United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1995
Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to authorize the retention of retirement, survivor, health, or other benefits for spouses or former spouses of Foreign Service participants who are disqualified from receiving such benefits for official misconduct or disloyalty to the United States, provided that such spouses had no involvement in such misconduct or disloyalty.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1995
Justice for Wards Cove Workers Act - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1991 to remove a provision excluding from application of the Act any disparate impact case filed before March 1, 1975, and decided after October 30, 1983. (Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio, 1989, held that, in cases brought under title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the burden is on the plaintiff to prove an employer had no business necessity for a practice with discriminatory effects.) Applies the amendments made by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 to a case that is subject to the removed provision in the same way such amendments apply to any other case brought under the employment discrimination provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1995
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) U.S. investors, lenders, and corporations in the private sector should assume the full measure of risk and responsibility for their investments and loans in Mexico since the devaluation of the peso on December 21, 1994; and (2) loan guarantees that are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States and that could result in any financial obligation on the part of U.S. taxpayers should not be provided to the Mexican Government in the aftermath of the devaluation of the peso.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1995
Income Equity Act of 1995 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the minimum wage from $4.25 to $6.50 an hour. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny employers a deduction for payments of excessive compensation (more than 25 times the lowest compensation paid any other employee).
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1995
Vaccine Injury Compensation Reform Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow petitions for compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to be filed until 36 months after the date on which the injury is diagnosed. Specifies that if the injury is first diagnosed before the date of this Act's enactment, no petition may be filed for compensation under the Program for such injury after the expiration of 36 months after the latest of: (1) the date on which such injury is diagnosed; (2) the date of the occurrence of the first symptom or manifestation of onset or of the significant aggravation of such injury (manifestation date); or (3) the date of this Act's enactment, if such injury is first diagnosed after the expiration of 36 months after the manifestation date.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1995
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1 Dollar Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to redesign the one-dollar coin to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1995
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act and other Federal law to make any managed health care plan established by the Secretary of Defense in the Military Health Services System eligible for payments by the Secretary of Health and Human Services on behalf of any plan enrollees entitled to Medicare benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1995
Marion Malley Walsh Drunk Driving Act of 1995 - Provides for the transfer of apportionments of Federal highway funds to highway safety programs for noncompliance with this Act. Specifies that a State meets the requirements of this Act if it has enacted and is enforcing a law that provides for four or more of the following: (1) any individual with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent or greater when driving a motor vehicle shall be deemed to be driving while under the influence of alcohol; (2) any individual under age 21, driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .02 percent or greater, shall be deemed to be driving while under the influence of alcohol, and a blood alcohol content of at least .02 percent, but less than .08 percent, will be punishable by a fine of up to $500 and a six-month driver's license suspension; (3) if an individual's license has been suspended or revoked for an alcohol-related offense and the individual is thereafter caught driving, the vehicle the individual is driving will be immediately impounded or immobilized for 30 days; (4) establishment of an expedited driver's license suspension or revocation system for persons who operate motor vehicles while under the influence of alcohol; and (5) establishment and maintenance of a graduated licensing program for drivers under age 21.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1995
Omnibus Foster Care Improvement Act of 1995 - Amends part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act to require States to administer qualifying examinations to all State employees with new authority to make decisions regarding child welfare services. (Sec. 3) Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from making a payment of such assistance to a State unless the State has in effect procedures requiring the State agency, at the time a child is removed from a home and placed in foster care under State supervision, to locate any parent of the child who is not living at the home and evaluate that parent's ability to provide a suitable home for the child. (Sec. 4) Gives States the option of deeming as adoption the placement of a child who was under State-supervised foster care with a blood relative given legal custody of the child. (Sec. 5) Prohibits the Secretary, after a five-year interim period, from making a payment of such assistance to a State unless the State requires a State agency to give preference to applications of a foster parent or caretaker relative of the child in considering applications to adopt certain foster children.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1995
Social Security Notch Act of 1995 - Amends title II (Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act with respect to the benefit computation formula for individuals who reached age 65 in or after 1982 and to whom applies the 15-year period of transition to the changes in benefit computation rules enacted in the Social Security Amendments of 1977. Sets forth a schedule of additional benefit increases for such beneficiaries (and related beneficiaries), with percentages declining from 70 percent to ten percent keyed to the year an individual became eligible for such benefits between 1979 and 1993.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1995
Requires the House of Representatives, when the legislatures of an additional three States ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, to take any legislative action necessary to verify the ratification of the Amendment as a part of the Constitution.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1995
Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to limit the late enrollment penalty to a ten percent increase in the monthly part B premium due over a period equal to twice the number of years that the part B beneficiary could have been but was not enrolled under part B.
United States · United States Congress · 17 January 1995
United States One Dollar Coin Act of 1995 - Amends Federal currency law to prescribe the color and content of one-dollar coins. Prohibits a Federal reserve bank from placing into circulation any one-dollar Federal Reserve note after the date that the one-dollar coins are first placed in circulation. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to cease regular production of one-dollar Federal Reserve notes (except for such quantities as are required to meet collectors' needs).
