injury, or serious adverse effects to human health or the environment) into the ambient air from a stationary source.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1999
Department of Energy Foreign Visitors Program Moratorium Act of 1999 - Prohibits the Secretary of Energy from admitting to any Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory facility any individual who is a citizen of a country named on the current DOE sensitive countries list. Authorizes the Secretary to waive such prohibition on a case-by-case basis when considered necessary for national security, but requires prior notification to the congressional defense committees, followed by a ten-day waiting period . Directs the Secretary to establish a counterintelligence program at each of the national laboratories which shall include a plan to investigate any prior breaches of security discovered after the date of enactment of this Act. Requires background checks on all foreign citizens before entry into a national laboratory. Requires the Secretary to report to the defense committees on the status of counterintelligence activities at each national laboratory.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1999
Charitable Giving Tax Relief Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit non-itemizers to deduct a portion of their charitable contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 24 March 1999
Enhancement of Trade, Security, and Human Rights Through Sanctions Reform Act - Declares that it is the purpose of this Act to establish an effective framework for consideration by the legislative and executive branches of unilateral economic sanctions in order to ensure coordination of U.S. policy with respect to trade, security, and human rights. (Sec. 3) Declares that it is U.S. policy to: (1) pursue U.S. interests through vigorous and effective diplomatic, political, commercial, charitable, educational, cultural, and strategic engagement with other countries, while recognizing that U.S. national security interests may sometimes require the imposition of economic sanctions on other countries; (2) foster multilateral cooperation on vital matters of U.S. foreign policy, including promoting human rights and democracy, combating international terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and international narcotics trafficking, and ensuring adequate environmental protection; (3) promote U.S. economic growth and job creation by expanding exports of goods, services, and agricultural commodities, and by encouraging investment that supports the sale abroad of U.S. products and services; (4) maintain the reputation of U.S. businesses and farmers as reliable suppliers to international customers of quality products and services; (5) avoid the use of restrictions on exports of agricultural commodities as a foreign policy weapon; and (6) oppose policies of other countries designed to discourage economic interaction with countries friendly to the United States or with any U.S. national, and to avoid use of such measures as instruments of U.S. foreign policy. States that when economic sanctions are necessary, it is U.S. policy to: (1) target them as narrowly as possible on those foreign governments, entities, and officials that are responsible for the conduct being targeted, thereby minimizing unnecessary or disproportionate harm to individuals who are not responsible for such conduct; and (2) to the extent feasible, avoid any adverse impact of economic sanctions on the humanitarian activities of the United States and foreign nongovernmental organizations in a country against which sanctions are imposed. (Sec. 5) Expresses the sense of Congress that any bill or joint resolution imposing or authorizing the imposition of a unilateral economic sanction by the executive branch, and considered by the House of Representatives or the Senate, should: (1) state the U.S. foreign policy or national security objective; (2) terminate after two years unless specifically reauthorized; (3) provide for contract sanctity; (4) provide presidential authority to adjust or waive the sanction in the national interest; (5) target the sanction as narrowly as possible against the parties responsible for the conduct being targeted (without restricting medicine, medical equipment, or food, disaster relief or refugee assistance, or other specified foreign assistance); and (6) provide for expanded export promotion programs if sanctions are likely to target an export market for American farmers. (Sec. 6) Sets forth a procedure for congressional consideration of any bill or joint resolution that imposes, or authorizes the imposition of, any unilateral economic sanction by the executive branch. Requires specified reports: (1) from the President assessing the likelihood that the proposed unilateral economic sanction will achieve its stated objective within a reasonable period of time, as well as the impact of the proposed unilateral economic sanction on U.S. foreign policy, national security, and humanitarian activities; and (2) from the Secretary of Agriculture assessing the extent to which any country or countries proposed or likely to be sanctioned are markets that accounted for more than three percent of all U.S. agricultural export sales in the preceding calendar year, as well as the likelihood that U.S. agricultural exports will be affected by the proposed sanction or by retaliation by any country proposed or likely to be sanctioned, and specific commodities which are most likely to be affected. Considers any bill or joint resolution that imposes any unilateral economic sanction to include a Federal private sector mandate for purposes of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995. Requires the Congressional Budget Office, in its report pursuant to such Act, to assess the likely short- and long-term costs of the proposed sanction to the U.S. economy. (Sec. 7) Requires the President to publish notice in the Federal Register at least 45 days in advance of the imposition of a unilateral economic sanction of his intention to implement such sanction. Authorizes the President to waive such notice in cases where the sanction involves freezing the assets of a foreign country or entity, if it is determined that U.S. national interest would be jeopardized. Requires any executive sanction to include an assessment of whether the sanction is likely to achieve a specific U.S. foreign policy or national security objective within a reasonable and specified period of time. Requires, before imposition of a unilateral economic sanction, that the President and the Secretary of Agriculture report to appropriate congressional committees the same assessments required in connection with any