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United States · Official source
1,297 records where Rep. Combest, Larry [R-TX-19] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1989
Older Americans' Freedom to Work Act of 1989 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to remove the limitation on the amount of outside income which beneficiaries who have attained retirement age may earn without incurring a reduction in benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1989
Cable Competition Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to authorize a State or cable television franchising authority to regulate the rates that a cable operator may charge for the provision of lifeline television services for any franchising area which is not provided with cable service by two or more cable operators. Defines the "lifeline television service" as the provision of: (1) channels of the three major networks; (2) a public television channel; and (3) one channel carrying each independent local television station. Repeals a provision of such Act which prohibits a telephone company from providing video programming in its telephone service area. Allows a telephone company to: (1) provide video programming directly to subscribers; or (2) provide rental arrangements to any entity which is owned or controlled by, or under common control with, such telephone company for the provision of such video programming. Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prescribe regulations to ensure that: (1) the economic risks of video programming business of a telephone company are not borne by telephone service ratepayers in any way; and (2) a common carrier providing video services allocates costs in a manner which protects basic telephone ratepayers from subsidizing the provision of cable video programming. Prohibits a telephone company from providing video programming services if prohibited from doing so by Federal antitrust laws. Makes it unlawful for any person (including a common carrier) to purchase or otherwise acquire control of a cable system without the permission of the franchising authority for that cable system. Prohibits a franchising authority from granting such authority unless: (1) it determines that cable subscribers will benefit from such acquisition; (2) it determines that the number of channels, the signal quality, and the types of services will be expanded; and (3) the person acquiring the cable system agrees to include an obligation to achieve such expanded benefits and services for its customers. Requires a cable operator to: (1) provide cable system access to any program service, except under specified conditions; (2) provide cable system access to any unaffiliated program service under the same rates, terms, and conditions as provided to an affiliated program; and (3) comply with regulations prescribed by the FCC which ensure such access. States that any regulations prescribed by the FCC shall not relieve a common carrier who provides cable service from any regulations under the above Act or any other regulations concerning open network architecture plans and related requirements. Makes it unlawful for any person affiliated with a cable operator who provides programming to any cable operator to engage in any unjust or unreasonable discrimination in charges, practices, regulations, facilities, or services against any person seeking to obtain such programming for distribution over another capable system or over any other medium capable of making the programming available for private viewing. Empowers U.S. district courts with jurisdiction to enforce such prohibitions. Directs the FCC to initiate a proceeding to investigate: (1) the extent to which affiliated persons are engaged in producing and distributing video programming for carriage on cable television systems; and (2) the degree to which such operations result in higher rates for television service or unfair or anticompetitive acts or practices with respect to such programming. Requires the FCC to report immediately to the Attorney General or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) any acts or practices found during such investigation that appear to violate any law within the jurisdiction of the Attorney General or the FTC. Directs the FCC to report to the Congress on the results of such investigation within one year after the enactment of this Act. Directs the FCC to initiate a proceeding to investigate: (1) the extent to which video programming is being delivered to residents of rural areas by means of cable television systems and other media; and (2) methods which might be used to improve and extend the delivery of such programming by such media. Directs the FCC to report the results of such investigations to the Congress within one year after enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1989
Pipeline-Hazardous Waste Anti-Dumping Act of 1989 - Amends the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 to direct the Secretary of Transportation to prohibit, by regulation, with specified exceptions, the tending for transportation in crude oil pipeline facilities of any used oil, waste oil, solvent, salt, metal, chemical (including chlorinated or oxygenated hydrocarbons), or other substance determined to pose an unreasonable threat of damage or injury to pipeline facilities, human beings, or the environment.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1989
Amends the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act to require the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to provide leadership and coordination with respect to policies affecting procurement programs for rural areas. Directs the Administrator to: (1) coordinate with and advise State and local officials with regard to Federal efforts to encourage procurement in rural areas with the aim of fostering economic development in such areas; (2) establish specific rural area procurement targets for executive agencies consistent with awards or contracts for small business concerns; and (3) encourage the use of set asides or other appropriate methods for meeting procurement targets for rural areas. Requires executive agencies to provide assistance in carrying out the Administrator's responsibilities for rural area programs.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1989