United States · United States Congress · 17 January 1995
Church Retirement Benefits Simplification Act of 1995 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to recodify and revise qualifications for church retirement and pension plans. Makes employee contributions to such plans nonforfeitable. Requires the plan to meet minimum vesting requirements. Recodifies the authority of a church or a convention or association of churches to be treated as an employer making contributions to retirement income accounts. Subjects church-related hospitals and universities to certain coverage and related rules in the case of a contract purchased by a church. Requires distributions from retirement income accounts provided by churches to be in accordance with distributions under cash or deferred arrangements. Provides for determining the beginning date for such distributions. Allows self-employed ministers and chaplains who work for non-church employers to participate in their church plans. Provides that certain rules aggregating employees do not apply to churches. Restores qualified voluntary employee contributions to church plans. Treats self-employed ministers as employees for purposes of certain welfare benefit plans and retirement income accounts. Allows a deduction for contributions to retirement income accounts by such ministers. Provides that a church plan maintained by more than one employer shall not be treated as a single plan. Provides that accounting methods of deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations do not apply to a church plan. Exempts a church plan from the requirement to maintain separate accounts for medical benefits for key employees. Provides that the special rules for computing employee contributions to pension plans do not apply to certain foreign missionaries. Repeals the elective deferral catch-up limitation for church retirement income accounts. Allows church plans to annuitize benefits and increase benefit payments. Provides that rules for self-insured medical reimbursement plans are not applicable to church plans. Provides that retirement benefits of ministers are not subject to the tax on net earnings from self-employment.
United States · United States Congress · 11 January 1995
Restricted Explosives Control Act of 1994 - Prohibits the distribution or receipt of restricted explosives without a Federal permit. Defines "restricted explosives" to mean high explosives, blasting agents, detonators, and more than 50 pounds of black powder. Requires applications for such permits to include the applicant's photograph and fingerprints, which shall be taken and transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury by the chief law enforcement officer of the applicant's place of residence.
United States · United States Congress · 11 January 1995
Economic Development Loan Assistance Demonstration Program Act of 1995 - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a demonstration program (and authorizes loan assistance grants) to encourage economic development in five enterprise communities through grants to community development corporations for reducing interest rates on economic development loans. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1995
Directs the Secretary of Commerce, upon determining on the basis of comments submitted in rulemaking under this Act that interest among manufacturers is sufficient to warrant the establishment of a three-year toll-free number pilot program and manufacturers will provide fees so that the program will operate without cost to the Federal Government, to: (1) establish such program solely to help inform consumers whether a product is made in America or the equivalent thereof; and (2) publish the toll-free number in the Federal Register. Requires: (1) the Secretary to contract for the establishment and operation of such pilot program and the registration of products; and (2) such number to be used solely to inform consumers as to whether products are American made. Requires consumers to be informed that such registration does not mean that: (1) the product is endorsed or approved by the Government; (2) the Secretary has conducted any investigation to confirm that the product meets the definition of American made; or (3) the product contains 100 percent U.S. content. (Sec. 2) Directs the Secretary to propose regulations to: (1) establish a procedure under which the manufacturer of a product may voluntarily register such product as complying with such definition and have such product included in the information available through the toll-free number; (2) establish, assess, and collect a fee to cover all costs of registering products and including registered products in information provided under the number; (3) establish the pilot program; and (4) solicit views from the private sector concerning the level of interest of manufacturers in registering products. Requires the Secretary to promulgate such regulations if the pilot program and product registration is determined to be warranted. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) registration fees; and (2) penalties for knowingly registering a product which is not American made.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1995
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) obstetrician-gynecologists should be designated as primary care providers for women in Federal laws relating to the provision of health care; and (2) legislative proposals that define primary care should include services performed by obstetrician-gynecologists in such definition.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends provisions of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act that revise Federal patent law to provide that a patent term shall be the later of 17 years from the date the patent is granted or 20 years from the date the application was filed in the United States. Provides that if the application contains a reference to an earlier application, the term shall be 20 years from the date the earliest application was filed. Removes provisions that provide for extensions of patent terms under certain conditions. Provides for public disclosure and inspection of original and continuing patent applications in cases where a continuing patent application is filed that claims the benefit of the filing date of a prior application that was filed more than 60 months earlier. Requires the term of a patent that is in force or results from an application filed within six months after the Uruguay Round Agreements Act enactment date to be the term provided in this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the burden of proof with respect to all issues, in the case of any court proceeding, is on the Secretary of the Treasury. Requires the Secretary to identify in writing the specific kind or type of tax, and its specific implementing regulations, within 14 days upon the written request from any person made liable for such tax. Increases the limitation on the amount of recovery for civil damages for unauthorized collection actions by the Internal Revenue Service. Excludes such damages from gross income.