United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
IRA Savings Opportunity Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to retirement savings plans, to, among other things: (1) double income limitations; (2) permit a worker without an employer plan to contribute an additional $2,000 to a plan; and (3) allow a credit of 20 percent, subject to income limitations, for amounts which would otherwise be allowed as a qualified retirement deduction.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the U.S. Government should pursue policies that: (1) encourage all residents of this country to become fully proficient in English by expanding educational opportunities and access to information technologies; (2) conserve and develop the Nation's linguistic resources by encouraging all residents to learn or maintain skills in a language other than English; (3) assist Native Americans, Native Alaskans, Native Hawaiians, and other peoples indigenous to the United States in their efforts to prevent the extinction of their languages and cultures; (4) continue to provide services in languages other than English as needed to facilitate access to essential functions of government, promote public health and safety, ensure due process, promote equal educational opportunity, and protect fundamental rights; and (5) recognize the importance of multilingualism to vital national interests and individual rights, and oppose "English-only" measures and similar language restrictionist measures.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1996
Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 1996 - Requires health plans that provide medical and surgical benefits for the treatment of breast cancer to ensure that inpatient coverage is provided for a minimum of 48 hours after a mastectomy, and 24 hours after a lymph node disection, except where the attending physician and patient determine that a shorter period is appropriate. Prohibits health plans from modifying the terms and conditions of coverage based on an enrollee's determination to request less than the minimum coverage required. Prescribes appropriate health plan notice requirements regarding required coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Epidemiological and Educational Activities Regarding Pregnancy-Related Complications Title II: Public Education Regarding Folic Acid as Dietary Supplement Title III: Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act of 1996 Title IV: Ultrasound Safe Motherhood Act of 1996 - Title I: Epidemiological and Educational Activities Regarding Pregnancy-Related Complications - Pregnancy-Related Morbidity and Mortality Surveillance and Research Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) (the Secretary), acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), to: (1) provide technical assistance to the States to assist them with various matters involving pregnancy-related complications; (2) carry out activities to educate health professionals and the public on the prevention of pregnancy-related complications and the treatments available for such complications; and (3) study and report to the Congress on such complications, including the extent to which research on the prevention and treatment of such complications is being conducted in the United States. Requires such report to include: (1) recommendations for improving the effectiveness of Federal and State activities for the collection of epidemiological data on such complications; and (2) an agenda for the conduct and support by the Federal Government of research on preventing and treating them. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Public Education Regarding Folic Acid as Dietary Supplement - Folic Acid Public Education Act - Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the CDCP Director, to carry out a program to encourage physicians, nurses, nutritionists, and other health professionals to educate patients that consuming a daily supplement of folic acid is effective in preventing birth defects. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act of 1996 - Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act of 1996 - Requires health plans providing maternity benefits to ensure that coverage is provided with respect to a mother who is a participant, beneficiary, or policyholder under such plan and her newborn child for a minimum inpatient length of stay of 48 hours following a normal delivery, and 96 hours following a caesarean section, without requiring the attending provider to obtain prior plan authorization. Makes an exception to such requirement in cases where the provider has consulted with the mother beforehand about an earlier discharge and the plan provides coverage for post-delivery follow-up care as described below. (Sec. 304) Requires that when a decision is reached to discharge a mother and her newborn child from the inpatient setting before expiration of the minimum inpatient length of stay period, the health plan must provide coverage for timely post-delivery care by a registered nurse, physician, nurse practitioner, nurse midwife, or physician assistant experienced in maternal and child health with the mother having the option of being provided with such care in different places, including her home. (Sec. 305) Provides that, in implementing the requirements of this title, a health plan may not: (1) deny enrollment or continued coverage to a mother and her newborn child based on their compliance with this title; (2) provide monetary payments or rebates to mothers to encourage them to request less than the required minimum coverage; or (3) take other specified actions regarding provider reimbursement and incentives. (Sec. 306) Prescribes appropriate notice requirements for health plans. (Sec. 308) Requires each State to require that each health plan issued, sold, renewed, offered for sale or operated in such State by a health plan issuer meet the standards established under this Act and submit such information as required by the Secretary of Labor demonstrating effective implementation of the requirements of this title. Requires the Secretary of Labor to enforce such standards and requirements in a State if the State fails substantially to do so. Subjects each health plan issuer operating in such a State to appropriate civil enforcement under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). (Sec. 310) Specifies aspects of State law regarding maternity and pediatric care which are not preempted by this title. Declares that the post-delivery follow-up care requirements of this title shall not preempt those provisions of State law that provide greater protection to patients or policyholders than those required under this title or that provide mothers and newborns with an option of timely post delivery follow-up care in the home. (Sec. 311) Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory panel to develop and report to the Secretary a consensus, if any, regarding the appropriateness of the specific requirements of this title. Directs the Secretary to study and report to certain congressional committees on various specified matters with regard to post-natal care, together with recommendations for improvements in pre- and post- natal care, delivery and follow-up care, and whether their implementation should be accomplished by the private health sector, Federal or State governments, or any combination of them. Title IV: Ultrasound - Ultrasound Quality Standards Act of 1996 - Amends PHSA to require the certification of ultrasound facilities operated in accordance with certain standards the Secretary shall establish. Provides for compliance inspection of such facilities by the Secretary or a delegated State agency. Allows for suspension and revocation of facility certification, as well as the imposition of other specified sanctions to promote voluntary compliance, for facilities failing to comply with applicable requirements and standards. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 403) Directs the Institute of Medicine, by itself or with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to survey the data collected on the prevalence of the use of fetal ultrasound and the interaction between physicians and consumers that may be driving the use of fetal ultrasound. States that the survey should begin with data collected after the report in 1984 by NIH on a consensus development conference on diagnostic ultrasound imaging in pregnancy. (Sec. 404) Directs the Secretary to establish a program to provide educational outreach to medical practitioners and the public regarding the appropriateness of fetal ultrasound for the health of mothers and fetuses. (Sec. 405) Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on whether this program has resulted in improvement of the quality of fetal ultrasound, and a reduction in nonmedically indicated fetal ultrasonography, without affecting access to medically necessary services or unnecessarily burdening health care providers.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 1996
Stop Sweatshops Act of 1996 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for the civil liability of manufacturers for sweatshop conditions in the garment industry. Sets forth civil penalties for violation of recordkeeping and payroll accounting requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1996
Boat Protection Act of 1996 - Sets forth copyright provisions regarding the protection of vessel hull designs. Defines: (1) "plug" as a device or model used to make a mold for the purpose of exact duplication, regardless of whether the device or model has an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not only to portray the appearance of the product or to convey information; (2) "mold" as a matrix or form in which a substance for material is used, regardless of whether the matrix or form has an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not only to portray the appearance of the product or to convey information; and (3) "commercially exploit" for purposes of this Act as the sale or offer for sale of a plug or mold after it is fixed in a vessel hull or otherwise distributed to the public for profit vessel hulls. Extends protection to an original plug or mold fixed in a vessel hull, if: (1) the owner of the plug or mold is a national or domiciliary of the United States or of a foreign nation which is party to a protection treaty to which the United States is also a party on the date on which the plug or mold is first commercially exploited; (2) the plug or mold is first commercially exploited in the United States; or (3) the plug or mold comes within the scope of a presidential proclamation extending reciprocal protection to the works of foreign nationals, domiciliaries, or sovereign authorities. Vests exclusive rights in such plugs or molds in the owner who may transfer (in whole or in part) or bequeath such interest. Recognizes the first registered transfer in case of a conflict. Sets the protection term for plugs or molds at ten years from the date of first commercial exploitation. Grants the owner of a plug or mold the exclusive rights to: (1) reproduce the plug or mold; (2) import or distribute a vessel hull in which it is embodied; and (3) cause another to perform such acts. Provides that it is not an infringement of the owner's exclusive rights: (1) to reproduce a plug or mold for purposes of teaching, analyzing, or evaluating concepts, techniques, design, or organization of components in it; or (2) to sell or otherwise dispose of a vessel hull lawfully made under this Act (without the authority of the owner of the plug or mold). Limits the liability of an innocent purchaser of an infringing vessel hull. Permits the owner of a plug or mold to place on it a specified notice of protection, which is not a condition of protection but shall constitute prima facie evidence of notice of protection. Entitles the owner of a plug or mold whose protection has been infringed to institute a civil action. Authorizes the award of attorney's fees to a prevailing party. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury and the U.S. Postal Service to issue regulations for the enforcement of the right to import a vessel hull in which the plug or mold is embodied. Permits the impoundment and seizure of vessel hulls imported in violation of the owner's exclusive rights. Sets forth remedies for infringement, including temporary and permanent injunctive relief, actual damages, the award of an infringer's profits to the owner, impoundment orders, and the award of statutory damages instead of actual damages or profits in an amount not to exceed $250,000, under specified conditions. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1996