Emergency Community Water Assistance Act - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an emergency water assistance grant program for specified communities adversely affected by drought in 1988 or 1989. Authorizes FY 1990 appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1989
Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act Amendment of 1989 - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish loan rates for rural health care and related facilities based solely on the income of the area to be served.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1989
Rural Development Data Base Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) develop and make available to the public within the Department of Agriculture a Federal rural development programs data base; and (2) submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees. Authorizes the Secretary to appoint a related advisory panel.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1989
Rural Development Reorganization Act of 1989 - Title I: Reorganization of the Department of Agriculture - Renames the Department of Agriculture the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development to establish and maintain a revitalized nationwide rural development program as set forth in the Rural Development Act of 1972, the Rural Development Policy Act of 1980, and this Act. Establishes in such Department a Rural Development Administration. Directs the Secretary to transfer to the Rural Development Administration those agencies, offices, or entities in the Department performing rural development functions. Authorizes the transfer of rural housing offices. Amends the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to expand the number of designated assistance areas from 225 to 450. Establishes within the Rural Development Administration an Office of Advocacy for Rural Development. Directs the Secretary to report, by geographical areas of the United States, to the Congress: (1) within six months after enactment of this Act on the extent to which rural development offices and activities of the Federal Government were located or relocated to rural areas during FY 1981 through 1986; and (2) within six months after the end of each fiscal year beginning with FY 1989 on the extent to which Federal offices and activities were located or relocated to rural areas. Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to target specified private fund economic development investments made by Rural Electrification Administration borrowers. Title II: State Cooperative Agreements and Plans - Authorizes the Administrator, Rural Development Administration, to enter into cooperative agreements with States: (1) to delegate to any State the authority to cooperate in carrying out the provisions of this Act; and (2) to assist States in the development and administration of Federal programs that provide educational opportunities, job training, health services, business expansion, and other specified benefits to rural residents. Conditions any agreement or financial assistance under this Act upon a State's submission for approval of a comprehensive plan for a State rural development program. Permits the Secretary and other Federal agency heads to enter into agreements with State and local governments to provide educational training, job training, health services, and other benefits to rural residents. Directs the Administrator in cooperation with the Secretary to use the Cooperative State Extension Service to inform rural residents about such programs. Authorizes the Secretary to guarantee certain financial institution loans made for specified rural development purposes. Title III: Rural Technology Grants - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to direct the Secretary to make grants to nonprofit institutions to establish rural technology development centers. Gives priority to projects that will serve depressed rural areas. Authorizes FY 1990 through 1992 appropriations. Title IV: Miscellaneous Amendments - Makes conforming amendments to the Community Economic Development Act of 1981 and other Federal law. Title V: Administrative Provisions - Sets forth administrative provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the President should revoke Executive Order 12072; and (2) the Secretary of Agriculture should utilize criteria in full compliance with the Rural Development Act of 1972 when selecting Federal facility locations.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow farmers' cooperatives to elect to treat as ordinary income or loss certain capital gains and losses from the disposition of assets used in conducting business with or for patrons.
United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1989
Designates the Post Office at 300 East Ninth Street, Austin, Texas, as the Homer Thornberry Judicial Building.
United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1989
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress and the President, prior to each fiscal year, to agree on an estimate of total receipts (except those derived from borrowing) for that fiscal year by enactment of a joint single subject resolution. Prohibits outlays for that year (except those for repayment of debt principal) from exceeding this amount unless the Congress, by a three-fifths roll call vote of each House, authorizes a specific excess of outlays over receipts. Requires a three-fifths roll call vote of each House to increase the public debt. Directs the President to submit a balanced budget to the Congress. Requires the approval of a majority of the total membership of each House by roll call vote before any bill to increase revenue may become law. Waives these provisions when a declaration of war is in effect.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 1989
Constitutional Amendment - Repeals the 22d amendment to the Constitution (limitation on presidential terms).
