United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2003
Makes it unlawful to: (1) import, export, or transport in interstate commerce conventional steel jawed leghold traps and articles of fur derived from animals trapped in such traps; or (2) sell or acquire such a trap transported in violation of such provision. Prescribes criminal penalties for violations. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to reward persons (other than Government employees performing official duties) for information leading to a conviction under this Act. Empowers enforcement officials to detain, search, and seize suspected containers or merchandise and any accompanying documents, to make arrests without warrants with probable cause, and to execute warrants. Subjects seized merchandise to forfeiture.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2003
Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act Amendments of 2003 - Amends the Poison Control Enhancement and Awareness Act to authorize appropriations for: (1) the maintenance of a national toll-free number to access regional poison control centers; and (2) the nationwide media campaign to promote poison control center utilization. Amends provisions pertaining to the poison control center grant program, including to provide funds for: (1) developing standardized poison prevention and poison control centers; and (2) improving national toxic exposure surveillance. Modifies provisions pertaining to the renewal of a waiver of the certification requirements for receiving poison control center grants. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to assist in the implementation and maintenance of continuos national toxicosurveillance of poison control center data to detect new hazards from various sources, including household products.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2003
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to extend the minimum Medicare claims filing deadlines to account for any delay in processing adjustments from secondary to primary payor status.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2003
Job Protection Act of 2003 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the foreign sales corporation/extraterritorial income (FSC/ETI) exclusion, with an exemption for certain binding contracts in effect before the date of enactment of this Act. Permits a foreign corporation that elected to be treated as a domestic corporation to revoke such election and be treated as a domestic corporation transferring its property to a foreign corporation with no gain recognized on such transfer. Provides: (1) a transitional 2004 through 2008 sliding-scale deduction for an FSC/ETI beneficiary based on the corporation's 2001 FSC/ETI benefit; and (2) special rules for 2003 and for fiscal year taxpayers. Defines "FSC/ETI benefit." Allows a deduction for income attributable to U.S. production activities equal to ten percent of qualified production activities. Provides a 2006 through 2009 phase-in period. Defines "qualified production activities" as: (1) the portion of the modified taxable income attributable to domestic activities; and (2) the domestic/foreign fraction. Sets forth related provisions with respect to: (1) determination of income attributable to domestic production activities; (2) domestic production gross receipts; (3) qualifying production property; (4) domestic/foreign fraction; and (5) special rules.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2003
Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act of 2003 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to classify automatic fire sprinkler systems as five-year depreciable property. .
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2003
America's Red Rock Wilderness Act of 2003 - Designates specified lands in the following areas of Utah as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System: (1) Great Basin; (2) Zion and Mojave Desert; (3) the Grand Staircase and the Escalante Canyons; (4) Moab-La Sal Canyons; (5) Henry Mountains; (6) Glen Canyon; (7) San Juan-Anasazi; (8) Canyonlands Basin; (9) San Rafael Swell; and (10) Book Cliffs and Uinta Basin. Sets forth administrative provisions regarding: (1) filing by the Secretary of the Interior of a map and a legal description of each designated wilderness area with appropriate congressional committees; (2) the exchange of State-owned lands within such areas; (3) Federal reservation of water rights; (4) measurement of setbacks for roads with wilderness; (5) authorized livestock grazing; and (6) withdrawal of such lands from disposition under certain public land laws.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2003
Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to States and local governments to coordinate their budget-related actions with Federal Government efforts to stimulate the economy. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2003 for such payments in an amount equal to the total amount appropriated for for FY 2003 for the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund in the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2003, and subsequent appropriations Acts.Requires not less than one-third of such amount to be made available to local governments. Requires the Secretary to establish a formula for determining the allocation of payments, with priority consideration to the relative unemployment rate, median income, population, and poverty rate. Permits the use of funds received by States and local governments only for: (1) ordinary and necessary maintenance and operating expenses for education; public safety; public health; social services; roads, transportation, and water infrastructure; and housing; and (2) ordinary and necessary capital expenditures authorized by law.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2003
Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2003 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to extend through FY 2007 the authorization of appropriations for the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program (a matching grant program which helps State, tribal, and local jurisdictions purchase armor vests for use by law enforcement officers).
