United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
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 · 4 April 2001
National Media Campaign to Prevent Underage Drinking Act of 2001 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop, implement, and conduct a national media campaign for the purpose of reducing and preventing underage drinking in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Nurse Reinvestment Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop and issue public service announcements that advertise and promote the nursing profession, highlight the advantages and rewards of nursing, and encourage individuals from diverse communities and backgrounds to enter the nursing profession; and (2) award grants to designated eligible entities in order to increase the number of nurses. Establishes a fast-track nursing school faculty training program. Establishes a National Nurse Service Corps Scholarship program that provides scholarships to individuals seeking nursing education in exchange for service by such individuals in areas with nursing shortages. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the exclusion from gross income of accounts received under the National Nursing Service Corps Scholarship Program. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for nurse education training payments to qualified entities. Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to temporarily increase the matching rate for Medicaid nurse aide training and competency evaluation programs.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to increase from 4.25 percent to ten percent the amount of TANF funds a State may transfer to carry out State programs under SSA title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) for FY 2002. Amends SSA title XX to: (1) increase the authorization of appropriations for States and territories for FY 2001, 2002, and succeeding fiscal years; and (2) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to compile information on State activities carried out under SSA title XX and report it annually to Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Two Floods and You Are Out of the Taxpayers' Pocket Act of 2001 - Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to require the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in awarding grants for mitigation activities, to give priority to properties for which repetitive flood insurance claim payments have been made (repetitive claim properties). Authorizes the Director to waive mitigation assistance limits when the State or community has repetitive claim properties and such waiver is cost-effective and in the best interests of the National Flood Insurance Fund. Increases amounts credited to the National Flood Mitigation Fund from the National Flood Insurance Fund, such amounts to be used only for repetitive claim properties. Extends through FY 2005 the authority to enter into flood insurance contracts and the authorization of appropriations for the national flood insurance program. Provides chargeable national flood insurance premium rates for: (1) repetitive claim properties; and (2) certain coastal and river properties leased from the Government. Authorizes annual premium increases with respect to such properties. Amends the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 to prohibit Federal disaster relief assistance from being used for repair, replacement, or restoration of any property in the area for which: (1) repetitive claim payments have been made; and (2) Federal mitigation assistance has been offered to, but refused by, the property owner. Authorizes the Director to provide for funding for mitigation actions that reduce flood damages to repetitive claim properties, under certain conditions. Provides funding for such assistance from the National Flood Insurance Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Downed Animal Protection Act - Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to make it unlawful for any stockyard owner, market agency, or dealer to buy, sell, give, receive, transfer, market, hold, or drag any nonambulatory livestock unless such livestock has been humanely euthanized. Imposes civil and criminal penalties for violations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Get Arsenic Out of Our Drinking Water Act - Provides that effective on the date of enactment of this Act, the rule establishing a maximum contaminant level (MCL) and MCL Goal for arsenic in drinking water published by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency on January 22, 2001, shall have the force and effect of law.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions concerning designated settlement funds to exempt from tax any designated settlement fund established for the principal purpose of resolving and satisfying present and future claims relating to asbestos. Sets forth special rules concerning asbestos liability losses.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income amounts received as loan repayments under the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program established under the Public Health Service Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Calls for the establishment of Peace Officers Memorial Day to honor Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers killed or disabled in the line of duty.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Hunger to Harvest Resolution: A Decade of Concern for Africa - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the United States should declare "A Decade of Concern for Africa" and commit to increased levels of effective, poverty-focused development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa until significant progress is made toward reversing current levels of hunger and poverty; (2) the President should work with the heads of other advanced industrial and sub-Saharan African countries, and with United States and sub-Saharan African private voluntary and other civic organizations, to increase development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa; (3) Congress should undertake a multi-year commitment with other donors to provide the resources necessary to cut hunger by one-half in that region; (4) such funding should support both bilateral and multilateral poverty-focused development efforts; and (5) the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development should annually submit to Congress a progress report.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the water boundaries established in the 1923 Lausanne Treaty of Peace, the 1932 Convention and Protocol Between Italy and Turkey, and the 1947 Paris Treaty of Peace, under which the Dodecanese islands and adjacent islets were ceded by Italy to Greece, are the borders between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea; and (2) any party, including Turkey, objecting to such boundaries should seek redress in the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Honors the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for its 135 years of service to the people of the United States and their animals.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2001
