United States · United States Congress · 2 July 1992
Federal Workforce Efficiency Act - Limits the total number of civilian employees in an executive agency to the number of employees at the end of the fiscal year in which this Act is enacted. Directs the head of each executive agency to establish a program which shall provide for: (1) cash awards for any managerial or supervisory personnel whose personal efforts result in significant savings to the Government that are attributable to personnel reductions or increased personnel efficiency; (2) education or training for managerial or supervisory personnel to promote better awareness and use of the authorities available to them to improve worker efficiency and productivity; and (3) other similar measures. Sets a limit on the amount of such an award. Provides for a reduction in executive agency budgets with respect to employee salaries over a two year period by five percent per fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1992
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require tax table rate reductions to be based on a percentage of the reduction in Federal spending for calendar years 1993 through 1997. Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to provide sequestration procedures to eliminate the deficit by FY 1998. Specifies accounts that are exempt from reduction. Sets forth reporting requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1992
Cleveland National Forest Land Exchange Act of 1992 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain land in the Cleveland National Forest, California, to the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America in exchange for specified land in San Diego County, California, which shall become part of such Forest.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1992
Directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives to appoint a task force to restructure the committee system in the House by reducing the number of standing committees to a maximum of 15 and establishing their jurisdiction. Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to prohibit any standing committee of the House from establishing more than four subcommittees except: (1) the Committee on the Budget which shall have no subcommittees; (2) the Committee on Rules which shall have two; and (3) the Committee on Appropriations which may have the same number of subcommittees that it had in the 101st Congress. Amends rule XI to make it out of order to consider any primary expense resolution unless the Committee on House Administration has reported and the House has adopted a resolution establishing an overall ceiling for House committee staff personnel for that year. Makes such a resolution privileged. Establishes guidelines for developing and considering primary and supplemental expense resolutions. Provides that the overall ceiling for committee staff in a resolution reported by the committee or contained in any amendment for the 103d Congress shall not exceed 50 percent of the total committee staff personnel employed at the end of the 102d Congress. Repeals the general permission, subject to certain conditions, for proxy voting by a member of any committee or subcommittee with respect to any measure or matter. Amends rule X to require the membership of each committee (except the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and the Committee on House Administration), subcommittee, task force, or other subunit, to reflect the ratio of majority to minority party Members of the House at the beginning of the Congress. Exempts the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico and the Delegates to the House from the count in determining such party ratio. Requires the membership of each select committee, subcommittee, task force, subunit, or conference committee to reflect the ratio of the majority to minority party Members of the House at the time of its appointment. Requires the ratio of majority party to minority party staff positions, consultants, details, and funding for House committees to be the same ratio as that to Members of the House. Directs the Speaker to refer legislation initially to one committee as the committee of principal jurisdiction (currently, such legislation may initially be referred simultaneously to two or more committees for concurrent consideration). Prohibits a member from serving on any particular committee for more than eight years or as committee chairman for more than four years. Disregards: (1) service performed as a member of such committee for less than a full session in any Congress; and (2) previous service on any committee before the beginning of the 103d Congress. Requires one-half of the members of the Committee on House Administration to be from the majority party and one-half to be from the minority. Allows the chairman or ranking minority party member of the Committee on House Administration to authorize and issue subpoenas. Amends rules XLVI to prohibit a Member of the House from sending any franked mass mailing outside the Member's Congressional district. Prohibits the Committee on House Administration from approving any payment for, and a Member from making any expenditure from, any allowance of the House or any other official funds if any portion is for any cost related to a mass mailing by a Member of the House outside his or her congressional district. Amends rule XI to prohibit the Committee on Rules from reporting any rule or order that would prevent a motion to recommit that has amendatory instructions (except in the case of a Senate measure for which the language of a House passed measure has been substituted). Makes it out of order to consider any resolution which waives any point of order, except by a two-thirds vote of the Members voting. Declares that it is the policy of the House of Representatives that the following Federal laws should be amended to apply them to the House in the same or similar manner as they apply to the executive branch: (1) the National Labor Relations Act; (2) the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970; (3) the Equal Pay Act of 1963; (4) the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; (5) the Freedom of Information Act; (6) the Privacy Act of 1974; and (7) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Directs the standing committees of the House with subject jurisdiction over such Federal laws to report legislation to the House to implement such policy. Provides for consideration of such legislation.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 1992
Urban Entrepreneurial Opportunities Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction for equity contributions made by a corporation to an urban entrepreneurial opportunity financing subsidiary of such corporation. Requires the subsidiary to use such contribution in making qualified enterprise zone business loans to qualified small business concerns. Establishes an overall program limitation among the contributing corporations to be allocated by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1992