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2003
Health Care Parity for Legal Transportation and Recreational Activities Act - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit a group health plan or health insurance issuer from denying benefits otherwise provided for the treatment of an injury solely because such injury resulted from the participation of the participant or beneficiary in a legal transportation and recreational activity such as motorcycling or skiing.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2003
Child Custody Protection Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit transporting a minor across a State line to obtain an abortion and thereby abridging the right of a parent under a law in force in the State where the minor resides requiring parental involvement in a minor's abortion decision. Makes an exception if the abortion was necessary to save the life of the minor. Specifies that neither the minor transported nor her parent may be prosecuted or sued for a violation of this Act. Makes it an affirmative defense to a prosecution for, or to a civil action based on, such a violation that the defendant reasonably believed that before the minor obtained the abortion, the parental consent or notification or judicial authorization that would have been required had the abortion been performed in the State where the minor resides, took place. Authorizes any parent who suffers harm from a violation to obtain appropriate relief in a civil action. Defines "parent" to include a guardian, legal custodian, or person standing in loco parentis who has care and control of the minor, and with whom the minor regularly resides, who is designated by such law as a person to whom notification, or from whom consent, is required.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2003
Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act of 2003 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, based on recommendations from the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Advisory Panel (established by this Act), to make grants, after a process of peer review and programmatic review, to public or nonprofit private entities for the development and operation of not more than eight centers for the purpose of conducting multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research on environmental factors that may be related to the etiology of breast cancer.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2003
Acknowledges the 15th anniversary of the enactment of the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987 (the Proxmire Act) on November 4, 2003. Encourages the people and Government of the United States to rededicate themselves to ending genocide.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2003
Congratulates and commends Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs for hitting 500 major league home runs, for tearing down barriers for Latinos, and for being a role model and an inspiration.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 2003
Amends the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 to require the Attorney General to award grants to States, units of local government, Indian tribes, and other organizations to carry out programs to provide short-term housing assistance and related support services to minors, adults, and their dependents: (1) who are homeless, or in need of transitional housing or other housing assistance, as a result of fleeing a situation of domestic violence; and (2) for whom emergency shelter services or other crisis intervention services are unavailable or insufficient. Limits the duration of such assistance to an 18-month period, except that a grant recipient may extend such assistance for an additional six-month period with respect to any minor, adult, or dependent who has been unable to acquire permanent housing despite a good-faith effort to do so.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 2003
Pension Benefits Protection Act of 2003 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) to protect pension benefits of employees in defined benefit (DB) plans, and to ensure that age discrimination laws are applied to conversions to cash balance plans and other such plans that are hybrids of DB's and defined contribution plans. Requires ERISA, the Code, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1967 to be applied and administered without regard to certain proposed regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury that relate to reductions of accruals and allocations because of the attainment of any age, and to application of nondiscrimination cross-testing rules to cash balance plans. Amends ERISA and the Code to protect certain DB plan participants from forced conversions to hybrid DB plans by plan amendments which change the way the accrued benefit to participants or beneficiaries are expressed and which reduce the rate of future benefit accrual of one or more participants. Requires employers, at the time such amendment takes effect, to provide employees who have attained 40 years of age or 10 years of service with certain notices and an election upon retirement to receive benefits as determined either under the plan in effect at time of retirement or under the plan in effect immediately before the plan amendment. Sets forth a formula to determine when a plan amendment adopted by a large (100 or more participants) DB plan shall be treated as wearing away accrued benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 2003
Health Care Access and Rural Equity Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to make a variety of changes with regard to rural health care and such matters as: (1) urban and rural standardized payment amounts under the Medicare inpatient hospital prospective payment system (PPS); (2) disproportionate share hospital (DSH) adjustment for rural hospitals; (3) adjustment to the Medicare inpatient hospital PPS wage index to revise the labor-related share of such index; (4) treatment of certain sole community hospitals to limit the decline in payment under the PPS for hospital outpatient department services; (5) the critical access hospital program; and (6) permanent treatment of certain physician pathology services under Medicare. Amends the Public Health Service Act to give the Secretary the authority to make and guarantee loans from the loan fund to any rural entity for projects for capital improvements. Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for a five-year extension of the authorization for appropriations for certain Medicare rural grants.