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 1989
Davis-Bacon Reform Act of 1989 - Amends the Davis-Bacon Act to increase from $2,000 to $250,000 the threshold amount subjecting certain contracts to such Act and requiring them to specify the minimum wages to be paid to laborers and mechanics. Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish as the prevailing wage for a class of laborers or mechanics the entire range of wages being paid to a corresponding class of such workers in the particular urban or rural subdivision of the State in which the work is to be performed. Sets out the means for determining such prevailing wage in cases when more than a single wage is being paid to corresponding classes of workers. Excludes from the computation of wages the basic hourly rates of pay for workers on local Federal projects. Establishes a separate classification for helpers of laborers or mechanics, with their prevailing wages to be determined on the basis of the corresponding class of helpers. Prohibits the division of contracts into units of $250,000 or less for purposes of avoiding wage computation under such Act. Provides for administrative enforcement of such prohibition. Applies the increased contract amount threshold for coverage provided in this Act to other related Federal laws which use the Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage rate determination requirements. Provides that wages found to be due to laborers and mechanics pursuant to the Davis-Bacon Act shall be paid to them directly from accrued payments withheld under the contract, in accordance with specified regulations issued by the Secretary of Labor. (Currently the Comptroller General makes such payments.) Directs the Administrator of General Services (rather than the Comptroller General) to distribute a list to all Federal agencies giving the names of persons or firms that the Secretary of Labor (rather than the Comptroller General) has found to have disregarded their obligations to employees and subcontractors. Amends the Copeland Act to require certain contractors or subcontractors to furnish compliance statements concerning weekly wages at the beginning, midpoint, and conclusion of the period covered by the contract, instead of every week as the wages are paid. Requires such statements at least every three months. Directs the Secretary of Labor and the Comptroller General to submit to the Congress annual reports describing the effects of the Davis-Bacon Act, the Copeland Act, and this Act on local wages and on local and national economies.
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 1989
Agricultural Nitrogen Management Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an Agricultural Nitrogen Best Management Practices Task Force to: (1) develop agricultural best management practices for agricultural nitrogen utilization; (2) develop related educational and training materials; and (3) report to the Congress with regard to such efforts. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to make certain nonpoint source management reports available to the Task Force.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1989
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions governing the income tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to: (1) make the deduction permanent (under current law it will expire after tax year 1989); and (2) phase in an increase in the allowable deduction, reaching 100 percent for taxable years beginning in 1994 and thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1989
Consumer Coal Royalty Rate Amendment Act of 1989 - Amends the Mineral Leasing Act to reduce the statutory minimum ad valorem royalty rate on coal purchase contracts entered into prior to March 1, 1989, from 12 1/2 percent to six percent of the value of coal. Exempts coal leases of Indian tribal or allotted lands from such royalty reduction. Permits the Secretary of the Interior to determine a lesser rate for coal from underground mining operations.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1989
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that an increase in estate taxes or the imposition of a capital gains tax at death would, by virtue of negative effects on family farms and family businesses, do more damage to the U.S. economy than the increased revenue would justify.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 1989