Designates the Federal building and U.S. courthouse located at the corner of College Avenue and Mountain Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas, as the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1992
Workplace Leave Fairness Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide that the length of an employee's leave of absence (even if its only part of one day) shall not disqualify that employee from a specified exempt status.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1992
Cash Management Improvement Act Amendments of 1992 - Amends the Cash Management Improvement Act of 1990 (the Act) to remove the two-year deadline for the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations for the timely disbursement of Federal funds. Extends the deadline for the Secretary to enter into agreements with States for intergovernmental financing and to prescribe regulations for such financing from October 24, 1992, until July 1, 1993, or by the first day of a fiscal year of the State which begins in 1993, whichever is later. Makes the Act effective on such date. Extends for one year the report to the Congress by the Comptroller General on the implementation of such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1992
Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, before assessing a civil penalty against any certificate-holding airmen and air carriers, to: (1) advise them of the charges or reasons relied upon for the Administrator's proposed action; and (2) provide them with an opportunity to answer such charges and be heard as to why the civil penalty should not be assessed. Authorizes such individuals to appeal such a penalty to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Provides for the judicial review of a NTSB order. Authorizes the NTSB to change an Administrator's order amending, modifying, or reversing a certificate to an order assessing a civil penalty.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1992
Turbo Enterprise Zone Act - Provides for the waiver of Federal income, employment, self-employment, and excise taxes and State, county, and local jurisdiction taxes on qualified residents and qualified businesses in Los Angeles turbo enterprise zones during a five-year period. Describes such zones as any area in the County of Los Angeles designated as being: (1) significantly and adversely affected by the rioting which occurred on or about May 1, 1992; (2) afflicted with unemployment estimated to exceed 30 percent; (3) subject to severe economic blight as measured by per capita income and the number of persons below the Federal poverty level; and (4) nonproductive of material tax revenues to the city, county, State, or Federal governments. Provides for an extension of such period if necessary. Limits any extension to six years. Expresses the sense of the Congress that California, the County of Los Angeles, and local governments within the County having jurisdiction over areas significantly and adversely affected by unemployment, gang violence, riots, and looting should take immediate steps to eliminate all taxes on qualified residents and qualified businesses for such five-year period. Authorizes other geographic areas to apply for such five-year waiver. Suspends the treatment of any deduction, credit, or capital loss carryover during such period. Allows a turbo enterprise zone employment credit equal to the applicable percentage of qualified first-year wages to a qualified productive business that: (1) is engaged in the manufacture or production of any tangible personal property in a turbo enterprise zone for use outside such a zone; or (2) is providing services performed outside such a zone by a qualified residents. Limits such credit to $1,000 for the first-year wages paid to an employee. Makes such credit applicable to qualified residents of a turbo enterprise zone who are hired during the five-year period. Make such credit a part of the general business credit.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1992
Directs the Architect of the Capitol to design, construct, and maintain a public debt clock in the basement rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building to be adjusted on a continuous basis to reflect the amount of the public debt of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1992
Anti-National Health Insurance Act of 1992 - Title I: Tax Provisions Encouraging Low-Cost Health Plans - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for low and moderate-income individuals for health insurance costs. Bases such credit upon the number of personal exemptions of such individual, the contributions of such individual's employer to accident and health plans, and limitations on the taxpayer's modified adjusted gross income. Provides an inflation adjustment for such credit for calendar years beginning after enactment of this Act. Allows such individuals to elect to take a deduction for qualified health insurance costs. Provides for determining the maximum deduction based upon limitations on the tax credit for such costs. Denies the use of the medical expense deduction for amounts included in the tax credit or the tax deduction. Allows such tax deduction whether or not an individual itemizes other deductions. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a program under which individuals who are allowed the tax credit may obtain health insurance vouchers to be used to make payments for premiums for qualified health insurance. Sets forth administrative provisions for such program. Allows a tax credit for the aggregate amount of health insurance credit vouchers. Increases from 25 percent to 100 percent the allowable deduction for health insurance costs of self-employed individuals. Makes such deduction permanent. Requires the health insurance of the self-employed to provide basic benefits. Creates health care spending accounts under provisions relating to cafeteria plans. Allows employees to retain any unspent funds in such accounts at the end of the taxable year. Limits the amount excludable from gross income for contributions by employers to accident and health plans to the value of the coverage under the lowest-cost accident or health plan available to the employer which provides basic benefits. Title II: State Requirements Relating to Access and Cost Containment - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish requirements for basic benefit plans offered by health insurance plans. Limits the noneconomic damages that may be awarded to an individual and the family members of such individual for losses resulting from an injury in medical malpractice liability actions to $250,000. Preempts State law to the extent that State law permits the recovery of higher amounts. Prohibits State law from requiring the offering, as part of any health insurance plan for individuals enrolled under the plan, of any services, category of care, or services of any class or type of provider. Preempts State law with respect to: (1) reimbursement rates or selective contracting; (2) differential financial incentives; and (3) utilization review methods.
