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United States · Official source
4,289 records where Rep. Edwards, Don [D-CA-10] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 1989
Authorizes the President, on behalf of the Congress, to present a gold medal to Laurance Spelman Rockefeller in recognition of his leadership on behalf of natural resource conservation and historic preservation. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for the sale of bronze duplicates of the medal.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 1989
Camp Pendleton Preservation Act of 1989 - Requires the Secretary of Defense to notify the Secretary of the Interior upon determining that any real property located at Camp Pendleton, California, is excess property of the Department of Defense (DOD). Requires the Secretary of the Interior, upon any such notification, to: (1) review such property to determine the suitability for preserving the natural features of such property; and (2) report to the Congress on necessary legislation for such use. Prohibits any real property at Camp Pendleton determined to be excess DOD property from: (1) being disposed of, or used by, any Federal agency before 270 days following submission of such report; and (2) being developed for residential or commercial use.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 1989
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should vote in support of increasing the international minimum age for combat to 17 years of age in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 1989
Designates the week of December 10 through December 16, 1989, as National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1989
Civil Rights Commission Reauthorization Act of 1989 - Amends the United States Commission on Civil Rights Act of 1983 to authorize appropriations through FY 1990. Extends the termination of the Commission to May 31, 1990. Requires the staff director of the Commission to be appointed by the Commission. (Current law requires appointment by the President with the concurrence of a majority of the Commission.)
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 1989
Designates May 1990 as National Trauma Awareness Month.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 1989
Disaster Relief Employment Assistance Act of 1989 - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act to provide emergency disaster relief employment assistance for the reconstruction of areas affected by natural disasters.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 1989
Designates February 4 through February 10, 1990, as National Burn Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 1989
Designates the week of November 12 through November 18, 1989, as Community Foundation Week.
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 1989
Declares it is in the interests of the United States to support efforts to protect South Pacific marine resources (including albacore tuna, porpoises, whales, seals and other marine mammals, birds, sea turtles, and fish) from the slaughter of driftnet fishing. Supports the Tarawa Declaration and the South Pacific Commission resolution calling for an immediate ban on driftnet fishing in the South Pacific. Urges the Secretary of State to work toward an international convention banning driftnet fishing in the South Pacific. Urges Japan and Taiwan to immediately cease the use of driftnets in international South Pacific waters.
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 1989
Approves the location of a commemorative work to honor women who served in the armed forces of the United States in Vietnam during the Vietnam era on certain Federal land in the District of Columbia.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) settlement of the civil war in El Salvador can only be achieved through negotiations to end hostilities and to incorporate the FMLN into the democratic process; (2) President Cristiani and the FMLN should be urged to continue the negotiating process until a successful conclusion; (3) the United States should encourage all parties, including the Salvadoran armed forces, to support the negotiations; and (4) the United States should stand ready to help implement a negotiated settlement by restructuring its assistance program to increase support for land reform and for the construction of health care and educational facilities to benefit the Salvadoran poor.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 1989
Declares that: (1) Antarctica is a global ecological commons and should be managed under a new agreement among the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties or a protocol to the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities which should for an indefinite period establish Antarctica as a region closed to commercial minerals development and related activities; (2) under such new agreement, information about minerals or other resources in Antarctica should be obtained under strictly controlled arrangements and should be openly shared in the international scientific community; (3) the Convention is not adequate to protect the environment of Antarctica and could stimulate commercial exploitation; (4) pending the negotiations and entry into force of a new agreement or protocol ensuring the full protection of Antarctica as a global ecological commons, the President should not present the Convention to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification; (5) the United States should support the interim measures presently in force among nations signatory to the Convention; and (6) the negotiation of such a new agreement or protocol should be a major item on the agenda of the pending XV Antarctic Treaty Consultative meeting opening on October 9, 1989.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 1989
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to prepare a document containing a detailed description of the benefits, limitations, procedures, requirements, and other aspects of the education programs administered by the Department. Requires the Secretary to distribute the document: (1) to individuals applying for benefits under an education program administered by the Department and to such individuals receiving benefits at least annually thereafter; (2) to education and training institution officials on at least an annual basis; and (3) upon request, to other individuals affected by education programs administered by the Secretary, including military education personnel. Adds the chapter which pertains to training and rehabilitation for veterans with service-connected disabilities to existing law provisions which: (1) require the veteran and the educational institution offering a course in which such veteran is enrolled to report to the Secretary such enrollment and any interruption or termination of the education of such veteran; (2) require the Secretary, prior to making payment of a reporting fee to an educational institution, to require such institution to certify that it has exercised reasonable diligence in determining whether such institution or any course offered by such institution approved for the enrollment of veterans meets certain applicable requirements and that it will report any failure to meet any such requirement to the Secretary; and (3) authorize the Secretary to pay to any educational institution or to any joint apprenticeship training committee acting as a training establishment a reporting fee which will be in lieu of any other compensation or reimbursement for reports or certifications which such institution or training committee is required to submit to the Secretary. Repeals portions of the work-study allowance provision relating to the number of hours worked by veterans-students and the compensation received for such work. Changes the eligibility for such allowance from veteran-students who are pursuing full-time programs of rehabilitation, education, or training to individuals who are pursuing such programs at least half-time. Authorizes the Secretary to renew payment of previously discontinued educational assistance allowances only upon finding that: (1) the veteran will be resuming enrollment at the same educational institution in the same program and such institution has both approved the veteran's reenrollment and certified it to the Department of Veterans Affairs; or (2) in the case of a proposed change of either educational institution or program of education by the veteran, the cause of the unsatisfactory conduct or progress has been removed; the program proposed to be pursued is suitable to the veteran's aptitudes, interests, and abilities; and if a proposed change of program is involved, the change meets the requirements for approval under the change of program provisions of the Veterans' Benefits statute. Makes parallel changes with respect to the survivors' and dependents' educational assistance program. Provides that payment of an educational assistance allowance in the case of an eligible individual pursuing a program of education on less than a half-time basis shall be made in a lump-sum amount for the entire quarter, semester, or term not later than the last day of the month immediately following the month in which certification is received from the educational institution that such individual has enrolled and is pursuing a program at such institution. Provides for the reduction of the entitlement provided pursuant to the apprenticeship or other on-job training provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 1989
Revises the articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives against Walter L. Nixon, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 1989
Provides for a message to be sent to the Senate informing the Senate that the House of Representatives has adopted amendments to the articles of impeachment exhibited against Walter L. Nixon, Jr., a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1989
Centralized Certification of Socially and Economically Disadvantaged and Women Owned Business Enterprises Act of 1989 - Mandates that any entity seeking certification as a socially and economically disadvantaged business enterprise or as a women owned business enterprise in order to participate in any federally funded program must submit a request for such certification to the Administrator of the Small Business Administration. Provides that such certification shall be the only one required under any such program. Directs the Administrator to promulgate certification standards. Declares that the community property laws of a jurisdiction shall not apply with respect to such certification.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1989
Amends the Rail Passenger Service Act to repeal an exemption from specified communicable disease control requirements of the Public Health Service Act for waste disposal from railroads operating in intercity rail passenger service.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1989
Designates March 3, 1990, as United States Naval Reserve Day in recognition of the Reserve's 75th anniversary.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1989
Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in any case in which there has been either a disallowance of a veterans benefits claim or a partially awarded claim, to provide to the claimant a written statement setting forth notice of procedural rights of the claimant and the rationale for the disallowance. Requires that such statement: (1) be provided at each procedural stage relating to the disposition of a claim; (2) include a summary of the evidence supporting the disallowance or the partial award; (3) be in such forms as the Secretary prescribes by regulation; (4) include a description of each subsequent procedural stage before the Department of Veterans Affairs; (5) include a description of all rights of the claimant expressly provided for in the veterans' benefits code, the claimant's right to a hearing, to reconsideration, to appeal, and to representation, and any specific procedures necessary to obtain the various forms of review available for consideration of the claim; and (6) include such other information as the Secretary determines would be useful and practical to assist the claimant in obtaining full consideration of the claim. Adds parallel requirements with respect to the Chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1989
Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) to require the President to develop a Fish and Wildlife Response Plan. Specifies that such Plan shall include: (1) establishment of procedures, assignment of duties and responsibilities among Federal departments and agencies, and identification of resources to ensure rapid and effective response in protecting, rescuing, and monitoring fish and wildlife threatened or injured by oil or hazardous substance discharges; (2) identification and prioritization of habitats critical to the survival of fish and wildlife which are at substantial risk of damage from such a discharge; (3) establishment of procedures to provide and train personnel to protect, rescue, and rehabilitate fish and wildlife in case of such a discharge; (4) establishment of procedures to procure and maintain facilities, equipment, and supplies for the protection and rescue of threatened or injured fish and wildlife; and (5) establishment of procedures to maintain a communications network among Federal, State, and local governmental agencies and private entities engaged in activities under the Plan. Requires the President: (1) to revise the National Contingency Plan under the FWPCA and (2) to report to the Congress annually concerning the activities of Federal agencies responsible for implementing the Fish and Wildlife Response Plan.