Title I: Repeal of Certain Provisions in Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 - Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Amendments of 1989 - Repeals provisions of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 (the Act) establishing a Supplemental Medicare Premium and providing Medicare coverage (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) of prescription drugs and insulin, home intravenous drug therapy services, screening mammographies, and in-home care for chronically dependent individuals. Amends the Medicare program to increase the limit on Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) out-of-pocket expenses incurred by beneficiaries for 1990. Gears future adjustments of such limit to changes in expenses of the Medicare trust funds. Modifies the Act's premium financing mechanisms. Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to require States to establish the family income eligibility level for Medicaid coverage of Medicare cost-sharing amounts at at least 85 percent of the Federal poverty level. (Currently, States must phase-in such coverage for all families whose income is below the Federal poverty level.) Requires Medicaid coverage of prescription drugs for individuals who are at least 65 years old and whose income does not exceed 150 percent of the Federal poverty level. Directs the Boards of Trustees of the Medicare trust funds to include in their reports to the Congress in April 1990 an analysis, performed by the Secretary of the Treasury, of options to strengthen the long-term solvency of such trust funds. Title II: Tax Provisions Related to Long-Term Care Insurance - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat certain long-term care insurance which the Secretary certifies is providing coverage to each covered person who is age 50 or older for at least one year for diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, rehabilitation, maintenance, or personal care services provided in a setting other than the acute care unit of a hospital as accident or health insurance when taxing issuers of such insurance (hereafter referred to as qualified long-term care insurance). Provides that for the purpose of determining whether a tax exclusion applies to an employee's receipt of benefits from qualified long-term care insurance such benefits shall be considered to be for personal injury or sickness, and medical care. Excludes from taxation: (1) the portion of distributions from individual retirement plans which is used during the year to pay the premiums for qualified long-term care coverage of individuals who are age 59 1/2 or older on the date of distribution; and (2) amounts received when an individual who has attained age 65 surrenders, cancels, or exchanges a life insurance contract and used during such year to pay the premiums for qualified long-term care insurance.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 1989
Employee Educational Assistance Act of 1989 - Repeals provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that: (1) terminated the income tax exclusion of amounts paid under employee educational assistance programs as of tax year 1989; and (2) deny benefits in connection with graduate work.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 1989
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Federal excise taxes should not be increased.
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 1989
Holloway-Schulze Toddler Tax Credit Act of 1989 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow the custodial parent a refundable income tax credit for each dependent child under the age of six (five in 1990 through 1993). Establishes the credit amount as the lesser of $1,000 or 12 percent of income below $10,000 for a single qualified dependent. Limits application of the credit to two eligible dependents. Reduces the credit for taxpayers earning more than $10,000. Makes this credit and the employment-related dependent care credit mutually exclusive. Applies phase-in amounts for tax years beginning in 1990 through 1993. Indexes post-1994 credit amounts. Provides for advance toddler tax credit payments by employers to employees who provide certification of eligibility. Requires taxpayers to file information returns to reflect these payments. Reduces the amount of the employment-related dependent care credit for taxpayers with adjusted gross income above $50,000. Disallows application of the credit with respect to a taxpayer's dependent under age 13 who is physically and mentally capable of self-care. Repeals the income tax exclusion applied in connection with amounts furnished to an employee in accordance with an employer dependent care assistance program.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 1989
Natural Gas Decontrol Act of 1989 - Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 to declare that the price guidelines for the first sale of natural gas do not apply to: (1) expired, terminated or post-enactment contracts executed after the date of enactment of this Act; (2) certain renegotiated contracts; and (3) gas produced from a well the surface drilling of which began after a specified date. Repeals wellhead price controls.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 1989
Requests the Secretary of Labor to publish specific standards for the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to volunteer fire departments to assure that such departments have specific rules by which to operate that will not restrict their ability to provide fire prevention services.