bill or joint resolution imposing or authorizing the imposition of a unilateral economic sanction by the executive branch. Requires the President to request a report by the U.S. International Trade Commission on the likely short- and long-term costs of the proposed sanction to the U.S. economy, including the potential impact on U.S. competitiveness. Provides, in the case of a national emergency, for allowing the President temporarily to waive most of the requirements for executive action in order to act immediately, generally requiring the waived requirements to be met within 60 days after imposition of the sanction (which shall terminate after 90 days if such requirements are not met). Establishes within the executive branch an interagency Sanctions Review Committee to coordinate U.S. policy regarding unilateral economic sanctions and provide appropriate recommendations to the President. (Sec. 8) Authorizes the President to waive any sanction or prohibition contained in specified sections of the Arms Export Control Act, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, or the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 for periods of six months each if it is determined that it would advance the purposes of such Acts or the national security interests of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 24 March 1999
Expresses the sense of Congress that State and local governments and local educational agencies are encouraged to: (1) dedicate at least one day of learning to the study and understanding of the significance of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers; and (2) include a requirement that, before receiving a certificate or diploma of graduation from high school, students be tested on their competency in understanding those works.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Expanded Availability of Health Care Services Title II: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency and Related Provisions Subtitle A: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Subtitle B: Elimination of Work Disincentives Subtitle C: Work Incentives, Planning, Assistance, and Outreach Title III: Demonstration Projects and Studies Title IV: Technical Amendments Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 - Title I: Expanded Availability of Health Care Services - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for expanding State options under Medicaid for workers with disabilities, namely by creating State options to eliminate income, assets, and resource limitations for workers with disabilities who buy into Medicaid and to provide opportunity for employed individuals with a medically improved disability to make such a buy. Provides that Federal funds paid to a State for medical assistance provided to such individuals may not generally be used to supplant the level of State funds expended for a fiscal year for programs to enable working disabled individuals to work. (Sec. 102) Provides for certain continuation of Medicare coverage for working individuals with disabilities. (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) award grants to eligible States to support establishment of State infrastructures to support the working disabled as well as to enable State outreach campaigns on infrastructure existence; and (2) submit a recommendation to specified congressional committees on whether such grant program should be continued after FY 2010. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 104) Authorizes State demonstration projects for certain Medicaid coverage of up to a specified maximum number of workers with a potentially severe disability, coverage equal to that afforded under the State option provided for above for eliminating income, assets, and resource limitations for disabled workers buying into Medicaid. Makes necessary appropriations. Title II: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency and Related Provisions - Subtitle A: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency - Amends part A (General Provisions) of SSA title XI to direct the Commissioner to establish a Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program (TWSSP) under which a disabled beneficiary may use a TWSSP ticket issued by the Commissioner under a described system, designed to ensure quality assurance, to obtain employment, vocational rehabilitation services, or other support services, pursuant to an appropriate individual beneficiary work plan that meets specified requirements, at the Commission's expense, from a participating employment network, public or private, which: (1) meets specified qualifications and is under an agreement with the Commissioner who must select a program manager to assist in administering TWSSP; (2) is chosen by the beneficiary, and (3) is willing to accept assignment of the beneficiary's TWSSP ticket. Allows State agencies administering or supervising the administration of the State plan under title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to elect to participate as an employment network. Sets forth special requirements applicable to cross-referral to certain State agencies and requirements relating to provision of services. Describes employment network payment systems. Provides that during any period for which an individual is using a TWSSP ticket, the Commissioner and any applicable State agency may not initiate a continuing disability or similar review with regards to whether the individual is or is not disabled. Requires payments to employment networks to be made out of the social security trust funds in the case of ticketed SSA title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) disability beneficiaries who return to work, or from the appropriation made available for making Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments under SSA title XVI, in the case of SSI disability beneficiaries who return to work. Provides for allocation of other costs. (Sec. 202) Establishes within the Social Security Administration the Work Incentives Advisory Panel to advise the Commissioner with respect to TWSSP, and other Federal officials on related issues. Provides that the costs for carrying out this paragraph shall be paid from amounts available for the administration of SSA titles II and XVI, and shall be allocated among those amounts as appropriate. Subtitle B: Elimination of Work Disincentives - Amends SSA titles II and XVI to set forth a number of measures designed to eliminate work disincentives, namely prohibiting work activity as a basis for review of an individual's disability status and providing for expedited reinstatement of entitlement, or in the case of SSI, eligibility, to, respectively, OASDI and SSI disability