Residential Windstorm Insurance Plan Act of 1996 - Instructs the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to study the advisability and feasibility of establishing a Residential Windstorm Insurance Program designed to provide windstorm insurance to residential property owners unable to obtain coverage in the private market. Delineates Program contents and considerations. Requires the Director to: (1) submit to specified congressional committees study conclusions and estimated Program costs; and (2) enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a feasibility study regarding the establishment of a Federal earthquake insurance program modeled after the "Write Your Own" Program under the National Flood Insurance Program. Directs the Comptroller General, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of Commerce to report to the Congress the results of a joint study evaluating the public policy issues associated with conferring favorable Federal tax treatment to multiyear insurance reserves set aside by private insurers for future catastrophic natural disasters.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Child Labor Free Labeling Standards Title II: Child Labor Free Commission Title III: Recognition of Exemplary Corporate Efforts Title IV: Definitions Child Labor Free Consumer Information Act of 1996 - Title I: Child Labor Free Labeling Standards - Directs the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations to ensure that a label using any term or symbol denying the use of child labor does not make a false statement or suggestion that the article or section of wearing apparel or sporting good was not made with child labor. Requires such standards to encourage the use of an easily identifiable symbol or term indicating that the article or section of wearing apparel or sporting good was not made with child labor. (Sec. 101) Requires a producer, importer, exporter, distributor, or other person intending to use any such label to notify the Child Labor Free Commission (CLFC, established under title II of this Act) within 60 days after the product bearing that label becomes available to the public for purchase. Requires the Commission to review the notification. Authorizes the Secretary to charge a fee to cover the expenses of the CLFC in reviewing a notification. Makes it a violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) for any producer, importer, exporter, distributor, or seller of any article of wearing apparel (or section of an article of wearing apparel) or sporting good that is exported from or offered for sale in the United States to: (1) falsely indicate on the label or the packaging of that item that the item was not made with child labor; or (2) otherwise falsely claim or suggest that the item was not made with child labor. Amends FTCA to prescribe civil penalties for such violations. Establishes in the Treasury the Free the Children Fund for receipt of such penalties. Authorizes annual appropriations of such amounts in the Fund for specified educational and other programs to eliminate child labor. (Sec. 102) Directs the CLFC to assist the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by reviewing petitions alleging violations of the labeling standards under this Act. (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary of Commerce, upon discovering a violation of this Act in the course of an investigation, to report it to the Secretary of Labor, who will review such report and, as appropriate, refer the violation to the FTC for enforcement under FTCA. Title II: Child Labor Free Commission - Establishes the Child Labor Free Commission (CLFC). (Sec. 202) Directs the CLFC to: (1) assist the Secretary of Labor in developing child free labor labeling standards, and in developing and implementing a compliance system; and (2) commence developing an easily identifiable labeling standard that the Secretary of Labor shall issue to encourage the use of voluntary labels assuring consumers that an article of wearing apparel or sporting good was made without the use of sweatshop or exploited adult labor. Title III: Recognition of Exemplary Corporate Efforts - Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) issue annual reports concerning companies making exemplary progress in ensuring that products they make, sell, or distribute are not made with abusive and exploitative child labor; and (2) develop and implement, with the CLFC, other methods of recognizing such exemplary company programs. Title IV: Definitions - Defines child as an individual who has not attained the age of: (1) 15 years, as measured by the Julian calendar; or (2) 14 such years, for a resident of a country that, by law, so defines a child.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 1996
Freedom of the Highways Act of 1996 - Prohibits any law enforcement agency or officer, acting under color of authority, from stopping any person driving or riding in an automobile because of that person's race or color. Authorizes any person or class of persons aggrieved by such a violation, in a civil action, to obtain appropriate relief. Specifies that a showing that a pattern exists in a particular region of disparate stopping of persons on highways based on race or color is sufficient to constitute prima facie evidence of a violation in that region.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1996
Women's Business Training Centers Act of 1996 - Amends the Small Business Act to: (1) authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to provide financial assistance to private organizations to conduct five-year (currently, three-year) demonstration projects to benefit small businesses owned and controlled by women; (2) adjust the level of cash contributions required from Federal and non-Federal sources for each of the five years of the projects; (3) require each assistance applicant to submit a five-year (currently, three year) plan on proposed fund raising and training activities under a project; (4) allow each recipient to receive such assistance for five years (in lieu of three); and (5) increase the annual authorization of appropriations for such projects.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1996
Health Care Assurance for Retired Employees Act of 1996 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, to require advance notice to participants and the Secretary of Labor of material reductions in group health plan covered services. Prohibits any such change from taking effect until the Secretary determines that it does not violate the plan, including collective bargaining agreements. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require qualified pension plans to provide qualifying persons 55 years of age or older a coverage continuation option until they are eligible for Medicare. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide retired workers who lose their retiree health benefits with specified Medicare enrollment and coverage protections.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1996
Medigap Amendments of 1996 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to certification of Medicare supplemental health insurance policies, particularly coverage for pre-existing conditions, providing for additional consumer protections for certain individuals whose enrollment with an eligible organization ceases for one or more specified reasons. Prohibits a Medicare supplemental policy issuer from denying or conditioning a policy to such an individual, from imposing preexisting condition exclusions, and from discriminating in pricing because of the individual's health, claims experience, or disability in the case of such an individual who has had continuous coverage (with no break longer than 63 days), if the policy in which the individual wishes to enroll has a comparable or less generous benefits package. Revises the prohibition against an insurer's excluding benefits based on a pre-existing condition during the initial six-month enrollment period after an individual first becomes eligible for Medicare. Extends the six-month initial enrollment period to non-elderly Medicare beneficiaries. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide grants to private, independent, nonprofit consumer organizations and State agencies applying to conduct programs to prepare and make available to Medicare beneficiaries comprehensive and understandable information on enrollment in health plans with a Medicare managed care contract and in Medicare supplemental policies in which they are eligible to enroll. Requires any eligible organization with a Medicare managed care contract or any issuer of a Medicare supplemental policy to: (1) conduct a consumer satisfaction survey of the enrollees under such contract or such policy; and (2) make the survey results available to the Secretary and the State Insurance Commissioner of the State in which the enrollees are so enrolled. Requires each organization which provides a Medicare managed care contract or issues a Medicare supplemental policy to pay to the Secretary its pro rata share of the estimated costs to be incurred by the Secretary in providing the grants. Makes necessary appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Title II: General Provisions Emergency Disaster Assistance Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1996 - Title I: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations for FY 1996 to provide relief from the damages caused by Hurricane Fran and other natural disasters of 1996. Chapter 1: Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies - Makes such FY 1996 emergency supplemental appropriations to: (1) the Department of Agriculture, for the Farm Service Agency's emergency conservation program; (2) the Natural Resources Conservation Service, for watershed and flood prevention operations; (3) the Rural Housing Service, for Rural Housing Insurance Fund Program Account direct loans, and for very low-income housing repair grants; (4) the Rural Utilities Service, for the rural utilities assistance program; and (5) the Commodity Credit Corporation, for covering 1996 crop losses. Chapter 2: Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies - Makes such FY 1996 emergency supplemental appropriations to: (1) the Department of Commerce, for the Economic Development Administration's economic development assistance programs; and (2) the Small Business Administration, for the Disaster Loans Program Account. Chapter 3: Energy and Water Development - Makes such FY 1996 emergency appropriations to the Department of Defense-Civil, Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers-Civil, for: (1) general operation and maintenance; and (2) flood control and coastal emergencies. Chapter 4: Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies - Makes such FY 1996 emergency appropriations to: (1) the Department of Housing and Urban Development for community development grants; and (2) the Federal Emergency Management Agencies for disaster relief. Title II: General Provisions - Designates each amount provided for a program or activity in title I as an emergency requirement for all purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Makes such amount available only to the extent of a specific dollar amount for such program or activity that is: (1) included in an official budget request submitted by the President to the Congress; and (2) designated as an emergency requirement for all purposes of that Act. (Sec. 202) Authorizes Federal department or agency heads to waive certain restrictions in administering funds provided under title I.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1996
Establishes in the House of Representatives the Select Committee to Investigate CIA Involvement in Crack Cocaine Sales to Fund Contras to investigate and report to the House regarding: (1) existence of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) files on cocaine purchases and arms transfers to inner-city south central Los Angeles residents; (2) CIA employment of Danilo Blandon and Edwin Menenses as informants; (3) diversion or intended diversion of funds appropriated by the Congress for assistance to Nicaraguan contras or the sale of crack cocaine for such purposes; and (4) any other matters deemed appropriate or germane to either CIA involvement in unauthorized or illegal drug sales or the use of informants to provide information on sale of crack cocaine to such residents.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1996
Prescription Drug Benefit Equity Act of 1996 - Prohibits a health plan from providing mail-order prescription drug coverage without also providing non-mail-order prescription drug coverage meeting benefit and cost-sharing requirements. Provides for enforcement.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1996
Requires each Member and employing authority of the House of Representatives to comply with the Office Recycling Program of the Office of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC). Directs the AOC to: (1) ensure that all House employees with custodial duties are adequately trained in Program implementation; and (2) require any House contractor carrying out the Program to ensure that all personnel are trained in Program implementation; and (3) report semiannually to the Committee on House Oversight on Program compliance.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1996