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 1989
Targeted Relief Disclosure Resolution of 1989 - Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to require each report accompanying each bill or joint resolution of a public character reported by the Committee on Ways and Means to identify: (1) each provision which is intended to provide special benefits with respect to five or fewer taxpayers, transactions, events, items of property, projects, or issuances of bonds; (2) each beneficiary of such provision; (3) the Member of Congress who sponsored the inclusion of each such beneficiary; and (4) an estimate by the Joint Committee on Taxation of the loss in revenues resulting from such provision with respect to each such beneficiary for the fiscal year for which such loss in revenues first occurs and each of the five fiscal years thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to phase-in, over four years, the requirement that nursing facilities pay nursing personnel at a rate at least equal to the mean rate paid nursing personnel employed outside such facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Wayport Development Act of 1989 - Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to establish a program for making loans to designated wayports (airports used primarily as locations at which passengers and cargo may be transferred between connecting flights of air carriers) for wayport planning and development. Prohibits the Administrator from establishing such loan program if the Congress enacts a joint resolution disapproving the final report of the Wayport Development Commission (established by this Act). Sets forth specified requirements and terms and conditions for such loans. Establishes the Wayport Revolving Loan Fund. Authorizes appropriations to such Fund from unobligated amounts in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund for FY 1991 through 1993. Makes such Fund available to the Administrator for making loans to wayport authorities for financing wayport planning and development projects. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to invest amounts in the Fund in U.S. interest-bearing obligations. Requires interest earned during FY 1991 through 1993 to be deposited into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Establishes in the Department of Transportation the Wayport Development Commission to identify areas of the country suitable for the location of wayports. Requires specified reports to the Administrator and the Congress. Provides for congressional consideration of the Commission's final report on the location of wayports in the United States. Requires the Administrator to transmit to the Congress an annual report concerning: (1) the loans made under this Act; (2) repayment of such loans; (3) the status of the wayport planning and development projects; and (4) the financial condition of the Wayport Revolving Loan Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Common Sense Budget Act of 1989 - Amends Federal law to require both the President and the Congress to draft a budget based on estimates of current fiscal year spending, proposing increases or decreases based on this level (rather than on an estimated baseline). Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require the Congressional Budget Office to use such a current fiscal year baseline in its report to the congressional budget committees, projecting growth for entitlement and discretionary spending based on current fiscal year spending.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Amends title VII (Administration) of the Social Security Act to place the Office of Rural Health Policy under the direction of a Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Health responsible for reporting directly to the Secretary and Deputy Under Secretary of Health and Human Services. Makes such Office independent of other offices, services, and components of the Department of Health and Human Services. Elaborates upon the duties of the Office of Rural Health Policy.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study into the adequacy and appropriateness of Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) payments for ambulance services and report the results of such study to the Congress within one year of this Act's enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Rural Emergency Medical Services Improvement Act of 1989 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to create a new title on emergency medical services for rural areas. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make an allotment for each State each fiscal year for improving the availability and quality, in rural areas, of emergency medical services and emergency medical services systems provided to victims of emergencies prior to the arrival of the victims at medical facilities. Requires, after FY 1990, non-Federal matching contributions in a specified ratio. Allows a State to expend payments received for: (1) recruitment, training, and retention of personnel; (2) purchase, upgrading, and maintenance of equipment; (3) planning, coordination, and support of local emergency medical services and systems; and (4) public education. Requires that the State plan for emergency services provide for adequate services in rural areas. Sets forth a formula for determination of the amount of allotments. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for research into and demonstration projects concerning ways to improve the availability and quality of prehospital emergency medical services in rural areas by using communications technologies, making continuing education more accessible, improving curricula, undertaking outcome studies, and developing innovative financing mechanisms. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for pilot projects to develop community-based centers to coordinate and deliver comprehensive occupational health and safety services to rural communities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992 for improving rural prehospital emergency services and for centers for rural occupational health and safety services.