United States · United States Congress · 6 September 1989
Recognizes and commemorates the centennial of Yosemite National Park, created by Congress in 1890.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1989
Veterans Health Professionals Educational Amendments of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to institute a Reserve member stipend program under the Armed Forces Educational Assistance Program. Requires an individual, in order to be eligible for such assistance, to be accepted or enrolled as a full-time student at a qualifying educational institution in a course of education or training approved by the Secretary and that leads toward completion of a degree in a health profession involving direct patient care or care incident to such direct patient care. Prohibits the Secretary from approving the application of an individual applying for such assistance unless the individual is entitled to benefits under the Reserve GI Bill program and the individual achieved a certain qualifying score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test. Authorizes the Secretary to pay a qualifying individual $400 monthly under such program. Requires a period of obligated service as a full-time employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs from a participating individual in return for such assistance. Makes such an individual liable to the United States for failure to serve in the Department at a health-care facility for the agreed upon period. Increases the reserve member stipend amount whenever there is a general Federal pay increase.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1989
Yosemite National Park Centennial Medal Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to strike and sell not more than 750,000 gold, silver, and bronze medals in commemoration of the centennial of Yosemite National Park, California, in 1990. Requires that all sales of such medals include a surcharge of $35 per medal for the gold medals, $7 per medal for the silver medals, and $2 per medal for the bronze medals. Requires that all surcharges be paid to an endowment fund for the benefit of the Park to be administered by the National Park Foundation. Requires that the interest from the fund be paid to the Secretary of the Interior to fund special supplemental projects relating to back country trail development and rehabilitation and the preservation of Sequoia groves within the boundaries of the Park. Requires the Secretaries to enter into a memorandum agreement to allow: (1) the Secretary of the Treasury to deliver medals to the Secretary of the Interior; and (2) the Secretary of the Interior to provide for the sale of the medals in National Park facilities. Grants the Comptroller General the right to examine all records of the National Park Foundation which are related to such medals. Provides that no medals may be struck after December 31, 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1989
Motor Vehicle Emission Control Act of 1989 - Amends the Clean Air Act to set standards for emissions of: (1) hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides from light duty vehicles manufactured after model year 1992; (2) carbon monoxide and particulates from light-duty vehicles manufactured after model year 1991; (3) hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide from trucks manufactured after model year 1992; (4) nitrogen oxides from heavy-duty trucks manufactured after model year 1993; and (5) particulates from heavy-duty trucks and buses manufactured after model year 1990. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate standards for motor vehicles burning low-emissions fuel. Provides for the revision of such standards, as necessary. Directs the Administrator to establish a minimum percentage of new motor vehicles to be certified as low-emissions vehicles to assure compliance with the Clean Air Act. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations that prohibit the manufacture or introduction into commerce of any vehicle or engine manufactured after model year 1990 that requires leaded gasoline. Directs the Administrator to promulgate standards for emissions of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxides from internal combustion engines manufactured after 1992 that are used in vehicles or machinery. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations to add an idle test to the Federal Test Procedure for light-duty vehicles manufactured after model year 1991. Requires the Administrator to revise regulations regarding selective enforcement auditing of new light-duty vehicles manufactured after model year 1990 so that the maximum percentage of failing vehicles is ten percent. Requires the Administrator to review and revise, as necessary, regulations regarding testing of motor vehicles and engines to insure that vehicles are tested under circumstances which reflect actual driving conditions. Prohibits averaging of performance standards of various vehicles, engine families, or models manufactured by the same manufacturer for purposes of complying with emissions standards under the Clean Air Act. Provides that the useful life of vehicles and engines manufactured after model year 1994 shall be ten years of use or 100,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Requires all vehicles and engines manufactured after model year 1990 to comply with emissions standards under the Clean Air Act regardless of the altitude at which they are sold. Directs the Administrator to establish a high altitude testing center to insure that motor vehicles and engines comply with such Act. Authorizes appropriations. Requires manufacturers and importers to offer necessary incentives to insure at least a 75 percent response by vehicle owners to notifications of nonconformity with regulations. Requires State implementation plans for nonattainment areas to contain measures to increase compliance with recall notifications. Directs the Administrator to consider information from any State vehicle emission control inspection and maintenance program when making determinations of nonconformity. Authorizes States to petition the Administrator to make determinations based on such information. Permits the Administrator to issue regulations establishing minimum criteria for State programs to assure that they are suitable for effective enforcement. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations requiring States with vehicle inspection and maintenance programs to adopt quality control audits and reporting requirements to assure that such inspections detect and report to the Administrator any defects in a manufacturer's emissions control system. Requires the Administrator to report annually to the Congress on any significant finding of repeated or common emission system defects and the actions taken to remedy such nonconformities. Revises penalty provisions of the Clean Air Act, including those concerning the tampering with of emissions control devices. Requires the Administrator to amend certain regulations to require the use of best available technology to control evaporative emissions for a vehicle's useful life. Sets standards for emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and evaporative hydrocarbons from motorcycles and motorcycle engines manufactured after model year 1991. Requires the Administrator to amend certain regulations to require the installation of onboard emissions diagnostic systems on motor vehicles. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations to reduce evaporative emissions from motor vehicle fuels. Requires such regulations to include a gasoline volatility standard to be applied to all gasoline introduced into commerce for use during high ozone periods of the year. Sets a Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) standard for gasoline used in Class C areas. Designates the period between May 16 and September 15, or such longer period as the Administrator establishes, as the high ozone period. Requires the Administrator to allow an increased RVP for oxygenated fuels. Prohibits the introduction into commerce of gasoline with less than a specified oxygen content in carbon monoxide nonattainment areas during October 1 through April 1 of each year. Requires the Administrator to report to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the increased use of oxygenated fuels. Prohibits, after July 1, 1990, the introduction into commerce of diesel fuel which exceeds a specified sulfur content limit. Requires fuels used in certifications of heavy-duty vehicles and engines manufactured after model year 1992 to meet such standard. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress on whether such standard is necessary for vehicles and engines to meet particulate emissions standards or regulations or to protect public health. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations prohibiting the introduction into commerce, after October 1, 1993, of diesel fuel which has an aromatic hydrocarbon content over ten percent by volume. Directs the Administrator to promulgate standards requiring all new light-duty vehicles to be equipped with onboard evaporative emissions control systems that provide emissions capture efficiency of 95 percent. Requires passenger cars and light-duty trucks manufactured after model year 1992 to be tested for carbon monoxide emissions at 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Sets specified emissions standards for such test. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations to achieve reductions in in-use motor vehicle emissions of carbon dioxide. Requires emissions reductions of at least 20 percent by 2005 and 50 percent by 2025. Directs the Administrator to undertake to enter into arrangements with the National Academy of Sciences to study the feasibility of meeting such reduction requirements. Applies certain requirements for another feasibility study under the Clean Air Act to such study.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1989
Designates the Federal plaza located between the Twin Towers of the Oakland Federal Building in Oakland, California, as the Donald P. McCullum Memorial Plaza.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1989
Adult Literacy and Employability Act of 1989 - Title I: Literacy Coordination - Establishes a Joint Presidential-Congressional Task Force on Adult Literacy. Requires the Task Force to report to the Council for Literacy Coordination established by this Act. Terminates the Task Force six months after its last member is appointed. Authorizes appropriations for the Task Force for FY 1990. Establishes the Cabinet Council for Literacy Coordination (the Council). Requires the Council to report annually to the Congress and the President. Authorizes appropriations for the Council for FY 1990 through 1993. Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to establish in the Department of Education an Office of Adult Literacy, to be administered by a Director of such Office. Requires the Director to: (1) coordinate the administration of literacy programs within the Department; and (2) work with the Cabinet Council for Literacy to coordinate related activities. Establishes the National Center for Adult Literacy as a nonprofit corporation which will not be an agency or establishment of the Federal Government. Divides the Center into a research institute, a technical assistance and training institute, and a policy analysis institute. Requires an annual report to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations for the Center for FY 1990 through 1994. Directs the Chairperson of the Council to make grants to States for a network of State or regional adult literacy resource centers. Authorizes appropriations for such grants for FY 1990 through 1992 and succeeding fiscal years. Requires each State that receives adult literacy assistance under an applicable Federal program to: (1) establish a State advisory board on literacy; and (2) submit a State literacy coordination plan. Requires the State Governor to report annually to the Council. Title II: Investment in Literacy - Amends the Adult Education Act (AEA) to increase and extend through FY 1995 the authorization of appropriations for AEA programs. Revises allotment provisions. Requires limitations on the use of funds to: (1) eliminate a cap on high school equivalency certificate programs; and (2) require that a specified amount be used to support adult education and literacy services provided by community-based organizations and nonprofit volunteer agencies. Includes among projects for which State must expand a portion of their AEA allotments: (1) development and expansion of innovative programs; and (2) support for statewide volunteer technical assistance activities. Eliminates certain maintenance of effort requirements. Authorizes the Chairperson of the Council to make matching challenge grants to State for investment in adult literacy instruction staff training and educational technology. Allows States, for purposes of matching such grants, to reserve specified portions of funds for FY 1990 through 1995 under specified Federal laws. Requires that States receiving such grants make available federally-assisted adult literacy program equipment, facilities, or training services, when not in program use or when surplus capacity exists, to other adult literacy programs (without charge or in certain circumstances at cost). Authorizes appropriations for such challenge grants for FY 1990 and succeeding fiscal years. Establishes a Literacy Leader Training Fund. Directs the Secretary of Education (the Secretary), through the Office of Adult Literacy, to make scholarship grants from the Fund to individuals pursuing careers in adult education, instruction, management, research, or innovation, for education or research to expand their expertise. Authorizes appropriations for such purposes for FY 1990 and succeeding fiscal years. Amends the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) to establish a library literacy demonstration program. Directs the Secretary to make grants to State and local public libraries for model innovative programs for delivery of adult literacy services, including development of technology-based centers. Requires that a peer review panel advise on grant criteria and application review, and that an expert in library literacy activities administer such program in the Department of Education. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994 for such library literacy demonstration program. Extends through FY 1994 the authorization of appropriations for other LSCA library literacy programs. Title III: Family Literacy - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary to carry out through the Office of Adult Literacy the Secretary's functions under the Even Start program (which integrates early childhood education and adult education for parents). Title IV: Workplace Literacy - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) to provide for workplace literacy skills and programs. Revises State education coordination and grant programs to provide financial assistance for any State education, labor, or economic development agency (or consortia) to enhance provision of statewide workplace literacy training and education through cooperative agreements between appropriate agencies and organizations. Requires that at least 75 percent of funds for such activities be used to improve program quality by means such as application of learning technology, model program development, and investment in staff training and services targeted at participants lacking workplace skills. Revises general program requirements for the service delivery system to require private industry councils to give priority to participant placements with businesses and industries that have a workplace literacy program or are willing to develop one with other public and private agencies. Makes individuals lacking workplace literacy skills eligible for adult and youth training program services. Requires, beginning in program year 1990, that at least 40 percent of adult program participants in each service delivery area (SDA) be in need of and be offered basic training through an individual workplace literacy plan. Requires assessment and testing of each potential participant's workplace literacy skills and employment skills. Allows participants who have been placed in employment to continue workplace literacy training until they have achieved their goal or for at least two years, whichever is earlier. Requires SDAs to provide such training for such duration to participants who need and would benefit from it. Allows such training to include workplace literacy training and English-as-a-second-language. Requires such activities to be described in an individualized workplace literacy plan for each participant, including goals based on participant needs. Requires that eligible dislocated workers lacking workplace literacy be offered basic skills training for at least a two-year period from the date of entry into the program. Establishes a Workplace Literacy Demonstration Program. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to make grants for joint ventures of business, industry, or labor (or consortia) cooperating with State, County, or local governments or private industry councils (or consortia) to provide large-scale model development approaches to improving the basic workplace skills of the workforce. Requires the use of such funds for: (1) basic skills training; (2) specific program offerings; (3) assessments of individual and workplace skill needs; (4) program evaluations; and (5) technology-based learning environments. Sets forth matching requirements for grantees. Requires independent evaluation of such programs. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1995 for such programs.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1989