Teenage Pregnancy Reduction Act of 1996 - Mandates evaluation (directly or through grants or contracts) of a wide variety of promising programs to prevent teenage pregnancy, including programs that do not receive Federal grants. Mandates scientific peer review of evaluation proposals. Authorizes appropriations. Mandates establishment (directly or through grants or contracts) of the National Clearinghouse on Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programs. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes an operating grant to a program found (by the evaluation under this Act) to be effective. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1996
Calls for aggressive prosecution by the Department of Justice of perpetrators of armed conspiracies against the Government and of the illegal possession of firearms, explosives, or any substances or devices of destruction.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1996
Calls for: (1) condemnation of the perpetrators of genocide and other crimes against humanity and violations of fundamental human rights in Rwanda; (2) the international community and the United States to provide the resources to avoid unnecessary and damaging delay in the justice process; (3) prosecution of those individuals who have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; (4) coordination between the Tribunal and the Rwandan national justice system; (5) all countries to ensure that individuals indicted by the Tribunal who are in such countries be apprehended and turned over to the Tribunal for prosecution; and (6) the President to instruct the U.S. representative to the United Nations to vote in the United Nations Security Council to ensure that such indicted individuals are apprehended and prosecuted.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 1996
Calls for: (1) condemnation of the perpetrators of genocide and other crimes against humanity and violations of fundamental human rights in Rwanda; (2) the international community and the United States to provide the resources to avoid unnecessary and damaging delay in the justice process; (3) prosecution of those individuals who have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; (4) coordination between the Tribunal and the Rwandan national justice system; (5) all countries to ensure that individuals indicted by the Tribunal who are in such countries be apprehended and turned over to the Tribunal for prosecution; and (6) the President to instruct the U.S. representative to the United Nations to vote in the United Nations Security Council to ensure that such indicted individuals are apprehended and prosecuted.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1996
Recognizes Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Selma, Alabama, as a symbol of: (1) the struggle and sacrifice of many courageous people who sought to secure civil rights for African-Americans; and (2) the successful effort to secure for African-Americans the right to vote.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Workplace Fairness Subtitle A: Part-Time and Temporary Workers Protection Subtitle B: Federal Employee Fairness Subtitle C: Legislative Pay Equity Study Subtitle D: Sexual Harassment Prevention Subtitle E: Sexual Harassment Information Subtitle F: Sexual Harassment Tax Equity Subtitle G: Equal Remedies Subtitle H: Federal Temporary Workers Protection Subtitle I: Contingent Work Force Equity Title II: Economic Opportunity Subtitle A: Microenterprise Opportunity Expansion Subtitle B: Commission on the Advancement of Women in the Science and Engineering Work Forces Subtitle C: Equal Surety Bond Opportunity Subtitle D: Self-Sufficiency Standard Subtitle E: Community Reinvestment Subtitle F: Telecommunications Economic Opportunity Subtitle G: HHS Women Scientist Employment Opportunity Subtitle H: Women in Enterprise Development Title III: Work and Family Subtitle A: Child Care Consolidation and Investment Subtitle B: Child Care Public-Private Partnership Subtitle C: Dependent Care Tax Credit Refundability Subtitle D: IRA Deductions for Homemakers Subtitle E: Federal Parental Leave for Education Activities Subtitle F: Tax Incentives for Family-Friendly Workplaces Subtitle G: Parental Equity Leave Title IV: Economic Self-Sufficiency Subtitle A: Child Support Responsibility Subtitle B: Interstate Child Support Subtitle C: Child Support Enforcement Improvements Subtitle D: Single Parent Protection Subtitle E: Women's Pension Equity Subtitle F: Pension Reform Subtitle G: Social Security Caregiver Title V: Economic Impact of Domestic Violence Subtitle A: Workplace Violence Prevention Tax Credit Subtitle B: Insurance Protection for Victims of Domestic Violence Subtitle C: Fairness to Minority Women Health Subtitle D: Battered Women's Employment Protection Subtitle E: Domestic Violence Legal Services Eligibility Economic Equity Act of 1996 - Title I: Workplace Fairness - Subtitle A: Part-Time and Temporary Workers Protection - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) with respect to requirements for approval of State unemployment compensation laws to provide for eligibility for unemployment compensation of certain individuals seeking part-time employment. (Sec. 11102) Directs the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to establish and carry out an annual survey relating to temporary workers. (Sec. 11103) Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide protection of part-time and temporary workers with respect to their treatment under participation, vesting, and accrual rules governing pension plans. (Sec. 11201) Amends the IRC to provide for waiver of an employer's liability for certain employment taxes for a reasonable good faith misclassification based on common law rules. Amends the Revenue Act of 1978 to revise provisions relating to controversies involving whether individuals are employees for purposes of the employment taxes to modify safe harbor rules and authority for classifications of individuals as nonemployees. (Sec. 11202) Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to set forth requirements regarding classification of persons as employees and independent contractors under certain Federal procurement contracts. (Sec. 11203) Amends Federal law relating to defense contracts to set forth requirements regarding classification of persons as employees and independent contractors under Federal defense contracts. Subtitle B: Federal Employee Fairness - Amends title VII (Equal Employment Opportunities) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to revise provisions relating to administrative determination of Federal employee discrimination claims, including Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) determination of such claims. (Sec. 12002) Amends the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to provide for EEOC enforcement regarding specified claims, with certain exceptions with respect to employment in the Library of Congress. Provides for opportunity to commence civil action in the case of certain claims pending before EEOC. (Sec. 12003) Amends Federal law relating to civil service employment to revise provisions for grievance procedures, actions involving discrimination, disciplinary action, personnel recordkeeping, and right to intervene in certain discrimination cases. (Sec. 12005) Directs EEOC to issue certain guidelines and rules, including: (1) standards for alternative dispute resolution processes and identification of approved examples; (2) establishment of a voluntary settlement program; and (3) rules regarding classified information. (Sec. 12008) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) it should increase appropriations to EEOC to carry out additional EEOC responsibilities imposed by this Act; and (2) Federal agencies should not use their funds for salaries and expenses to pay any relief awarded under Civil Rights Act of 1964 title VII provisions against discrimination in Federal employment. Subtitle C: Legislative Pay Equity Study - Declares the congressional policy of nondiscrimination and pay equity for employees of the legislative branch. (Sec. 13002) Establishes the Commission on Employment Discrimination in the Legislative Branch to evaluate and report to the Congress on the compensation system and personnel policies and practices of the Library of Congress. Subtitle D: Sexual Harassment Prevention - Establishes a right of civil action by the injured person to seek relief for specified sexual harassment offenses or retaliation in relationships between: (1) a patient and a physician, psychotherapist, or dentist; (2) a client and an attorney, marriage, family, or child counselor, social worker, or accountant; (3) a beneficiary and an executor, trustee, or administrator of a trust or estate; (4) an employee and an employer with fewer than 15 employees for each working day in each of 33 or more calendar weeks in the current and preceding calendar year; or (5) the parties to a contract, or persons negotiating a contract or seeking to enforce claimed rights under a contract. (Sec. 14002) Authorizes additional appropriations for the EEOC. Subtitle E: Sexual Harassment Information - Requires employers to provide EEOC-approved information on sexual harassment violations and claims, through: (1) posting of notices at the workplace; and (2) annual notices to individual employees. Sets forth civil penalties for violation of such information requirements. (Sec. 15003) Directs EEOC to provide: (1) technical assistance materials to employers, including model notices and voluntary guidelines for employer policies and procedures to address allegations of discrimination, including sexual harassment, in employment; and (2) a toll-free telephone number for employees and employers to obtain information regarding compliance with this subtitle and such model notices and guidelines. (Sec. 15004) Requires EEOC enforcement of employer information requirements (except in the case of congressional employees, where the Board of the Office of Compliance is the enforcer). Subtitle F: Sexual Harassment Tax Equity - Amends IRC to allow an income tax deduction for legal expenses of individuals bringing sexual harassment suits against their employers. Subtitle G: Equal Remedies - Amends certain provisions of the Revised Statutes, as added by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, to provide for equalization of remedies. Subtitle H: Federal Temporary Workers Protection - Amends Federal civil service law to provide eligibility for health benefits for certain Federal temporary workers. Subtitle I: Contingent Work Force Equity - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require that contingent (part-time or temporary) workers receive the same wages as full-time workers for the same work (with exceptions for differential payments pursuant to seniority, merit, or production quantity-or-quality systems or based on factors other than employment status). (Sec. 19002) Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to require employers to protect all workers (not only their own employees) from hazards within the employers' control. Directs the Secretary of Labor to study whether the health and safety of part-time or temporary employees are being adequately monitored and, if not, to determine how such monitoring can be made adequate. (Sec. 19003) Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act to lower the threshold for employee coverage to 125 hours of service with an employer during the previous three-month period. (Sec. 19004) Directs the Secretary of Labor, through the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to carry out an annual survey identifying the characteristics of temporary workers and their relationships with the establishments at which they are temporarily employed and, where appropriate, with their permanent employers. (Sec. 19005) Amends the National Labor Relations Act to include in collective bargaining units part-time or temporary workers with reasonable expectations of continued employment. (Sec. 19006) Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1970 (ERISA) to provide for: (1) treatment of employees working at less than full-time (500 or more hours but less than 1,000 hours service per year) under participation, vesting, and accrual rules governing pension plans; (2) treatment of part-time workers (less than 30 hours service per week) under group health plans; and (3) inclusion of certain individuals whose services are leased or contracted for under the definition of employee. (Sec. 19007) Amends IRC to require States to provide unemployment compensation to part-time workers unavailable for full-time work. Title II: Economic Opportunity - Subtitle A: Microenterprise Opportunity Expansion - Provides various means of promoting and assisting microenterprises (commercial enterprises with five or fewer