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United States · Official source
768 records where Rep. Ehrlich, Robert L., Jr. [R-MD-2] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1999
Designates the Republic of Korea as a visa waiver pilot program country for one year under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1999
Taiwan Security Enhancement Act - Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments should make every effort to reserve additional positions for Taiwan military officers at the National Defense University and specified other professional military education schools, and at the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State should, when considering foreign military sales to Taiwan, to take into account Taiwan's special status and make every effort to ensure it has full and timely access to price and availability data for defense articles and defense services. Directs the President, upon the request of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, to use Department of Defense (DOD) funds for the assignment of additional technical staff to the American Institute in Taiwan. Directs the President to report annually to Congress with respect to Taiwan's defense needs. Directs the Secretary of Defense to develop a plan for the enhancement of programs for operational training and exchanges of personnel between U.S. armed forces and Taiwanese armed forces for work in threat analysis, doctrine, force planning, operational methods, and other areas. Directs the Secretary of Defense to establish secure direct communications between the U.S. Pacific military command and the Taiwan military command. Authorizes the President, subject to the Arms Export Control Act, to make available for sale to Taiwan, at reasonable cost, theater missile defense equipment and related items, satellite early warning data, modern air-defense equipment, and naval defense systems.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 1999
Skilled Workforce Enhancement Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide small employers with a highly skilled trades training credit.
United States · United States Congress · 13 May 1999
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Engineering Establishment Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Engineering. Requires the Director of the Institute to establish a National Biomedical Imaging and Engineering Program which shall include research and related technology assessments and development in biomedical imaging and engineering. Requires the Director, with respect to such Program, to prepare and transmit to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) a plan to initiate, expand, intensify, and coordinate Institute biomedical imaging and engineering activities. Requires: (1) the consolidation and coordination of Institute biomedical imaging and engineering research and related activities with those of the NIH and other Federal agencies; and (2) the establishment of an Institute advisory council. Authorizes: (1) appropriations for the Institute for FY 2000 through 2002; and (2) the transfer of appropriate NIH personnel and research facilities for Institute activities.
United States · United States Congress · 13 May 1999
Clinical Research Enhancement Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to: (1) support and expand the NIH's involvement in clinical research; (2) support and expand the resources available for the clinical research community; and (3) establish peer review mechanisms. (Sec. 4) Mandates grants to: (1) establish general clinical research centers to provide the infrastructure for clinical research, including clinical research training and career enhancement; (2) support individual careers in clinical research at general clinical research centers or other institutions (to be known as Mentor Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Awards); (3) support individual clinical research projects at general clinical research centers or other institutions (to be known as Mid-Career Investigator Awards in Patient-Oriented Research); and (4) support individuals pursuing master's or doctoral degrees in clinical investigation (to be known as graduate training in clinical investigation awards). Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 5) Increases the limit on the aggregate number of scholarship (regarding professions needed by the NIH) and loan repayment (regarding clinical researchers from disadvantaged backgrounds) contracts under specified provisions. Modifies the loan repayment program to: (1) remove current references to disadvantaged backgrounds; and (2) require a period of service in a general clinical research center, in clinical NIH research, or as a physician receiving a clinical research career enhancement award or a graduate training in clinical investigation award (currently, a period of service as an NIH employee). Requires that at least 50 percent of the loan repayment contracts involve individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Authorizes appropriations to carry out the loan repayment provisions. (Sec. 7) Directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress on the extent to which the NIH has complied with requirements of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 12 May 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Estuary Habitat Restoration Title II: Chesapeake Bay Program Estuary Habitat Restoration Partnership Act of 1999 - Title I: Estuary Habitat Restoration - Establishes the Estuary Habitat Restoration Council (Council), which shall: (1) develop a national strategy for estuary habitat restoration; and (2) review project applications. (Sec. 105) Establishes six Regional Councils to represent the: (1) Gulf region; (2) Middle Atlantic region; (3) Northeast region; (4) Northwest region; (5) Southeast region; and (6) Southwest region. States that such Councils shall: (1) be made up of the Governors and their appointees for each member State; (2) develop regional strategies for project prioritization and selection; and (3) evaluate and forward project applications to the Council. Directs the Secretary of the Army to coordinate technical support and provide, upon request, administrative support to the Councils. (Sec. 106) Directs the Council to develop an estuary restoration strategy within a specified time which shall provide for the integration of estuary restoration plans, programs, and partnerships. (Sec. 107) Sets forth project application and administrative provisions, including Federal cost-sharing limits. (Sec. 109) Directs the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere of the Department of Commerce to develop a project monitoring database. (Sec. 110) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) estuary restoration activities; and (2) database monitoring. Obligates administrative funds for the Council and Regional Councils. Title II: Chesapeake Bay Program - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize appropriations for the Chesapeake Bay Program, with an annual limitation on funds available for the Program office in the Environmental Protection Agency.