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 2003
Unemployment Benefits Extension Act - Amends the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 (TEUCA) to: (1) extend the TEUC program; (2) provide for additional weeks of TEUC benefits; (3) revise unemployment rate triggers for TEUC benefit periods; and (4) provide for regular unemployment compensation for certain individuals based on part-time work or an alternative base period. Extends the TEUC program through weeks of unemployment ending before December 28, 2003. Provides a phaseout period for individual payments up to weeks beginning after July 31, 2004. Increases to 26 weeks an eligible individual's TEUC payments. Provides for an additional seven weeks of payments, for a total of 33 weeks, for individuals in high-unemployment States (TEUC-X). (Current law provides 13 weeks of regular TEUC payments, with an additional 13 and total 26 in TEUC-X States.) Revises requirements for determining TEUC-X States, using certain triggers based on insured unemployment rates and on total unemployment rates. Establishes a program of payments to States to provide regular unemployment compensation benefits for individuals who otherwise would be ineligible because: (1) the base period does not count wages earned in the most recently completed calendar quarter; or (2) the individuals seek or are available for less than full-time work.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2003
BRAC Repeal Act of 2003 - Amends the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 to repeal the authority of the Secretary of Defense to make recommendations for an additional round of military installation closures or realignments in 2005.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2003
National Rail Infrastructure Program Act - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a National Rail Infrastructure Program to provide grants for projects addressing railroad infrastructure and systems deficiencies. Makes eligible for such grants projects to: (1) maintain and increase track and intermodal yard capacity; (2) acquire rights-of-way for future expansion; (3) separate railroad and road crossings and make other railroad and road interface improvements; (4) separate rail-to-rail crossings; (5) integrate railroad systems; and (6) construct, repair, and rehabilitate track and related supporting structures. Prohibits the use of grant funds for operating expenses, acquisition of rolling stock, payment of debt, or construction or repair of maintenance facilities, passenger facilities at stations, or other ancillary railroad business structures. Requires at least 20 percent of project costs to be provided by State, local, and other non-Federal public sources. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose an excise tax of: (1) five percent on the sale of any specified railroad equipment by the manufacturer, producer, or importer; (2) five percent of the amount paid for taxable rail transportation of any person by commuter rail, and of ten percent in any other case; and (3) one percent of the amount paid inside or outside the United States for the taxable rail transportation of property. Establishes in the Treasury a National Rail Infrastructure Program Trust Fund, consisting of amounts equivalent to: (1) specified excise taxes received with respect to fuel used in a train, and the excise tax under this Act on railroad locomotives and rolling stock; (2) ten percent of all customs duties received after September 30, 2003; and (3) ten percent of all royalties attributable to the removal of oil or gas from Federal lands. Makes amounts in the Trust Fund available only for grants under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 2003
Credit Card Consumer Protection Act of 2003 - Amends Truth in Lending Act with respect to open-end consumer credit card plan disclosures to require: (1) a 30-day posting deadline for the mailing of credit card account statements; (2) prominent type face disclosure of the date by which a late fee will be charged to the account; and (3) recordkeeping by the credit card issuer of the pertinent dates for the mailing of bills and receipt of bill payments.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 2003
Abusive Tax Shelter Shutdown and Taxpayer Accountability Act of 2003 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (Code) concerning tax shelters to, among other things: (1) define economic substance; (2) impose a penalty for the failure to include in a return information concerning a reportable transaction, a reportable transaction understatement (including imposing the penalty for certain understatements which were based on unreasonable legal or factual assumptions), a noneconomic substance transaction understatement, and interests in foreign financial accounts; (3) modify rules concerning the failure to furnish information regarding reportable transactions and the penalty for such failure, the failure to maintain lists of investors in potentially abusive tax shelters and the penalty for such failure, the authority to seek an injunction to enjoin promoters of abusive tax shelters; and (4) deny a deduction of interest on underpayments attributable to nondisclosed reportable transactions and noneconomic substance transactions. Amends other Code provisions to, among other things: (1) place a limit on the transfer or importation by a corporation of built-in losses; (2) provide for the partnership treatment of certain contributed property with a built-in loss; (3) repeal part V (Financial Asset Securitization Investment Trusts) of subchapter M (Regulated Investment Companies and Real Estate Investment Trusts); and (4) modify rules concerning the disallowance of a deduction on certain debt instruments of corporations, passive foreign investment companies, and the reduction in a corporate shareholder's basis in stock by the nontaxed portion of extraordinary dividends.