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: State Welfare Reform Option Title II: Incentives for State Participation in Welfare Reform Title III: Policy Changes to Reward Work Title IV: Child Support Enforcement Work-First Welfare Reform Act of 1995 - Title I: State Welfare Reform Option - Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to give States the option of developing a welfare reform plan containing a welfare-job development integration plan meeting specified requirements (including those requiring welfare recipient participation along with the State in one of two specified types of Empowerment Compacts with specific goals and timetables for each individual participant's attainment of self-sufficiency) for reorienting their welfare programs towards such overall goal for all welfare recipients who are capable of working. (Sec. 101) Provides for approval, implementation, and evaluation of welfare reform plans. Title II: Incentives for State Participation in Welfare Reform - Amends SSA title IV part A to provide for: (1) increased Federal payments to welfare reform States meeting specified requirements for the costs of operating programs under part F (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program) (JOBS); and (2) modification of the amount payable to individual welfare reform plan participants expecting a decrease in income over a certain period in States which have elected to adjust individual AFDC benefits quarterly. (Sec. 203) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for purposes of developing welfare reform plans. Sets limits on the amount the Secretary may expend on such grants in any fiscal year through FY 2000. Title III: Policy Changes to Reward Work - Amends SSA title IV part A and the Internal Revenue Code to make various specified changes designed to reward work, including: (1) giving States the authority to establish enhanced earnings disregards for AFDC recipients and define unemployment for purposes of the AFDC-UP program; and (2) making the tax credit for dependent care expenses refundable, and requiring employers to make advance payments of such credit to their employees. (Sec. 304) Requires the Secretaries of Agriculture, of Health and Human Services, and of Labor to submit to the Congress an annual report on any State or Federal laws which may inhibit implementation of welfare reform plans. (Sec. 305) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the requirements to be followed by each State in developing and applying outcome measures and targets for assessing the effectiveness of the State's JOBS program. Amends SSA title IV part A to provide for a reduction in State JOBS funding for States which have not submitted for approval a plan for meeting such requirements. (Sec. 306) Directs the Comptroller General to submit to the Congress a methodology for determining the use of transitional child care and extended medical assistance under Medicaid. Makes various specified amendments to SSA title IV part A, including with regard to matters concerning transitional child care and certain student earnings and income. Title IV: Child Support Enforcement - Directs the Secretary to establish a Federal registry of child support orders issued or modified in a State for comparing information reported on an employee's W-4 form with information in the registry, and for notifying the appropriate State child support order registry established by this Act of the accuracy of the amount specified on the form as the employee's monthly child support obligation. (Sec. 402) Makes various specified amendments to SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity), including with regard to matters concerning: (1) expansion of the Federal Parent Locator Service; (2) development of a uniform child support withholding order; (3) State agency access to various data bases containing information with respect to absent parents; and (4) private access to State locate resources and enforcement services for purposes of establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support and parentage orders. (Sec. 403) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) establish a national system for reporting copies of every employee's W-4 form to the appropriate State and Federal child support order registries; and (2) modify the W-4 form to enable the employee to indicate on it certain information related to child support and health care insurance for any dependent children. (Sec. 404) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) provide for the reconciliation of child support obligations and payments on income tax returns, with the full amount due by the end of the applicable tax year and subject to the same collection process and penalties applicable to back taxes; (2) provide for a tax credit for withholdings and payments in excess of applicable obligations; (3) require the Secretary to pay amounts collected to the appropriate State registry; and (4) require employers to include withheld obligations on the employee's W-2 form. (Sec. 407) Amends the Consumer Credit Protection Act to: (1) give debts relating to child support higher priority in a garnishment than other Federal debts when an individual's disposable earnings are not sufficient to pay both debts; and (2) prohibit employers from discharging employees with more than one indebtedness, if all but one of the debts arise from one or more orders for the support of a child. (Sec. 408) Amends SSA title IV part D to require States to enact the version of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in August 1992.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Liveable Wage Act of 1995 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to: (1) increase the minimum wage to $5.50 an hour beginning in 1996; and (2) provide that the minimum wage rate will be increased by indexing to the cost of living, in the same manner as benefits are indexed under specified provisions of the Social Security Act, for 1997 and thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Black Bear Protection Act of 1995 - Directs the Secretary of Commerce, under the Export Administration Act of 1979, to prohibit the export of American black bear viscera. Requires the Secretary of the Interior to report to the Congress on the American black bear viscera trade and any Fish and Wildlife Service plans to monitor it. Requires the United States Trade Representative to discuss issues involving such trade with countries that are the leading importers of such products.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Decentralization Act of 1993 (sic) - Directs the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to use abandoned and underutilized facilities in depressed communities to meet the Administration's facilities' needs.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: General Reforms Title II: Plastic Explosives Bombing Prevention Act - Title I: General Reforms - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit the transport, shipment, or receipt of explosive materials without a permit or the distribution of explosive materials to anyone other than a licensee or permittee. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to notify the States of the regulations so that they may consider revising their explosives laws. (Sec. 102) Requires applicants for licenses and user permits to import, manufacture, or deal in explosive materials to provide fingerprints and a photograph. Sets fees of up to $300 for an applicant for a license and up to $100 for an applicant for a permit. (Currently, the fee is up to $200 for each license or permit.) (Sec. 103) Authorizes the Secretary to use the national instant criminal background check system established under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to investigate applicants for licenses or permits. (Sec. 104) Repeals exceptions from specified explosive materials requirements with respect to components of small arms ammunition and small quantities of black powder or smokeless powder. (Sec. 105) Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to promulgate amendments to the sentencing guidelines to appropriately enhance the penalties for violations of Federal explosive materials provisions so that such penalties are the same as those for comparable violations of Federal firearms laws. (Sec. 106) Permits: (1) the destruction of seized explosives that are unsafe under specified circumstances; and (2) the owner to apply to the Secretary for reimbursement of any destroyed property where the claimant establishes that the seizure was wrongful. (Sec. 107) Subjects to civil forfeiture (with exceptions) any property involved in a violation of explosive materials provisions, or in a conspiracy to commit such a violation, and any other property traceable to such property. Directs the court to order a person convicted of a violation of Federal explosive materials provisions or of conspiring to commit such a violation to forfeit any property involved and any traceable property. Title II: Plastic Explosives - Prohibits the manufacture, import, export, shipment, transport, transfer, receipt, or possession of any plastic explosive which does not contain a detection agent (with exceptions). Authorizes the Secretary to investigate violations. Directs the Attorney General to exercise authority over such violations only when they are committed by a member of a terrorist or revolutionary group (in which case the Attorney General shall have primary investigative responsibility and the Secretary shall assist as requested). Prohibits any person possessing any plastic explosive, other than an agency of the United States or the National Guard of any State, from failing to report to the Secretary the quantity of such explosive possessed, the manufacturer or importer, and any identifying marks on such explosives. (Sec. 203) Provides for a fine and up to ten years' imprisonment for violations of Federal explosive materials laws. (Sec. 204) Sets forth affirmative defenses for Federal explosive materials laws.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Provides that the effective date for discontinuance of veterans' disability compensation and veterans' pension paid by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall be the date on which the recipient dies (currently the last day of the month preceding death) in the case of a veteran with a surviving spouse. Requires payments of such compensation to be made to the surviving spouse. Provides that the effective date for the award of dependency and indemnity compensation for which application is received within one year from the date of the veteran's death shall be the day following the date of death in the case of a surviving spouse.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Locate and Case Tracking Title II: Establishment Title III: Parentage Title IV: Enforcement Title V: Collection and Distribution Title VI: Federal Role Title VII: State Role Title VIII: Jobs for Unemployed Noncustodial Parents Title IX: Effective Date Interstate Child Support Act of 1995 - Title I: Locate and Case Tracking - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to allow the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) to be used along with appropriate disclosure safeguards for parentage establishment and child support and visitation enforcement. (Sec. 101) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) denial of visitation rights under a child support order should be treated as irrelevant in any action to enforce its support provisions; and (2) failure to pay child support pursuant to such an order should be treated likewise in any action to enforce visitation rights. (Sec. 102) Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to enter into an agreement to provide the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) (Secretary) with access to quarterly estimated Federal income tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Requires that: (1) State agencies charged with child support enforcement maintain child support order registries and be allowed access to medical, financial, employment, and other specified data base information on absent parents; (2) registry information from each State be sent to the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) (designated under title VI of this Act) within HHS for a national registry of all State child support orders. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary should investigate accessing certain Federal data banks not linked with FPLS. (Sec. 103) Requires the Secretary to expand FPLS to provide State agencies and courts with a national locate and case tracking network. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the network should be used to access State records only through the agency administering the State's part D plan. (Sec. 104) Requires that private attorneys and pro se obligees be given access, in accordance with appropriate safeguards, to State locate resources and through enforcement techniques with respect to child support, visitation, and parentage orders. (Sec. 105) Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to require employers to withhold from employee wages amounts owed for child support. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to modify the W-4 form completed by new employees in order to enable employers to obtain employee child support and other information for the appropriate State employment security agency. (Sec. 106) Requires the heads of national and regional individual tracking systems to allow child support enforcement agencies access to their information for paternity or child support purposes. (Sec. 107) Requires that States: (1) broadcast warrants issued in child support proceedings over their crime information systems; (2) remit, in a criminal case, to any individual owed child support any security posted by or on behalf of the individual owing the support and then forfeited, to the extent of any arrearage in support owed; and (3) have procedures to obtain access to financial records for purposes of child support establishment and enforcement. Title II: Establishment - Amends SSA title IV part D to provide for service of process on Federal employees and members of the armed forces in connection with parentage and child support proceedings. (Sec. 202) Requires that: (1) parents' identification and locate information be filed with the appropriate adjudicating entity in parentage and child support actions; (2) there be appropriate safeguards on such information where a court has ordered that the custodial parent or child receive physical protection from the noncustodial parent; (3) appropriate administrative agencies make reasonable attempts to timely notify any individual owed child support of any proceeding to establish, modify, or enforce the support obligation; (4) States allow parties seeking both parentage and child support establishment in a judicial proceeding to bring a joint action in a single cause of action; (5) States provide for uniform procedures regarding jurisdiction and venue in parentage and child support cases; (6) States provide for continuation of parental child support obligations until they terminate as described; (7) States allow parties to participate in interstate parentage and child support proceedings by telephonic means; (8) marriage licenses, birth certificates, and divorce and parentage decrees contain social security numbers; and (9) appropriate State agencies be allowed subpoena power in connection with child support hearings. (Sec. 205) Amends the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) to allow