United States · United States Congress · 3 June 1992
United States - China Act of 1992 - Prohibits the President from recommending for a 12-month period in 1993 continuation of a waiver of human rights and emigration requirements for nondiscriminatory treatment (most-favored-nation treatment) for China under the Trade Act of 1974 unless a specified report is submitted to the Congress stating that China has accounted for and released prisoners who dissented in Tiananmen Square and in other parts of China on June 3 and 4, 1989, and made progress in: (1) preventing gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including workers' rights, in China and Tibet; (2) preventing exports of products made by prison labor, and allowing U.S. officials and international organizations to inspect such places of detention; (3) terminating religious persecution in China and Tibet and releasing religious leaders incarcerated as a result of the expression of their religious beliefs; (4) removing restrictions in China and Tibet on freedom of the press and on broadcasts by the Voice of America; (5) terminating harassment of Chinese citizens in the United States (including refusal to return or renew passports as retribution for prodemocracy activities); (6) ensuring access to prisoners of international human rights monitoring groups; (7) ensuring freedom from torture and in humane prison conditions; (8) terminating prohibitions on peaceful assembly imposed after June 3, 1989; (9) committing to engage in high-level discussions on human rights issues; (10) adhering to the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong; (11) providing adequate protection of U.S. patents, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights, and implementing the Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States of America on the Protection of Intellectual Property; (12) providing U.S. exporters access to Chinese markets, including lowering tariffs, removing nontariff barriers, and increasing the purchase of U.S. goods and services; (13) ceasing unfair trade practices which burden or restrict U.S. Commerce; (14) adopting a national policy which adheres to the Missile Technology Control Regime and the controls of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Australia Group on chemical and biological arms proliferation; and (15) assuring that it is not assisting any nonnuclear weapons state in acquiring nuclear explosive devices. Requires the President, if he recommends such extension, to include in a specified document submitted to the Congress a report on China's progress in meeting the above-mentioned objectives. Requires such report also to include, but not be limited to, progress made by China and Tibet with regard to specified human rights. Grants nondiscriminatory treatment to products of nonstate-owned enterprises in China.
United States · United States Congress · 2 June 1992
Removes the annual and total limits on the number of Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) units that may be maintained at public and private secondary educational institutions. Includes, as a condition to establishing a JROTC unit at such institution, that the institution agrees to such establishment and maintenance for no less than five academic years.