United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1999
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that all peace officers slain in the line of duty should be honored and recognized.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1999
Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to define employees engaged in fire protection activities. Prohibits such definition from being construed to reduce or substitute for compensation standards in a collective bargaining agreement which result in compensation greater than that available to such employees (time-and-a-half) under the overtime exemption to maximum hours of labor requirements under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 1999
Grants a Federal charter to the Korean War Veterans Association, Incorporated (a nonprofit corporation incorporated under the laws of New York).
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1999
Cuban Food and Medicine Security Act of 1999 - Exempts from the embargo on trade with Cuba the export of food and other agricultural products (including fertilizer), medicines, medical supplies, instruments, or equipment, or any travel incident to the delivery of such items. Declares that such exemption shall not apply to certain restrictions imposed under the Export Administration Act of 1979 or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Amends the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to study and report to specified congressional committees on existing U.S. agricultural export promotion and credit programs to determine how such programs can be carried out to promote the consumption of U.S. agricultural commodities in Cuba. Directs the President to report to Congress on: (1) the extent (expressed in volume and dollar amounts) of sales to Cuba of food and other agricultural products (including fertilizer), medicines, medical supplies, instruments, and equipment; (2) the types and end users of such items; and (3) whether there has been any indication that any medicines, medical supplies, instruments, or equipment exported to Cuba since enactment of this Act have been used for torture or other human rights abuses, were reexported, or were used in the production of any bio-technological product.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Abolishment of Department of Energy Title II: Energy Laboratory Facilities Title III: Privatization of Federal Power Marketing Administrations Title IV: Transfer and Disposal of Reserves Title V: National Security and Environmental Management Programs Subtitle A: Defense Nuclear Programs Administration Subtitle B: Environmental Restoration Activities at Defense Nuclear Facilities Title VI: Disposition of Miscellaneous Particular Programs, Functions, and Agencies of Department Title VII: Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Title VIII: Miscellaneous Provisions Department of Energy Abolishment Act - Title I: Abolishment of Department of Energy - Redesignates the Department of Energy (DOE) as the Energy Programs Resolution Agency (the Agency), headed by an Administrator to perform the previous functions of the Department of Energy. Provides for the continuation of service of the Secretary of Energy as the interim Administrator. (Sec. 105) Authorizes the Administrator to establish, consolidate, alter, or discontinue in the Energy Programs Resolution Agency any organizational entities that were entities of DOE. Sunsets the Agency three years after enactment of this Act. Directs the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on the most efficient way to accomplish the complete abolishment of DOE and the transfer or termination of its functions. Title II: Energy Laboratory Facilities - Establishes an independent Energy Laboratory Facilities Commission to privatize and reduce energy laboratories and programs. Prescribes procedural guidelines. (Sec. 205) Establishes the Energy Laboratory Facility Closure Account to fund implementation of such guidelines. Title III: Privatization of Federal Power Marketing Administrations - Federal Power Asset Privatization Act of 1999 - Directs the Secretary of Energy to sell, at the highest possible price, all Federal electric power generation and transmission facilities supervised by, or coordinated with, the Federal Power Marketing Administrations (except the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)). Restricts such sales to domestic entities or U.S. citizens. Requires the Secretary to terminate Federal Power Marketing Administration operations (except BPA operations) upon completion of the sales. Directs the Secretary to retain a private sector firm through a competitive bidding process to serve as financial advisor with respect to such sales. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the purchaser of any such facilities should offer to employ former Federal Power Marketing Administration personnel. Mandates that sale proceeds be deposited into the Treasury. Sets forth a sales completion deadline for each Power Marketing Administration concerned. (Sec. 305) Mandates that the pertinent sales agreements require each purchaser providing electric power to customers within any region to insure that the price of electric power does not increase above the baseline price at a rate greater than ten percent annually. (Sec. 306) Directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to issue to the purchaser of a hydroelectric generation facility a ten-year original license under the Federal Power Act to insure that the project will continue operations under the same conditions as were applicable prior to the sale. Grants FERC Federal Power Act jurisdiction over any such facility sold. (Sec. 307) Amends the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 1993 to repeal the prohibition against the use of appropriated funds for studies regarding a changeover from an "at cost" to a "market rate" or other noncost-based methodology for pricing hydroelectric power. (Sec. 308) Transfers to the Secretary of the Interior all DOE functions affecting the