appropriate State agencies to obtain from credit reporting agencies information for establishing and modifying child support awards. (Sec. 206) Creates a National Child Support Guidelines Commission to study and report to the President and the Congress on national child support guidelines, and to develop such guidelines for congressional consideration should it be advisable. (Sec. 207) Specifies certain principles to be used in accordance with the application of State child support guidelines. (Sec. 208) Expresses the sense of the Congress that, if children receive child support while obtaining postsecondary education, they will attain higher levels of education affording them a greater chance to break the welfare cycle. (Sec. 209) Requires the new OCSE Assistant Secretary to develop a: (1) national subpoena duces tecum for distribution to child support agencies and others to use to reach income information; and (2) uniform abstract of a child support order for State court use. (Sec. 214) Requires the Legal Services Corporation to ensure the use of a specified amount of funding for child support cases. (Sec. 215) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) children on Indian reservations be accorded the same right of support currently afforded to off-reservation children; (2) State and tribal governments should, to the greatest extent possible, ensure that jurisdictional issues do not prevent any Indian child from receiving the support to which the child is entitled; and (3) States should work with community-based organizations with ties to underserved populations to develop better methods to reach and work with such populations to encourage the filing of more support orders. Amends the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 to require Indian tribes to give full faith and credit to child support orders of other Indian tribes, to the extent such entities already give full faith and credit to the acts, records, and proceedings of the other entity. (Sec. 216) Amends SSA title IV part D to provide grants for certain demonstration projects designed to secure child support services in underserved areas and combat domestic violence. Title III: Parentage - Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) require States to adopt various specified procedures for voluntary paternity acknowledgment; and (2) provide for 90 percent Federal matching for such programs. (Sec. 301) Expresses the sense of the Congress that, in a proceeding to establish paternity, once paternity is alleged, the burden of proof should shift to the alleged father. Title IV: Enforcement - Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) require States to mandate that an employer comply with wage withholding orders issued by any State court or administrative agency; (2) specify the priority for applying amounts withheld from income for child support and child health insurance; (3) subject to withholding for child support income from workers' compensation and other specified Federal sources; (4) prohibit State court application of the election of remedies doctrine to prevent collection of child support; (5) deny State occupational, professional, and business licenses, and driver's licenses and vehicle registrations to delinquent noncustodial parents; (6) authorize liens on vehicle titles, seizure of bank accounts, and holds on lottery winnings, settlements, payouts, bequests, and proceeds from the sale of forfeited property to satisfy child support arrearages; (7) require States to make a rebuttable presumption that any transfer of property by an individual who owes a child support arrearage is made with the intent to avoid payment of the arrearage; (8) revise the mechanism for collection of past-due child support from Federal tax refunds to cover post-minor children who do not receive Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC); (9) authorize attachment of retirement plan interests without a separate court order to satisfy child support arrearages; (10) permit enforcement of any child support order until the child is at least 30; (11) require interest on all child support judgments; (12) require States to adopt the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws in August 1992; (13) allow State courts to order the assignment of life insurance benefits and interests in jointly held property to satisfy child support arrearages; and (14) require States to treat international child support cases in the same manner as interstate child support cases. (Sec. 404) Amends CCPA with respect to State laws and garnishments for securing child support. Gives Federal debts a lower priority than child support debts when the obligor's disposable income cannot satisfy both debts through withholding. Prohibits employers from discharging any employee whose earnings are subject to garnishment for additional indebtedness arising from a child support order. (Sec. 406) Denies Federal occupational, professional, and business licenses for delinquent individuals until the license hold is released. (Sec. 412) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the IRS Commissioner should instruct IRS field officers and agents to give a high priority to requests for the use of full collection in delinquent child support cases. Requires the Secretary of Treasury to simplify the full collection process and reduce the amount of child support arrearage needed before an individual may apply for full collection. (Sec. 417) Sets forth requirements pertaining to parentage establishment and child support payments in the armed forces. (Sec. 419) Directs the Comptroller General and Secretary of the Treasury to study the feasibility of an annual reconciliation process for paying child support arrearages as part of the Federal income tax process. (Sec. 420) Authorizes the Secretary of State to refuse, revoke, or restrict passports in cases where the applicant or holder is a noncustodial parent subject to a State arrest warrant for nonpayment of a substantial child support arrearage. (Sec. 421) Prohibits Federal benefits, loans, guarantees, and employment for individuals owing certain child support arrearages. (Sec. 424) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should ratify the United Nations Convention of 1956. Title V: Collection and Distribution - Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) set priorities for State distribution of child support collections; (2) require States to limit claims against noncustodial parents for reimbursement of a child's portion of AFDC to the amount in the child support order; (3) revise part D plan provisions concerning fees; and (4) require States to provide for collection and disbursement points for child support cases. (Sec. 501) Requires Comptroller General to conduct studies and pilot projects with respect to requiring State systems to pay the child support collected under a State plan to the individuals to whom the support is owed before making any payment to reimburse any State for AFDC provided with respect to the child in question. Amends IRC to revise the Federal income tax refund offset mechanism. (Sec. 505) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should encourage parents to use the State child support agency to process and distribute child support payments. Title VI: Federal Role - Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) designate the separate organizational unit currently charged with various parentage and child support responsibilities as the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE); and (2) change OCSE's organizational structure. (Sec. 602) Requires: (1) the new OCSE Assistant Secretary to provide training assistance to the States; (2) States to provide for training of child support personnel; and (3) the Secretary to study staffing at State child support enforcement programs and reduce payments to States that have not implemented recommended staffing levels. (Sec. 604) Requires the Secretary to: (1) authorize demonstration projects to test alternative approaches to incentive funding for State child support programs; and (2) reduce payments to States which have not reinvested incentive payments in their child support programs. Provides that "support" under SSA title IV part D with respect to incentive payments to States includes premiums paid for health insurance coverage pursuant to a support order. Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should not use amounts paid to them pursuant to SSA title IV part D, which are reinvested in child support activities, to supplant State funding of such activities. (Sec. 606) Requires the Secretary to: (1) contract for a study of OCSE's audit process to develop criteria and methodology for auditing activities of State child support enforcement agencies; and (2) provide for State demonstration projects for the purpose of ensuring that custodial parents owed child support have a consistent source of income for the support of their children. (Sec. 607) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) children should have a consistent source of income to meet their education and medical needs; (2) the provision of public assistance to a custodial parent for the support of a child with respect to whom the noncustodial parent owes child support does not absolve the latter of the obligation to provide such support; (3) the States must continue to vigorously pursue efforts to establish parentage, and establish and enforce child support obligations; and (4) OCSE should develop a mechanism to publicize the best State practices in child support. (Sec. 608) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish in the Treasury a Children's Trust Fund to hold the contributions designated by individuals on their tax returns for funding child support programs. (Sec. 609) Requires: (1) the Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on delinquent child support payments and the effectiveness of administrative vs. judicial adjudication of parentage and child support cases; and (2) OCSE to produce and update a certain compendium of State child support laws published by the National Conference of State Legislatures, and establish a permanent child support advisory committee. Title VII: State Role - Amends SSA title IV part D to require States to: (1) promote the greatest economic security possible for children, within the obligor's ability to pay; (2) provide custodial parents with certain information on child support cases and the services available under their part D plans; and (3) require any changes in child support payees to be made only through administrative procedures. (Sec. 703) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should: (1) work closely with parents to improve the quality of child support services; (2) have offices in areas accessible to public transportation with convenient hours that allow parents to meet privately with attorneys and caseworkers; and (3) establish administrative procedures to process child support cases and a child support council to recommend improvements in State paternity and child support programs. Title VIII: Jobs for Unemployed Noncustodial Parents - Expresses the sense of the Congress that any Federal program to provide jobs for noncustodial parents should be administered so as not to adversely affect any Federal program for custodial parents. (Sec. 801) Requires the Secretary to transmit evaluations of certain projects under the JOBS program under SSA title IV part F (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program) to the Secretary of Labor for study and possible action, including authorizing States to provide services of greater scope and duration to unemployed noncustodial parents under such program. Title IX: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit the possession or transfer of a non-sporting handgun which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, except with respect to the continuous and otherwise lawful possession of such handgun during any period that began before the effective date of this provision.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Law Enforcement Officials Protection Act of 1995 - Amends the Federal criminal code to include within the definition of "armor piercing ammunition" a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a firearm which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from polymer plastic.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
COLA Equity Act - Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 to: (1) provide that the initial month for which a cost of living increase in military retired pay that becomes effective on December 1 of 1993, 1994, or 1995 is payable shall be March (currently, September) of the following year for persons who first became a member of a uniformed service before August 1, 1986; and (2) provide that such special rule shall apply only through FY 1996 (currently, FY 1998).
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Military Retirement Equity Act of 1995 - Permits retired members of the armed forces to be paid retirement pay concurrently with compensation for any service-connected disability if the person's entitlement to such retirement pay is based solely on age, length of service, or both. Reduces the retirement pay of individuals receiving both types of pay by a specified percentage of the disability compensation which decreases as the disability rating increases. Prohibits any reduction in the retirement pay of a disabled person when the disability rating is total. Declares that, once the Federal budget deficit has been reduced, the Congress should reexamine and eliminate any offset of retired pay by a veteran's disability compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Prohibits entities that employ people in Northern Ireland and Ireland from receiving U.S. funds from the International Fund for Ireland unless they comply with certain fair employment principles known as the MacBride Principles.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Employee Educational Assistance Act of 1995 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the income tax exclusion of amounts paid under employee educational assistance programs.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income as death benefits amounts received under a life insurance contract for certain terminally ill individuals. Allows insurance companies to issue accelerated death benefit riders on life insurance contracts.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Merchant Mariners Fairness Act of 1993 - Provides that certain qualified service of a member of the U.S. merchant marine, including a vessel crewmember of the U.S. Army Transport Service, during World War II constituted active military service for purposes of eligibility for various veterans' benefits under the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977. Requires the Secretary of Defense to issue an honorable discharge under such Act to each merchant marine member whose qualified service warrants such a discharge. Prohibits the payment of any retroactive benefits under this Act. Mandates a processing fee for any benefit application for such qualified service.