benefits. Subtitle C: Work Incentives Planning, Assistance, and Outreach - Amends SSA title XI part A (General Provisions) to direct the Commissioner to establish a community-based work incentives outreach program for disabled beneficiaries that includes the provision of technical assistance to organizations and entities that are designed to encourage disabled beneficiaries to return to work. Provides that the costs of carrying out this subtitle shall be paid from amounts made available for administration of SSA titles II and XVI, and shall be allocated among such amounts as appropriate. (Sec. 222) Amends SSA title XI to authorize the Commissioner to make certain minimum payments in each State to the protection and advocacy system established under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act for the purpose of providing services to disabled beneficiaries, services which may include advocacy or other services that such a beneficiary may need to secure or regain gainful employment. Provides for funding similar to that in the paragraph above, although subject to certain limitation. Title III: Demonstration Projects and Studies - Amends SSA title II to provide for a permanent extension of disability insurance program demonstration project authority. Directs the Commissioner to develop and carry out experiments and demonstration projects, subject to specified guidelines which include the authority to waive compliance with benefits requirements, with regard to various alternative methods of treating the work activity of individuals entitled to OASDI disability benefits, altering other limitations and conditions applicable to such individuals, and implementing sliding scale benefit offsets. Authorizes the Commissioner to expand the scope of any such experiment or demonstration project to include any group of OASDI benefit applicants with impairments that reasonably may be presumed to be disabling for purposes of such demonstration project, and may limit any such demonstration project to any such group of applicants, subject to the terms of such demonstration project which shall define the extent of any such presumption. (Sec. 302) Directs the Commissioner to conduct certain demonstration projects designed to provide for specified reductions in disability insurance benefits based on earnings. Requires expenditures for such demonstration projects to come out of the social security and Medicare trust funds to the extent provided in advance in appropriation acts. (Sec. 303) Directs the Comptroller General to conduct and report to the Congress on various described studies and other specified related matters, but chiefly studies concerning existing disability-related employment incentives and coordination of the OASDI disability insurance program and the SSI program as they relate to individuals entering or leaving concurrent entitlement under such programs, as well as on a study concerning the impact of the substantial gainful activity limit on return to work. Title IV: Technical Amendments - Amends the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 with respect to: (1) final adjudication of denied claims by drug addicts and alcoholics for SSA title II disability benefits; and (2) the effective dates of certain requirements concerning representative payees and treatment referrals for such individuals. (Sec. 402) Amends SSA title II to: (1) provide for payments to State and local prisons for monthly reports on the identities of inmates whose OASDI benefits are determined by the Commissioner not to be payable as a result of such reports; (2) provide for a 50 percent reduction in such payments under SSA titles II and XVI in cases involving a comparable payment under the other title with respect to the same prisoner; (3) transfer from the OASDI trust funds any sums necessary to enable the Commissioner to make such payments; (4) eliminate the requirement that confinement stem only from a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year (thus denying OASDI benefits to individuals confined for any criminal offense); and (5) provide for continued denial of benefits to sex offenders remaining confined to public institutions upon completion of prison term. (Sec. 403) Provides for a two-year open season for members of the clergy who wish to revoke their exemption from social security coverage. (Sec. 404) Amends SSA title XI to make a miscellaneous technical amendment relating to cooperative research or development projects under SSA titles II and XVI. (Sec. 405) Amends SSA title XI to make miscellaneous technical amendments to provisions concerning the requirements of State income and eligibility verification systems, among other changes allowing a State to permit certain employers that make returns with respect to domestic service employment taxes on a calendar year basis to instead make such reports on an annual basis.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1999
Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening and Intervention Act of 1999 - Mandates grants or cooperative agreements to: (1) develop statewide newborn and infant hearing screening, evaluation and intervention programs and systems; and (2) provide technical assistance to State agencies to complement an intramural program and to conduct applied research related to newborn and infant hearing screening, evaluation, and intervention programs and systems. Requires the National Institutes of Health to continue a program of research and development on the efficacy of new screening techniques and technology. Mandates Federal coordination and collaboration with State and local agencies, consumer groups, national medical, health, and education specialty organizations, deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals and their families, qualified professional personnel, and related commercial industries. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1999
Recognizes and honors the crewmembers of the U.S.S. ALABAMA (BB-60) and the U.S.S. ALABAMA Crewmen's Association for their valuable contributions to victory and peace in World War II and to the security and prosperity of the Nation.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