BPA. Instructs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the most cost-effective option of disposing of the BPA. Title IV: Transfer and Disposal of Reserves - Transfers to the Secretary of the Interior all former DOE functions affecting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Instructs the Secretary to: (1) sell the reserves held at Weeks Island, Louisiana; and (2) appoint an advisory board to monitor the sale of such reserves and report to the Congress on whether the United States should maintain or dispose of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (Sec. 402) Transfers to the Administrator of the Energy Programs Resolution Agency all functions performed with respect to the naval petroleum reserves, except Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 1 (Elk Hills). Instructs the Administrator to: (1) obtain the highest possible price for the naval petroleum reserves; and (2) develop a joint plan with the Secretary of the Interior for disposal of the naval petroleum reserves within a specified timeframe. Title V: National Security and Environmental Management Programs - Subtitle A: Defense Nuclear Programs Agency - Establishes the Defense Nuclear Programs Administration (the Administration) in the Department of Defense (DOD), headed by the Under Secretary for Defense Nuclear Programs, who shall be responsible for the exercise of all Administration powers and duties. (Sec. 503) Transfers to the Under Secretary all: (1) DOD national security functions (except the DOE naval nuclear propulsion program); (2) supervisory functions previously performed by DOE over Sandia, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories; (3) functions of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of DOD relating to nuclear weapons systems; and (4) functions of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to transfer other nuclear weapons-related functions to the Under Secretary. (Sec. 504) Restricts the transfer of funds by the Administration. (Sec. 508) Requires the Energy Laboratory Facilities Commission to transmit recommendations to the Congress for a civilian entity to perform the functions previously performed by DOE relating to the naval nuclear propulsion program. Precludes Commission consideration of the Defense Nuclear Programs Administration or any other entity within DOD. Subtitle B: Environmental Restoration Activities at Defense Nuclear Facilities - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to require the Under Secretary to review ongoing and planned remediation activities consistent with this Act. (Sec. 521) Sets forth guidelines for site-specific risk assessment, including a cost-benefit analysis of risk reduction, before the selection of a remedial action at a defense nuclear facility. (Sec. 523) Instructs the Under Secretary to renegotiate the terms of any compliance agreement entered into with the Secretary of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the relevant State in order to have it reflect this Act. Title VI: Disposition of Miscellaneous Particular Programs, Functions, and Agencies of Department - Limits authorizations for enumerated energy research and development programs through FY 2002. (Sec. 601) Directs the Energy Laboratory Facilities Commission to identify for the Congress all DOE research and development activities carried out at energy laboratories or institutions of higher education that perform a critical research function important to the long-term economic well-being of the United States. Directs the Secretary of Energy to terminate all DOE clean coal technology research and development activities. Authorizes appropriations for DOE fossil energy and energy conservation research and development activities. Terminates such activities at the end of FY 2002. Transfers from DOE to DOD specified weapons and defense activities. (Sec. 602) Transfers to the Department of the Treasury all functions performed by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Authorizes appropriations for the EIA. Transfers to the Attorney General all functions performed by the Energy Regulatory Administration. Title VII: Civilian Radioactive Waste Management - Amends the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to terminate the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management and to transfer its authority and assets regarding a repository for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel to the Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps). Requires: (1) the Corps to assume all obligations of the Office affecting the Yucca Mountain site; and (2) reissuance of Nevada State permits for the Corps. Prescribes procedural guidelines for Corps preparation and implementation of a Yucca Mountain site characterization plan. (Sec. 702) Amends the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to reaffirm that the obligation of the Secretary of Energy to accept high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel beginning by January 31, 1998, is absolute and is not dependent on commencement of operation of a repository or a monitored retrievable storage facility. States that such obligation shall be neither voided nor delayed for any reason. Repeals: (1) the site selection limitation placed upon the siting of a monitored retrievable storage facility; and (2) the licensing conditions placed upon such facility. (Sec. 703) Prescribes procedural guidelines for the licensing and expansion of an initial uranium storage facility. Title VIII: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes the Office of Management and Budget to make any determination regarding functions transferred under this Act and incidental transfers.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact Title II: Southern Dairy Compact Dairy Consumers and Producers Protection Act - Title I: Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact - Amends the Agricultural Market Transition Act to include Maryland, New Jersey, and New York within the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact. Includes Ohio among the additional States that may join such Compact, and eliminates Virginia from such group. Eliminates and revises specified provisions regarding Compact implementation, duration, restricting authority, and Commodity Credit Corporation compensation. Title II: Southern Dairy Compact - States that Congress consents to the Southern Dairy Compact entered into by Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Includes Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas as additional States that may join such Compact. Limits price regulatory authority to Class I fluid milk unless otherwise consented to by Congress. Provides for Commodity Credit Corporation compensation. Sets forth the Southern Dairy Compact.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1999