United States · United States Congress · 29 November 1994
Amends the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 to extend the deadline for the submission of nominations for the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 1994
Farm Viability and Pest Management Improvement Act of 1994: A National Program for Pesticide Reduction - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a pesticide reduction council in each EPA region. Directs the Administrator and the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out specified activities with respect to assessing and approving integrated pest management systems and pesticide reduction plans and goals and implementing programs to assist farmers in adopting such systems. Requires the Administrator to reduce or restrict the use of pesticides that contribute significant health and environmental risks or to amend labels of such pesticides in regions where goals of this Act have not been met. Requires the Administrator to set quantitative goals for reducing or eliminating the use of nonagricultural pesticides and carry out plans to achieve such goals within six years. Directs Federal agencies to establish pesticide reduction goals and to implement integrated pest management systems. Requires the Secretary to determine the percentage of food purchases throughout the United States that are organically produced. Directs Federal agencies to develop procurement plans that ensure that the percentage of an agency's purchase of organically produced food meets or exceeds such percentage, and meets or exceeds twice such percentage, within three and six years of this Act's enactment, respectively. Directs the Secretary and the Administrator to establish a national pesticide use recordkeeping and reporting system for agricultural and nonagricultural applications. Imposes penalties for violations of recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Repeals certain existing pesticide recordkeeping requirements. Directs the Secretary to ensure that the goal of: (1) all pest and weed management research and extension activities within the Agricultural Research Service and the Cooperative Extension Service is the development and transfer of technology related to integrated pest management systems that reduce pesticide use; and (2) pest management research by the National Research Initiative in the areas of plant systems and natural resources and environment is development of biological, cultural, and other nonchemical methods of pest control that reduce pesticide use. Requires the Secretary to adopt regulations establishing priorities and resource allocations for competitive grants research in integrated pest management systems. Allocates at least ten percent of Agricultural Conservation Program funding for the integrated crop management program.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1994
Consumer Products Safe Testing Act - Requires each Federal department or agency (department) head to: (1) evaluate any regulation, guideline, or recommendation issued by that department which requires, recommends, or encourages the use of the Draize or other animal acute toxicity test (animal test) to evaluate the safety of a regulated product; (2) evaluate nonanimal alternatives with the potential for partial or full replacement of such test; and (3) promulgate regulations, guidelines, or recommendations that specify a nonanimal acute toxicity test or battery of tests that should be used instead of an animal test unless the nonanimal test is less likely to predict the acute health effects of a product on humans. Directs the appropriate Federal department, if a determination is made that no nonanimal test is as likely to predict the human reaction to the regulated product as the animal test, to publish in the Federal Register an explanation of all options considered and the justification for continuing the animal test, which shall be subject to public comment. Requires each Federal department head, at least every two years (beginning three years after this Act's enactment date), after considering the most recent technological advances available, to determine whether continued use of any animal test is justified (and if the department head determines that such use is justified, such head shall publish an explanation and justification for such continued use in the Federal Register, which shall be subject to public comment). Makes this Act inapplicable to regulations, guidelines, or recommendations related to medical research.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1994
A Living Wage, Jobs for All Act - Declares that the Congress affirms the basic economic rights and responsibilities under the 1944 "Economic Bill of Rights", while updating and extending it to include that: (1) every adult American able and willing to earn a living through paid work has the right to a free choice among opportunities for useful and productive part- or full-time paid employment at decent real wages or for self-employment; and (2) every adult American unable to work for pay or find employment has the right to an adequate standard of living that rises with increases in the wealth and productivity of the society. (Sec. 2) Makes it the responsibility of each Federal agency and commission, including the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, to perform so as to help establish and maintain conditions under which all adult Americans may freely exercise the economic rights specified in 1944 and in this Act. Prohibits Federal agencies or commissions from directly or indirectly promoting recession, stagnation, or unemployment as a means of reducing wages and salaries or inflation. (Sec. 3) Directs the President to establish a program to implement such basic economic rights and responsibilities. Sets forth policies and projects to be included under such program. Includes such program in the annual submission of budget. (Sec. 4) Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to provide grants and other incentives to States and local governments to encourage short- and long-term public works and public services planning in urban, suburban, and rural areas, in order to implement such basic economic rights and responsibilities. Requires applications for such assistance to include strategic and tactical plans. (Sec. 5) Makes it the policy of the Federal government to cooperate with other nations' governments and the United Nations to help develop an international community based on rising living standards, particularly for those people with the lowest levels of income, wealth, access to public facilities, free trade union organization, and political power. Directs the President, through appropriate Federal agencies, to review all Federal law and regulations that interfere with implementation of such policy, taking specified factors into consideration. Makes U.S. contributions to the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development contingent upon development and implementation of policies and procedures that will: (1) raise the standard of living in countries receiving assistance from such Fund or Bank, rather than impose austerity; and (2) contribute to such countries' economic viability, credit worthiness, and ability to import goods and services from the United States. Directs