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Rural Hospital Recovery Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to draft and submit to the Congress and the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission, within one year of this Act's enactment, legislation eliminating the differences in average standardized Medicare payments (under title XVIII of the Social Security Act) to large urban, other urban, and rural hospitals while recognizing certain cost differences among hospitals and within diagnosis related groups. Amends the Medicare program to require the Secretary to pay additional amounts to Medicare-dependent, small, rural hospitals before October 1, 1994, and to critical access facilities thereafter to ensure that their reasonable operating costs for inpatient hospital services are covered. Establishes an application process for rural hospitals which choose to be treated as urban hospitals by reason of their proximity to urban areas. Requires the recomputation of Medicare sole community hospital payment rates using the most recent information on hospital-specific costs per case and, if greater, national rather than regional prospective payment rates. Treats hospitals which are located 30 miles or more from other like hospitals, or hospitals which provide inpatient hospital services to at least 60 percent of the residents or part A (Hospital Insurance) Medicare beneficiaries within a 30-mile radius of the hospital as sole community hospitals. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress by October 1, 1990, on the process by which sole community hospitals may appeal the Secretary's decision not to make a volume adjustment to its Medicare payment. Establishes the Medicare Geographical Classification/Critical Access Facility Review Board which shall: (1) designate certain hospitals as critical access facilities; (2) hear appeals from rural hospitals which the Secretary determines do not qualify for treatment as being located in an adjacent urban area; and (3) conduct hearings with respect to the Secretary's refusal to consider a hospital to be a sole community hospital. Defines a "critical access facility" as a small, rural hospital which due to its location, prolonged severe weather conditions, or the availability of other hospitals to serve part A Medicare beneficiaries residing in the area must receive additional payments in order to continue to deliver critical health care services. Extends the regional referral center classification of hospitals so classified as of September 30, 1989, and the Medicare payment rates applicable to such hospitals until the implementation of unified average standardized Medicare payments for large urban, other urban, and rural hospitals. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to alter the Rural Health Care Transition Grant Program by: (1) extending from two to three years the limit on the provision of grants to small, rural hospitals for modification of their services; (2) permitting the Secretary to waive the hospital grant limit; and (3) increasing and extending the authorization of appropriations for such program through FY 1992. Requires the Secretary to submit a report to the Congress by April 1, 1990, identifying laws, rules, and regulations which prevent rural hospitals from providing innovative patient services. Directs the Secretary to conduct a five-year demonstration program in five rural hospitals treating the costs of nursing services obtained pursuant to an existing agreement with a nursing school as the costs of approved educational activities for Medicare payment purposes. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to expand, from four to ten hospitals, a Medicare demonstration program covering additional costs incurred by teaching hospitals in sending their residents to small rural hospitals for training. Extends the permissible duration of such training from three months to two years. Favors projects which provide small rural hospitals with resident physicians for longer periods of time and give physicians from the small rural hospital the opportunity to work or study at the sponsoring hospital. Makes consortiums of small rural hospitals eligible to accept the services of such a resident physician.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for education loan interest accrued by a physician, nurse, or allied health professional while serving in a medically underserved area.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1989
Energy Independence Act of 1989 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to direct the Secretary of Energy (Secretary), for the purpose of obtaining petroleum products for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and to the extent that amounts are credited to the SPR Petroleum Account (Account), to purchase either U.S. stripper well oil or crude oil exchanged for U.S. stripper well oil. Requires the purchases to be made on a competitive bid basis, subject to a minimum price of $22 per barrel, adjusted annually for inflation. Makes available to the Secretary for SPR development funds from the Account in an amount equal to 25 percent of the aggregate amount of revenue collected during the previous quarter from the excise tax imposed by this Act on imported crude oil and petroleum products. Limits the use of such funds for SPR petroleum acquisition to periods when: (1) the SPR contains less than 1,000,000,000 barrels of crude oil; and (2) the world price of crude oil is $22 or less per barrel, adjusted for inflation. Authorizes alternative energy security uses of the tax revenue when the world oil price exceeds the $22 reference price for a specified time. Directs the President, to the maximum extent practicable, to take the steps necessary to: (1) enter into international voluntary agreements in connection with the international energy program (IEP) in the interest of developing parity with respect to oil import fees; and (2) enforce certain existing agreements with other IEP countries. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose, until 1995, an excise tax on the first sale within the United States of imported crude oil and petroleum products. Sets a variable rate for the tax, as follows: (1) for crude oil, the greater of 50 cents per barrel or the difference between the world price per barrel of crude oil and $22 (the reference price, adjusted annually for inflation); and (2) for petroleum products, in accordance with a specified formula based on the amount of tax per barrel of crude oil, the barrel-of-oil equivalent of the particular product attributable to crude oil, and a three dollar per barrel environmental outlay adjustment. Exempts from the import tax: (1) any sale of crude oil or petroleum product destined for export; and (2) sales during any period when the President determines that it is in the national interest to refrain from such taxation.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make natural gas found in tight sands formations eligible for the income tax credit for producing fuel from a nonconventional source. Makes this credit permanent with respect to gas found in such formations and to gas produced from Devonian shale. Applies the nonconventional fuels tax credit to alternative minimum tax calculations.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1989