Patent Fairness Act of 1999 - Amends Federal law to require, if the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks determines that certain standards are met, restoration of the term of any patent, in force on September 24, 1984, and on the filing date of a patent term restoration application under this Act, that claims: (1) a drug product; (2) a method of using a drug product; or (3) a method of manufacturing a drug product. (Sec. 2) Defines such standards as: (1) a regulatory review period from application submission to application approval exceeding 60 months; and (2) the absence of substantial evidence overcoming the rebuttable presumption that the applicant for patent term restoration for the drug product acted with due diligence. Requires subtraction from the total amount of the restoration term of any time during the regulatory review period during which the Commissioner finds that the applicant for patent term restoration did not act with due diligence. Limits a restoration period, after specified adjustments, to five years. Requires restoration term applications to be filed within 90 days after enactment of this Act. Provides for: (1) claim determination procedure; (2) interim restoration of the patent term pending final disposition; and (3) appeal of the Commissioner's determinations to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit only. Entitles to compensation by the patent owner of any person who has submitted an new drug application under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for a drug product covered by a patent for which a patent term was restored under this Act, if such application has been found by the Food and Drug Administration on or before enactment of this Act to be sufficiently complete to permit substantive review. Sets the amount of compensation at: (1)$1 million; or (2) $500,000 for any holder of a Type II Drug Master File that has permitted a reference to its File to be made in such application. Limits a patent owner's overall liability to: (1) $5 million to persons submitting new drug applications; or (2) $2.5 million to holders of Type II Drug Master Files. Requires the Commissioner to report to Congress: (1) an evaluation of the patent term restoration review procedure established by this Act; and (2) a recommendation whether Congress should consider establishing such a patent term review procedure for patents not covered by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1999
Regulatory Fairness and Openness Act of 1999 - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a transition analysis report with respect to pesticide tolerances before releasing any product safety information to the public, or making final tolerance decisions. Includes within such report's requirements a description of the extent to which specified assumptions have been used to support findings or regulatory recommendations. (Sec. 5) Sets forth interim review or reassessment procedures. (Sec. 6) Requires the Administrator to issue within one year of enactment of this Act final implementing rules for tolerances and exemptions for pesticide chemical residues. (Sec. 7) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Administrator to issue guidelines specifying required data in support of tolerances and exemptions. Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to provide for related notice and opportunity for hearing. (Sec. 8) Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to provide for an expedited replacement product registration process. Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to authorize an expedited tolerance for an emergency exemption if no significant (food) consumer risk exists. (Sec. 9) Requires the Administrator and the Secretary of Agriculture to report with respect to related pesticide, residue, and food use priorities and resources. (Sec. 10) Requires the Secretary to develop a program to monitor the competitive international market strength of major U.S. agricultural commodity sectors. (Sec. 11) Establishes the Pesticide Advisory Committee.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1999
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to restore the link ended by the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 1995 between the rules relating to substantial gainful activity for blind individuals and the rules relating to excess earnings under the social security earnings test for individuals who have attained retirement age (thus allowing blind individuals, once again, to earn up to the social security excess earnings threshold without being regarded as having demonstrated an ability to engage in substantial gainful activity and without losing entitlement to OASDI benefits). Makes this Act effective with respect to taxable years ending after 1995.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