the President to: (1) instruct the U.S. representative to the United Nations to propose a series of international and regional conferences on alternative methods of planning for the reduction of involuntary unemployment; and (2) promote, through the Secretary of Labor, the convening in the United States or elsewhere of international and regional conferences on coping with unemployment and underemployment and moving toward fuller employment in the world. Directs the Secretary of Labor, in promoting such conferences, to provide financial and technical assistance to organized labor and cooperative, community, nonprofit, and voluntary organizations, giving priority to widespread communication on controlling facility closings and capital flight by large businesses and on facilitating transnational labor organizations and collective bargaining. (Sec. 6) Directs the President, in the next annual message to the Congress, to propose establishment of a Conversion Planning Fund. Requires such Fund to promote and activate short- and long-term plans for coping with declines in civilian or military activities by developing policies, programs, and projects to expand economic activities in sectors where additional or improved goods or services are needed. Directs the Secretary of Defense to transfer one percent of amounts appropriated for military activities of the Department of Defense to the Fund. Authorizes appropriations, in addition to such transferred funds, as necessary for the Fund. (Sec. 7) Directs the President to establish an annual schedule for implementing this Act, including specified recommendations for restructuring Federal budget priorities and promoting educational activities within each State on locally-based overall planning. Amends the Employment Act of 1946 to: (1) include such implementation schedule in the annual Presidential economic report; and (2) provide for Joint Economic Committee oversight of actions taken or proposed to be taken under this Act. Sets forth requirements that specified types of impact analyses and other information be contained in: (1) all budgetary data for specific programs, whether in budget messages and resolutions or in legislative authorizations and appropriations; and (2) all Presidential budget messages to the Congress. (Sec. 8) Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 October 1994
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) President Nelson Mandela of South Africa deserves the congratulations and support of the United States; (2) the United States shall remain engaged in the political and economic development of South Africa; (3) assistance to South Africa should continue to focus on such issues as job creation, housing, enterprise, development, education, democracy, and health; and (4) steps should be taken to increase trade, investment, and development in South Africa.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1994
Directs the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to establish a centralized personnel locator service that includes the addresses of each member of the armed forces. Requires addresses of members of the Coast Guard to be included upon request of the Secretary of Transportation. Requires the Secretary to update the locator service within 30 days after a listed member establishes a new address. Directs the Secretary to make such information available, upon request, to the Federal Parent Locator Service. Directs the Secretary of each military department (and the Secretary of Transportation with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy) to prescribe regulations to facilitate the granting of leave for purposes of attending court hearings to determine either parentage or an obligation to provide child support. States that it is not necessary that the date of a certification of the authenticity or completeness of a copy of a court order for child support received by the Secretary concerned (such support to be paid through the retired pay of the member involved) be recent. Allows the Secretary concerned to make required child support payments to a State when a spouse or former spouse assigns to a State the right to receive support. Empowers the Secretary concerned to pay child support arrearages through the disposable retired pay of the responsible member.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1994
Ryan White CARE Reauthorization Act of 1994 - Amends the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act of 1990 (title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act) to limit the grant program for emergency relief for areas with substantial need for services to eligible areas with a population of at least 500,000 individuals. Requires an HIV health services planning council (which advises on the distribution of such grants) to be reflective of the demographics of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in an eligible area, with particular consideration given to disproportionately affected and historically underserved groups. Revises the method of distributing such grants and extends authorized appropriations for them until FY 2000. Revises the care grant program that makes funds available for individuals and families with the HIV disease. Authorizes the award of supplemental grants to eligible entities to enhance community-based care, treatment, and supportive services through the development and operation of consortia and innovative approaches. Extends authorized appropriations for such grant program through FY 2000. Requires the establishment of grievance procedures to address allegations of egregious violations of title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to coordinate the planning and implementation of Federal HIV programs to facilitate the development of a complete continuum of HIV-related services for individuals with HIV disease and those at risk of such disease. Extends authorized appropriations for early intervention services until FY 2000. Extends authorized appropriations until FY 2000 for grants for coordinated services and access to research for children, youth, women, and families (formerly known as demonstration grants for research and services for pediatric patients regarding acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Makes appropriations available for special projects of the national significance program to award direct grants to public and nonprofit private entities to fund special programs for the care and treatment of individuals with HIV disease.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1994
Expresses the sense of the Congress that Prime Minister John Major and the Government of the United Kingdom should work with the Government of Ireland to commence all-party talks relating to the conflict in Northern Ireland as soon as possible.
United States · United States Congress · 21 September 1994
Urges the President to issue an Executive order: (1) fostering the advancement of the National Education Goals for American Indians; (2) promoting Federal assistance for tribally controlled and operated post-secondary institutions; and (3) establishing an advisory commission on tribally controlled institutions of higher learning.
![Official portrait of Rep. Dellums, Ronald V. [D-CA-9]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/d000222_200.jpg)