United States · United States Congress · 28 May 1992
Prohibits, unless a certification under this Act is in effect: (1) U.S. economic assistance to the Government of Russia; and (2) the U.S. Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from consenting to an increase in the U.S. quota in the IMF. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury, unless such certification is in effect, to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of the IMF and other international financial institution to oppose any loan to the Government of Russia. Describes such certification as a certification by the President to the Congress that: (1) progress has been achieved toward removal of Russian armed forces from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; (2) additional Russian armed forces have not been brought into such countries for any purpose without their permission; (3) artillery exercises or training operations are not being conducted by Russian armed forces on the territory of such countries without their permission; (4) Russian military installations in such countries are open to inspection by the governments of such countries; (5) Russian air and naval forces are not interfering with traffic in the air space or territorial waters of such countries; and (6) the Russian Government is keeping such governments informed regarding the number and location of Russian armed forces in such countries. Makes such certifications effective for six months and authorizes the President to make recertifications for additional six-month periods. Terminates the restrictions under this Act if the President certifies that all Russian armed forces have been withdrawn from such countries.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Fundamental Competitiveness Act of 1992 - Title I: Public Debt Reduction - Allows individual taxpayers to designate a portion of tax liability (not to exceed ten percent) on their tax returns to reduce the public debt. Establishes the Public Debt Reduction Trust Fund consisting of amounts so designated. Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to provide for a sequestration of revenues equivalent to the estimated aggregate amount so designated. Specifies accounts exempted from such sequestration and establishes reporting requirements with respect to budget procedures. Title II: Capital Formation - Establishes a method of computing the credit for increasing research activities based on aggregate research expenses, as an alternative to the method based on qualified research expenses. Establishes a variable capital gains deduction whose formulas on a sliding scale range from ten percent for assets held for one year up to 100 percent for assets held for ten years. Allows a deduction of 50 percent of the capital gain from stock investments by non-corporate taxpayers in start-up companies where initial stock offerings are held for two years. Requires indexing, based on the gross national product deflator, of the adjusted basis of certain assets (corporate stock and tangle property that is a capital asset of property used in a trade or business) that have been held for more than one year at the time of sale or other disposition, solely for the purpose of determining gain or loss. Permits an income tax deduction in the amount of dividends paid by domestic corporations, except S corporations, regulated investment companies, real estate investment trusts, and personal holding companies. Repeals the income tax deductions currently permitted in connection with: (1) dividends received by a corporation; (2) dividends received by a corporation on the preferred stock of a public utility; and (3) dividends paid by a public utility on its preferred stock. Increases the deductible percentage of amounts received by a corporation from a qualified ten-percent owned foreign corporation. Allows a charitable deduction for corporate contributions of employee volunteer services to an educational organization. Establishes an investment tax credit for manufacturing and other productive equipment. Provides for determining the applicable percentage of such credit, which includes an efficiency improvement percentage. Increases the limitation based on the amount of tax for purposes of the general business credit. Provides for the treatment of losses on stock in manufacturing companies as ordinary (as opposed to capital) losses. Allows a partial exclusion of dividends or interest received by an individual. Provides for ordinary-loss treatment for losses on investments in a qualified startup company. Describes such company as one which: (1) manufacture tangible personal property in the United States; (2) does not involve a business acquired from another person; and (3) has not been in existence for more than one taxable year at the time it issued stock. Title III: Antitrust - Amends the Clayton Act to bar the acquisition by one corporation of stock of another, subject to specified conditions, where there is a significant probability that such acquisition will substantially increase the ability to exercise market power (currently, where the effect of such acquisition may be to substantially lessen competition or to tend to create a monopoly). Defines the ability to exercise market power for purposes of such provision as the ability of one or more firms profitably to maintain prices above competitive levels for a significant period of time. Directs the court, in determining whether there is a significant probability that any acquisition will substantially increase the ability to exercise market power, to consider all economic factors relevant to the effect of the acquisition in the affected markets, including: (1) the number and size distribution of firms and the effect of the acquisition thereon; (2) the ease or difficulty of entry by foreign or domestic firms; (3) the ability of smaller firms in the market to increase production in response to an attempt to exercise market power; (4) the nature of the product and terms of sale; (5) conduct of firms in the market; (6) efficiencies deriving from the acquisition; and (7) any other evidence indicating whether the acquisition will or will not substantially increase the ability, unilaterally or collectively, to exercise market power. Amends the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984 