Foreign Aid Impact Assessment Act - Requires the President to submit to the Congress, by December 31, 1989, and December 31 of each third year thereafter, a report analyzing the impact and effectiveness of U.S. economic assistance provided during the preceding three fiscal years. Directs that such report include for each recipient country: (1) an analysis of the impact of such assistance on the country's economic development, including a description of the specific objectives sought and the extent to which they were not achieved and why; (2) a description of the amount and nature of the assistance provided by other donors during that period; (3) a discussion of the commitment of the host government to addressing the country's needs in each development sector; (4) a description of the trends in each sector; (5) statistical and other information necessary to the evaluation; and (6) a comparison of the analysis provided in the report with relevant analyses by international or nongovernmental organizations or donor countries. Requires that each report: (1) be submitted to the Congress as a separate document; and (2) identify those countries in which economic assistance has been most and least successful, explain why the assistance was not more successful, and specify what the United States has done as a result.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1989
Eliminates post-1968 service in the National Guard as a prerequisite to civil service retirement credit for former National Guard technicians. Amends the National Guard Technicians Act of 1968 to eliminate post-1968 service as a prerequisite for National Guard technicians for receipt of credit in the determination of length of Federal civil service for purposes of leave, Federal employees' death and disability compensation, group life and health insurance, severance pay, tenure, and status. Sets forth rules for applying provisions of this Act to affected individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1989
Amends the Federal criminal code to impose criminal penalties for displaying the flag of the United States on the floor or ground.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1989
Prohibits the Secretary of Defense from imposing charges for outpatient medical or dental care provided at any military health care facility.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1989
Nuclear Decommissioning Reserve Fund Act of 1989 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) decrease from 34 percent to 15 percent the rate of the tax imposed on the income of any Nuclear Decommissioning Reserve Fund; and (2) remove restrictions on permitted investments of Fund monies.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make a technical correction to provisions governing the exclusion from gross income of certain allowances to Federal civilian officers and employees working in foreign areas to extend it to certain allowances of intelligence officers not already explicitly covered.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the age (55 or older) and dollar ($125,000) restrictions with respect to the one-time income tax exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal residence.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1989
Prohibits the Federal Communications Commission from adopting revisions of the rules and policies in the proceeding "Policy and Rules Concerning Rates for Dominant Carrier," CC Docket 87-313, unless the changes expressly provide for: (1) the proper functioning of the long-term support mechanisms for the carrier common line rates administered by the National Exchange Carrier Association; (2) the maintenance of uniform nationwide long distance telephone rates by dominant interexchange carriers; and (3) the use of an industry-wide rate of return to determine costs for access tariffs and to calculate the Universal Service Fund. Requires the FCC to report to the Congress the compliance of revisions with these conditions. Postpones the effectiveness of any rule or policy revisions until 60 days have elapsed during which both Houses of the Congress are in session.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Federal Law Enforcement Officers Death Penalty Act of 1989 - Amends the Federal criminal code to subject any person who is found guilty of the first degree murder of a Federal law enforcement officer, or certain other Federal officials or employees, to the penalty of death. Establishes procedures for the imposition of the death penalty in such cases. Provides that no person who was less than 18 years of age at the time of the offense may be sentenced to death. Sets forth mitigating and aggravating factors to be considered by the jury in determining whether the death sentence will be imposed. Requires the Government to serve notice upon the defendant a reasonable time before trial or acceptance of a plea that it intends to seek the death penalty, as well as notice of the aggravating factors upon which it will rely. Provides that no presentence report shall be prepared in such cases. Requires a separate sentencing hearing before a jury or the court (upon motion by the defendant) when the defendant is convicted and the Government has filed notice that it intends to seek the death penalty. Allows the Government and the defendant to present any information relevant to a mitigating or aggravating factor