Economic Equity Act of 1989 - Title I: Employment - Subtitle A: Pay Equity Technical Assistance to Public and Private Sector - Pay Equity Technical Assistance Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor to develop and implement a continuing program of information dissemination, research, and technical assistance to public and private entities with respect to correction of wage-setting practices, and reduction or elimination of wage disparities, to the extent that they are based on the sex, race, or national origin of the employee, rather than on the work performed and other appropriate factors. Subtitle B: Legislative Pay Equity Commission and Study - Establishes a Commission on Employment Discrimination in the Legislative Branch. Directs the Commission to: (1) employ a nongovernmental consultant to study the compensation paid to Library of Congress personnel and analyze personnel policies of the Library; (2) evaluate the compensation system of the Library for compliance with title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and make any recommendations needed to achieve compliance; (3) develop a plan for the application of title VII throughout the legislative branch; and (4) make recommendations to the Congress for improvement of personnel policies and practices in the legislative branch. Directs the Commission to submit a final report to the Congress 18 months after enactment of this Act. Terminates the Commission 30 days after submission of the final report. Subtitle C: Extension of Benefits to Part-Time and Temporary Workers - Part-Time and Temporary Workers Protection Act of 1989 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to bring certain part-time employees within the participation, vesting, and accrual rules governing pension plans. Addresses any employee who, within a relevant 12-month period: (1) has customarily completed more than 500 but fewer than 1,000 hours of service; or (2) is employed in a type of position in which employment customarily consists of such a number of hours. Provides that completion of such hours of service will be treated as completion of 1,000 hours of service (thereby bringing the employee within the ERISA benefit framework). Permits a reduction in the employer-provided premium under a group health plan in the case of a part-time employee only when such employee: (1) has customarily completed fewer than 30 hours of service per week; or (2) is employed in a type of position in which employment customarily consists of such a number of hours. Limits such a premium reduction, when permissible, to not less than a ratable portion of the premium ordinarily provided in the case of an employee who completes 30 hours of service per week. Revises the ERISA definition of "employee" to include non-employees who, pursuant to a contract or agreement, provide employee-like services to an employer for at least one year at the rate of 500 or more hours per year. Subtitle D: Federal Council on Women - Federal Council on Women Act - Establishes a Federal Council on Women to: (1) collect and evaluate information with respect to any problems that are particular to women in the United States; (2) review and evaluate Federal policy related to any such problems; (3) coordinate the activities of the Council with similar activities conducted by States, local governments, and concerned organizations; and (4) make recommendations. Directs the Council to report its findings and recommendations to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Maintenance of Sex Equity Set-Asides in Vocational Education Programs - Amends the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act (the Act) to include displaced homemakers in the vocational education program for single parents or homemakers. Makes single pregnant women eligible for such program. Directs the administrator of such program, and of the sex equity program, to: (1) distribute to community-based organizations the State allotment for such programs on a competitive basis; and (2) develop procedures for appropriate data collection from fund recipients for program evaluation. Requires States to: (1) develop an annual plan for use of funds; (2) manage funds distribution; (3) monitor recipients' use of funds; and (4) evaluate program effectiveness. Provides for pre-vocational services to single parents, single pregnant women, homemakers, and displaced homemakers. Allows use of funds for dependent care (currently only child care) as part of such services. Directs the Secretary of Education to conduct biennial oversight visits to the States to determine if funds for programs for single parents, single pregnant women, and for elimination of sex bias and stereotyping in secondary and postsecondary education are being allocated, distributed, and used in accordance with the Act. Provides that assistance under the Act shall not effect an individual's eligibility for assistance under other Federal programs. Directs the General Accounting Office, within 18 months, to conduct a study of State compliance with specified assurances required under the Act. Subtitle F: Women in Business Procurement Assistance - Women's Business Procurement Assistance Act of 1989 - Amends the Small Business Act to add to existing goals for participation of small business concerns in Federal procurement contracts the participation of small business concerns owned and controlled by women. Requires the head of each Federal agency to report to the Small Business Administration (SBA) on the extent that small business concerns owned and controlled by women participate in procurement contracts and subcontracts. Declares it is the policy of the United States that small business concerns owned and controlled by women shall have the maximum opportunity to participate in the performance of contracts and subcontracts let by any Federal agency. Precludes the award of any contract unless the procurement authority determines that the offeror's plan includes the maximum opportunity for participation of small business concerns owned and controlled by women. Authorizes any Federal agency, when dealing with negotiated contracts, to provide such incentives as it may deem appropriate in order to encourage subcontracting opportunities for small business concerns owned and controlled by women. Requires the SBA to report annually to certain congressional committees on subcontracting plans found acceptable by any Federal agency which the SBA determines do not contain maximum opportunities for small business concerns owned and controlled by women. Requires the Director of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization for each Federal agency to designate an employee of that Director's office to be a Women-in-Business Specialist. Requires each Federal agency having procurement powers to affirmatively solicit offers from small business concerns owned and controlled by women and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Title II: Economic Security - Subtitle A: Earnings Sharing by Married Couples - Social Security Modernization Act - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to provide that the combined earnings of a married couple which are attributable to the period of their marriage shall be shared equally between them for purposes of determining the eligibility for and amount of OASDI benefits to which each spouse is or may become separately entitled. Credits the survivor of the marriage with 100 percent of the combined total wages for the period of the marriage. Provides that this subtitle shall not apply in specified cases where it would result in a reduction of OASDI benefits. Subtitle B: Treatment of Disabled Widows and Widowers - Social Security Disabled Widow's and Widower's Equity Act of 1989 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to repeal the separate definition of disability applicable to widows and widowers. Permits the months of a widow's or widower's entitlement to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits (title XVI of the Social Security Act) on the basis of a disability to be counted towards the 24 months needed to become entitled to hospital insurance benefits under Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) on that basis. Provides full widow's or widower's insurance benefits to disabled widows or widowers without regard to age. Amends the SSI program to preserve the Medicaid (title XIX of the Social Security Act) eligibility of disabled widows or widowers who become ineligible for SSI benefits upon the implementation of this Act's amendments making them eligible for, or increasing their, widow's or widower's insurance benefits. Amends the OASDI program to extend the time period during which a surviving spouse or a surviving divorced spouse must have initially become disabled in order to qualify for widow's or widower's insurance benefits before reaching age 60 in cases where such surviving spouse or surviving divorced spouse has quarters of coverage based on his or her own work after the death of the insured individual on whose wages such benefits are based. Subtitle C: Private Pension Reform - Pension Reform Act of 1989 - Amends the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to extend to all accrued benefits existing in plan year 1989 and thereafter the amendments made with regard to the nondiscriminatory coordination of defined contribution plans with Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI). Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to repeal provisions that permit a certain disparity in simplified employee pension plan contributions with respect to nondiscriminatory coordination with OASDI. Provides for the repeal, effective for plan year 2000 and thereafter, of IRC rules with respect to: (1) the nondiscriminatory coordination of defined contribution plans with OASDI; and (2) pension integration exceptions. Amends the IRC to establish distinct minimum employee coverage requirements applicable in cases when an employer with respect to a plan is treated as operating a single line of business. Requires such a plan to benefit all the employer's employees. Limits the exception to minimum coverage requirements available to employers treated as operating separate lines of business for a year. Amends the IRC and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to eliminate the special vesting requirements governing multiemployer plans. Directs the Comptroller General of the United States, as soon as possible after this Act's enactment, to undertake thorough studies with respect to: (1) possible methods of requiring employee pension plans to provide cost of living and other adjustments to plan benefits; and (2) potential pension portability mechanisms, including ways to preserve and enhance the real value of deferred vested pension benefits. Lists specific items to be addressed in each study. Requires submission of the studies to specified congressional committees within two years of this Act's enactment. Subtitle D: Eligibility of Displaced Homemakers for First-Time Homebuyers Assistance - Displaced Homemakers and Single Parents Homeownership Assistance Act - States that displaced homemakers and single parents shall not be deemed ineligible for Federal assistance for first-time homebuyers on the basis of previous home ownership or residence while married or a homemaker. Subtitle E: Section 8 Housing Assistance for Domestic Violence Victims - Family Housing Options Program Act of 1989 - Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to reserve at least five percent of section 8 housing assistance for families affected by domestic violence and for homeless families. Requires administration of such program through the local public housing agencies. Permits assistance to be used in shared housing arrangements if the family receiving assistance so consents. States that rent contributions made by a family in such an arrangement shall not be considered income to the participating family for purposes of specified housing assistance eligibility. Includes among State allocation factors the number of transitional and emergency shelters, domestic violence shelters, and the number of families served by such programs. Requires: (1) each State to make an annual program report to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and (2) the Secretary to include a summary of such reports in the annual section 8 report. Title III: Dependent Care - Subtitle A: Quality Child Care Demonstration Projects - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to not more than ten eligible public agencies and private entities, in urban and rural areas, to administer child development models to increase the quality and availability of child care services. Defines "child development model," with respect to child care services, as an entity capable of providing training and on-going assistance to satellites that provide child care services to sick children or exceptional children, and which is either: (1) a child care development center providing services at a single site (or at multiple sites in reasonably close proximity) to infants, toddlers, preschool children, and school-age children; or (2) a high quality child care program capable of recruiting, training, supporting, and monitoring family child care providers. Directs the Secretary to report by April 1, 1992, to the Congress on such program. Subtitle B: Dependent Care Tax Credit Expansion - Repeals the Internal Revenue Code's nonrefundable income tax credit for employment-related dependent care expenses, replacing it with a corresponding refundable 50 percent credit, reduced (but not below 20 percent) as the taxpayer's adjusted gross income exceeds $15,000 (adjusted for inflation). Includes within the scope of the new credit up to $1,200 ($2,400 in the case of more than one qualifying individual) of respite care expenses incurred in the care of: (1) a dependent of the taxpayer who is at least 15 years old; or (2) a spouse or other dependent who is physically or mentally incapable of self-care. Subtitle C: Mortgage Financing for Family Day Care Centers - Small Day Care Center Assistance Act - Amends the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation Act to define the term "mortgage" to include a mortgage secured by a one-to-four family residential property that is occupied as a residence and in which child care service is legally provided. Subtitle D: Flexible Work Force Tax Credit - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit an employer tax credit (to a maximum of two percent of wages) for one-third of the aggregate wages (to a maximum of $6,000) attributable to services performed by a full-time employee of the taxpayer who is permitted to work at home or during nonbusiness hours solely in order to reduce dependent care needs. Requires that there be at least a 20 percent reduction in the time of dependent care provided outside the employee's home. Terminates these provisions, subject to exception, after December 31, 