to include a joint production venture within the scope of such Act as an activity that shall not be deemed illegal per se under the antitrust laws. Changes the short title of such Act to the National Cooperative Research, Development, and Production Act. Title IV: Business Liability - Subtitle A: Findings - Makes findings with respect to the increasing amount of litigation in our society and the desirability of encouraging alternative dispute mechanisms and providing uniform legal standards in the areas of professional and product liability. Subtitle B: Professionals' Liability Reform - Professionals' Liability Reform Act of 1992 - Establishes certain limitations and procedures regarding professional liability actions. Preempts certain State laws. Provides that nothing in this Act shall prohibit any State from developing or implementing alternative procedures for: (1) expediting the adjudication of professional liability claims; (2) resolving professional liability disputes; or (3) compensating for harm caused by professional services. Requires professional liability actions to be brought within three years after the claimant discovered, or should have discovered, the harm. Requires the claimant, in any professional liability action, to establish: (1) that the professional negligently rendered professional services and that such negligence was the proximate cause of the harm; or (2) in a claim for economic injury, that the professional negligently rendered professional services to and for the direct and intended benefit of the claimant, and such services were the proximate cause of the harm. Requires the claimant to establish that, at the time such services were provided, knowledge of the circumstances that caused the harm and a practical means to eliminate such circumstances were reasonably available. States that a professional shall not be liable in a professional liability action in which: (1) the professional's services were rendered to an agency of the Federal or State government; (2) Federal or State contract specifications existed which were material to the claim; and (3) the services rendered conformed to such specifications. Permits future damage awards exceeding $100,000 to be made by periodic payments. Requires that damage awards be offset by any amount received as compensation for the same injury. Establishes a contingency fee schedule for plaintiffs' attorneys. States that the principles of comparative liability shall apply unless persons engaged in concerted action which proximately caused the harm. Permits the awarding of punitive damages only where the conduct of the defendant: (1) manifested a malicious and reckless disregard for safety; and (2) constituted an extreme departure from accepted standards of safety. States that punitive damages may not be awarded in the absence of a compensatory award, or for the negligent provision of professional services. Requires the trier of fact, at the request of the professional, to consider in a separate proceeding whether punitive damages are to be awarded. Limits the claimant's actual recovery of punitive damages to three times the amount of compensatory damages. States that excess punitive damages shall be paid to the State or Federal government. Makes any attorney who files a frivolous claim subject to pecuniary sanctions by the court. Requires each State to encourage professional organizations to form risk management programs. Subtitle C: Product Liability Fairness - Part I: General Provisions - Product Liability Fairness Act - Declares that this Act governs any product liability action brought against a manufacturer or product seller, on any theory, for harm caused by a product. States that a civil action brought against a manufacturer or product seller for loss or damage to a product itself or commercial loss shall be governed by applicable commercial or contract law. Supersedes any inconsistent State law regarding recovery in such actions. Lists specific laws not superseded, including: (1) defense of sovereign immunity asserted by any State or by the United States; (2) any Federal law (except the Federal Employees Compensation Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act); (3) the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976; (4) State choice-of-law rules; (5) the right of any court to transfer venue or to apply the law of a foreign nation or to dismiss a claim of a foreign nation or citizen on the ground of inconvenient forum; and (6) any statutory or common law cause of action, including an action to abate a nuisance, that authorizes a State or person to institute an action for civil damages or civil penalties, clean up costs, injunctions, restitution, cost recovery, punitive damages, or any other form of relief from contamination or pollution of the environment or the threat of it. Declares that U.S. district courts shall not have jurisdiction over any civil action under this Act, based on specified provisions of Federal law relating to district court jurisdiction. Declares that, if any provision of this Act would shorten the period during which a manufacturer or seller would otherwise be exposed to liability, the claimant may, notwithstanding that period, bring any civil action under this Act within one year after the effective date of this Act. Part II: Out of Court Procedures - Allows any claimant to bring a civil action for damages against a person for harm caused by a product under applicable State law, except to the extent such law is superseded by this title. Sets forth expedited settlement measures, including: (1) an option to include an offer of settlement, for a specific dollar amount, by the plaintiff in the complaint and by the defendant in a responsive pleading; and (2) awarding attorney's fees and costs, in certain circumstances, to the prevailing party if the other party does not accept the settlement offer. Sets forth alternative dispute resolution procedures, including: (1) an option, in lieu of or in addition to a settlement offer, for a claimant or a defendant to offer to proceed under any voluntary alternative dispute resolution procedure established or recognized under the law of the State in which the action is brought or maintained; and (2) awarding of attorney's fees and costs to the offering party if the court determines that a refusal to so