without regard to the rules of evidence, but permits information to be excluded where its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of creating unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, or misleading the jury. Conditions imposition of the death penalty on a unanimous finding by the jury or, if there is no jury, the court, that: (1) the aggravating factors found to exist sufficiently outweigh any mitigating factor found to exist; or (2) in the absence of a mitigating factor, the aggravating factors alone are sufficient to justify a sentence of death. Specifies that: (1) the jury or the court, regardless of its findings with respect to aggravating and mitigating factors, is never required to impose a death sentence; and (2) the jury shall be so instructed. Requires the court to instruct the jury not to consider the race, color, national origin, creed, or sex of the defendant in its consideration of the death sentence. Directs the court to impose the death sentence upon a finding that such sentence is justified. Establishes procedures for appeal from a death sentence. Requires the court of appeals, upon consideration of the record and the information and procedures of the sentencing hearing, and any special finding, to affirm the decision if: (1) the sentence was not imposed under influence of passion, prejudice, or arbitrariness; and (2) the information supports the special finding of the existence of an aggravating factor. Requires the court to provide a written explanation of its determination. Establishes procedures for the implementation of the death sentence.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Imposes a civil penalty upon any person who mails to any individual or group of individuals at their place of residence: (1) any unsolicited sexually oriented advertisement; or (2) any unsolicited obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy, or vile article, matter, thing, device, or substance.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Amends Federal law to prohibit any State from imposing an income tax on the pension income of any individual who is not a resident or domiciliary of that State.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 1992 the period during which qualified mortgage bonds and mortgage credit certificates may be issued. (Under current law, authority for these programs is due to expire as of 1990.)
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1989
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to construct and test the Lake Meredith Salinity Control Project, New Mexico and Texas, to improve the quality of water to the Canadian River downstream of Ute Reservoir, New Mexico, and entering Lake Meredith, Texas. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into a contract with the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority of Texas (Authority) for the design and construction management of project facilities by the Bureau of Reclamation and for the payment of construction costs by the Authority. Makes it the responsibility of the Authority to operate and maintain the facilities upon completion of construction and testing. Requires the Authority to advance all costs of construction of project facilities as the non-Federal contribution. Declares the Federal share to be all project costs for verification, design preparation, and construction management. Provides for transferring control of the project works to the Authority or to a bonafide entity agreeable to New Mexico and Texas upon completion of construction and testing, or upon termination of activities at the request of the Authority. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1989
Radio License Renewal and Improvements Act of 1989 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission, with respect to applications for radio license broadcast renewals, to grant a renewal if during the preceding term of the license the licensee: (1) has broadcast material responsive to issues of concern to the residents of its service area; and (2) has not committed violations of such Act or the rules or regulations of the Commission, which taken together would constitute a pattern of abuse. Authorizes the Commission to deny a renewal or grant limited renewal if an applicant has failed to meet such requirements. Prohibits the Commission, in evaluating a licensee's performance in broadcasting material responsive to matters of public concern, from establishing or applying any requirement with respect to the broadcast of any specific subject or quantity of material. Directs the Commission to accept the licensee's judgment if found to be reasonable and made in good faith. Prohibits the Commission, in determining whether to renew a license, from considering whether the public interest, convenience, and necessity might be served by granting a license to a competing applicant. Directs the Commission to conduct an inquiry and prescribe any necessary regulations concerning any additional information that licensees should be required to maintain and make available to the public regarding the licensee's responsibility to broadcast material responsive to matters of public concern. Makes it unlawful for a license applicant and any other person, while a license application is pending, to effectuate an agreement whereby the other person withdraws or withholds the filing of a competing application, an informal objection, or a petition to deny in exchange for the payment of anything of value by, or on behalf of, the applicant. Requires the Commission to establish a procedure for the review of informal complaints received by the Commission during the license term of a radio licensee. Authorizes the Commission to consider such complaints at the time of a license renewal if such complaints constitute a pattern of abuse for purposes of this Act or evidence of the licensee's effort to serve the public interest.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1989
Makes the legal defense of discretionary function provided under specified Federal law inapplicable to any legal or administrative proceeding for damages arising out of U.S. violation of occupational safety or health standards or U.S. negligence at any workplace owned or operated by or under contract with the United States.