1993. Subtitle E: Child Care Services in Transitional Housing - Transitional Housing Child Care Services Act - Amends the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide child care assistance for transitional housing residents. Subtitle F: Title XX Funding Increase - Amends title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) of the Social Security Act to increase the amount authorized for such program in FY 1991 and thereafter. Subtitle G: School-Based Child Care - State Dependent Care Grants Amendments Act of 1989 - Amends the State Dependent Care Development Grants Act to authorize the use of funds for operation of school-age child care services before and after school. Requires that such amounts be earmarked to enable children whose families lack adequate financial resources to participate in before or after school child care programs. Requires State Governors to include specified information in their reports on programs assisted under such Act. Extends until September 30, 1993, the period during which descriptions of intended uses of State allotments must be revised to reflect substantial changes. Title IV: Health - Subtitle A: Breast Cancer Prevention - Older Women's Breast Cancer Prevention Act of 1989 - Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the cap on coverage of screening mammography. Subtitle B: Maternal and Child Health Funding Increase - Amends title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) of the Social Security Act to increase authorized appropriations for such program. Requires States, as a condition of receiving additional funds, to conduct a statewide needs assessment of maternity and infant care, including prenatal care and prevention of low birthweight and infant mortality, and to develop a plan to meet those needs. Changes State reporting requirements to monitor plan implementation results. Subtitle C: Infant Mortality Education and Health Services in Public Housing - Public Housing One-Stop Perinatal Services Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to carry out a program to demonstrate the effectiveness of grants to public housing agencies for providing facilities for one-stop perinatal services programs for pregnant women who reside in public housing. Sets forth preferences in selecting the agencies to receive grants. Limits the aggregate amount provided under these provisions for any public housing project to a specified sum. Requires services and facilities provided or assisted with grants under these provisions to comply with all applicable State and local laws, regulations, and ordinances, and all requirements established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for such services and facilities. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Domestic Violence Judiciary Training Grants - Amends the State Justice Institute Act of 1984 to authorize the use of Institute funds to conduct up to five projects to: (1) investigate and carry out research regarding State judicial decisions relating to child custody litigation involving domestic violence; (2) develop training curricula to assist State courts to develop an understanding of, and appropriate responses to, child custody litigation involving domestic violence; and (3) disseminate the results of such investigation and research and the curricula to State courts. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1992. Subtitle E: Sense of Congress on Child Custody - Expresses the sense of the Congress that, for purposes of determining child custody, evidence of spousal abuse should create a statutory presumption that it is detrimental to the child to be placed in the custody of the abusive parent. Subtitle F: Immigration Reform for Domestic Violence Victims - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit certain battered alien spouses to apply for permanent residence without filing a joint petition (and interview) with the citizen spouse. Requires such an alien spouse to demonstrate: (1) that the marriage was entered into with good faith; and (2) evidence of physical abuse or extreme mental cruelty. Subtitle G: Long-Term Care Workers Demonstration Projects - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to require the Commissioner on Aging to give special consideration to funding demonstration projects providing older individuals with the opportunity to serve as volunteers furnishing long-term care services to nursing home residents. Subtitle H: Sense of Congress on Caregivers - Declares that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) recognition and further attention should be given to the professional and personal needs of long-term care aides; (2) expanded access to health and pension benefits should be provided to such aides; (3) long-term care policy makers should recognize that problems of female household heads and minority workers affect most nursing care aides; (4) more data is needed on home health and nursing home aides; (5) expanded recruitment of specified groups should be considered to abate the long-term care aide shortage; and (6) changes should be made in nursing aide positions to ensure integration into management structures and to enhance attraction to careers in long-term care.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1989
High Risk Occupational Disease Notification and Prevention Act - Establishes a Risk Assessment Board (the Board), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to: (1) review pertinent medical and scientific reports on the incidence of disease associated with exposure to occupational health hazards; (2) identify and designate populations at risk that should receive notification; (3) develop a form and method of notification that will be used by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary); and (4) determine the appropriate type of medical monitoring or beneficial health counseling. Sets forth factors for Board consideration and priorities in designating populations at risk of disease for notification. Directs the Secretary to make every reasonable effort to ensure that each individual within a population at risk of disease is notified of the risk. Requires the Secretary, through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), to conduct the required notification, with specified exceptions. Allows an employer to apply to NIOSH for an exemption from such employee notification because that employer's employees are not at risk of disease because of significant mitigating factors. Provides for telephone "hot lines" and other dissemination of information. Authorizes the Secretary to certify a private employer or a State or local government to conduct notification. Provides for judicial review of Board determinations. Requires the Secretary to establish and certify ten occupational and environmental health centers to: (1) provide education, training, and technical assistance to personal physicians and health and social service professionals who serve employees notified that they are at risk under this Act; and (2) provide diagnosis, treatment, and medical monitoring and family services for such employees. Directs the Secretary to make grants to conduct research, training, and education aimed at improving the means of identifying employees exposed to occupational health hazards and improving medical assistance to such employees. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and contracts for training and curriculum development in occupational medicine or health to schools of medicine and of nursing. Provides that such assistance shall be for projects: (1) at schools with occupational medicine or health programs, for faculty continuing education, curricula and training materials for undergraduate medical or nursing training, and clinical training for residents in graduate medical programs; and (2) at schools without such programs, for faculty training. Directs the Secretary, during FY 1991 through 1993, to make such grants and contracts to at least ten schools of medicine or nursing. Requires that the medical monitoring recommended by the Board be provided by the current employer: (1) at no additional cost to the employee (above any existing employee health care contribution), if any part of the exposure occurred in the course of employment by that employer; or (2) at a charge to the employee not exceeding the additional cost to the employer (above any existing employer health care contribution), or at no charge, if no part of such exposure occurred in the course of employment by that employer. Sets forth special rules for medical monitoring by small businesses and of seasonal agricultural workers. Prohibits discharging or discriminating against employees, or applicants for employment, on the basis that they are or have been members of a population at risk. Makes an exception to such prohibition if the position which the applicant seeks requires exposure to the occupational health hazard which is the subject to the notice. Allows an employer with 50 or fewer employees to transfer an employee who is or has been a member of a population at risk to another job if earnings, seniority, and other employment rights and benefits are as comparable as possible to the old job and if the terms of an applicable collective bargaining agreement are not violated. Grants the option of being transferred to a less hazardous or nonexposed job to any employee member of a population at risk who is determined by a physician to show evidence of developing the disease described in the notice or other symptoms or conditions increasing the likelihood or incidence of such disease. Requires that the employee maintain earnings, seniority, and other employment rights and benefits of the former job. Sets forth procedures for independent reconsideration of the initial medical determination. Sets forth special rules for medical removal. Makes such protection inapplicable to seasonal agricultural workers with less than six months continuous employment with an employer. Exempts from the requirement of medical removal protection any employer who has 50 or fewer employees and who has made or is making a reasonable good faith effort to eliminate the occupational health hazard that is the basis for the medical removal decision. Provides for confidentiality of employee records unless disclosure is authorized by and is necessary to carry out a provision of this Act, or is authorized by the employee. Permits employees aggrieved by violations of provisions involving medical monitoring, medical removal, discrimination, and confidentiality to apply, within six months after the violation occurs, to the Secretary of Labor for a review of the alleged violation. Sets forth provisions for investigations, actions, defenses, determinations, and appeals in such cases. Provides for reinstatement and other relief for employees injured by such violations. Sets forth civil penalties for such violations. Authorizes the Secretary (of HHS) to bring an action in U.S. district court to enjoin an employer from violating this Act. Directs the Secretary of Labor to report annually to the Congress on the implementation and enforcement of the hazard communication standard. Directs the Secretary of HHS to report annually to the Congress on the implementation and enforcement of notification under this Act. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1993.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 1989
Nontraditional Employment for Women Act - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (the Act) to define "nontraditional employment," as applied to women, to refer to occupations or fields of work where women comprise less than 25 percent of the individuals employed. Requires service delivery area (SDA) job training plans to include: (1) goals for the training of women in nontraditional employment and the training-related placement of women in nontraditional employment and apprenticeship; (2) a description of efforts to be undertaken to accomplish such goals, including efforts to increase awareness of such training and placement opportunities; and (3) procedures for annual reporting of the extent to which the SDA has met such goals and of a statistical breakdown of women trained and placed in nontraditional occupations, including specified types of information. Requires the State Governor's coordination and special services plan also to include such goals and descriptions of efforts for training and placement of women in nontraditional employment under the Act and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act. Directs the State job training coordinating council to: (1) review, summarize, and annually disseminate the results of SDAs' and Governor's efforts to train and place women in nontraditional employment; and (2) obtain from the sex equity coordinator under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act a summary of activities and an analysis of results under that and disseminate them annually. Requires State education coordination grant recipients to provide statewide coordinated approaches, including model programs, to train, place, and retain women in nontraditional employment. Allows the use of funds under title II (Training Services for the Disadvantaged) for outreach activities relating to education, training, work experience, and retention of women in nontraditional employment. Directs the Secretary of Labor to use a specified portion of funds for national activities under the Act for FY 1990 through 1993 to make grants to States to develop demonstration and exemplary programs to train and place women in nontraditional employment. Limits such grants to no more than six per fiscal year. Allows States receiving such assistance to award grants to service providers and SDAs under specified conditions. Requires States to ensure that such grants are awarded for training, placing, and retaining women in growth occupations with increased wage potential. Directs the Secretary of Labor to provide for evaluation of such demonstration programs. Directs the Secretary of Labor to report, with recommendations, to the Congress within five years on the extent of success of States and SDAs, and the effectiveness of such demonstration programs, in training, placing, and retaining women in nontraditional employment.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 1989
Veterans PTSD Treatment and Psychological Readjustment Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to increase the number of: (1) vet centers currently in existence by 20 additional units by December 31, 1991, and by 20 more units by December 31, 1994; and (2) post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment facilities currently in existence by 15 additional units by December 31, 1991, and by 15 more units by December 31, 1994. Requires new vet centers to be established in cities which do not have such centers. Earmarks a specified amount of FY 1990 PTSD funding for contracts with private facilities and therapists for the provision of PTSD treatment. Requires the Secretary, in administering the Health Professionals Educational Assistance Program, to encourage the participation of individuals in the program who desire to become psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric nurses specializing in the treatment of PTSD. Directs the Secretary to establish the Advisory Committee on Readjustment of Veterans. Requires the Secretary to consult with, and seek the advice of, the Committee with respect to: (1) the administration of Department benefits for veterans, particularly Vietnam veterans; (2) reports and studies pertaining to veterans, particularly Vietnam veterans; and (3) the needs of all veterans with respect to compensation, health care, readjustment, outreach, and other benefits and programs administered by the Department. Requires the Committee to report annually to the Secretary pertaining to the social, economic, educational, and psychological readjustment of veterans. Requires the Secretary to submit such reports to the Congress, along with comments and recommendations. Authorizes the Secretary to conduct a pilot program to contract for care and treatment and rehabilitative services in halfway houses, therapeutic communities, psychiatric residential treatment centers, and other community-based treatment facilities for eligible veterans suffering from PTSD. Requires the Chief Medical Director (CMD) to plan, design, and conduct such program. Requires the Secretary to approve the quality and effectiveness of a program operated by a contract facility before allowing veterans to be furnished treatment there under the pilot program. Directs the Secretary to: (1) urge all public and private entities to provide appropriate employment and training opportunities to veterans who have been provided treatment and rehabilitative services under this Act for PTSD and who have been determined to be sufficiently rehabilitated to be employable; and (2) provide all possible assistance to the Secretary of Labor in placing such veterans in such opportunities. Requires the Secretary to provide referral services and advice to veterans discharged or released from active service who are not eligible for PTSD treatment and services. Outlines provisions concerning the transfer of veterans to contract care facilities for treatment of PTSD, requiring such transfer only within 30 days of such member's enlisted tour of duty and only if such person requests such a transfer while on active duty. Limits the period of such care and rehabilitative services to five years after the fiscal year in which the pilot program is initiated. Requires the Secretary to report to the Senate and House Veterans' Affairs Committees on findings and recommendations pertaining to the operation of the pilot program authorized under this Act. Directs the CMD of the Department to conduct a research program relating to the treatment of PTSD.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1989