proceed was unreasonable or not in good faith. Creates a rebuttable presumption that a refusal to so proceed was unreasonable, or not in good faith, if a verdict is rendered in favor of the offeror. Part III: Court Procedures - Allows a person seeking to recover for harm caused by a product to bring a civil action against the manufacturer or seller under applicable State or Federal law, except to the extent such law is superseded by this Act. Establishes a standard of product seller liability for proximate causes of harm, established by a preponderance of the evidence, which fall under the categories of negligence or express warranty. Allows the trier of fact, in a negligence action, to consider the conduct of the seller with respect to: (1) the construction, inspection, or condition of the product; and (2) failure to pass on warnings or instructions from the manufacturer. Deems the seller not liable for failure to provide warnings or instructions unless the claimant establishes that the seller failed to: (1) provide warnings or instructions received while the product was in the seller's possession and control; or (2) make reasonable efforts to provide users with warnings and instructions which it received after the product left its possession and control. Deems a seller not liable except for breach of warranty where there was no opportunity to inspect the product in a manner which would or should, in the exercise of reasonable care, have revealed the aspect which allegedly caused the harm. Declares that the seller shall be treated as the manufacturer and be liable for harm caused by a product as if it were the manufacturer if: (1) the manufacturer is not subject to service of process in any State in which the action might have been brought; or (2) the court determines that the claimant would be unable to enforce a judgment against the manufacturer. Allows punitive damages, if otherwise permitted by applicable law, to be awarded in any civil action under this title to any claimant who establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the harm suffered was the result of conduct manifesting a manufacturer's or product seller's conscious, flagrant indifference to the safety of those persons who might be harmed by a product. Declares that a failure to exercise reasonable care in choosing among alternative product designs, formulations, instructions, or warnings is not of itself such conduct. Prohibits awarding punitive damages in the absence of a compensatory award, subject to exception. Prohibits punitive damages against a manufacturer or seller of a drug or medical device where: (1) the drug or device was subject to pre-market approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); or (2) the drug is generally recognized as safe and effective under conditions established by the FDA. Prohibits punitive damages against a manufacturer of an aircraft where: (1) the aircraft was subject to pre-market certification by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); and (2) the manufacturer complied, after delivery, with FAA requirements and obligations with respect to continuing airworthiness. Provides for separate proceedings, if requested by the manufacturer or seller, with regard to punitive damages. Lists factors the trier of fact is allowed to consider in determining the amount of punitive damages. Bars any civil action under this title: (1) unless filed within two years after the claimant discovered or should have discovered the harm and its cause, subject to exception; and (2) if the product involved is a capital good that is alleged to have caused harm which is not a toxic harm unless filed within twenty-five years after delivery of the product, provided the claimant has received or would be eligible for State or Federal workers' compensation. Excludes a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or railroad used primarily to transport passengers for hire from these time limitations. States that nothing in these provisions affects the right of any person who is subject to liability under this Act to obtain contribution or indemnity from any other person who is responsible for the harm. Requires reduction in the damages awarded by the sum of all State or Federal workers' compensation benefits to which the employee is or would be entitled. Requires a claimant in a civil action under this title who is or may be eligible to receive State or Federal workers' compensation to notify the claimant's employer of the civil action. Requires an action to be stayed, at the sole discretion of the claimant, until a final determination is made on the amount payable as workers' compensation benefits. Declares that, unless the manufacturer or seller has expressly agreed to indemnify or hold an employer harmless, neither the employer nor the workers' compensation insurance carrier shall have a right of subrogation, contribution, or implied indemnity against the manufacturer or seller or a lien against the claimant's recovery, except if the claimant's harm was not in any way caused by the fault of the claimant's employer or co-employees. Allows the employer or workers' compensation insurer to intervene in the action to prove that fact. Prohibits a third party tortfeasor, where workers' compensation is involved, from maintaining any action for implied indemnity or contribution against the employer, any coemployee, or the exclusive representative of the injured person. Prohibits, for a person who is or would have been entitled to receive workers' compensation, any other action, unless a State or Federal workers' compensation law permits recovery based on a claim of an intentional tort. Makes these provisions inapplicable and declares that applicable State law shall control if the employer or the workers' compensation insurer asserts a right of subrogation, contribution, or implied indemnity against the manufacturer or seller or a lien against the claimant's recovery. Declares that, in any product liability action, the liability of each defendant for noneconomic damages shall be several and not joint. Requires the trier of fact to determine the proportion of responsibility of each party for the claimant's harm. Establishes a complete defense, in any civil action under this Act in which all defendants are manufacturers or sellers, that the claimant