Landowners Equal Treatment Act of 1999 - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require the head of an agency to make every possible effort to avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts on non-Federal property that result from Federal use of the property (including constructive use) as a direct result of an agency action under such Act (including actions to provide or retain habitat for endangered or threatened species or to designate non-Federal property as critical habitat). Prohibits an agency from taking action under such Act that results in a Federal use of non-Federal property unless it: (1) obtains the landowner's permission; (2) negotiates a voluntary agreement authorizing such use; or (3) compensates the landowner for the fair market value of the Federal use. Sets forth provisions governing landowner requests for compensation, compensation negotiations, arbitration or civil actions to resolve compensation disagreements, and payment of compensation from an agency's annual appropriations. Prohibits an agency from taking any action that is a Federal use of non-Federal property unless it has given 30 days notice to each property owner directly affected explaining their rights and either obtaining their permission or providing procedures for obtaining compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act - Authorizes the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make grants on a competitive basis to a variety of fire departments for any of a number of specified purposes, including: (1) hiring additional firefighting personnel; (2) training them; (3) funding creation of rapid intervention teams to protect firefighting personnel at the scenes of fires and other emergencies; (4) certifying fire inspectors; (5) establishing wellness and fitness programs for firefighting personnel; (6) funding emergency medical services; (7) acquiring additional firefighting vehicles and equipment, including personal protective equipment required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; (8) modifying fire stations, fire training facilities, and other facilities; (9) enforcing fire codes; (10) funding fire prevention programs; and (11) educating the public about arson prevention and detection. Requires the FEMA Director to establish an office to set specific criteria for the selection of grant recipients and administer the grants. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
Historic Homeownership Assistance Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for 20 percent of the qualified rehabilitation expenditures made by a taxpayer with respect to a qualified historic home which has been substantially rehabilitated and which is owned by the taxpayer and used as his or her principal residence. Allows the credit for such expenditures to be taken by a purchaser of the rehabilitated home. Permits, in lieu of the credit, a historic rehabilitation mortgage credit certificate, which may be transferred to a lender in exchange for a reduction in the rate of interest on the loan secured by the building.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Expanded Availability of Health Care Services Title II: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program Title III: Technical Amendments Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Act of 1999 - Title I: Expanded Availability of Health Care Services - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for expanding State options under Medicaid for workers with disabilities, namely by creating State options to eliminate income, assets, and resource limitations for workers with disabilities who buy into Medicaid and to expand opportunities for such workers to make such a buy. Provides that Federal funds paid to a State for medical assistance provided to certain working disabled individuals must be used to supplement but not supplant the level of State funds expended as of FY 1999 for programs to enable working disabled individuals to work. (Sec. 102) Extends Medicare (SSA title XVIII) coverage for OASDI (SSA title II) disability benefit recipients who are using tickets to work and self-sufficiency (TWSS). (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) award grants to eligible States to support establishment of State infrastructures to support the working disabled as well as to enable State outreach campaigns on infrastructure existence; and (2) submit a recommendation to specified congressional committees on whether such grant program should be continued after FY 2010. Authorizes and makes appropriations. (Sec. 104) Authorizes State demonstration projects under which Medicaid coverage equal to that afforded under the State option provided for above for eliminating income, assets, and resource limitations for disabled workers buying into Medicaid is provided for up to a specified maximum number of workers with a potentially severe disability. Authorizes and makes appropriations. Title II: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program - Amends part A (General Provisions) of SSA title XI to direct the Commissioner of Social Security to establish a Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program (TWSSP) under which a disabled beneficiary may use a TWSS issued by the Commissioner under a described system, designed to ensure quality assurance, to obtain employment, vocational rehabilitation, or other support services, pursuant to an appropriate individual work plan meeting specified requirements, at the Commissioner's expense, from a participating employment network, public or private, which: (1) meets specified qualifications and is under an agreement with the Commissioner who must select a program manager to assist in administering TWSSP; (2) is chosen by the beneficiary, and (3) is willing to accept assignment of the beneficiary's TWSS. Allows State agencies administering or supervising the administration of the State plan under title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to elect to participate as an employment network. Sets forth special requirements applicable to cross-referral to certain State agencies and requirements relating to provision of services. Describes employment network payment systems. Provides that during any period for which an individual is using a TWSS, the Commissioner and any applicable State agency may not initiate a continuing disability or similar review with regard to whether the individual is or is not disabled. Authorizes to be transferred from the social security trust funds each fiscal year such sums as may be necessary to carry out this title with respect to SSA title II disability beneficiaries. Directs the Commissioner to establish a corps of trained, accessible, and responsive work incentive specialists to specialize in SSA title II and title XVI disability work incentives for the purpose of disseminating accurate information to disabled beneficiaries with respect to inquiries and issues relating to work incentives. (Sec. 204) Establishes within the executive branch the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Advisory Panel to advise the Commissioner with respect to TWSSP, and furnish progress on TWSSP to the President and Congress. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 205) Directs the Commissioner to conduct certain demonstration projects designed to provide for specified reductions in disability insurance benefits based on earnings. Requires expenditures for such demonstration projects to come out of the social security and Medicare trust funds to the extent provided in advance in appropriation acts. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct and report to Congress on various described studies concerning existing disability-related employment incentives and coordination of the OASDI disability insurance program and the SSI program as they relate to individuals entering or leaving concurrent entitlement under such programs. Title III: Technical Amendments - Amends the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 with respect to: (1) final adjudication of denied claims by drug addicts and alcoholics for SSA title II disability benefits; and (2) the effective dates of certain requirements concerning representative payees and treatment referrals for drug addicts and alcoholics. (Sec. 302) Amends SSA title II to: (1) provide for payments to State and local prisons for monthly reports on the identities of inmates whose OASDI benefits are determined by the Commissioner not to be payable as a result of such reports; (2) provide for a 50 percent reduction in such payments under SSA titles II and XVI in cases involving a comparable payment under the other title with respect to the same prisoner; (3) exempt from the Privacy Act of 1974 any agreements with State and local prisons to supply such information; (4) transfer from the social security trust funds any sums necessary to enable the Commissioner to make such payments; (5) eliminate the requirement that confinement stem only from a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year (thus denying OASDI benefits to individuals confined for any criminal offense); and (6) provide for continued denial of benefits to sex offenders remaining confined to public institutions upon completion of prison term. (Sec. 303) Provides for a two-year open season for members of the clergy who wish to revoke their exemption from social security coverage . (Sec. 304) Amends SSA title XI to make a miscellaneous technical amendment relating to cooperative research or demonstration projects under SSA titles II and XVI. (Sec. 305) Amends SSA title XI to make miscellaneous technical amendments to provisions concerning the requirements of State income and eligibility verification systems to, among other changes, allow a State to permit certain employers that make returns with respect to domestic service employment taxes on a calendar year basis to instead make such reports on an annual basis.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1999
Reforestation Tax Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction to a taxpayer who has a qualified timber gain in an amount equal to the qualified percentage of such gain. Decreases the amortization period for reforestation expenditures.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1999
Constitutional Amendment - Requires that any bill, resolution, or other legislative measure changing the internal revenue laws shall require for final adoption in each House the concurrence of two-thirds of the Members of that House voting and present, unless the bill is determined at the time of adoption, in a reasonable manner prescribed by law, not to increase the internal revenue by more than a de minimis amount. States that for purposes of determining any increase, there shall be excluded any increase resulting from the lowering of an effective rate of any tax. Requires journal entry of any vote. Permits the waiver of such requirement, for up to two years, if there is a declaration of war or if the United States is engaged in a military conflict which causes an imminent and serious threat to national security and is so declared by a joint resolution which becomes law.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Tax Reduction Title II: Supermajority Required for Tax Changes Freedom and Fairness Restoration Act of 1999 - Title I: Tax Reduction and Simplification - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a 19 percent tax (17 percent after December 31, 2000) on the taxable income of every individual. Redefines "taxable income" to mean the amount by which wages, retirement distributions, and unemployment compensation exceed the standard deduction. Increases the basic standard deduction and includes an additional standard deduction for dependents. Includes in taxable income the taxable income of each dependent child under the age of 14. Provides for inflation adjustments. (Sec. 102) Replaces the current tax on corporations with a tax on every person engaged in a business activity equal to 19 percent (17 percent after December 31, 2000) of the business taxable income of such person. Makes the person engaged in the business activity liable for the tax. Imposes a tax of 19 percent (17 percent after December 31, 2000) on the value of excludable compensation provided during the year by an employer for the benefit of employees. Makes the employer liable for the tax. (Sec. 103) Repeals: (1) numerous provisions relating to pension plans; and (2) provisions imposing a tax on any employer reversion from a qualified plan. Revises requirements regarding transfers of excess pension assets. (Sec. 104) Repeals from the Internal Revenue Code: (1) the part relating to alternative minimum tax; (2) the part relating to credits against tax; (3) the subtitle relating to estate and gift taxes; and (4) subject to exception, the chapter relating to normal taxes and surtaxes. Title II: Supermajority Required for Tax Changes - Makes it not in order in the House of Representatives or the Senate, unless waived or suspended in the House or the Senate by a three-fifths vote of the Members, to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment thereto, or conference report thereon that includes any provision that increases an income tax rate, creates an additional tax rate, reduces the standard deduction, or provides any exclusion, deduction, credit, or other benefit that results in a reduction in Federal revenues.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