employees, one or more of whom own the enterprise). (Sec. 21001) Amends the Social Security Act to exclude certain business assets from resources and income for purposes of eligibility under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Extends public assistance benefits under AFDC and Medicaid and under SSI and Medicaid for persons with income from or resources in a microenterprise. (Sec. 21002) Amends IRC provisions relating to State law requirements for unemployment compensation to provide for payment of unemployment compensation, under certain conditions, to individuals starting microenterprises. Allows State unemployment compensation funds to be used to provide microenterprise startup assistance to eligible individuals. (Sec. 21003) Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to provide for treatment of microenterprise loans and grants by insured depository institutions as community reinvestment. (Sec. 21004) Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act to provide for treatment of microenterprise loans by savings associations as qualified thrift investments. (Sec. 21005) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to allow the use of community development block grant assistance for administrative costs of entities assisting microenterprises. (Sec. 21006) Requires each Federal banking agency to establish a Microenterprise Technical and Operations Office as a division to offer technical assistance, training, outreach, and other support to: (1) groups and individuals engaged in, or desiring to establish, a microenterprise; and (2) institutions which offer credit or financial services to microenterprises. (Sec. 21007) Directs the Financial Institutions Examination Council to study and report, with recommendations, to the Congress on the best means to make credit available to small businesses which: (1) do not qualify for microenterprise loans or need credit in larger amounts than such loans make available; and (2) need credit in smaller amounts than is generally available from financial institutions or the Small Business Administration. Subtitle B: Commission on the Advancement of Women in the Science and Engineering Work Forces - Establishes the Commission on the Advancement of Women in the Science and Engineering Work Forces to study and report to the Congress on the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in the science and engineering work forces. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Equal Surety Bond Opportunity - Sets forth equal surety bond requirements. Lists activities constituting unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or age, as well as those not constituting such discrimination. Requires statements of reasons for adverse actions on surety bond applications. (Sec. 23002) Provides for civil liability for violations of this subtitle. (Sec. 23003) Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury from approving as a surety a company which does not maintain full compliance with the requirements of this subtitle. Sets forth administrative enforcement procedures. Subtitle D: Self-Sufficiency Standard - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) to define economic self-sufficiency. (Sec. 24003) Establishes economic self-sufficiency standards for adult training programs under JTPA. (Sec. 24004) Prohibits State Governors from awarding incentive grants to service delivery areas that do not have an approved local economic self-sufficiency standards table in effect. (Sec. 24005) Requires inclusion of the local economic self-sufficiency standards table and related reports in: (1) the job training plan; and (2) the Governor's coordination and special services plan. (Sec. 24007) Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Labor for grants to States for economic self-sufficiency demonstration programs. Subtitle E: Community Reinvestment - Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to direct the appropriate Federal financial supervisory agencies to jointly develop a format for collecting (and reporting to the public) specified types of data from regulated financial institutions concerning their record of meeting the credit needs of their local communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Subtitle F: Telecommunications Economic Opportunity - Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to: (1) require each provider of telecommunications services to submit annual plans, and implementation reports, for increasing its procurement, in underrepresented categories, from business enterprises that are owned by minorities or women; (2) report annually to the Congress on such matters; and (3) establish regulations and criteria for determining eligibility of minority-or woman-owned businesses for such procurement contracts. Sets forth sanctions and remedies relating to specified violations. Subtitle G: HHS Women Scientist Employment Opportunity - Amends the Public Health Service Act to add a new title XXVII, Women's Scientific Employment with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), relating to the employment of women as scientists in specified agencies of HHS, specified aspects of such employment, and inclusion of women in intramural and extramural conferences and other groups. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle H: Women in Enterprise Development - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to direct the Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID) to establish and implement a Women in Enterprise Development Program, including provisions for financial, educational, and informational assistance. Urges the Administrator to use a specified portion of funds for microenterprise development. Title III: Work and Family - Subtitle A: Child Care Consolidation and Investment - Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to appropriate funds for FY 1997 through 2001 for child care services for eligible children through the awarding of grants to States. (Sec. 31003) Changes from discretionary to mandatory the existing program of child care and development block grants for States. Decreases from 25 to 20 percent the amount of funds a State shall reserve per fiscal year for activities to improve the quality of child care and to provide before- and after-school and early childhood development services. Directs States to reserve at least 50 percent of grant amounts for child care activities to support low-income working families. Requires State plans to assure that the availability of child care will be coordinated with AFDC requirements, and to ensure that the parent of a dependent child is not required to undertake an education, job training or search, or employment requirement unless child care assistance is available. Directs the Secretary to establish a child care quality improvement incentive initiative to make funds available to States that demonstrate progress in the implementation of: (1) innovative teacher training programs; or (2) enhanced child care quality standards and licensing and monitoring procedures. (Sec. 31004) Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act to repeal the AFDC, Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Training program, and transitional child care programs, as well as the at-risk child care program. Repeals the Child Development Assistance Associate Scholarship Assistance Act of 1985, and the authority for State dependent care grants under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981. Subtitle B: Child Care Public-Private Partnership - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a business-incentive grant program to provide child care through public-private partnerships. (Sec. 32001) Provides program grants to cover not more than one-third of the costs for: (1) businesses or consortia (two or more businesses acting jointly, which may also include a nonprofit private organization) to start up, or provide additional, employee child care services; and (2) nonprofit business organizations to provide technical information and assistance to enable businesses to provide employee child care services. (Sec. 32004) Gives priority in grant selection to businesses with fewer than 100 full-time employees and to business and consortia applications. Requires equitable geographic distribution. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Dependent Care Tax Credit Refundability - Repeals the Internal Revenue Code's nonrefundable income tax credit for employment-related dependent care expenses, replacing it with a corresponding refundable 50 percent credit, reduced (but not below 20 percent) as the taxpayer's adjusted gross income exceeds $15,000 (adjusted for inflation). Includes within the scope of the new credit up to $1,200 ($2,400 in the case of more than one qualifying individual) of respite care expenses incurred in the care of: (1) a dependent of the taxpayer who is at least 13 years old; or (2) a spouse or other dependent who is physically or mentally incapable of self-care. Subtitle D: IRA Deductions for Homemakers - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain spouses a full deduction for contributions to an individual retirement account. Subtitle E: Federal Parental Leave for Education Activities - Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to extend coverage to employees at worksites where the employer employs at least 25 (currently 50) employees at the worksite and within 75 miles of that worksite. (Sec. 35002) Allows covered employees to take up to four hours during any 30-day period, and up to 24 hours during any 12-month period, of parental involvement leave to participate in or attend their children's educational and extracurricular activities. (Sec. 35003) Amends Federal civil service law to apply the same parental involvement leave allowance to Federal employees. Subtitle F: Tax Incentives for Family-Friendly Workplaces - Amends the IRC with respect to business related credits to establish: (1) a small business family and medical leave credit; and (2) a credit for wages paid to an employee who is allowed to shift hours of employment or to work at home in order to reduce child care needs. Subtitle G: Parental Equity Leave - Requires an employer to provide an employee who is a parent of an adopted child or a foster child with the same leave the employer provides (in addition to leave required by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993) an employee who is on parent leave for the birth of a child. Title IV: Economic Self-Sufficiency - Subtitle A: Child Support Responsibility - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require States to have statutorily prescribed procedures to: (1) record child support orders in a central case registry; and (2) collect child support payments through a centralized collections unit. Permits parties to a child support order to opt for an alternative payment procedure. (Sec. 41102) Revises the guidelines for: (1) State plans for child and spousal support; and (2) payments distribution. (Sec. 41103) Requires State plans to establish procedural guidelines for: (1) notification of all proceedings and orders affecting child support obligations; and (2) privacy safeguards regarding paternity and child support actions. (Sec. 41201) Revises the formula for: (1) Federal matching payments to the States; and (2) incentive adjustments to the Federal matching rate. (Sec. 41203) Requires a State plan for child and spousal support to include prescribed procedures for State reviews and audits. Revises the guidelines for Federal evaluation and audit of State programs governing paternity, child and spousal support, and parent location. (Sec. 41205) Revises the automated data processing requirements for State plans to mandate a single statewide automated data processing and information retrieval system which can perform specified tasks. (Sec. 41206) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct staffing studies of each State child support enforcement program and to report the results to the Congress. (Sec. 41207) Makes funds available to the Secretary for: (1) training of Federal and State staff, research and demonstration programs, and special projects of regional and national significance; and (2) operation of the Federal Parent Locator Service. (Sec. 41301) Mandates that the single statewide automated data system function as a single central case registry of State-provided services and support orders. Delineates contents of case records and data matching activities, including data exchange with sister States. (Sec. 41301) Requires State plans to include a centralized, automated unit for the collection and disbursement of support payments. (Sec. 41303) Requires the States to have statutorily prescribed procedures: (1) for mandatory income withholding for support payments subject to enforcement; and (2) under which child support orders issued before October 1, 1996, shall become subject to withholding from wages if arrearages occur, without the need for a judicial or