Calls upon the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend and the Postal Service to issue a postage stamp commemorating the members of the armed forces who have been awarded the Purple Heart.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Assure Access to Mammography Act of 2001 - Amends the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 to delay until 2003 the inclusion of payment for screening mammography in the Medicare physician fee schedule. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for a change in the payment amount for screening mammography performed in 2002 under Medicare. Provides that, for cost reporting periods between October 1, 2001, and October 1, 2006, in applying the limitations regarding the total number of full-time equivalent residents in the field of allopathic or osteopathic medicine under Medicare for a hospital, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall not take into account a maximum of three residents in the field of radiology to the extent the hospital increases the number of radiology residents above the number of such residents for the hospital's most recent cost reporting period ending before October 1, 2001. Amends the Public Health Service Act to revise authorization of appropriations and allocation provisions with regard to interdisciplinary, community-based linkages, with changes establishing a specified authorization of appropriations for FY 2002 and a specified amount to be available for awards of grants and contracts under provisions on allied health and other disciplines. Directs the Comptroller General to study: (1) the relative value units established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Medicare physician fee schedule for physicians' services that are gender-specific; and (2) adjustments to payment amounts under the prospective payment system for inpatient hospital services and for covered skilled nursing facility services that are gender-specific. Directs the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to study the relative value units established by the Secretary under the such fee schedule for screening services that are reimbursed under it.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Military Overseas Voter Empowerment Act of 2001 - Amends the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 to provide that, for purposes of voting for a Federal or State office, a person who is absent from a State in compliance with military or naval orders shall not, solely by reason of that absence be deemed to have: (1) lost a residence or domicile in that State, without regard to whether or not the person intends to return to that State; (2) acquired a residence or domicile in any other State; or (3) become a resident in or a resident of any other State. Amends the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to provide for: (1) extension of registration and balloting rights for absent uniformed services voters to State and local elections; (2) treatment of applications and absentee ballots submitted by absent uniformed services voters; and (3) coverage of recently separated uniformed services voters as absent uniformed services voters. Directs the Secretary of Defense to carry out a demonstration project under which absent uniformed services voters are permitted to cast ballots in the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office for November 2002 through an electronic voting system.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 2001
Medicare Geographic Adjustment Fairness Act of 2001 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, with respect to decisions of the Medicare Geographic Classification Review Board to reclassify a disproportionate share hospital (DSH) for purposes of the adjustment factor used to adjust the diagnostic related statistical group (DRG) prospective payment rate for area differences in hospital wage levels. Makes any such Board decision to reclassify a DSH for purposes of the adjustment factor for FY 2001 or any subsequent fiscal year apply for purposes of adjusting payments made on a prospective basis for variations in costs attributable to wages and wage-related costs for prospective payment system-reimbursed items and services.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2001
21st Century Montgomery GI Bill Enhancement Act - Increases, for FY 2002 through 2004, the rates of veterans' basic educational assistance. Prohibits any rate increase during such period based on adjustments to the Consumer Price Index.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2001
Emergency Retiree Health Benefits Protection Act of 2001 - 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 · 29 March 2001
Motor Vehicle Franchise Contract Arbitration Fairness Act of 2001 - Provides that whenever a motor vehicle franchise contract provides for the use of arbitration to resolve a controversy arising out of or relating to the contract, arbitration may be used to settle the controversy only if both parties consent in writing after such controversy arises. Requires the arbitrator to provide the parties with a written explanation of the factual and legal basis for the award.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2001
Increases the biweekly contribution payable by the Government for a Federal employee or annuitant enrolled in a Federal employee health insurance plan.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2001