was under the influence of alcohol or any drug and that, as a result, the claimant was more than 50 percent responsible for the event which resulted in the harm. Defines "drug" to mean any non-over-the-counter drug which has not been prescribed by a physician. Title V: Long-Term Investment - Long-Term Investment Promotion Act of 1992 - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to eliminate the requirement that publicly-held corporations report their financial status on a quarterly basis. Title VI: Competitiveness Risk Assessment - Declares that no agency shall propose or promulgate a regulation without first analyzing its direct and indirect effects on the health and safety of consumers and workers, including effects due to wage and job losses, price increases, product restrictions, technological delays, and substitution effects. Title VII: Department of Manufacturing And Commerce - Department of Manufacturing and Commerce Act of 1992 - Renames the Department of Commerce as the Department of Manufacturing and Commerce. Requires the President to establish a Manufacturing Advisory Commission to examine Federal agencies, programs, and offices responsible for manufacturing-related research and development, technology transfer, education, and trade in order to prepare a report for the Congress on the feasibility of consolidating such agencies, programs, and offices into a single Office of Manufacturing within the Department of Manufacturing and Commerce. Title VIII: Amendments to the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 - Amends the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 to change from discretionary to mandatory a Federal agency's authority to permit the director of any of its laboratories to enter into cooperative research and development agreements on its behalf. Authorizes each Federal agency to copyright on behalf of the United States any computer software prepared in whole or in part by Government employees involved in cooperative research and development agreements. Includes software royalties in the current distribution format (agency, laboratory, author, and Treasury) under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Justice in India Act - Terminates all development assistance for India under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (except assistance for specified health projects) if the President reports to the Congress that India has not repealed certain special and preventive detention laws. Provides for the resumption of such assistance if India repeals such laws.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Medical Cost Containment Act of 1992 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income medical care savings benefits. Describes such benefits as a health plan which provides that all or part of the premium differential realized by instituting a qualified higher deductible health plan is credited to participating employees to pay for medical care for a plan year. Requires amounts remaining at the end of such plan year to be deposited into a tax-exempt medical care savings account (subject to rules similar to those for retirement plans) for use by the participant for medical expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Tax Extension Act of 1992 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend from August 1, 1992, until August 1, 1993, the provisions governing the allocation of research and experimental expenditures for purposes of determining sources of income. Extends the following provisions from June 30, 1992, until December 31, 1993: (1) the tax credit for increasing research activities; (2) the targeted jobs credit; (3) the authority to issue qualified mortgage bonds and qualified mortgage credit certificates; (4) the authority to issue qualified small issue bonds to finance manufacturing facilities and farm property; (5) employer-provided educational assistance; (6) the tax exclusion for employer-provided group legal services plans; (7) the energy investment credit for solar and geothermal property; (8) the credit for clinical testing expenses for certain drugs for rare diseases or conditions; and (9) health insurance costs of self-employed individuals. Extends the low-income housing credit until December 31, 1993 with modifications. Expands the ten-year anti-churning rule waiver to certain projects substantially assisted, financed, or operated under the National Housing Act. Allows units occupied by certain full-time students to qualify for such credit. Authorizes the Treasury Department to waive penalties for certain de minimis errors and recertifications. Provides that certain community service facilities in projects in qualified census tracts are included in eligible basis as functionally related and subordinate facilities. Allows certain building owners to elect to use apartment size or family size in determining the credit's gross rent limitation. Provides for the tax treatment of resale price control and subsidy lien programs under mortgage revenue bond provisions. Repeals the tax preference for the appreciated property charitable deduction during 1992 and 1993. Requires a report by the Secretary of the Treasury to certain congressional committees on an advance valuation procedure.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Designates February 21 through 27, 1993, as American Wine Appreciation Week. Commends the winegrape and fruit growers and vintners of the United States for the production of high quality agricultural products.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1992
Authorizes and instructs the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the majority leader of the Senate, and the appropriate agents of the Congress to cooperate fully with the Internal Revenue Service and the Defense Manpower Data Center in their efforts to match Government employee names and Social Security numbers with computerized bad debt records, among other ways by providing computer tapes for Members of Congress and their staff for use in such computer matches as part of the debt collection effort. Directs the Congress to comply voluntarily with the provisions of the Federal Debt Collection Act of 1982, so that the law applies to Members of Congress and their staff as it applies to executive branch and judicial branch employees.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 1992