administrative hearing. Revises the procedural guidelines for income withholding for child support enforcement. (Sec. 41305) Revises the Federal Parent Locator Service to add kinds of information which may be transmitted to locate individuals and assets for purposes of establishing parentage and executing child support obligations. Requires the Secretary to establish in the Service a Data Bank of Child Support Orders and an automated Directory of New Hires. (Sec. 41306) Requires State plans to include procedures for recording social security numbers on certain family legal documents and records. (Sec. 41401) Requires each State to have the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act in effect as of January 1, 1997. (Sec. 41402) Amends the Federal judicial code to revise the procedures for a court to apply when determining which State order to recognize for purposes of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction and enforcement for child support orders. (Sec. 41403) Amends SSA title IV part D to revise State plan guidelines for mandatory expedited administrative and judicial procedures to include: (1) authorized genetic testing to establish paternity; and (2) the securing of assets and increasing of monthly payments to satisfy a support arrearage. (Sec. 41502) Revises the guidelines for statutorily prescribed procedures governing genetic testing and outreach for voluntary paternity acknowledgment. (Sec. 41601) Establishes the National Child Support Guidelines Commission to develop a national child support guideline for consideration by the Congress that is based on a study of various guideline models, the benefits and deficiencies of such models, and any needed improvement. (Sec. 41602) Revises the requirements for State plan procedures for the review and adjustment of support orders. (Sec. 41701) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the order of refund distribution with respect to past-due support owed to individuals. (Sec. 41703) Amends SSA title IV part D to revise procedural guidelines for: (1) consent by the United States to income withholding, garnishment, and similar proceedings for enforcement of child support and alimony obligations of current and retired Federal employees; and (2) enforcement of child support obligations of current and retired members of the armed forces. (Sec. 41705) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures for: (1) placing liens for child support arrearages on motor vehicle titles of the debtor; (2) voiding fraudulent transfers by a child support debtor; (3) suspending any driver's, business, or occupational license issued to any person who owes past-due child support; (4) reporting to credit bureaus the name of the parent in arrears for child support; (5) extending the statute of limitations for collection of child support arrearages; and (6) calculating interest or penalties on such arrearages. (Sec. 41711) Prescribes procedural guidelines for passport denial (including revocation) upon certification of nonpayment of child support. (Sec. 41712) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should ratify the United Nations Convention of 1956. Requires State plans to provide that the State must treat international child support cases as interstate cases. (Sec. 41801) Amends ERISA to include within the definition of medical child support order an order issued through a State administrative process. Subtitle B: Interstate Child Support - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of SSA title IV to allow the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) to be used along with appropriate disclosure safeguards for parentage establishment and child support and visitation enforcement. (Sec. 42101) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) denial of visitation rights under a child support order should be treated as irrelevant in any action to enforce its support provisions; and (2) failure to pay child support pursuant to such an order should be treated likewise in any action to enforce visitation rights. (Sec. 42102) Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to enter into an agreement to provide the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) (Secretary) with access to quarterly estimated Federal income tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Requires that: (1) State agencies charged with child support enforcement maintain child support order registries and be allowed access to medical, financial, employment, and other specified data base information on absent parents; (2) registry information from each State be sent to the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) (designated under title VI of this Act) within HHS for a national registry of all State child support orders. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary should investigate accessing certain Federal data banks not linked with FPLS. (Sec. 42103) Requires the Secretary to expand FPLS to provide State agencies and courts with a national locate and case tracking network. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the network should be used to access State records only through the agency administering the State's part D plan. (Sec. 42104) Requires that private attorneys and pro se obligees be given access, in accordance with appropriate safeguards, to State locate resources and through enforcement techniques with respect to child support, visitation, and parentage orders. (Sec. 42105) Amends the IRC to require employers to withhold from employee wages amounts owed for child support. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to modify the W-4 form completed by new employees in order to enable employers to obtain employee child support and other information for the appropriate State employment security agency. (Sec. 42106) Requires the heads of national and regional individual tracking systems to allow child support enforcement agencies access to their information for paternity or child support purposes. (Sec. 42107) Requires that States: (1) broadcast warrants issued in child support proceedings over their crime information systems; (2) remit, in a criminal case, to any individual owed child support any security posted by or on behalf of the individual owing the support and then forfeited, to the extent of any arrearage in support owed; and (3) have procedures to obtain access to financial records for purposes of child support establishment and enforcement. (Sec. 42201) Amends SSA title IV part D to provide for service of process on Federal employees and members of the armed forces in connection with parentage and child support proceedings. (Sec. 42202) Requires that: (1) parents' identification and locate information be filed with the appropriate adjudicating entity in parentage and child support actions; (2) there be appropriate safeguards on such information where a court has ordered that the custodial parent or child receive physical protection from the noncustodial parent; (3) appropriate administrative agencies make reasonable attempts to timely notify any individual owed child support of any proceeding to establish, modify, or enforce the support obligation; (4) States allow parties seeking both parentage and child support establishment in a judicial proceeding to bring a joint action in a single cause of action; (5) States provide for uniform procedures regarding jurisdiction and venue in parentage and child support cases; (6) States provide for continuation of parental child support obligations until they terminate in specified ways; (7) States allow parties to participate in interstate parentage and child support proceedings by telephonic means; (8) marriage licenses, birth certificates, and divorce and parentage decrees contain social security numbers; and (9) appropriate State agencies be allowed subpoena power in connection with child support hearings. (Sec. 42205) Amends the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) to allow appropriate State agencies to obtain from credit reporting agencies information for establishing and modifying child support awards. (Sec. 42206) Creates a National Child Support Guidelines Commission to study and report to the President and the Congress on national child support guidelines, and to develop such guidelines for congressional consideration should it be advisable. (Sec. 42207) Amends SSA title IV part D to specify certain principles to be used in accordance with the application of State child support guidelines. (Sec. 42208) Expresses the sense of the Congress that, if children receive child support while obtaining postsecondary education, they will attain higher levels of education affording them a greater chance to break the welfare cycle. (Sec. 42209) Requires the new OCSE Assistant Secretary to develop: (1) a national subpoena duces tecum for distribution to child support agencies and others to use to reach income information; and (2) a uniform abstract of a child support order for State court use. (Sec. 42214) Requires the Legal Services Corporation to ensure the use of a specified amount of funding for child support cases. (Sec. 42215) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) children on Indian reservations be accorded the same right of support currently afforded to off-reservation children; (2) State and tribal governments should, to the greatest extent possible, ensure that jurisdictional issues do not prevent any Indian child from receiving the support to which the child is entitled; and (3) States should work with community-based organizations with ties to underserved populations to develop better methods to reach and work with such populations to encourage the filing of more support orders. Amends the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 to require Indian tribes to give full faith and credit to child support orders of other Indian tribes, to the extent such entities already give full faith and credit to the acts, records, and proceedings of the other entity. (Sec. 42216) Amends SSA title IV part D to set forth specific measures, including grants for certain demonstration projects, designed to secure child support services in underserved areas and combat domestic violence. (Sec. 42301) Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) require States to adopt various specified procedures for voluntary paternity acknowledgment; and (2) provide for 90 percent Federal matching for such programs. Expresses the sense of the Congress that, in a proceeding to establish paternity, once paternity is alleged, the burden of proof should shift to the alleged father. (Sec. 42401) Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) require States to mandate that an employer comply with wage withholding orders issued by any State court or administrative agency; (2) specify the priority for applying amounts withheld from income for child support and child health insurance; (3) subject to withholding for child support income from workers' compensation and other specified Federal sources; (4) prohibit State court application of the election of remedies doctrine to prevent collection of child support; (5) deny State occupational, professional, and business licenses, and driver's licenses and vehicle registrations to delinquent noncustodial parents; (6) authorize liens on vehicle titles, seizure of bank accounts, and holds on lottery winnings, settlements, payouts, bequests, and proceeds from the sale of forfeited property to satisfy child support arrearages; (7) require States to make a rebuttable presumption that any transfer of property by an individual who owes a child support arrearage is made with the intent to avoid payment of the arrearage; (8) revise the mechanism for collection of past-due child support from Federal tax refunds to cover post-minor children who do not receive AFDC; (9) authorize attachment of retirement plan interests without a separate court order to satisfy child support arrearages; (10) permit enforcement of any child support order until the child is at least 30; (11) require interest on all child support judgments; (12) require States to adopt the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws in August 1992; (13) allow State courts to order the assignment of life insurance benefits and interests in jointly held property to satisfy child support arrearages; and (14) require States to treat international child support cases in the same manner as interstate child support cases. (Sec. 42404) Amends CCPA with respect to State laws and garnishments for securing child support. Gives Federal debts a lower priority than child support debts when the obligor's disposable income cannot satisfy both debts through withholding. Prohibits employers from discharging any employee whose earnings are subject to garnishment for additional indebtedness arising from a child support order. (Sec. 42406) Denies Federal occupational, professional, and business licenses for delinquent individuals until the license hold is released. (Sec. 