Wire Transfer Fairness and Disclosure Act of 2001 - Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require a financial institution or money transmitting business initiating an international money transfer on behalf of a consumer to disclose prominently on its premises and on its forms and receipts: (1) the exchange rate used in the transaction; (2) the exchange rate prevailing at a major financial center of the pertinent foreign country as of close of business on the business day immediately preceding the transaction date; (3) all commissions and fees charged in such transaction; and (4) the exact amount of foreign currency to be received by the consumer in the foreign country. Requires such information to be: (1) included in print, broadcast, and electronic advertisements; and (2) in English and in the same language as principally used by the institution or money transmitting business to advertise, solicit, or negotiate at that office if other than English.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2001
Federal Wage Worker Pay Fairness Act of 2001 - Requires the Office of Personnel Management to define the boundaries of local wage areas for prevailing rate employees so as to be the same as the boundaries of the respective pay localities, subject to such exceptions as the Office, with the approval of the Federal Salary Council, may find to be necessary. Requires that wage surveys be conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) responsible for conducting surveys of pay localities. (Currently, such wage surveys are conducted by the lead agency for each local wage area.) Requires annual adjustment of the rates of pay for the regular and special wage schedules by the lead agencies or the Office, as appropriate, by the percentage equal to the overall average percentage adjustment taking effect with respect to General Schedule positions. Requires the BLS (currently, the lead agency of the local wage area involved) to establish the wage schedules and rates to be applicable to prevailing rate employees in that area when there are a number of comparable positions in private industry insufficient to establish such wage schedules and rates.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 2001
Expresses: (1) the sense of the House of Representatives that the artwork displayed in the Capitol, the Capitol Visitor Center, and the House office buildings should also represent the contributions of women to American society; and (2) full support of the House for the efforts of the House Fine Arts Board, the Joint Committee on the Library, and the Architect of the Capitol to incorporate into their regular plan for the Capitol, the Capitol Visitor Center, and the House office buildings a selection of displayed artwork that is more fully representative of such contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
No Taxation Without Representation Act of 2001 - States that notwithstanding any other provision of law, the community of American citizens who are residents of the District constituting the seat of government of the United States shall have full voting representation in the Congress. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax exemption to District of Columbia residents for years during which such residents do not have full voting representation in the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
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 · 22 March 2001
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins emblematic of the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Community Development Block Grant Renewal Act - Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1972 to increase the amount of community development assistance targeted to low- and moderate-income families, including job creation and area and economic development activities.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2001
Constitutional Amendment - States that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Human Rights Information Act - Requires certain Federal agencies to identify, review, and organize all human rights records, for declassification and public disclosure, if the President determines bona fide a request for them by an individual or entity carrying an official mandate to investigate a pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. Prescribes guidelines under which the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel shall review agency determinations to postpone disclosure of any human rights record. Authorizes postponement of such public disclosures on specified grounds. Requires each Federal agency to identify, review, and organize all human rights records regarding activities occurring in Guatemala and Honduras for declassification and public disclosure.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to increase benefits to railroad employees and their beneficiaries and to revise financing of the pension part (tier II) of the railroad retirement system. Establishes a Railroad Retirement Trust Fund and a Railroad Retirement Investment Trust to manage and invest Fund assets. Abolishes the Railroad Retirement Supplemental Annuity Account and provides for transfer of its funds to the Fund. Provides for transfer to the Fund of certain portions of the Railroad Retirement Account and of Social Security Equivalent Benefit account funds. Transfers to the disbursing agent from the Dual Benefits Payments Account the amount necessary to make dual benefit payments. Requires the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) to calculate the ratio of assets to benefits to determine annual tier II tax rates for employers, employee representatives, and employees. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt the Fund from taxation. Repeals a supplemental annuity tax that railroad employers pay to finance a benefit for long-time rail employees. Provides for adjustments to railroad employers, employee representatives, and employee tier II tax rates.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Amends the Animal Welfare Act to eliminate the provision permitting interstate movement of live fighting birds if the fighting venture is to take place in a State allowing such fights.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP) of the Social Security Act to grant States the option of covering certain categories of eligible women and child resident aliens under the Medicaid and SCHIP programs.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Authorizes the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to sponsor free public performances on the East Front of the Capitol grounds at such dates and times as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration jointly approve.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Permits the National Fraternal Order of Police and its auxiliary to sponsor a free public event, the 20th annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service, on the Capitol grounds on May 15, 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