Directs the President to impose quotas, tariff surcharges, or negotiate enforceable voluntary export restraint agreements in order to ensure that the volume of imported steel products (semifinished, plates, sheets and strips, wire rods, wire and wire products, rail type products, bars, structural shapes and units, pipes and tubes, iron ore, and coke products) during any month does not exceed the average volume of imported steel for the 36-month period preceding July 1997. Directs the Secretaries of the Treasury and of Commerce to implement a program for administering and enforcing the restraints on such imports. Authorizes the Customs Service to refuse entry into the U.S. customs territory for a three year period of any steel products that exceed the allowable levels of such products. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish and implement a steel import notification and monitoring program. Requires any person who intends to import steel products into the United States to first obtain an import notification certificate. Sets forth specified import notification certificate requirements. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to publish on a weekly basis through the Internet certain information obtained from steel import notification certificate applications regarding imported steel, including country of origin, the port of entry, quantity, value of steel imported, single producer or exporter countries, and whether such imports are entered into a bonded warehouse or foreign trade zone. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to charge reasonable fees to defray the costs of carrying out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1999
Farm and Ranch Risk Management Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual engaged in an eligible farming business to deduct a limited amount from gross income for amounts paid into an interest-bearing Farm and Ranch Risk Management (FARRM) Account, created for the taxpayer's exclusive benefit. Requires withdrawal of contributions within five years, upon which they are taxable as ordinary income in the year of withdrawal. Prescribes penalties on amounts not distributed within five years.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Biomedical Revitalization Resolution of 1999 - Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that funding for the National Institutes of Health should be increased by $2 billion in FY 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1999
American Land Sovereignty Protection Act - Amends the National Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 1980 to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from nominating any Federal lands for inclusion on the World Heritage List pursuant to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage unless: (1) the Secretary publishes a finding that commercially viable uses of nominated lands and lands within ten miles of them will not be adversely affected by such inclusion; (2) the Secretary has reported to the Congress on the lands' natural resources and the impact that the inclusion would have on existing and future uses of such lands; and (3) such nomination is specifically authorized by a law. Authorizes the President to submit proposals for legislation authorizing such a nomination after publication of the Secretary's finding. Requires the Secretary to object to the inclusion of any property in the United States on the list of World Heritage in Danger (established under the Convention) unless the Secretary: (1) has reported to the Congress on the necessity for such inclusion, the natural resources associated with the property, and the impact such inclusion would have on existing and future uses of such property; and (2) is specifically authorized to assent to the inclusion by a joint resolution of the Congress enacted after the report is submitted. Directs the Secretary to submit an annual report to specified congressional committees on the management of each World Heritage Site within the United States. (Sec. 4) Prohibits any Federal official from nominating any lands in the United States for designation as a Biosphere Reserve under the Man and Biosphere Program of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Provides that any such designation before enactment of this Act shall not have any force or effect, unless the Biosphere Reserve: (1) is specifically authorized by a law enacted before December 31, 2000; (2) consists solely of federally owned lands; and (3) is subject to a management plan that specifically ensures that the use of intermixed or adjacent non-Federal property is not limited or restricted as a result of that designation. Directs the Secretary of State to report annually to specified congressional committees information on the management of each Biosphere Reserve within the United States. (Sec. 5) Prohibits any Federal official from nominating, classifying, or designating any Federal land located within the United States for a special or restricted use under any international agreement for conserving, preserving, or protecting the terrestrial or marine environment, flora, or fauna (with specified exceptions) unless specifically authorized by law, but authorizes the Secretary to submit proposals for authorizing legislation. Provides that any such nomination, classification, or designation of private or State or local lands shall have no force or effect without the owner's consent or specific authorization by State or local law, respectively.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to change the determination of the 50,000 barrel-per-day refinery limitation concerning the oil depletion deduction to a 50,000 annual average daily basis limitation.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
State and Local Investment Opportunity Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the State ceiling on private activity bonds. Provides for inflation adjustment.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
Death Tax Elimination Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to phase-out the estate and gift tax over a ten-year period.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1999
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the U.S. flag.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1999
Reserve Employer Tax Credit Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide: (1) employers a business tax credit for a portion of compensation that was not paid with respect to members of the military reserves who were absent from work on qualified reserve duty; and (2) a comparable credit for participating self-employed individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1999
National Right-to-Work Act - Amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to repeal those provisions that permit employers, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement (union security agreement), to require employees to join a union as a condition of employment (including provisions permitting railroad carriers to require, pursuant to such an agreement, payroll deduction of union dues or fees as a condition of employment).