42412) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the IRS Commissioner should instruct IRS field officers and agents to give a high priority to requests for the use of full collection in delinquent child support cases. Requires the Secretary of Treasury to simplify the full collection process and reduce the amount of child support arrearage needed before an individual may apply for full collection. (Sec. 42417) Sets forth requirements pertaining to parentage establishment and child support payments in the armed forces. (Sec. 42419) Directs the Comptroller General and Secretary of the Treasury to study the feasibility of an annual reconciliation process for paying child support arrearages as part of the Federal income tax process. (Sec. 42420) Authorizes the Secretary of State to refuse, revoke, or restrict passports in cases where the applicant or holder is a noncustodial parent subject to a State arrest warrant for nonpayment of a substantial child support arrearage. (Sec. 42421) Prohibits Federal benefits, loans, guarantees, and employment for individuals owing certain child support arrearages. (Sec. 42424) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should ratify the United Nations Convention of 1956. (Sec. 42501) Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) set priorities for State distribution of child support collections; (2) require States to limit claims against noncustodial parents for reimbursement of a child's portion of AFDC to the amount in the child support order; (3) revise part D plan provisions concerning fees; and (4) require States to provide for collection and disbursement points for child support cases. Requires the Comptroller General to conduct studies and pilot projects with respect to requiring State systems to pay the child support collected under a State plan to the individuals to whom the support is owed before making any payment to reimburse any State for AFDC provided with respect to the child in question. Amends IRC to revise the Federal income tax refund offset mechanism. (Sec. 42505) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should encourage parents to use the State child support agency to process and distribute child support payments in order to establish an official payment record. (Sec. 42601) Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) designate the separate organizational unit currently charged with various parentage and child support responsibilities as the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE); and (2) change OCSE's organizational structure. (Sec. 42602) Requires: (1) the new OCSE Assistant Secretary to provide training assistance to the States; (2) States to provide for training of child support personnel; and (3) the Secretary to study staffing at State child support enforcement programs and reduce payments to States that have not implemented recommended staffing levels. (Sec. 42604) Requires the Secretary to: (1) authorize demonstration projects to test alternative approaches to incentive funding for State child support programs; and (2) reduce payments to States which have not reinvested incentive payments in their child support programs. Provides that "support" under SSA title IV part D with respect to incentive payments to States includes premiums paid for health insurance coverage pursuant to a support order. Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should not use amounts paid to them pursuant to SSA title IV part D, which are reinvested in child support activities, to supplant State funding of such activities. (Sec. 42606) Requires the Secretary to: (1) contract for a study of OCSE's audit process to develop criteria and methodology for auditing activities of State child support enforcement agencies; and (2) provide for State demonstration projects for the purpose of ensuring that custodial parents owed child support have a consistent source of income for the support of their children. (Sec. 42607) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) children should have a consistent source of income to meet their education and medical needs; (2) the provision of public assistance to a custodial parent for the support of a child with respect to whom the noncustodial parent owes child support does not absolve the latter of the obligation to provide such support; (3) the States must continue to vigorously pursue efforts to establish parentage, and establish and enforce child support obligations; and (4) OCSE should develop a mechanism to publicize the best State practices in child support. (Sec. 42608) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish in the Treasury a Children's Trust Fund to hold the contributions designated by individuals on their tax returns for funding child support programs. (Sec. 42609) Requires: (1) the Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on delinquent child support payments and the effectiveness of administrative as compared with judicial adjudication of parentage and child support cases; and (2) OCSE to produce and update a certain compendium of State child support laws published by the National Conference of State Legislatures, and establish a permanent child support advisory committee. (Sec. 42701) Amends SSA title IV part D to require States to: (1) promote the greatest economic security possible for children, within the obligor's ability to pay; (2) provide custodial parents with certain information on child support cases and the services available under their part D plans; and (3) require no more than administrative procedures for any changes in child support payees. (Sec. 42703) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should: (1) work closely with parents to improve the quality of child support services; (2) have offices in areas accessible to public transportation with convenient hours that allow parents to meet privately with attorneys and caseworkers; and (3) establish administrative procedures to process child support cases and a child support council to recommend improvements in State paternity and child support programs. (Sec. 42801) Expresses the sense of the Congress that any Federal program to provide jobs for noncustodial parents should be administered so as not to adversely affect any Federal program for custodial parents. Requires the Secretary to transmit evaluations of certain projects under SSA title IV part F (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program) (JOBS) to the Secretary of Labor for study and possible action, including authorizing States to provide services of greater scope and duration to unemployed noncustodial parents under such program. Subtitle C: Child Support Enforcement Improvements - Shields a depository institution from Federal or State liability to a person for disclosing individual financial records to a State child support enforcement agency attempting to establish, modify, or enforce a child support obligation. Establishes civil damages for unauthorized disclosure. (Sec. 43002) Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to grant a State child support enforcement agency access to and use of consumer reports. (Sec. 43003) Amends the SSA title IV part D to mandate certain State-prescribed procedures which require any child support order to include coverage of the health care costs of the child. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on incentives that should be provided to encourage State enforcement of non-custodial parents' obligations to pay the medical and dental expenses of their children. (Sec. 43004) Requires an annual report to the Congress on State compliance with the time limits within which State agencies must respond to requests for certain child support assistance. (Sec. 43005) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures imposing a late payment penalty for an employer's failure to remit to the State within ten days wages withheld to pay child support obligations to the State. (Sec. 43006) Instructs the Secretary to expand the Parent Locator Service to establish a national network based on the comprehensive statewide child support enforcement systems developed by the States. Subtitle D: Single Parent Protection - Amends the IRC to allow an income tax credit for any unpaid child support to which the taxpayer is entitled. Mandates a corresponding increase in the income tax owed by the individual obligated to make such child support payment. Subtitle E: Women's Pension Equity - Amends the IRC and ERISA to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop a model spousal consent form for the waiver of a qualified joint and survivor annuity or a qualified preretirement survivor annuity. (Sec. 45002) Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to extend tier II railroad retirement benefits to surviving former spouses pursuant to divorce agreements. (Sec. 45003) Amends the Federal civil service code to provide for survivor annuities for widows, widowers, and former spouses of Federal employees who die before attaining the age for a deferred annuity under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). (Sec. 45004) Includes payments to a former spouse of a Federal employee, Member of Congress, or Federal annuitant under CSRS and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) retirement payments that may be made under a court decree, court order, property settlement, or similar process. (Sec. 45005) Requires deduction of court-ordered payments to former spouses from any retirement benefits under CSRS or FERS, regardless of any waiver of retired pay made to enhance a civil service retirement annuity. Subtitle F: Pension Reform - Extends the applicability of the pension nondiscrimination rules to integrated pension plans under the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to benefits attributable to plan years beginning on or before December 31, 1988. Repeals the provision allowing integration for simplified employee pensions. (Sec. 46002) Amends the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to require an employer operating a single line of business to designate a qualified trust as part of a plan benefiting all the employer's employees. (Sec. 46003) Amends the IRC and ERISA to repeal the special vesting rule for multiemployer plans. (Sec. 46004) Provides for the division of pension benefits upon divorce. Subtitle G: Social Security Caregiver - Amends title II (Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to provide for an increase in the number of years disregarded in determining the benefit computation years for an individual living with a child under age 12 or with a chronically dependent child, parent, or spouse. (Sec. 47003) Repeals the seven-year restriction on eligibility for widow's and widower's insurance benefits based on disability. (Sec. 47004) Provides for an increase in widow's and widower's insurance benefits by reason of delayed retirement. (Sec. 47006) Exempts from the two-year waiting period following a divorce for divorced spouse's benefits in cases of prior receipt of spouse's benefits. (Sec. 47008) Provides for full benefits for disabled widows and widowers without regard to age. (Sec. 47009) Prohibits any reduction in widow's or widower's insurance benefits for disabled individual. Title V: Economic Impact of Domestic Violence - Subtitle A: Workplace Violence Prevention Tax Credit - Amends the IRC to allow a workplace safety program credit to an employer for 40 percent of the safety and education costs paid or incurred by such employer to implement workplace safety programs to combat violence against women. Subtitle B: Insurance Protection for Victims of Domestic Violence - Amends the Public Health Service Act to create a new title prohibiting health insurers from: (1) discriminating against an individual or group because the individual or a family member is the subject of domestic violence; or (2) disclosing or being compelled (subject to exception) to disclose information concerning the status of an individual as a victim of domestic violence. (Sec. 52001) Mandates development of model standards. Requires each State to report on its implementation actions and, where States fail to act, provides for Federal enforcement involving civil fines against insurers and a Federal private right of action. Subtitle C: Fairness to Minority Women Health - Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of SSA title IV and the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to exempt aliens and their children from provisions attributing to the alien the income and resources of the sponsor and the sponsor's spouse if the alien is battered by, or the subject of extreme cruelty by, the person who executed the affidavit of support or similar agreement regarding the alien. (Sec. 53003) Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to prohibit payments to States for obstetrical or gynecological services unless the hospital, clinic, or provider has available at least one individual who is able to communicate in the predominant language used by residents of the area. Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow grants for family planning projects only if the service providers under the grant have at least one such individual. Amends the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act to prohibit making funds available under the Act unless providers of shelter or related assistance have at least one such individual. (Sec. 53004) Mandates a study and report to the Congress regarding domestic violence in which Latina women are the victims. Subtitle D: Battered Women's Employment Protection - Amends the IRC with respect to unemployment tax to require appropriate State laws to provide for unemployment compensation for an individual separated from employment due to circumstances directly resulting from the individual's experience of domestic violence. (Sec. 54002) Amends the Social Security Act to require State laws approved under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act to provide for training for claims reviewers and hearing personnel in the nature of domestic violence, and in methods of ascertaining its existence, so that employment separations stemming from domestic violence are reliably screened, identified, and adjudicated. (Sec. 54003) Requires employers subject to the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act or similar State law, employment benefits program, or collective bargaining agreement to provide leave to employees seeking temporary absences to deal with domestic violence and its aftermath. Entitles employees to use such leave to deal with domestic violence. Subtitle E: Domestic Violence Legal Services Eligibility - Amends the Legal Services Corporation Act to require the Legal Services Corporation, in establishing income levels to determine if a client who is the victim of domestic violence is eligible for assistance, to prescribe that only that client's income will be considered in making such determination.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 1996
Urges the national broadcast television networks to renew their commitment to voluntarily reserving the first hour of prime-time broadcasting for programming suitable for American family members of all ages.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1996
Church Insurance Protection Act - Prohibits an insurer from canceling, declining to renew, or requiring a higher premium or contribution for fire insurance for a religious property based on: (1) the race, color, religion, or national origin of property users; (2) the status of the property as religious property; (3) any previous arson against the property; or (4) any perceived arson threat. Places authority and responsibility for investigating and enforcing this Act in the Attorney General. Authorizes the Attorney General to begin a civil action. Authorizes preventive relief and mandates civil monetary damages.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1996
National Small Business Regulatory Relief Act of 1996 - Amends the Small Business Act to establish a Small Business Regulatory Relief Council. Directs the Environmental Protection Agency, Internal Revenue Service, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (participating agencies) to submit to the Council a five-year plan for the establishment and maintenance of a partnership with small business development centers (SBDCs) for a system of voluntary regulatory compliance (compliance). Outlines plan contents and requires such participating agencies to ensure the nonduplication of efforts in such regard. Requires the Council: (1) within 30 days after a participating agency submits a plan, to approve or modify such plan; (2) to establish guidelines for the implementation of each plan; and (3) to report annually to the President and the congressional small business committees on the types of assistance provided by SBDCs to small businesses participating in the system of compliance, as well as outreach efforts to inform small businesses of such opportunity. Requires each SBDC to: (1) submit annually to the Council a work plan for SBDCs to carry out the system of compliance; (2) report semiannually to the Council on assistance provided to small businesses by SBDCs under this Act; and (3) report annually to the Council on recommendations for improving the regulation of small businesses. Directs the Council to: (1) evaluate annually the system of compliance; (2) determine whether SBDCs are performing in accordance with their compliance work plans; and (3) provide for an independent evaluation of such system after three years of operation. Requires the participating agencies to set aside specified percentages of their annual funding for FY 1997 through 2001 for compliance assistance under this Act. Provides for the deposit of such funds into the National Regulatory Relief Fund, and for appropriate Fund distributions.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1996
Domestic Violence Legal Services Eligibility Act - Amends the Legal Services Corporation Act to require the Legal Services Corporation, in establishing income levels to determine if a client who is the victim of domestic violence is eligible for assistance, to prescribe that only that client's income will be considered in making such determination.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1996
Directs the Attorney General to promulgate: (1) regulations applicable to the determination of an alien's eligibility to be granted asylum under the Immigration and Nationality Act to cover gender-related persecution, including female genital mutilation; and (2) regulations relating to gender-related persecution, including female genital mutilation, which shall apply with respect to withholding deportation or return.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1996
Provides that when considering proposed welfare legislation the Congress should: (1) seriously evaluate whether it would exacerbate certain ramifications of domestic violence against women and children; (2) require that State-implemented or State-adopted welfare-to-work or education programs take domestic violence into account; (3) require the Comptroller General to study the incidence and effect of domestic violence on AFDC recipients; and (4) provide, in any such legislation, mechanisms identifying and aiding in specified ways recipients and their children victimized by or at risk of violence.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1996
ATM Fee Reform Act of 1996 - Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to mandate fee disclosures at the time of service by any host electronic terminal operator which imposes a fee for providing host transfer services to a consumer. Requires each agency responsible for compliance enforcement under the Act to report annually to the Congress on compliance and on regional and national trends in fees imposed by host ATM operators. Mandates the disclosure to consumers whenever an electronic means of accessing the consumer's account is issued of possible fees for initiating electronic fund transfers. Requires the Comptroller General to study the feasibility of prohibiting the imposition of an electronic fund transfer fee unless notice has been provided before the consumer is irrevocably committed to completing the transaction.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1996
Medicare Hospice Benefit Amendments of 1996 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to hospice care to: (1) restructure the hospice care benefit period; (2) cover ambulance services, diagnostic tests, and anticancer chemotherapy and radiation therapy services; (3) permit contracting with independent physicians or physician groups for hospice care services; (4) allow waiver of certain staffing requirements for hospice care programs in non-urbanized areas; (5) define coverage denial, with respect to the limitation on the liability of beneficiaries and providers, to mean a determination that an individual is not terminally ill; and (6) extend the period for physician certification of an individual's terminal illness.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1996
National Environmental Education Amendments Act of 1996 - Amends the National Environmental Education Act to require development of curricula, materials, and training programs supported by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Environmental Education to be balanced and scientifically sound. Requires that implementation of the Act be through EPA. Eliminates requirements for a Director and a minimum number of staff. Allows activities to be carried out through grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts. Reduces the percentage of funds to be obligated for environmental education grants of not more than $5,000. Prohibits use of grants for certain lobbying activities. Eliminates provisions for environmental internships and fellowships. Eliminates all environmental education awards provided for under such Act, except the President's Environmental Youth Awards. Revises requirements for membership on the National Environmental Education Advisory Council. Revises requirements for membership on the Federal Task Force on Environmental Education to require that it be open to representatives of any Federal agency actively engaged in environmental education. (Under current law, membership must include specified agency representatives.) Eliminates specific requirements for contents of Advisory Council reports. Changes the name of the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation to the Foundation for Environmental Education. Increases the size of the Board of the Directors. Removes the prohibition on the transmission of logos or other means of identification on materials donated to the Foundation for environmental education and training use. Authorizes appropriations. Revises funding limitations. Limits amounts available for administrative costs.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1996
Sexual Harassment Prevention Act of 1996 - Provides that anyone (including a government entity) who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, engages in sexual harassment, or retaliates against any person for opposing sexual harassment or filing a complaint or otherwise participating in a civil action under this Act, shall be liable to the person injured by that harassment or retaliation for any appropriate relief, which may include money damages. Authorizes the court to award a prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorney's fee and other litigation expenses (including expert witness fees) as part of the costs. Defines "sexual harassment" as an unwelcome sexual advance or request for sexual favors, or other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, where: (1) submission to such conduct is either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of a specified relationship; (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct is the basis for decisions or actions regarding the person who submitted to or rejected that conduct; or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with the relationship or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment within that relationship. Specifies that such relationship includes a relationship between: (1) a patient and a physician, psychotherapist, or dentist; (2) a client and an attorney, marriage, family, or child counselor, social worker, or accountant; (3) a beneficiary and an executor, trustee, or administrator of a trust or estate; (4) an employee and an employer if the employer has fewer than 15 employees for each working day in each of 33 or more calendar weeks in the current and in the preceding calendar year; or (5) the parties to a contract or persons negotiating a contract or seeking to enforce claimed rights under a contract. Authorizes additional funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for FY 1997 and thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1996
Requires the Secretary of the Interior, upon the request of the Governor of the Virgin Islands, to enter into an agreement to transfer to the Governor authority to manage Christiansted National Historic site, located in Christiansted, Virgin Islands.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1996
Virgin Islands Organic Revision Act of 1996 - Amends the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands to declare that the absence of either the Governor or the Lieutenant Governor while on official business shall not be construed as a "temporary absence" involving a surrender of authority and power. Amends a specified Act to revise bond priority guidelines to declare that Virgin Islands revenue bonds, instead of the current priority for payment in the order of the date of issue, shall have a parity lien with every other subsequently issued obligation.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1996