Veterans Agent Orange Exposure and Vietnam Service Benefits Act of 1989 - Provides that the disease of chloracne in Vietnam veterans shall be considered to have been service-connected if such disease became manifest to a ten percent or more degree of disability within one year after the last date on which the veteran performed such service in Vietnam. Presumes the following diseases to be service-connected for veterans who performed active service in Vietnam during the Vietnam era, notwithstanding that there is no record of evidence of such disease during the period of such service: (1) non-Hodgkins lymphoma; (2) soft-tissue sarcoma; and (3) melanoma and basal cell carcinoma. Provides a presumption of service-connection in the case of a Vietnam veteran suffering from a disease associated with effects of exposure to certain dioxins or other herbicide agents during such service in Vietnam. Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations listing a positive association between any disease and the biological effects of exposure to an herbicide agent in Vietnam. Requires the Secretary to update such list continually. Requires the Secretary, in prescribing and revising such list, to obtain by contract the determinations and estimates of a contract scientific organization. Requires such organization to: (1) determine which diseases have any degree of association with the biological effects of exposure to an herbicide agent; and (2) estimate the extent of association between each such disease and each such biological effects. Requires the organization to determine such association specifically with respect to non-Hodgkins lymphoma, each soft-tissue sarcoma, lung cancer, and each other cancer. Outlines contract provisions required in such agreements between the Secretary and the scientific organization, including surveys, evaluations, and periodic determinations. Requires such scientific organization to provide reports to the Secretary and the Senate and House Veterans' Affairs Committees regarding its determinations and evaluations. Requires such organization to determine, in the effect of a positive association, whether there is a reasonable basis for concluding that a Vietnam veteran with the highest level of exposure to that herbicide agent in Vietnam was exposed to such agent under the circumstances necessary for such biological effects. Requires a report from the organization to the Secretary and the veterans' committees when there is no such reasonable basis found. Requires the Secretary to make certain determinations and follow-up reports after receiving such reports from the contract scientific organization, including the issuance of a report to the veterans' committees and the promulgation of positive association regulations, if necessary. Requires benefits to be continued even though a disease is removed from the regulations listing diseases having positive associations. Terminates such contracting authority ten years after the first day of the fiscal year in which a scientific organization transmits its first report to the Secretary. Provides special effective dates. Directs the Secretary to compile and analyze all clinical data that: (1) is obtained by the Department in connection with examinations and treatment of veterans for disabilities related to exposure to certain herbicides or to service in Vietnam; and (2) is likely to be scientifically useful in determining the association, if any, between the disabilities of such veterans and their exposure to such herbicides and other toxic substances. Requires the Secretary to submit an annual report to the veterans' committees concerning such analysis and its results. Directs the Secretary to consult with the Director of the National Institutes of Health Research and Grants Division (NIH) before compiling and analyzing such information. Requires the Director of NIH to review each annual report submitted by the Secretary and transmit to the Secretary an evaluation of the contents of each report. Directs the Secretary to establish and maintain a system for the collection and storage of voluntarily contributed samples of blood and tissue of veterans who performed active service in Vietnam during the Vietnam era. Outlines provisions concerning the security and authorized uses of such specimens, as well as limitations on the acceptance of such samples. Requires the Secretary to consult with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to the extent that an agreement has been reached with the NAS serving as the contract scientific organization for the Secretary. Requires the Secretary to consult with the Director of the Medical Follow-up Agency in the event of no agreement with NAS. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to provide for the conduct of studies of the feasibility of conducting additional scientific research on health hazards resulting from: (1) exposure to dioxin; (2) exposure to other toxic agents in herbicides used in support of U.S. and allied military operations in Vietnam during the Vietnam era; and (3) active military, naval, or air service there. Requires the Secretary to report to the veterans' committees on the results of such studies. Requires the Secretary to consult with the NAS before undertaking such studies and requires the NAS, to review such studies and report recommendations to the Secretary and the veterans' committees, to the extent provided under any agreement between the Secretary and NAS. Amends the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 1988 to require the Secretary to annually furnish updated information to veterans listed in the Department of Veterans Affairs' Agent Orange Registry on health risks resulting from exposure to dioxin or other toxic agents in herbicides as a result of service in Vietnam during the Vietnam era. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report to the veterans' committees on the research being conducted to develop treatments for psychological absorption of dioxin and other toxic agents used in herbicides by the United States in Vietnam, including research relating to exposure to dioxin and other toxic agents outside Vietnam. Extends through December 31, 2000, the eligibility for hospital and nursing home care for veterans exposed to toxic substances in Vietnam. Amends the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 1988 to authorize direct consultation between the Ranch Hand Advisory Committee and Department of the Air Force scientists conducting the Ranch Hand Study (a study of the long-term health effects of exposure to phenoxy herbicides and contaminants). Requires the preparation and submission of annual reports and a final report in connection with such study.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1989
Flag Protection Act of 1989 - Amends the Federal criminal code to eliminate knowingly casting contempt on the U.S. flag as an element of desecration of the flag. Provides for the expedited review by the Supreme Court of constitutional issues arising under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1989
Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Leavenworth, Kansas, as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1989
Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Mount Vernon, Missouri, as the Gene Taylor Veterans' Outpatient Clinic.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1989
USHealth Program Act - Division A: USHealth Program - Title I: Eligibility and Enrollment - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to establish the USHealth Program (Program) for the provision of comprehensive medical care, without regard to age or disability status to: (1) U.S. citizens; (2) permanent U.S. residents; and (3) aliens who are employed with a foreign government or international organization and reside in the United States, provided an executive agreement can be arranged with such government or organization for payments into the Program. Provides for the possibility of incorporating foreign visitors into the program. Repeals title XIX (Medicaid) of the Act and provisions of various other benefit programs rendered superfluous by the comprehensive nature of the USHealth Program. Makes conforming amendments to the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974. Title II: Benefits and Providers - Lists Program benefits which comprise: (1) inpatient hospital and inpatient psychiatric hospital services; (2) medical and other health services; (3) comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility services; (4) medical care access facility services; (5) extended care services; (6) home health services; (7) hospice care; (8) long-term care for a chronically ill individual; (9) alcohol and drug abuse rehabilitation services; and (10) outpatient mental health services. Amends the Medicare program to expand covered medical and other health services to include: (1) nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist services; (2) periodic screening and diagnosis of individuals under age 21 to ascertain their physical or mental defects and the care necessary to correct or ameliorate discovered defects; (3) family planning services and supplies for individuals of child-bearing age; (4) private duty nursing services; (5) eyeglasses and dental services, with specified conditions; (6) prescribed drugs and prosthetic devices; (7) physical therapy; and (8) other diagnostic, preventive, and rehabilitative services. Directs the USHealth Board (Board) to review coverage limitations on mental health services and to make such changes as will improve access to such services while containing costs. Requires the Board to report to the Congress on whether Program coverage should include services of pediatric and geriatric assessment units. Makes the Program the primary payor where items and services provided may also be covered by a group health plan. Sets forth certification standards for long-term care, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility services, outpatient physical therapy services, and outpatient speech pathology services. Uses funds authorized for the rural health care transition grant program under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 for the development of medical care access facilities. Defines a "medical care access facility" as a facility which: (1) provides ambulatory, primary, emergency, urgent, and surgical care; (2) provides inpatient care for from one-to-ten inpatient beds for stays not exceeding 48 hours; and (3) is located in a medically underserved area or a county with a population of less than 20,000, or serves a frontier service area. Provides Medicare coverage of facility services. Authorizes such facilities to provide dietician, pharmacist, laboratory technician, medical technologist, and radiological services on a part-time, off-site basis, and remain open for less time than Medicare hospitals. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992 for grants creating medical care access facilities in communities which lack hospitals and assisting hospitals in being converted into such facilites. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Medical rural health clinic demonstration program: (1) testing new payment methodologies for clinic services; (2) covering early detection procedures, health education, and health risk reduction services; (3) easing staffing requirements for clinics that have been unable to recruit physician assistants or nurse practitioners; and (4) reducing physician, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner productivity standards for sparsely populated areas. Requires the Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration to provide for and annually report to the Congress on additional research and demonstration projects into how the Medicare and Medicaid (title XIX of the Social Security Act) programs could be changed to better cover care for beneficiaries residing in rural areas and in central city areas of large cities. Directs the Board to develop policies and protocols to assure the appropriate coordination in payments and identification of benefits for Medicare long-term care and acute health care services. Title III: Payments for Services - Ties changes in the payment rate for services provided under the Program to changes in the gross national product (GNP) over a payment period, with adjustments in payments among services being made in response to changes in the utilization of such services. Limits payments for noninstitutional care provided to chronically-ill individuals. Sets forth a formula for determining the payment due to hospitals for capital-related costs which takes into account capital resource use associated with differing diagnosis-related groups as well as changes in the GNP. Directs the USHealth Board to establish a payment schedule for each class of covered health care services and periodically adjust such schedules to reflect GNP changes as well as regional and qualitative differences in services provision. Requires that payment rates for physicians' services and other professional services reflect the particular costs of furnishing such services and take into account the full-time coverage and low-volume of services characteristic of rural areas. Authorizes the Board to provide for the payment of services under an alternative reimbursement system established by a State, provided the system does not increase the cost or reduce the quality of such services. Provides funding to States establishing such a system. Cuts a State's required contribution to the Program by 50 percent of the savings which result from use of the State's alternative system. Directs the Board to establish a toll-free, telephone hotline to handle inquiries concerning Medicare payments for certified registered nurse specialist, certified nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist services. Sets forth medical care access facility payment provisions. Prohibits providers from charging beneficiaries or third parties for services covered by this Act. Requires the Board to use insurance companies as carriers, where practicable, and strengthen utilization review by carriers. Increases the rate of payment for each class of individuals enrolled with a health maintenance organization (HMO) to 100 percent of the cost for that class. (Currently, 95 percent of the costs are covered.) Restricts coverage to HMOs qualified under the Public Health Service Act. Requires HMOs to provide enrollees with all services covered by this Act. Directs the Board to conduct a national campaign encouraging eligible individuals to enroll with HMOs. Title IV: Financing Program - Requires USHealth beneficiaries to pay the first $100 of payments made for covered outpatient drugs and, subject to specified maximum payment limits, 25 percent of the payments provided for custodial long-term care services and 20 percent of the payments provided for other services (in addition to nominal copayments). Waives the coinsurance requirement where such payments would place a family's income below the Federal poverty level. Provides that the failure to pay coinsurance amounts will not result in loss of benefit entitlement. Alters the formula for determining the monthly Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) premium for individuals age 65 or older, requiring the elimination of such premium when the individual's family income falls below the Federal poverty level. Phases-out such premium for elderly beneficiaries by the year 2005. Eliminates such premium for disabled beneficiaries. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to phase-down the supplemental premium rate so that it reaches zero by the year 2005. Indexes increases to the ceiling on such premium to increases in the per capita GNP. Reduces an individual's supplemental premium by the amount of surtax he or she paid for the coverage of excess Program costs. Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Act to extend the wages on which the Hospital Insurance tax is levied to an unlimited dollar amount after 1989. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose an excise tax, to be paid into the USHealth Program Trust Fund (Trust Fund), on wages and self-employment income, including in such tax certain Federal, State, and church employment. Increases the Federal excise tax on cigarettes. Applies the increase to the Trust Fund. Adjusts the rate of such taxes to reflect changes in the GNP. Amends the Medicare program to require the States to pay into the Trust Fund an amount equal to 50 percent of Program payments made to families whose income falls below the Federal poverty level. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a surtax on personal income to cover the amount by which estimated Program costs for a calendar year will exceed Program revenues. Amends the Medicare program to establish the USHealth Program Trust Fund which is to replace the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, Federal Catastrophic Drug Insurance Trust Fund, and Medicare Catastrophic Account and be administered by the Board. Provides for off-budget treatment of receipts and disbursements of the Trust Fund. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the exclusion of employer health insurance contributions from income computations. Title V: Quality Assurance - Amends part B (Peer Review) of title XI of the Act to establish a National Council on Quality Assurance. Directs the Director of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment to provide for the appointment of members of the Council. States that the general functions of the Council shall be to: (1) provide oversight of the operations of the quality assurance system; and (2) make recommendations annually to the Board and the Congress for improvements in the system. Sets forth the Council's functions more specifically. Requires the Council to report annually to the Congress on the functioning and progress of the Council. Authorizes appropriations. Requires contracts with peer review organizations to provide that: (1) at least one-half of the organizations' efforts must be on quality assurance activities; and (2) quality assurance activities shall be conducted with respect to all the different types of items and services covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or through a private payor. Adds to the definition of the term "peer review organization" so as to require such an entity to: (1) include representatives of quality assurance activities; and (2) have a consumer advisory board. Defines a "consumer advisory board." Requires peer review organizations to review health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Requires any peer review organization to: (1) educate USHealth beneficiaries; (2) provide for a toll-free telephone number, which shall be provided to USHealth beneficiaries for the purpose of receiving questions and complaints from USHealth beneficiaries; (3) assist in resolving any such complaints that are legitimate; (4) make available to its consumer advisory boards appropriate information received from the telephone service; and (5) train members of its consumer advisory board. Appropriates funds, in addition to any other amounts appropriated to carry out part B of title XI, from the Trust Fund for distribution to peer review organizations. Amends the Medicare program to impose quality assurance requirements on home health agencies and long-term care management agencies, including requirements that such agencies implement grievance review procedures, ensure that their providers receive adequate training, and develop and periodically review plans of care for their clients. Requires home health agencies and providers to provide clients with information and training concerning the use of durable medical equipment. Requires long-term care management agencies to supply their clients with a written statement of the services they will receive and a copy of the consumer bill of rights to be promulgated by the Board. Directs the Board to: (1) establish procedures for surveying home health and long-term care management agencies; (2) encourage and report on State progress in developing home health agency licensing policies and procedures; and (3) provide grants for training programs for home health agencies and providers and long-term care management agencies. Authorizes appropriations for such activities in FY 1993 and thereafter. Requires hospitals to implement a discharge planning process which meets guidelines and standards to be established by the Board, in conjunction with the National Council on Quality Assurance, to: (1) protect against inappropriate early hospital discharges; (2) ensure a timely and smooth transition to the most appropriate type of and setting for post-hospital care; and (3) permit early initiation of the authorization process for continuing care services. Amends part B of title XI of the Act to require peer review organizations to monitor hospitals' compliance with discharge planning process requirements. Requires health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to make outpatient mental health services available to their clients and ensure that quality assurance activities include such services. Requires the Board to promulgate a consumers' bill of rights which includes rights: (1) facilitating consumer participation in the planning and delivery of services; (2) requiring consumer notification regarding services, charges for services, and the termination or reduction of services; (3) protecting consumer dignity, privacy, and property; and (4) ensuring service from properly trained and competent individuals. Requires the Board to provide grants to States for the establishment of a health and long-term care ombudsman in each State. Directs each State to establish a statewide uniform reporting system and a toll-free telephone hotline for the collection and communication of complaints regarding conditions in inpatient care facilities. Sets forth study and reporting requirements. Title VI: Administration and Miscellaneous - Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Act to replace the heading of part B with the heading, "Part B-USHealth Administration." Establishes as an independent executive agency a USHealth Administration (Administration). Provides that it shall be the duty of the Administration to administer the USHealth Program. Provides that the Administration shall be governed by a USHealth Board. Requires the Board to study and make recommendations as to the most effective methods of providing for the health care of permanent U.S. residents and as to legislation and matters of administrative policy. Establishes in the Administration: (1) a USHealth Administrator; (2) a Deputy USHealth Administrator; (3) a General Counsel; (4) an Inspector General; and (5) an office of the USHealth Ombudsman, to be headed by a USHealth Ombudsman who shall represent the interests of USHealth beneficiaries within the Administration. Requires the annual report of the Board to include a description of the activities of the Ombudsman. Requires the Board to make annual budgetary recommendations relating to the Administration. Requires that appropriations requests by the Administration for staffing and personnel be based upon a comprehensive workforce plan as established by the Board. Provides for the apportionment of administrative costs. Requires the annual report of the Board to include a section reflecting the use of budget authority provided to the Administration. Requires that authority for automated data processing procurement and facilities construction be provided in the form of contract authority covering the total cost of such acquisitions. Makes amounts needed for the liquidation of contract authority so provided available from the Trust Fund to the extent that such amounts are not needed to meet current obligations for benefit payments. Requires the Board to cause a seal of office to be made and judicial notice taken thereof. Directs the Administrator and the Board to report to the Congress within 120 days after the beginning of each regular session on their administration under this Act. Requires the Board and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to implement demonstration projects relating to personnel matters. Directs the Board and the Administrator of General Services to implement such projects relating to delegations from such Administrator. Specifies the authorities which are to be delegated to the Board from the Administrator of General Services and the Director. Requires the Comptroller General to report to specified congressional committees concerning such projects, including an evaluation of the Board's readiness to assume full and permanent authority. Provides for the transfer to the Administration of all functions carried out by the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to the programs and activities which have been administered by the Health Care Financing Administration. Abolishes the position of Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services. Directs the Secretary to conduct: (1) from five-to-ten three-year demonstration projects to determine the relative effectiveness, cost, and impact on the quality of long-term care of different models of providing and reimbursing Medicare care management services; and (2) from five-to-ten 18-month demonstration projects to assess the coverage of day health care provided to chronically ill individuals in a group-setting outside their homes on a less than 24-hour-a-day basis as long-term care. Sets forth reporting requirements. Sets forth effective date and transitional rule provisions. Title VII: Miscellaneous Provisions - Repeals the Medicaid program. Makes this Act inapplicable to Medicare or Medicaid services furnished before 1994. Division B: Transition and System - Building Provisions - Title I: Medicaid Expansion to Cover the Poor - Amends the Medicaid program to extend Medicaid coverage to all children whose income is below the Federal poverty level and whose resources do not exceed twice the limit for eligibility under title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act. Phases-in Medicaid coverage, by January 1, 1992, of all individuals whose income and resources do not exceed such limits. Title II: Private Health Insurance Deduction for Self-Employed - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax deduction for the entire health insurance costs of the self-employed. Title III: Rural Health Care Development - Amends the Medicaid program to require that State Medicaid payments for rural medical practices reflect the particular costs of furnishing services in rural areas. Directs the Secretary, jointly with the States, to develop an appropriate system to reduce the payment differential between urban and rural professional health personnel. Permits rural nursing facilities to elect to receive Medicaid payments on the basis of a daily rate schedule to be established by the Secretary. Permits rural home health agencies to elect to receive payments on the basis of a per visit rate to be established by the Secretary. Provides Medicaid coverage of medical care access facility services. Requires such facilities to participate in the program. Amends title VII (Administration) of the Act to place the Office of Rural Health Care in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary to make grants to States which have submitted fiscal year plans for comprehensive State rural health access planning to assist States in such planning. Authorizes appropriations for such grant program through FY 1992. Requires each State to submit a comprehensive rural emergency medical services plan to the Secretary for each fiscal year, beginning with FY 1990. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1992 for payments to States, which vary among States on the basis of the proportion of the nation's rural population which reside in each State, to cover the costs of planning, implementing, and monitoring the operation of trauma care systems in rural areas. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to public and nonprofit entities for planning, constructing, equipping, supplying, and operating a rural health clinic and training the personnel at such clinic. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to solo and small group medical practices which provide primary health services to medically underserved rural populations to assist such practices in purchasing equipment and supplies and training personnel. Sets forth grant conditions, including the requirement that such clinics and practices accept as patients Medicare and Medicaid recipients residing in their service area, and provide 24-hour-a-day emergency medical services. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1992. Sets aside five percent of amounts appropriated to the National Center for Health Services Research and Health Care Technology Assessment for research on improving rural health care delivery systems. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study on improvements which can be made in the collection and analysis of data used in designating rural areas as medically underserved areas. Amends the Public Health Service Act to require that a State's application for an Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Services Block Grant include an examination of the mental health care needs of rural residents and specify the effort that has and will be made to satisfy such needs. Directs the Secretary to conduct research on improving rural mental health delivery systems. Authorizes appropriations for such research through FY 1992. Title IV: Direct Reimbursement of Nurse Specialists - Amends the Medicaid program to require direct Medicaid reimbursement for certified nurse midwife, certified registered nurse anesthetist, nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist services, whether or not such nurse is under the supervision of, or associated with, another health care provider, if such services would otherwise be covered if furnished by a physician or as an incident to a physician's services. Requires that such payments be equal to payments for such services under the Medicare program and not vary on the basis of the type of nurse involved. Title V: Health Care Personnel Development - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations through FY 1992 under the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program and Loan Repayment Program. Requires the Secretary to establish a program of scholarships and loan repayments to assure an adequate supply of trained health care personnel at medical facilities which serve medically underserved populations. Requires that no less than 40 percent of the persons receiving such assistance be targeted for placement with medically underserved rural populations. Authorizes appropriations for such program through FY 1992. Requires persons receiving Federal financial assistance under the Public Health Service Act to operate health care personnel training programs: (1) take into account the special health care conditions of rural areas; and (2) improve efforts to recruit, as students, individuals who are likely to practice in medically underserved rural areas. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to public or private nonprofit health or educational entities for training programs to increase the number of health care personnel and multi-competent health care technicians serving medically underserved rural populations. Authorizes appropriations for such grant programs through FY 1992. Requires the Secretary, in entering into contracts with schools of medicine and osteopathy for area health education centers, to give priority to health education projects targeted toward health professions having an inadequate number of practitioners, either by specialty or geographic location. Makes administrative changes affecting area health education centers. Authorizes appropriations for such centers through FY 1992. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to and enter into contracts with public and nonprofit private entities to cover the costs of providing continuing education for nurses in rural areas through the use of satellite transmissions. Title VI: Mental Health Care Development - Subtitle A: Amendments to Public Health Service Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to reserve specified amounts of appropriations to the National Institute of Mental Health and to the National Institute on Aging for FY 1990 through 1992, which are in excess of FY 1989 appropriations, for research on the mental health and psycho-social well-being of elderly individuals. Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992 for research, development, and demonstration projects regarding the mental health of elderly individuals. Requires the Secretary to enter into a contract with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences for the conduct of a study to determine methods for measuring and assuring the quality and effectiveness of mental health services and alcohol and drug abuse treatment services. Requires that the Institute complete such study and report to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990. Directs the Secretary to provide for and report to the Congress by January 1, 1991, on additional studies: (1) comparing mental health services under prepaid health plans and in settings other than prepaid health plans; (2) examining mechanisms for ensuring the quality of, and access to, mental health services delivered by State, local, and independent mental health facilities; (3) examining minority access to community mental health centers; (4) examining the adequacy and optimal utilization of mental health manpower; and (5) examining the adequacy of minority mental health manpower and training. Authorizes the Secretary to conduct demonstration projects to determine methods of increasing minority access to community mental health centers. Authorizes appropriations for such studies and projects. Subtitle B: Changes in Medicare and Medicaid Programs - Amends the Medicaid program to require Medicaid coverage of outpatient mental health services which would otherwise be covered if furnished by a physician. Amends the Medicaid program to define an institution for mental diseases as an institution that has more than 16 beds and: (1) is under the jurisdiction of the State mental health authority; (2) advertises itself as primarily specializing in treating individuals with mental disease; or (3) is made up, for the most part, of patients who do not have a physical condition which in itself requires the level of services provided in a skilled nursing facility. Amends the Medicare and Medicaid programs to require nursing facilities to provide access to medically necessary mental health services. Amends part A (General Provisions) of title XI of the Act to impose additional conditions on mental health providers' participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Includes among such conditions the requirements that each provider: (1) comply with the consumer bill of rights; (2) provide each consumer with written grievance procedures and written notice of the services to be provided; (3) have the capacity to identify potential clients, provide mental health services, and coordinate their services with those provided by others; and (4) engage in consumer needs assessment and care and discharge planning activities. Requires health maintenance organizations to ensure access to, and the quality of, the Medicaid outpatient mental health services they provide. Requires peer review organization review of the mental health services for which payment is made under the Medicare or Medicaid program. Directs the Secretary to ensure the reasonableness of Medicare reimbursement for nursing facility mental health services. Title VII: Alzheimer's Assistance Development- Subtitle A: Grants to States for Alzheimers Disease Programs - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary to make grants to States to plan, establish, and operate programs to provide specified services regarding Alzheimer's or related disorders. Specifies purposes for which grant funds may not be used. Limits grants to three years, subject to annual evaluation by the Secretary. Limits the amount of a grant and its portion of the costs of the program for which it is made. Directs the Secretary to annually evaluate the grant programs. Authorizes the Secretary to contract with private entities to conduct the evaluation. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992. Subtitle B: Improvement of Services Under Medicare and Medicaid Programs - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to review the levels of Medicare reimbursement provided for home health services, extended care services, and inpatient hospital services relating to an advanced stage of Alzheimer's or a related disorder and adjust the levels to accurately reflect the reasonable amount required to provide adequately for services furnished. Requires each State plan approved under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to report to the Secretary on how the levels of reimbursement under the plan for home health services, nursing facility services, inpatient hospital services, and community-based care take into account special needs regarding an advanced stage of Alzheimer's or a related disorder. Directs the Secretary to modify contracts with utilization and quality control peer review organizations under part B (Peer Review) of title XI of the Social Security Act to ensure that the organizations conduct adequate and representative quality of care reviews on patients who require intensive home health services or extended care services. Requires States, as a condition of approval of a State plan under Medicaid, to provide assurances that the State is providing for the conduct of adequate and representative quality of care reviews on patients who require intensive home health services, nursing facility services, or other long-term care services. Directs the Secretary to review and report to the Congress regarding whether specified types of facilities participating under the Medicare or Medicaid program limit or restrict the services they provide to individuals with Alzheimer's or a related disorder. Title VIII: Community and Migrant Health Centers Expansion - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations through FY 1991 for grants to migrant health centers and community health centers.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1989
Victims of Terrorism Judicial Remedy Act - Provides that property of the United States or a foreign state that is used for a commercial activity in the United States shall not be immune from attachment or execution in the case of a claim based upon intentional acts of violence intended to cause, or actually resulting in, bodily harm.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1989
Marine Resource Protection and Driftnet Use Cessation Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of State to seek an international ban on the use of driftnets on the high seas. Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress: (1) describing the steps the Secretary has taken to begin negotiations; (2) detailing the progress of negotiations, if any; (3) listing nations which refused to negotiate and which use driftnet fishing on the high seas; and (4) recommending legislative action to encourage the listed nations to cease using driftnet fishing.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1989
Birth Control and Infertility Research Centers Act of 1989 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the Institute of Child Health and Human Development to make grants and enter into contracts for centers for improving methods of birth control and centers for diagnosing and treating infertility. Requires the Director, subject to appropriations, to provide for three centers with respect to birth control and two centers with respect to infertility. Requires each center to: (1) conduct clinical and other applied research; (2) develop training protocols for and conduct training of physicians, scientists, nurses, and other health and allied health professionals; (3) develop model continuing education programs; and (4) disseminate information to such professionals. Allows a center to use the funds to provide: (1) stipends for health and allied health professionals enrolled in the training programs; and (2) fees to individuals serving as subjects in the clinical trials. Requires each center to use the facilities of a single institution, or be formed from a consortium of cooperating institutions, meeting requirements as prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Allows support for a center to be for a period of up to five years, with extensions of one or more periods of up to five years if the center's operations have been reviewed by a peer review group and the group has so recommended. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994. Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary to establish a program of entering into agreements with health professionals, including graduate students, under which the professionals agree to conduct research with respect to birth control or infertility in consideration of the Government agreeing to repay, for each year of such service, not more than a specified amount of the principal and interest of their educational loans. Applies provisions of the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program to this program, except as inconsistent. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992. Requires amounts appropriated to remain available until the end of the second fiscal year after they are appropriated.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1989
AIDS Health Services Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, to make grants to eligible consortia for services to people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or symptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, including inpatient and nursing home care, primary community health and support services (including services for infected children and their families) and secondary community support services (including services for infected children and their families). Requires that priority be given to the development and availability of primary community health and support services. Requires at least 20 percent of funds made available to be used for the provision of services for members of minority communities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992. Directs the Secretary to conduct health and mental health services research focused on the delivery of services to individuals infected with the HIV, including studies on: (1) service delivery to members of minority communities; (2) the societal distribution of the costs of infection with HIV; and (3) the most cost-effective ways of providing services. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1989
Declares that the Congress should: (1) establish a program of research for the development of methods of birth control and methods of diagnosing and treating infertility; (2) provide adequate long-term resources for the program; (3) ensure that Federal programs with respect to sexually transmitted diseases adequately respond to the role of such diseases in infertility; (4) ensure public education on birth control and infertility; (5) establish as Federal goals the development, by the year 2010, of improved barrier methods to protect against pregnancy and diseases, new methods of birth control for use by men, a vaccine-like drug for women that prevents pregnancy for a significant period of time without other specified effects, and new and improved techniques of diagnosing and treating infertility; (6) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to reestablish the Ethical Advisory Board in order to facilitate research with respect to infertility; (7) review the policies and procedures of the Food and Drug Administration with respect to expediting approval of drugs and devices for use by the public, especially with respect to birth control and infertility; and (8) determine to what extent measures can be implemented by public or private entities to resolve liability issues involved with drugs and devices concerned with birth control and infertility.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 1989
Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act of 1989 - Provides for the labeling of all tuna products as "DOLPHIN SAFE" if the products are, in their entirety: (1) not caught with specified nets or technologies; and (2) regardless of the country of origin, sold or consumed in the United States. Requires tuna products sold or consumed in the United States and not so labeled to bear the statement: "The tuna in this product has been captured with technologies that are known to kill dolphins." Deems a can, box, or package containing any tuna product mislabeled if it is not labeled as required by these provisions, or if its label contains any false or misleading information pertaining to dolphins, whales, or other cetaceans. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Food and Drug Administration, to conduct inspections to determine if tuna products are being labeled in accordance with provisions of this Act. Authorizes any person to commence a civil action against the Secretary where there is alleged a failure of the Secretary to perform the inspection. Provides for injunction proceedings, jurisdiction, burden of proof, trial by jury, and awarding of costs. Authorizes any U.S. citizen to seek an injunction or restraining order. Provides for criminal penalties.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 1989
Coastal Barrier Improvement Act of 1989 - Amends the Coastal Barrier Resources Act to remove references to unconsolidated sedimentary materials from the definition of "undeveloped coastal barrier." Establishes the Coastal Barrier Resources System, to consist of those undeveloped coastal barriers on the U.S. coasts identified on specified maps. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to submit such maps to specified congressional committees, each State and county jurisdiction in which a System unit is located, each coastal zone management office, and each appropriate Federal agency. Allows the Secretary to make minor and technical changes to the boundaries of System units within 180 days of filing the maps, as consistent with this Act and necessary to clarify the boundaries. Allows the head of each State coastal zone management agency to submit proposals for such changes. Sets forth exceptions, with regard to existing limitations on expenditures, relating to energy resources, navigation channels, certain publicly owned or operated roads or structures, military activities essential to national security, Coast Guard facilities, and other matters if consistent with the purposes of this Act. Directs the Secretary to submit to specified congressional committees maps identifying the boundaries of those undeveloped coastal barriers along the U.S. Pacific coast appropriate for inclusion in the System. Authorizes appropriations to carry out specified provisions of the Act.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 1989