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1999
Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 1999 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), after July 1, 1999, from making any reallocations of amateur radio service and amateur satellite service frequency bands, diminishing the secondary allocations of such bands or making additional allocations within such bands that would substantially reduce their utility unless at the same time the FCC provides equivalent replacement spectrum.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1999
Directs the U.S. Customs Service to treat N-cyclohexyl-2- benzothiazolesulfenamide and N-tert-Butyl-2-benzothiazolesulfenamide as "commercially interchangeable" for purposes of allowing a drawback (refund of duty) on imports of N-cyclohexyl-2- benzothiazolesulfenamide.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1999
Amends the Poultry Products Inspection Act to include within the definition of poultry birds of the order Ratitae (ostriches, emus, rheas) that are raised for commercial distribution as human food.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1999
Bond Fairness and Protection Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to tax-exempt bond financing of certain electric facilities, to exclude a permitted open access transaction (as defined by this Act) from the definition of private business use. Permits, as specified, termination of tax-exempt bond financing for certain electric output facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Title II: State, Local, and Urban Conservation and Recreation Title III: Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999 - Title I: Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance - Establishes the Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Fund (OCSIAF) to provide impact assistance to coastal States from a portion (27 percent) of allocable new OCS revenues (payments received by the United States as royalties, net profit share payments, and related late-payment interest from natural gas and oil leases under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act). Prohibits placement in the Fund of OCS revenues from a leased tract (or portion) located in a geographic area subject to a leasing moratorium on January 1, 1999, unless the lease was issued before the moratorium and was in production on such date. (Sec. 103) Sets forth a formula for use by the Secretary of the Interior to determine the portion of the allocable share of new revenues attributable to each coastal State and county eligible to receive impact assistance payments. Mandates that such OCS funds be expended by the eligible coastal States and counties for certain environmental projects and activities. Requires: (1) the Governor of every OCSIAF recipient State to develop (and certify to the Secretary) a State plan for the use of such funds; (2) an eligible county to submit for the Governor's approval a plan setting forth the projects and activities for which it proposes to expend OCSIA funds; and (3) the Governor of each recipient State to account to the Congress for all OCSIAF monies received for the previous fiscal year. Title II: State, Local, and Urban Conservation and Recreation - Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (LWCFA) to require an amount equal to 23 percent of specified Outer Continental Shelf revenues to be credited to a separate account in the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in the Treasury in each fiscal year through September 30, 2015. (Sec. 202) Makes such funds available, without further appropriation, to carry out LWCFA in the next succeeding fiscal year. Provides that, if such revenues in a fiscal year exceed $900 million, such excess shall be available, without further appropriation, in the next succeeding fiscal year for obligation or expenditure as payments in lieu of taxes. Authorizes appropriations to maintain a certain minimum total annual income of the LWCF. Makes certain amounts covered into the LWCF available for expenditure without appropriation. Sets forth formulae for allocation of such funds for: (1) Federal acquisition of certain lands, waters, or interests; (2) financial assistance to the States for land acquisition, urban conservation, and recreation projects; and (3) local governments through the Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery Program of the Department of the Interior. Provides for an LWCFA allocation of funds to Indian tribes and Alaska Native Village Corporations. Requires States to make at least 50 percent of the annual State apportionment under LWCFA available as grants to local governments. Replaces, within a five-year period, LWCFA requirements for comprehensive State plans with requirements for State action agendas. Allows each State to define its own priorities and criteria for selection of outdoor recreation and conservation acquisition and development projects eligible for LWCFA grants so long as it provides for public involvement in this process and publishes an accurate and current State Action Agenda for Community Recreation and Conservation. Requires such Agendas to: (1) be strategic, originating in broad-based and long-term needs, but focused on actions that can be funded over the next four years, and be updated every four years; (2) consider all providers of recreation and conservation lands, and correlate with other State, regional and local plans for parks, recreation, open space, and wetlands conservation; (3) address wetlands as important outdoor recreation and conservation resources, and