FDA Tobacco Authority Amendments Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to, among other things: (1) include "nicotine in a tobacco product" in the definition of the term "drug" and to include "a tobacco product" in the definition of the term "device;" and (2) set forth provisions for tobacco products concerning special standards for such products, warnings regarding such products, and a rule of construction regarding farmers and related entities.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2001
Amends the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 to require the Director of the Office for Victims of Crime to ensure that all sums in the Victims of Crime Fund in a fiscal year are in fact obligated in the subsequent fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act of 2001 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act guidelines for certain credit transactions secured by the consumer's principal dwelling (high-cost mortgage). Requires additional disclosures that the consumer is contracting to pay a much higher loan than most people pay. Specifies additional prohibitions against prepayment penalties, except in certain circumstances. Prohibits all balloon payments. Prohibits the terms of a high-cost mortgage from including advance collection of a premium on a single premium basis for specified credit insurance products. Restricts the amount of points and fees which a creditor may finance in connection with a high-cost mortgage. Prohibits certain creditors from financing the prepayment fees or penalties due from the consumer. Prohibits a high-cost mortgage creditor from engaging in specified practices, including requiring arbitration or any other nonjudicial procedure as a method for resolving any controversy or claims arising from the transaction. Declares a consumer's waiver of the right of rescission ineffective if the creditor either advised, or encouraged such waiver, or required it as a precondition for a transaction. Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to mandate that each high-cost mortgage creditor (including the successor creditor) report the debtor's complete payment history to certain consumer reporting agencies in accordance with specified regulations.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
America's Better Classroom Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a limited credit for qualified public school modernization bonds (qualified school construction bonds and qualified zone academy bonds). Amends the General Education Provisions Act to provide for the application of certain labor standards to projects financed under this Act. Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to establish provisions concerning employment and training activities related to the construction or reconstruction of public school facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to: (1) restrict the application of the windfall elimination provision to individuals whose combined monthly income from the individual's primary insurance amount under such title and the portion of the monthly periodic payment attributable to noncovered service performed after 1956 exceeds $2,000; and (2) provide for a graduated implementation of such provision by specified percentages with respect to incremental amounts above such threshold, up to 100 percent for combined amounts over $3,000.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Railroad Track Modernization Act of 2001 - Amends Federal rail transportation law to direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a program of capital grants to Class II and Class III railroads to rehabilitate, preserve, or improve railroad track (including roadbed, bridges, and related track structures) used primarily for freight transportation to a standard to accommodate 286,000 pound rail cars in a safe and efficient manner. Authorizes the Secretary to also make grants to supplement direct loans or loan guarantees (including for paying credit risk premiums, lowering rates of interest, or providing for a holiday on principal payments) for projects primarily benefitting non-Class I freight railroad carriers. Sets forth certain prevailing wage requirements with respect to projects financed by such grants.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) with respect to pensions. (All the following are amendments to the Code, except where the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, ERISA, is mentioned.) Increases: (1) annual dollar Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contribution limits; and (2) benefit and contribution limits, with indexes for inflation. Revises requirements relating to: (1) plan loans for subchapter S owners, partners, and sole proprietors; and (2) specified top-heavy rules. Provides that elective deferrals shall not be taken into account for purposes of limits on certain plan contributions. Repeals specified coordination requirements for deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations. Revises certain deduction limits for stock bonus and profit sharing trusts and for defined contribution plans. Provides for optional treatment of elective deferrals as after-tax contributions. Allows individuals age 50 or older to make additional contributions to an applicable employer plan (section 401(k) or similar plan). Sets forth requirements relating to equitable treatment for contributions of employees to defined contribution plans. Provides for faster vesting of certain employer matching contributions under the Code and ERISA. Revises: (1) minimum distribution rules; (2) requirements relating to tax treatment of division of section 457 plan benefits upon divorce; and (3) provisions for safe harbor relief for hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. Permits, under certain conditions, rollovers: (1) from and to various types of plans; (2) of IRAs into workplace retirement plans; and (3) of after-tax contributions in an exempt trust. Sets forth a hardship exception to the 60-day rule. Sets forth requirements