United States · United States Congress · 1 April 2003
Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act - Amends the Animal Welfare Act to increase the imprisonment penalty for animal fighting violations from one year to two years. Makes it unlawful to sell, buy, transport, or deliver in interstate or foreign commerce a knife, gaff, or other sharp instrument used in a bird-fighting venture. Revises enforcement provisions. Permits euthanasia for an animal in extreme pain. Includes the Internet or any technology as interstate instrumentality.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 2003
Don't Feed the Bears Act of 2003 - Requires the Secretary of the Interior to enforce the National Parks System regulatory prohibitions against the feeding and baiting of wildlife on National Park System lands and in wildlife refuge areas, in particular the intentional feeding of bears for the purpose of enticing them to a particular area to be hunted (bear baiting). Requires the Secretary of the Interior with respect to lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, and the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to National Forest System lands, to adopt and enforce a regulation to prohibit individuals from intentionally feeding bears, including feeding for the purpose of bear baiting.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 2003
Securing Transportation Energy Efficiency for Tomorrow Act of 2003 - Amends Federal law to authorize the Administrator of General Services to establish a program for the procurement and installation of photovoltaic solar electric systems for electric production in public buildings. Directs the Architect of the Capitol to evaluate the energy infrastructure of the Capitol Complex to determine how it could be augmented to become more energy efficient, using photovoltaic solar energy systems, district-heating, and other unconventional and renewable energy resources. Amends the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Commerce to carry out a demonstration program for the development of brightfield sites (brownfield sites redeveloped through the incorporation of solar energy technologies). Amends Federal transportation law to: (1) direct the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to establish a program of grants to State and local governments for fuel conservation projects; (2) authorize the Secretary to make grants for fuel cell bus technology projects; (3) direct the Secretary to establish a Conserve By Bicycling pilot program for projects to encourage the use of bicycles in place of motor vehicles; (4) require environmental impact statements for Federal-aid highway and transit projects to consider energy impacts as an environmental project consequence; and (5) direct the Secretary to establish a specified public-private research partnership dedicated to advancement of railroad technology, efficiency, and safety owned by the Federal Railroad Administration and operated in the private sector. Amends Federal transportation law to direct: (1) the Secretary to establish a pilot clean airport bus replacement and fleet expansion grant program; and (2) the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to establish a public-private research partnership to develop a clean ground demonstrator engine utilizing specified National Aeronautics and Space Administration-developed technologies. Directs the Secretary to establish a public-private research partnership to develop and demonstrate technologies that increase fuel economy, reduce emissions, and lower costs of marine transportation, as well as the efficiency of intermodal transfers. Directs the Secretary of the Army to study and report to Congress on the potential for reduced fossil fuel consumption through an increase in U.S. hydropower capabilities. Encourages specified adjacent States to continue to prohibit off-shore drilling in the Great Lakes for oil and gas, and other adjacent States and the Canadian Province of Ontario to prohibit such drilling. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income as a qualifying transportation fringe benefit a commuting allowance of $75 per month for individuals who bicycle, carpool, or car-share to work.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2003
Living Organ Donor Job Security Act of 2003 - Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to allow leave for living organ donation. Includes among authorized leave time spent for: (1) tests for medical suitability of the eligible employee; (2) physical, psychological, and social evaluations of the donor; (3) pre-transplant outpatient services; (4) post-operative inpatient and outpatient transplantation services; (5) travel in connection with such tests, evaluations, and services; and (6) recuperation.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2003
Medicare Safety Net Access Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) provide for coverage of Medicare-covered ambulatory services by Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs); and (2) ensure FQHC reimbursement under hospital and skilled nursing facility prospective payment systems. Amends SSA title XI with respect to criminal penalties for acts involving Federal health care programs, particularly illegal remunerations (kickbacks). Exempts from the prohibition against such remunerations any remuneration: (1) between a certain kind of public or nonprofit private health center entity and any individual or entity providing goods, items, services, donations, loans, or a combination, to such health center entity pursuant to an agreement, if such agreement contributes to the ability of the health center entity to maintain or increase the availability, or enhance the quality, of services provided to a medically underserved population served by the health center entity; and (2) between a FQHC (or an entity controlled by such a health center) and a Medicare+Choice organization pursuant to a specified written agreement. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish standards relating to the exception for health center entity arrangements to specified anti-kickback penalties. Amends SSA title XVIII to revise the payment for certain FQHC services furnished to an individual enrolled with a Medicare+Choice organization under Medicare part C (Medicare+Choice), allowing for supplemental reimbursement, among other changes. Amends Medicare+Choice to add additional Medicare+Choice contract requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2003