incorporate a State wetlands priority conservation plan consistent with the national plan developed under the Emergency Wetlands Resources Act; and (4) be guided in part by recovery action programs developed by urban localities under the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act. Revises LWCFA conditions for approval of conversions. (Sec. 203) Amends the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act (UPRRA) to provide (in addition to the current types of at-risk recreation grants and recovery action program grants) for matching capital grants to local governments in the form of: (1) development grants for development and construction on existing or new neighborhood recreation sites, including indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, support facilities, and landscaping, but excluding routine maintenance and upkeep activities; and (2) acquisition grants for purchasing new parkland to be permanently dedicated and made accessible for public recreation use. Revises UPRRA requirements for: (1) eligibility; (2) matching grants; (3) coordination; and (4) conversion approval. Repeals the limitation on the use of UPRRA funds for acquisition of land or interests in land. (Sec. 205) Establishes a Habitat Reserve Program (HRP) within the Department of the Interior to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior in association with the applicable State fish and wildlife department in the State where the affected land is located. Requires lands eligible for enrollment in the HRP to be privately owned and designated by the State agency as necessary to preserve the existence of one or more species listed under the Endangered Species Act, and their owners and operators to have voluntarily entered into partnership agreements with the Secretary and the State agency. Prescribes: (1) limitations on lands eligible for enrollment in the HRP; (2) HRP contract requirements; (3) HRP management plans; (4) HRP contract duration; and (5) payments to owners or operators of lands included in the HRP. Title III: Wildlife Conservation and Restoration - Amends the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (FAWRA) to require an amount equal to ten percent of specified Outer Continental Shelf revenues to be deposited in a new subaccount in the Federal aid to wildlife restoration fund (FAWRF), to be invested and to be made available without further appropriation, for apportionment in the next succeeding fiscal year for State wildlife conservation and restoration programs. Provides that all interest on such amounts shall be available without further appropriations, for obligation or expenditure for purposes of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act of 1989. (Sec. 305) Sets forth requirements for: (1) allocation of such subaccount receipts; (2) applications for approval of, and development grants for, State wildlife conservation and restoration programs; and (3) coordination. (Sec. 306) Allows certain subaccount funds for such a State wildlife conservation and restoration program to be used for law enforcement and education. (Sec. 307) Prohibits a State from receiving FAWRA matching funds if it diverts any funds from wildlife conservation purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1999
Post Office Community Partnership Act of 1999 - Modifies Federal postal law to revise requirements for the closing or consolidation of a post office and apply them, as well, to its relocation or construction. Requires a 60-day notice before an office's relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction. Requires such notice to be: (1) hand delivered or delivered by mail; and (2) published in one or more newspapers of general circulation within the zip codes served by such post office. Sets forth provisions which: (1) allow any person served by the post office to offer an alternative relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction proposal within such 60-day period; and (2) require the Postal Service to conduct a hearing, if requested by such person, to allow the individual to present oral or written testimony. Revises the factors to be considered in deciding whether or not to relocate, close, consolidate, or construct a post office to include: (1) the extent to which the post office is part of a core downtown business area; (2) the sentiment of the community; (3) the adequacy of the existing post office; and (4) whether all reasonable alternatives to relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction have been explored. Requires the Postal Service to respond in a consolidated report to all of the alternative proposals offered within the 60-day notification period by persons served by the post office in question. Requires the Postal Service to follow a community's public participation procedures to address the relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction of buildings in the community if such procedures are more stringent than those provided in this Act. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to a temporary customer service facility used for less than 60 days. Allows for a one-time suspension of this Act with respect to a single emergency for any specific post office for a maximum 180-day period.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1999
Marriage Tax Elimination Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise standard deduction amounts and individual income tax rate bracket amounts, including providing that amounts for married filing jointly categories shall be twice that of amounts for single filers.