Textile and Apparel Global Competitiveness Act of 1996 - Directs the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), whenever the United States negotiates a protocol for accession of a country to the World Trade Organization (WTO), to negotiate for inclusion in that protocol: (1) provisions for effective market access to that country's domestic markets for U.S. textile and apparel products; and (2) provisions allowing the suspension or revocation of paragraph 14 (relating to increasing import levels based on growth rates) of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, if the country has failed to enforce such market access provisions. Requires negotiation of bilateral agreements containing similar provisions with countries that are not WTO members. Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to direct the USTR to identify annually, report to the Congress, and publish in the Federal Register the names of priority foreign countries that deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons producing or selling textile or apparel products. Establishes in the Treasury a Textile Global Competitiveness Research Fund, consisting in part of fines provided by this Act, and whose amounts shall be available: (1) to the Office of Textiles, Apparel, and Consumer Goods of the Department of Commerce for the American Textile Partnership (AMTEX), the Textile-Clothing Technology Center (TC2), and the National Textile Center (NTC); (2) for adjustment assistance for textile and apparel firms; and (3) to the Customs Service for the enforcement of laws governing trade in textile and apparel goods. Directs the USTR to take necessary steps to negotiate a quota agreement with any non-WTO country whose exports to the United States exceed $100 million annually, or are creating serious damage or the actual threat of it to the U.S. textile and apparel industry. Specifies: (1) a quota formula for new textile agreements with non-WTO countries which already have a textile agreement with the United States; and (2) provisions for inclusion in the accession protocol of countries acceding to the WTO. Requires the USTR to ensure that any protocol under negotiation for accession to the WTO of a non-WTO country with a textile import bilateral agreement with the United States, as well as any subsequent agreement, provides for a reduction in the quantity of that country's textile and apparel goods that may be imported into the United States if the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) determines that the bilateral agreement is being circumvented and that inadequate or no measures are being taken by that country to take action against such circumvention. Prescribes specified Customs Service enforcement actions and penalties (including fines, seizure, and forfeiture) for violations of customs laws involving textile and apparel goods. Directs the Commissioner of Customs to establish a Division on Textile Enforcement. Requires withdrawal of preferential tariff or quota treatment (unilateral trade concessions) from the textile and apparel goods of any country: (1) demonstrating a consistent pattern of circumventing textile agreements with United States; (2) refusing to cooperate in investigations; (3) failing to provide adequate enforcement of intellectual property rights with respect to textile and apparel goods; or (4) failing to provide fair and equitable market access for U.S. textile and apparel goods.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1996
Condemns the burning of African-American churches. Sends condolences to affected individuals. Supports the activities of local law enforcement officials, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Treasury in investigating these incidents. Urges: (1) the United States Attorney General and local prosecutors to seek the maximum penalty available under law to punish the perpetrators; and (2) the President to make the fullest possible use of all available law enforcement resources to bring the culprits to justice. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) attacks on places of worship because of the race, color, denomination, or ethnicity of the congregation undermine fundamental American ideals; (2) these fires appear to be hate crimes and implicitly interfere with the First Amendment and other civil rights of the victims; (3) the arson of a place of worship is repulsive to us as a society; and (4) it is important that the Congress enact legislation to ensure that Federal law enforcement has the necessary tools to punish and deter such acts. Encourages: (1) the people of the United States to work within their own communities to prevent arson against African-American or any other house of worship; and (2) American citizens to observe a national week of prayer beginning June 16, and ending June 23, 1996, in their places of worship.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1996
Condemns the burning of African-American churches. Sends condolences to affected individuals. Supports the activities of local law enforcement officials, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Treasury in investigating these incidents. Urges: (1) the United States Attorney General and local prosecutors to seek the maximum penalty available under law to punish the perpetrators; and (2) the President to make the fullest possible use of all available law enforcement resources to bring the culprits to justice. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) attacks on places of worship because of the race, color, denomination, or ethnicity of the congregation undermine fundamental American ideals; (2) these fires appear to be hate crimes and implicitly interfere with the First Amendment and other civil rights of the victims; (3) the arson of a place of worship is repulsive to us as a society; and (4) it is important that the Congress enact legislation to ensure that Federal law enforcement has the necessary tools to punish and deter such acts. Encourages: (1) the people of the United States to work within their own communities to prevent arson against African-American or any other house of worship; and (2) the American people to use June 16th as a day of prayer concerning these tragedies.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 1996
Citizens' Right To Know Resolution - Requires the Committee on House Oversight of the House of Representatives to make all information on the House legislative activities currently available to the public in the Congressional Record (including voting records of the Members in the House or in the Committee of the Whole) accessible through the homepage or other public data facility operated on the Internet as the official data facility of the House at the same time the information is made available in print form. Requires the Committee to make such information accessible without modification, except that the Committee should present the information in an easily searchable, indexed database which facilitates public access to information on the activities of individual Members of the House and on other House legislative activities. Requires the Committee to report to the House on its strategy for increasing public access to congressional documents and to information on the House legislative activities (including committee activities) accessible through the Internet and on the status of its current projects to carry out the strategy, including a description of the reasons for any delays in the implementation of such projects and recommendations for steps to remove such delays.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1996
Condemns the rash of arson against African-American churches across the United States during the past 18 months. Pledges to take steps to assist law enforcement authorities in apprehending the persons responsible. Supports the bipartisan legislation introduced by Representatives Conyers and Hyde to facilitate the prosecution of, and increase penalties against, arsonists who target houses of worship. Encourages the people of the United States to work within their own communities to prevent arson against African-American houses of worship.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 1996
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the Food and Drug Administration should issue a definitive statement on the relationship (or lack thereof) between silicone gel breast implants and connective tissue disease, classic auto-immune symptoms, and other serious diseases; and (2) the Food and Drug Administration and the National Cancer Institute should develop recommendations for breast care for women with breast implants.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 1996
Urges the President to promptly seek the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification of the 1994 Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women.
United States · United States Congress · 30 May 1996
Decennial Census Improvement Act of 1996 - Requires the Bureau of the Census, in conducting the 2000 decennial census, to: (1) attempt to contact every household directly, whether by mail or in person (and allows the use of sampling as a substitute for direct contact in a particular census tract only after direct contact has been made with at least 90 percent of the households in such tract); and (2) seek to make more effective use of State and local government offices and appropriate local groups to reduce the undercount and include in a specified report a description of the measures it intends to carry out such requirement. Modifies Federal law regarding exemptions for reemployed annuitants and former uniformed service members to make such law: (1) applicable to service in any temporary position within the Bureau established for purposes relating to the 2000 decennial census; and (2) inapplicable to any service performed after December 31, 2000. Prohibits taking into account compensation for services performed by an individual appointed to a temporary position in or under the Bureau for purposes relating to the 2000 decennial census (if the position is so designated by the Bureau, in writing, at the time of such individual's appointment) for purposes of: (1) State programs for aid and services to needy families with children and for child- welfare services, and for certain medical assistance, under the Social Security Act; (2) the Food Stamp program; (3) certain programs for housing assistance; (4) specified assistance under the school breakfast and lunch programs, the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, and the Job Training Partnership Act; (5) any Head Start program; and (6) assistance pursuant to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1996
Women's Pension Equity Act of 1996 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide for the development of a model: (1) spousal consent form when an election is made to waive a qualified joint and survivor annuity or a qualified preretirement survivor annuity; and (2) qualified domestic relations order. Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to extend the payment of any portion of Tier II Railroad Retirement benefits to surviving former spouses pursuant to divorce agreements. Amends Federal law to provide for a survivor annuity to widows, widowers, and certain former spouses of Federal employees who die after having separated from the service with title to a deferred annuity, but before attaining age for such annuity under the Civil Service Retirement System on the same basis as is currently provided to certain survivors of former Members of Congress. Revises provisions concerning Federal retirement benefits subject to a court order.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1996
Emergency Shelter Act of 1996 - Authorizes the head of an executive agency to make available, upon request from an assistance organization, public areas of certain Federal facilities for use as temporary shelter for homeless individuals during nonbusiness hours. Sets forth a repeal date.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1996
National Marine Sanctuaries Preservation Act - Amends the National Marine Sanctuaries Act to authorize appropriations to carry out the Act. Mandates a long-range, comprehensive plan for the management, stabilization, preservation, and recovery of artifacts and materials of the U.S. ship Monitor. Modifies national marine sanctuary advisory committee meeting notice requirements. Authorizes adoption of a symbol for the national marine sanctuary program (NMSP) or any individual sanctuary and the related designation of official sponsors, the collection of symbol use fees, and the selling of products to promote the NMSP. Makes it unlawful for a sponsor to try to influence any national marine sanctuary decision. Establishes the National Marine Sanctuaries Program Account and authorizes the use of Account funds, without further appropriations, for the NMSP or specific sanctuaries.
![Official portrait of Rep. Clayton, Eva M. [D-NC-1]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/c000494_200.jpg)