Amends Federal postal law to extend the U.S. Postal Service's authority to issue special postage stamps to help provide funding for breast cancer research through December 31, 2005.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2003
Declares that Federal funding for diabetes research should be increased in accordance with the recommendations of the Diabetes Research Working Group so that a cure for juvenile diabetes can be found.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2003
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) each member of the U.S. and allied armed forces should be commended for serving with distinction and professionalism; (2) the families of members of the U.S. armed forces should be commended for their support; and (3) all U.S. citizens should pay homage to such members and their families.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2003
Aviation Industry Stabilization Act of 2003 - Amends Federal transportation law to change from discretionary to mandatory the authority of the Secretary of Transportation to provide insurance and reinsurance against loss or damage arising out of any risk from the operation of an American aircraft or foreign-flag aircraft. Grants the Secretary authority to extend through calendar year 2007 the termination date of any insurance policy issued to an air carrier. Makes permanent the Secretary's authority to declare an air carrier a victim of terrorism not liable for third party claims arising out of acts of terrorism. Extends the period for an air carrier to apply for a loan guarantee or line of credit to pay for its aviation fuel costs or increases in aviation fuel costs under the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act. Requires the Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security, after all cockpit doors are strengthened, to consider and report to Congress on whether it is necessary to require Federal air marshals to be seated in the first class cabin of an aircraft with strengthened cockpit doors. Requires the Under Secretary to: (1) undertake action necessary to improve the screening of mail so that it can be carried on passenger flights; and (2) reimburse air carriers for certain screening and related activities as well as the cost of fortifying cockpit doors, and for any financial losses attributed to the loss of air traffic resulting from the use of force against Iraq in calendar year 2003. Requires that an airlift services contract entered into by the Secretary of Defense and an air carrier provide for the air carrier to be compensated for the positioning, repositioning, and other ferry portions of missions performed under the contract. Requires the Secretary of Energy, if the use of force against Iraq is authorized in calendar year 2003, to drawdown and distribute petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the extent necessary to remedy a dislocation in the jet fuel market or an extraordinary increase in the price of jet fuel. Establishes an air cargo security working group composed of various groups to develop recommendations on the enhancement of the current known shipper program. Directs the Comptroller General to analyze factors contributing to the financial difficulties of air carriers to determine possible approaches to alleviate such difficulties.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2003
Equity for Reservists Pay Act of 2003 - Entitles a Federal employee who is also a member of the reserves and who is absent from his or her civilian employment position under a call or order for active duty service of more than 30 days, to receive an amount equal to the difference in pay between the military compensation received and the civilian compensation that otherwise would have been received during such period. Makes such amounts also payable during: (1) any period of hospitalization or convalescence required as a result of such service; and (2) the 14-day period following such service. Directs the Secretary of the military department concerned to reimburse a State or local government for 50 percent of the civilian compensation paid by such government for pay periods when a State or local government employee is performing active duty service of more than 30 days. Increases such rate to 100 percent if the employee's active duty service period extends beyond nine months. Requires such reimbursement during periods of hospitalization or convalescence and for 14 days after service. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that, for purposes of the general business credit, the Active-Duty Reserve Component employee credit is 50 percent of the compensation paid by the employer to the employee during the period of active duty.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2003
Wellstone Memorial Stop Corporate Expatriates Act - Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to apply a prohibition on contracting by the Secretary of Homeland Security with foreign incorporated entities which are treated as inverted domestic corporations to any subsidiaries of such entities. Deletes a provision that would allow the waiver of such prohibition in order to prevent the loss of any jobs in the United States or to prevent the Government from incurring any additional costs that otherwise would not occur (thus allowing such waiver only in the interest of national security).