Directs the American Battle Monuments Commission to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia or its immediate area to honor World War II veterans and to commemorate U.S. participation in that conflict. Directs the Commission to plan, design, construct, and oversee the operation of the memorial. Specifies that such design shall provide for accessibility by, and accommodations for, the physically handicapped. Establishes the World War II Memorial Advisory Board to: (1) promote the establishment of the memorial and encourage the donation of private funds for construction maintenance; (2) assist and cooperate with the Commission in the selection of the site and design for the memorial; and (3) transmit annual reports on its activities to the Congress. Authorizes the Commission to solicit private contributions for such memorial. Establishes a fund in the Treasury which shall be made available to the Commission to carry out this Act. Authorizes Federal funding, in addition to such private funds, for site preparation, design, planning, establishment, construction, maintenance, and operation of the memorial. Authorizes assistance from specified Federal departments and agencies, including the Library of Congress. Authorizes Federal property to be transferred to the Commission. Authorizes the Commission to purchase suitable property within the District of Columbia for the establishment of such memorial. Urges the Government to encourage 50th anniversary commemorations of the U.S. role in World War II. Urges the Smithsonian Institution and other Federal museums to develop commemorative exhibitions to be shared with academic institutions.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 1989
Urges the Nobel Commission to consider awarding Nobel Prize recognition for achievements in the preservation of the world environment.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 1989
Directs the Secretary of the Interior to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park and adjacent public lands. Requires such EIS to consider: (1) the potential for wolves to leave the recovery area and cause damage to domestic livestock; (2) the wildlife management responsibilities and objectives of the States of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; and (3) the possibility of reintroducing gray wolves as an experimental population under the Endangered Species Act. Establishes a timetable for the Secretary to select an alternative for such reintroduction and to implement the decision. Directs the Secretary to provide financial assistance to Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho for the implementation of wolf conservation and management plans.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 1989
International Banking Environmental Protection Act of 1989 - Amends the International Financial Institutions Act to preclude the U.S. Executive Director of a multilateral development bank from voting in favor of any proposed action which would have a significant environmental impact unless a comprehensive environmental impact assessment has been furnished. Requires that: (1) an environmental impact assessment accompany loan proposals through the agency review process; (2) such banks develop and make available to member governments and borrowers a systematic environmental assessment procedure for development projects; and (3) appropriate U.S. Government personnel be made available to train and assist bank staff in making environmental impact assessments. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report to certain congressional committees on the efficacy of U.S. efforts to encourage consistent and timely environmental impact assessments of proposed multilateral development bank actions.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 1989
Designates November 1989 as An End to Hunger Education Month.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 1989
Court of Veterans Appeals Judges Retirement Act - Title I: Judges Retirement and Survivor Annuity Program - Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions concerning the U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals (Court) to outline the age and service requirements for full retirement benefits. Requires a judge who is unable to perform the duties of office due to permanent disability to retire. Provides that a judge serving for less than ten years who retires due to permanent disability shall receive retired pay of one-half of the rate of pay in effect at retirement. Requires an election to retire under such retirement provisions to be made while the judge is still an active judge. Prohibits revocation of such an election after the retired pay begins to accrue. Requires such election to be in writing and sent to the chief judge or, in the case of the chief judge, to the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. Outlines provisions concerning: (1) forfeiture of rights to retired pay while accepting employment with the United States; (2) the lack of an annuity payable under civil service retirement laws, as well as the lack of a deduction from retired pay for the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund; and (3) notice to the President in writing when a judge is unable to perform the duties of office due to a permanent disability. Allows an individual who has elected to receive retired pay under these provisions to revoke such election at any time before the first day on which retired pay would begin to accrue. Requires notice of such revocation to be in writing and sent to the Director of OPM. Outlines the ramifications of such revocation (basically, reinclusion under Federal civil service retirement provisions). Requires the Director of OPM to begin withholding one percent of the salary of a judge under this Act after proper notice of the election to receive retirement coverage under this Act. Requires withheld amounts to be credited to the Court of Veterans Appeals Judges Retirement Fund. Allows a judge to deposit into such Fund amounts for up to 15 years of service prior to the date on which contributions may be made under this Act. Authorizes a judge to become a participant in the annuity program by filing a written notice of such election under this Act while in office in a manner prescribed by the Court. Provides for a deduction of 3.5 percent of the judge's pay to provide coverage for the annuity. Requires amounts so withheld to be deposited into the Fund. Requires a judge to deposit into the Fund, for annuity coverage, 3.5 percent of the judge's pay or other compensation for service as a Member of Congress or any other civilian Federal service. Allows such payments for prior years of service to be made in installments. Provides that if the service of a judge who makes an election to be covered under the annuity provisions is terminated, or if any judge ceases to be married after making the election and revokes the election, the amount in the judge's individual account shall be returned to the judge. Allows an annuity to be paid to the surviving spouse and dependent child of a judge under this Act if the judge dies after having rendered at least five years of civilian service and has made payments into the Fund for at least five years. Terminates the annuity to the surviving spouse upon his or her death or remarriage before age 55. Terminates the annuity payable to the child at the child's death. Recomputes the annuity payable to the child at the child's death. Recomputes the annuity payable to a dependent child after the death of a surviving spouse and after the death of another dependent child. Terminates any annuity payments if a judge making an election to be covered for annuity purposes dies before having rendered at least five years of civilian service or dies without a survivor entitled to such benefits. Provides, in such case, that the full amount of deposits made by the judge before his or her death, plus interest, shall be returned to the persons surviving on the date that title to the payment arises, in a specified order of priority. Provides for payment of the unpaid remaining annuity of a survivor or dependent upon the termination (other than by death) of the annuity of any individual based upon the service of a judge, in a specified order of preference. Provides for alternative measures to be taken for the payment of annuities to minors or mentally incompetent persons. Outlines administrative provisions concerning the time and amounts of annuity payments (determined on the basis of a judge's average annual pay). Requires the years of service for determining the amount of a surviving spouse's annuity rights to include years of service as a judge of the Court, as a Member of Congress, and as a member of the armed forces (within a specified limit) and any other Federal civilian service. Requires a judge making an election to provide an annuity under this Act to waive all benefits under the civil service retirement laws. Requires annuity payments to be increased whenever a judge's salary is increased as long as the deceased judge rendered some portion of his or her final 18 months as a judge of the Court. Establishes in the Treasury the Court of Veterans Appeals Retirement Fund. Requires the chief judge of the Court to submit to the President an annual estimate of the expenditures and appropriations necessary for maintenance and operation of the Fund. Provides for periodic examinations of the Fund by an actuary. Requires deposits into the Fund as necessary to reduce to zero its unfunded liability. Title II: Provisions Relating to Establishment of Court of Veterans Appeals - Directs the Secretary to transfer to the Court such funds as the chief judge of the Court certifies to be required for the initial startup and operational costs of the Court, until funds for the operation of the Court are first appropriated. Requires that, upon appropriation, the chief judge must reimburse the Secretary the total sum transferred to the Court. Provides for facilities for the Court to be provided through the Administrator of General Services. Extends the date by which an appeal must be filed with the Court with regard to Board of Veterans Appeals decisions made before the Court commences operations. Provides for interim rules and employment authority of the Court. Title III: Technical Corrections - Makes technical corrections to current Federal law concerning the Board of Veterans Appeals. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Excludes certain noncareer appointments and competitive service-excepted positions in the Department of Veterans Affairs from a requirement prohibiting political affiliation or activity from being taken into account in connection with the appointment of personnel to certain positions. Provides for an acting chief judge of the Court in the event of a vacancy. Authorizes the Court to procure the services of experts and consultants.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 1989
Stratospheric Ozone Protection Act of 1989 - Amends the Clean Air Act to list as class I and II substances which are known or may reasonably be anticipated to contribute to stratospheric ozone depletion. Authorizes any person to petition the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to add a chemical to such lists. Requires the Administrator to: (1) add to the class I list any substance having an ozone depletion potential greater than .15; (2) add to the class II list any substance having a significant ozone depletion potential; and (3) assign each listed substance a numerical ozone depletion potential factor, based upon a comparison with chlorofluorocarbon-11. Directs producers and importers of such substances to report annually to the Administrator on the production or import levels of such substances. Makes it unlawful to produce such substances in an amount greater than 1986 levels effective 180 days after enactment of this Act. Requires a further reduction by July 1, 1993, and makes it unlawful, effective July 1, 1996, to produce such substances for other than medical purposes. Authorizes the Administrator to promulgate rules under which persons may produce such substances in annual quantities greater than those specified under this Act if such persons obtain the rights to such production from other persons who will be subject to enforceable reductions in such substances which: (1) exceed the reduction otherwise required; (2) are greater than the annual production increase; and (3) would not have occurred in the absence of such transaction. Makes it unlawful to produce any listed substance which yields an ozone depletion potential greater than the 1986 depletion level. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations requiring a 95 percent reduction in ozone depletion potential of such substances by 1997. Provides that if the Administrator fails to promulgate such regulations, it shall be unlawful, effective July 1, 1997, to produce such substances in annual quantities yielding ozone depletion potentials greater than five percent of the 1986 depletion level. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations requiring producers of such substances to reduce production more rapidly if the accelerated schedule is necessary to protect human health and the environment or if the reduction is attainable, based on the availability of substitutes for such substances. Prohibits the importation of such substances or products using such substances, unless the exporting nation has an equivalent or more stringent production reduction program. Requires the Administrator to certify national programs, such certification to be reviewed annually. Equates imports with production when determining a manufacturer's required reductions. Directs the President to prohibit: (1) the export of technologies to produce class I substances; and (2) investment in facilities for producing such substances in nations which are not certified. Requires the Administrator to: (1) review sources containing information on potential chemicals or product substitutes and alternative manufacturing processes as replacements for class I substances; (2) report such findings to the Congress; (3) require producers to provide the EPA with their unpublished health and safety studies on chemical substitutes for such substances and notify the EPA before existing chemicals are put to significant new uses as chlorofluorocarbon and halon substitutes; and (4) annually update such review and, two years after this Act's enactment, include class II substances in such review. Directs the Administrator to promulgate rules applicable to replacements for such substances to require that processes and products that reduce overall risks to public health and the environment are used. Requires the Administrator to publish a list of prohibited substitutes and safe alternatives. Authorizes any person to petition the Administrator to add or remove a substance from such list. Makes it unlawful, after 1992, to manufacture or import any household or commercial appliance containing such substances unless such appliances have apertures that allow the removal of such substances without loss into the atmosphere. Prohibits, after 1990, the introduction of such substances into interstate commerce in pressurized containers weighing less than 15 pounds. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations requiring the maximum feasible reductions in the use of class I substances, including measures to: (1) recover and recycle such substances in manufacturing processes and prior to disposal of products containing such substances; (2) increase the efficiency of the use of such substances; (3) provide for the use of safe alternatives; (4) achieve reductions of at least 50 percent in the use of class I substances for servicing and repairs of household and commercial appliances and in the manufacture of products in which such substances are used as solvents or blowing agents; and (5) achieve reductions, without reduced fire safety, in releases associated with discharges of such substances from fire prevention or extinguishing equipment. Prohibits business establishments from performing services on motor vehicle air conditioners involving refrigerants, unless approved refrigerant recycling equipment is used and persons performing such services have been properly trained and certified. Applies such requirement three years after this Act's enactment to establishments which performed service on fewer than 100 air conditioners during 1990. Requires such establishments to certify to the Administrator that they meet such requirements or serviced fewer than 100 air conditioners during 1990. Requires containers of listed substances to bear labels stating that such substances harm public health and the environment by destroying the ozone layer and disrupting the climate.