for treatment of forms of distribution available under transferor and transferee plans under the Code and ERISA. Revises restrictions on distributions, including the same desk exception. Allows trustee-to-trustee transfers to purchase permissive service credit with respect to governmental defined benefit plans. Allows employers to disregard rollovers for purposes of cash-out amounts, under retirement plan provisions of the Code. Revises minimum distribution and inclusion requirements for section 457 plans. Repeals, for plan years beginning in 2004 and following years, the current liability full funding limit under the Code and ERISA. Revises maximum contribution deduction rules, and applies them to all defined benefit plans. Allows an employer, in determining the amount of nondeductible contributions for any taxable year, to elect not to take into account any contributions to a defined benefit plan except to the extent they exceed the full-funding limitation. Establishes an excise tax for the failure of a defined benefit plan or an individual account plan (except governmental, church, and other specified plans) subject to minimum funding standards to meet specified notice requirements, under the Code and ERISA, for plan amendments which significantly reduce benefit accruals. Makes certain compensation limitations for defined benefit plans inapplicable to governmental and multiemployer plans. Prohibits combining or aggregating a multiemployer plan with any other plan maintained by the employer for the purpose of applying such limitations. Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 to protect the investment of employee contributions to 401(k) plans by providing that specified requirements apply to elective deferrals for plan years beginning after December 31, 1998. Requires that pension benefit statements be furnished annually (once every three years for defined benefit plans) or on request. Establishes an excise tax for certain prohibited allocations of stock in an S corporation ESOP. Revises Code and ERISA requirements relating to timing of plan valuations. Allows applicable dividends of ESOPs to be reinvested without loss of dividend deduction. Repeals a transition rule relating to certain highly compensated employees under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations with respect to certain plan participation by employees of tax-exempt entities. Treats the provision of certain retirement planning services by an employer for an employee as a de minimis fringe benefit to the extent it is not treated as a working condition fringe. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to provide simplified annual filing requirements for retirement plans with assets below a specified amount, if they cover: (1) one participant (an owner and spouse); or (2) fewer than 25 employees. Directs the Secretary to continue to update and improve the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, or any successor program. Repeals a multiple use test. Allows certain alternative ways of satisfying nondiscrimination, coverage, and line of business rules. Exempts plans maintained by any governmental entity from certain nondiscrimination rules. Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations relating to the notice and consent period regarding distributions. Revises ERISA provisions relating to: (1) annual report dissemination; (2) the National Summit on Retirement Savings; (3) missing participants; (4) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) reduction of premiums for new plans of small employers and of additional premiums for new and small plans; (5) PBGC authority to pay interest on premium overpayment refunds; (6) substantial owner benefits in terminated plans; (7) civil penalties for breach of fiduciary responsibility; and (8) benefit suspension notices. Prescribes time requirements for plan amendments or annuity contract amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Death Tax Elimination Act - Repeals the estate tax, gift tax, and the tax on generation-skipping transfers, effective January 1, 2011. Provides for annual reductions of the tax until such date. Increases the unified estate and gift tax credit to $1.3 million. Repeals the estate and gift tax provisions applicable to family-owned businesses. Amends provisions concerning the special rules for allocation of the generation-skipping tax (GST) exemption to provide, as a general rule, that: (1) if any individual makes an indirect skip during such individual's lifetime, any unused portion of such individual's GST exemption shall be allocated to the property transferred to the extent necessary to make the inclusion ratio for such property zero; and (2) if the amount of the indirect skip exceeds such unused portion, the entire unused portion shall be allocated to the property transferred. Declares that, if a trust is severed in a qualified severance, the trusts resulting from such severance shall be treated as separate trusts thereafter. Revises valuation rules for gifts for which a gift tax return was filed or deemed allocation made. Provides that, if an allocation of the GST exemption to any transfers of property is deemed to have been made at the close of an estate tax inclusion period, the value of the property shall be its value at such time. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe circumstances and procedures under which extensions of time will be granted to make an allocation of GST exemption or an election not to apply specified allocation requirements to certain lifetime direct skips, indirect skips, or transfers to a particular trust. Increases the permissible number of partners or shareholders in a closely held business for purposes of eligibility for an extension of estate tax payments.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Home Health Fairness Act of 2001 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, to: (1) eliminate a specified 15 percent reduction in cost and per beneficiary limits with respect to payment rates for home health services under the Medicare prospective payment system for such services; and (2) provide for a permanent payment increase for such services furnished in a rural area. Makes this Act effective as if included in the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000.
![Official portrait of Rep. Costello, Jerry F. [D-IL-12]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/c000794_200.jpg)