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2003
Emergency Retiree Health Benefits Protection Act of 2003 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide emergency protections for retiree health benefits. Prohibits group health plans from making post-retirement reductions of retiree health benefits. Requires group health plans to adopt provisions barring post-retirement reductions in retiree health benefits. Requires group health plans to restore benefits reduced after retirement. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to waive or vary such requirements, if a plan sponsor applies for such exemption, upon finding that compliance would: (1) be adverse to the interests of plan participants in the aggregate; (2) not be administratively feasible; and (3) cause substantial business hardship to the sponsor. Establishes the Emergency Retiree Health Loan Guarantee Program and its Board. Authorizes the Program, through its Board, to guarantee loans provided by private banking and investment institutions to eligible plan sponsors to assist them in meeting obligations under this Act to restore benefits reduced after retirement. Authorizes the Secretary to assess civil penalties for violations of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2003
Veterans Prescription Drug Benefits Act of 2003 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a prescription drug benefit program under which drugs and medicines are furnished to eligible veterans on prescription of a duly licensed physician or other authorized health care professional who is not an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs, subject to the payment of any required premium and copayment. Makes eligible for the program Priority 1 veterans (those with service-connected disabilities rated 50 percent or more) and Medicare-eligible veterans. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to reimburse the Secretary for the costs of drugs and medicine furnished to the Medicare-eligible veterans under the program. Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop and maintain a database of veterans who enrolled in and applied for the program; and (2) implement a computerized patient profile system for program participants.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 2003
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow the deduction of premiums for mortgage insurance. Provides for the phaseout of such deduction based on income.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2003
Department of Veterans Affairs Claims Backlog Reduction Act of 2003 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to: (1) identify the current backlog of veterans' claims for benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs and to categorize those claims; and (2) identify claims that need further development and refer them to a geographically appropriate County Veterans Service Office. Allows veterans' claims to be submitted to County Veterans Service Officers (in lieu of the Department) and authorizes the Officers to fully develop such claims. Requires appropriate information sharing between the Department's Benefits Delivery Network and the Offices. Requires funding provided by this Act to be allocated to States based on their respective populations of veterans and allocates such funds to the appropriate Office. Prohibits Federal funding from exceeding 50 percent of the costs of Office operations. Allows funding to be used to establish Officer programs in States that do not have one.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2003
Columbia Orbiter Memorial Act - Directs the Secretary of the Army to construct in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, a memorial marker honoring the seven members of the crew of the Columbia Orbiter who died on February 1, 2003, during the landing of space shuttle mission STS-107. Authorizes the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to: (1) accept gifts and donations for that or another memorial or monument to the crew; and (2) transfer any donations accepted to the Secretary for the Arlington National Cemetery memorial.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2003
Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2003 - Directs the Secretary of the Army to close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (Institute). Repeals statutory authority for the Institute. Prohibits any training or education facility from being established in the Department of Defense (DOD) for Latin American military personnel for ten months. Establishes a joint congressional task force to assess appropriate education and training for DOD to provide to military personnel of Latin American nations.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2003
Coal Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 2003 - Instructs the Secretary of Energy to: (1) perform an assessment that identifies cost and performance goals of technologies permitting continued cost-competitive use of coal for electricity generation, as chemical feedstocks, and as transportation fuel in 2007, 2015, and the years after 2020; and (2) implement a technology research, development, and demonstration program to facilitate production and generation of coal-based power through methods and equipment under specified Federal law. Prescribes technical criteria for a clean coal power initiative under which the Secretary shall fund coal energy generation projects that advance efficiency, environmental performance, and cost competitiveness well beyond the level of technologies that on a full scale are in operation or have been demonstrated to date. Instructs the Secretary to award competitive, merit-based grants to universities for the establishment of Centers of Excellence for Energy Systems of the Future.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2003
Domestic Violence Screening, Treatment, and Prevention Act of 2003 - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) establish, under specified conditions, family violence research and education centers to conduct research and disseminate information concerning family violence; and (2) establish an advisory board to recommend the research agenda for such centers. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to and enter into contracts with public and nonprofit private entities capable of conducting such research. Requires the Secretary to award grants to entities that currently work in the field of family violence and health care to enable them to develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate family violence education and training curricula, programs, and strategies. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, to award grants for up to four years to State and local governmental and nonprofit entities that currently work in the field of family violence and health care to be used to develop strategies to improve the response of State and local health care systems to domestic violence and to promote education and awareness. Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to declare that State health benefits provided may cover domestic violence identification and treatment services. Amends Federal civil service law to require the Office of Personnel Management to require all contracted carriers of health coverage for Federal employees to include coverage for domestic violence identification and treatment services. Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to require: (1) the Secretary, with respect to maternal and child health services block grant funds, to provide preference to State applicants who include training of providers in how to identify and treat the effects of family violence; and (2) States to set aside a reasonable portion of such funds to provide for domestic violence identification and treatment. Requires the Secretary to allot funds to States to provide for a separate program for domestic violence identification and treatment. Amends the PHSA to authorize the Secretary to award grants to federally-qualified health centers to improve the identification and treatment of domestic violence.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2003
Access to Cancer Therapies Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to extend Medicare coverage to all oral drugs prescribed for use as an anticancer agent for a medically accepted indication.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2003
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a credit to promote the production and usage of biodiesel fuel. Requires a taxpayer to obtain a certification from the producer of the biodiesel which identifies the product produced in order to utilize the credit. Imposes a tax for biodiesel not used as fuel, but for which a credit was granted. Reduces motor fuel excise taxes on biodiesel mixtures. Provides for transfers of funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation to the Highway Trust Fund in amounts equivalent to the reductions that would occur but for this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2003
No Taxation Without Representation Act of 2003 - Provides for full voting representation in Congress for the residents of the District of Columbia, including two Senators and as many Representatives as a similarly populous State would be entitled to under the law. Treats the District of Columbia as a State. Prescribes a procedure for the first elections under this Act. Entitles the District to one Representative until the taking effect of the next reapportionment.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2003
Diabetic Foot Amputation Prevention Act - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for coverage of qualified diabetic foot sore apparatus as items of durable medical equipment.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 2003
Air Traffic Controller Retirement Reform Act of 2003 - Amends Federal provisions concerning the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees' Retirement System to include under the definition of "air traffic controller" or "controller" a civilian employee of the Department of Transportation or Defense holding a supervisory, managerial, executive, technical, semiprofessional, or professional position for which experience as a controller is a prerequisite (thereby continuing to treat such service as controller service for Federal retirement benefits purposes).
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 2003
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit: (1) Federal civilian and military retirees to pay Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and TRICARE supplemental premiums on a pretax basis; and (2) a deduction (available to itemizers and nonitemizers) for TRICARE supplemental premiums and enrollment fees. Sets an implementation deadline of the first open enrollment period beginning not less than 90 days following enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 2003
Constitutional Amendment - States that: (1) equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex; (2) Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article; and (3) this amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 2003
Federal Living Wage Responsibility Act - Requires the Federal government and any employer under a Federal contract or subcontract exceeding $10,000 to pay each of their respective workers: (1) an hourly wage (or salary equivalent) necessary for such employee to earn, while working 40 hours a week on a full-time basis, the amount of the Federal poverty level for a family of four; and (2) an additional amount, based on the locality in which a worker resides, sufficient to cover the costs to such worker to obtain any fringe benefits not provided by the worker's employer. Exempts employers that are: (1) small business concerns; or (2) nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations, if the ratio of the total compensation of the chief executive officer to that of the full-time equivalent of their lowest-paid employee is not greater than 25 to 1. Directs the Secretary of Labor to enforce this Act. Makes Federal contractors that are part of a pattern or practice of violations of such wage requirements subject to Federal contract suspension, a five-year ineligibility period, and liability for Government costs of obtaining a replacement contractor. Provides for judicial review of the Secretary's determinations, and authorizes the President to suspend the provisions of this Act in times of emergency. Allows an aggrieved worker to bring a civil action against an employer for appropriate relief for a violation of this Act, if the employer has not paid or reinstated the worker as a result of the administrative action.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 2003
Clean Coal Power Act of 2003 - Instructs the Secretary of Energy to: (1) perform an assessment that identifies cost and performance goals of technologies permitting continued cost-competitive use of coal for electricity generation, as chemical feedstocks, and as transportation fuel in 2007, 2015, and the years after 2020; and (2) implement a technology research, development, and demonstration program to facilitate production and generation of coal-based power through methods and equipment under designated statutes. Prescribes conditions and criteria for the authorization of appropriations for a clean coal power initiative program. Instructs the Secretary to: (1) fund coal energy generation projects that advance efficiency, environmental performance, and cost competitiveness well beyond the level of technologies in operation as of the date of enactment of this Act; and (2) award competitive, merit-based grants to universities for the establishment of Centers of Excellence for Energy Systems of the Future. Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish income tax credits for investment in and for production from a qualifying advanced clean coal technology facility. Prescribes guidelines for the treatment of persons not able to use the entire credit relating to clean coal technology.
![Official portrait of Rep. Costello, Jerry F. [D-IL-12]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/c000794_200.jpg)