Directs the Secretary of Education to decrease Department of Education personnel costs by ten percent from amounts appropriated for FY 1993 and 1994. Requires that: (1) 90 percent of the savings from such reduction be transferred to local education agencies in accordance with State aid distribution formulas; and (2) the remaining ten percent be used to reduce the Federal budget deficit. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to replace or reduce State and local government funding for education programs.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 1992
Suspends U.S. assistance to Indonesia and denies trade preferences to Indonesian products until the President certifies to the Congress that: (1) Indonesia is permitting unrestricted access to East Timor for international human rights organizations and international organizations; (2) international human rights organizations report that Indonesian Government forces or other military or paramilitary forces under government control have ended all forms of inhumane treatment; (3) Indonesia is in compliance with specified United Nations resolutions which call for the withdrawal of Indonesian forces from East Timor and reiterate East Timor's right to self-determination; and (4) Indonesia allows a United Nations referendum on self-determination for East Timor. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, until the President makes such certification, to instruct the U.S. executive directors of the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Development Association to oppose assistance to Indonesia.
United States · United States Congress · 12 May 1992
Prohibits U.S. military assistance to Jordan until the President certifies to the Congress that Jordan is in compliance with the United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iraq.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1992
Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to provide that a State, local, or interstate governmental agency employee shall not be excluded from the definition of an employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity because such employee is not paid on a salary basis (thereby including such government employees under the exemption from minimum wage and overtime requirements of FLSA). Applies such amendment to such employees before, on, and after the enactment date of this Act, unless an action was brought in a court involving the application of specified FLSA provisions to the employee and a final judgment has been entered in such action on or before such enactment date.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1992
Requires the annual congressional presentation materials for foreign economic assistance to include: (1) an identification of foreign economic assistance funds that, as of September 30 of the preceding fiscal year, had been obligated for a period of two years or more but had not been expended; (2) a certification that the purposes for which such funds were obligated remain valid; and (3) the justification for such funds not having been expended, with respect to each project for which such funds remain unexpended. Directs the Inspector General of the Agency for International Development to report to the appropriate congressional committees: (1) recommendations for reducing the amount of such unexpended balances; and (2) comments with regard to justifications for funds not having been expended. Requires the President to deobligate and return to the Treasury any foreign economic assistance funds that, as of the end of the preceding fiscal year, have been obligated for a period of more than three years but have not been expended. Authorizes the President, on a case-by-case basis, to waive such requirement if he reports to the appropriate congressional committees that the funds: (1) are being used for a construction project that requires more than three years to complete; or (2) have not been expended because of unforeseen circumstances.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Prohibits the Secretary of the Army from expending any funds for construction of incinerators in the continental United States for use in the chemical munitions demilitarization program until the Secretary certifies to the Congress that he has: (1) evaluated alternative technologies for the destruction of chemical munitions under the program; and (2) determined that the current chemical munitions disposal process is the safest means available to carry out the program at a reasonable cost.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-121) (National guard and reserve equipment) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-114) (Other procurement, Navy) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-113) (Other procurement, Navy) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-106) (Army procurement of weapons and tracked combat vehicles) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-105) (Army procurement of weapons and tracked combat vehicles) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-128) (Research, development, test, and evaluation, Defense Agencies) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-124) (National guard and reserve equipment) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-116) (National guard and reserve equipment) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-112) (Other procurement, Navy) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-104) (Army procurement of weapons and tracked combat vehicles) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-127) (Research, development, test and evaluation, Air Force) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds certain budget authority proposed to be rescinded (R92-123) in a special message transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, in accordance with the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Rescinds the budgetary resources specified in the rescission proposal (R92-115) (Procurement, Marine Corps) transmitted to the Congress by the President on April 9, 1992, pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
![Official portrait of Rep. Cox, Christopher [R-CA-48]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/c000830_200.jpg)