Computer Equipment Common Sense Depreciation Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a two-year recovery period for depreciation (including alternative depreciation for tax-exempt use property, etc.) of computers and peripheral equipment used in manufacturing.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Safeguard Amendments Title II: Amendments to Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 Title III: Steel Import Notification Fair Trade Law Enhancement Act of 1999 - Title I: Safeguard Amendments - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to repeal the requirement that the cause of serious injury (or threat of it) be substantial to the domestic industry producing an article like or directly competitive with an article that is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities with respect to the President taking action to facilitate efforts by such industry to make a positive adjustment to the import competition. (Sec. 101) Declares that imports shall be considered to be a "cause of serious injury, or threat thereof," when a causal link is established between imports and injury to the domestic industry. Revises certain factors the International Trade Commission (ITC) must consider when investigating whether an article is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury (or threat of it) to the domestic industry producing an article like or directly competitive with the imported article. Repeals, similarly, the requirement that such injury be substantial. (Sec. 102) Requires the ITC, for purposes of an investigation, to focus on the merchant market when determining the domestic industry's market share in producing an article like or directly competitive with the imported article in cases in which domestic producers transfer internally (including related parties) significant production of the like or directly competitive article for the production of a downstream article and sell significant production of such article in the merchant market (captive production). (Sec. 103) Directs the ITC to find that a rebuttable presumption that a domestic industry is threatened with serious injury, or a rebuttable presumption of critical circumstances, exists due to such imports if it finds there has been a rapid decline in domestic prices for the like or directly competitive article and a rapid increase in the imported articles. Requires the ITC in any case in which such presumptions do not apply, or in which they apply but are rebutted, to conduct a threat of serious injury or of critical circumstances analysis as if no such presumption applied. Title II: Amendments to Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to make similar changes with respect to its countervailing duty and antidumping duty provisions. (Sec. 207) Prohibits the administering authority (Secretary of Commerce), for purposes of suspending an antidumping duty or countervailing duty investigation, from accepting an agreement with another country to eliminate or offset a countervailable subsidy placed by such country on an export to the United States or an agreement to cease such exports to, or eliminate their injurious effect on, the United States unless, among other things, such agreement is supported by domestic producers or workers accounting for more than 50 percent of the total production of the domestic like product. (Sec. 209) Revises the method for calculating the constructed export price of subject merchandise by reducing such price, among other things, by an amount equal to the dumping margin or the net countervailable subsidy unless the producer or exporter is able to demonstrate that the importer of such merchandise was in no way reimbursed for any antidumping duties paid on such merchandise. (Sec. 211) Requires the ITC, for purposes of an antidumping duty or countervailing duty investigation, to treat the producers of an agricultural product that has a short shelf life (perishable product) in a defined period or season as the domestic industry. Sets forth certain factors that the ITC can, cannot, or shall consider when making material injury determinations with respect to such products for the seasonal period. (Sec. 212) Requires the ITC, when making a determination of whether a countervailable subsidy exists in a country where transactions do not reflect market conditions due to government action associated with provision of the subject good or service or purchase of such goods, to make such determination through comparison with the most comparable market price elsewhere in the world. Title III: Steel Import Notification - Directs the Secretary to establish and implement a steel import notification and monitoring program. Requires: (1) a person to have a steel import notification certificate before he or she can import certain steel products into the United States; and (2) the Secretary to issue such certificate to any person who files an application that meets specified requirements. Requires the Secretary to compile and publish certain information with respect to such imported steel.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1999
Plant Protection Act - Title I: Plant Protection - Prohibits a person from importing, exporting, or moving in interstate commerce an unauthorized plant pest. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to permit such introduction or movement. Prohibits the unauthorized mailing, and knowing delivery by a mail carrier, of plant pests. (Sec. 102) Authorizes the Secretary to restrict the importation, movement, and means of conveyance of plants, plant products, biological control organisms, plant pests, and noxious weeds in order to prevent their U.S. introduction and interstate movement. Authorizes: (1) the Secretary to publish lists of noxious weeds and biological control agents; and (2) private petitions to add or remove listings. (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to notify the Secretary of such articles' arrival, and hold them at the port of entry until inspected and authorized for U.S. movement by the Secretary. Prohibits a person from moving unauthorized and uninspected articles from a port of entry or interstate. (Sec. 104) Authorizes: (1) the Secretary to take specified remedial and emergency measures either directly or by the owner, including treatment or disposal, to avoid dissemination of a plant pest or noxious weed; and (2) owner compensation for unauthorized disposals. (Sec. 107) Directs the Secretary to carry out a grasshopper and Mormon Cricket control program, including: (1) cost sharing for State and private land; and (2) personnel training. (Sec. 108) Authorizes the Secretary to make phytosanitary export certificates based upon foreign requirements. Title II: Inspection and Enforcement - Sets forth provisions with respect to: (1) inspections, warrants, and seizures, (2) information collection; (3) subpoena authority; (4) criminal and civil penalties; and (5) enforcement authority of the Attorney General. Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into reimbursable fee agreements for preclearance outside the United States. (Sec. 305) States that this Act shall not apply to U.S. postal employees in the course of their duties. (Sec. 308) Repeals specified Acts. Title IV: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Improvement of Classroom Services and Activities Title II: Miscellaneous Provisions Dollars to the Classroom Act - Title I: Improvement of Classroom Services and Activities - Authorizes the Secretary of Education award grants to States for use by States and local educational agencies (LEAs) to improve classroom services and activities for students. (Sec. 102) Requires reservation of specified portions of title I funds for: (1) outlying areas, to be distributed on the basis of their relative need; and (2) the Secretary of the Interior for programs in schools operated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Sets forth a formula for distribution of title I funds to States, including a hold harmless provision with respect to amounts received in FY 1999 under current formula grant programs (which are under specified Acts and programs repealed by this Act). Requires States to distribute at least 95 percent of allotted funds to LEAs. Requires States and LEAs to use title I funds to supplement and not to supplant funds from non-Federal sources. Requires State annual reports to the Secretary and specified congressional committees to be made available to parents and the public. (Sec. 103) Requires States to consider certain factors when distributing funds within the State. Sets forth hold-harmless provisions for LEAs with respect to: (1) funds received for FY 1999 under current formula grant programs; and (2) funds the LEA is eligible to receive during FY 1999 through 2003 under multiyear awards made prior to enactment of this Act. Lists local uses of title I funds. Requires LEAs to involve parents and members of the public in planning for the use of title I funds. (Sec. 104) Provides for participation of private school children and teachers in title I activities and services. (Sec. 106) Declares that nothing in this title shall be construed to authorize any Federal officer or employee to require, direct, or control a State, LEA, or school's specific instructional content of pupil performance standards and assessments, curriculum, or program of instruction as a condition of eligibility to receive funds under this title. Prohibits the Secretary from issuing any regulation regarding the type of classroom activities or services that may be assisted under this title. Provides that LEAs shall not be required to provide services under this title through a particular instructional method or in a particular instructional setting in order to receive funding under this title. (Sec. 107) Repeals the following programs under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act: (1) State and local education systemic improvement; (2) parental assistance; and (3) international education exchange and study. Repeals the following programs under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994: (1) school-to-work opportunities system development and implementation grants to States; (2) Federal implementation grants to local partnerships; and (3) national programs. Repeals the following programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA): (1) demonstrations of innovative practices; (2) innovative elementary school transition projects; (3) Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program, including national programs and State and local activities; (4) Technology for Education, including national programs, State and local programs for school technology resources, Star Schools, Ready-to-Learn Television, telecommunications demonstration project for mathematics, elementary mathematics and science equipment, and elementary and secondary school library media resources; (5) Magnet Schools Assistance; (6) Women's Educational Equity; (7) Innovative Education Program Strategies; (8) Native Hawaiians Education; (9) Alaska Native Education; (10) Fund for the Improvement of Education; (11) Gifted and Talented Education; (12) Arts in Education; (13) Civic Education; (14) Allen J. Ellender Fellowship Program (Close-Up programs for middle and secondary school students and teachers); (15) 21st Century Community Learning Centers; (16) Urban and Rural Education Assistance; (17) National Writing Project; (18) Extended Time for Learning and Longer School Year; (19) Comprehensive Regional Assistance Centers; and (20) Eisenhower Math and Science Regional Consortia. Repeals the Education for Homeless Children program under the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. (Sec. 108) Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary to waive statutory or regulatory requirements for a State educational agency (SEA), LEA, or school under certain conditions for specified programs under ESEA and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act. (Sec. 201) Education Flexibility Partnership Demonstration Act - Authorizes the Secretary to allow all 50 States to participate in the Education Flexibility Partnership Demonstration Act program (currently under title III of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, which is repealed by this Act). Directs the Secretary to: (1) review the progress of agencies or schools affected by waivers under title II; and (2) publish and disseminate the decision to grant, or to authorize SEAs to issue, such waivers. (Sec. 202) Amends ESEA to eliminate criteria which a school must meet in order for its LEA to use funds for schoolwide programs at that school.
United States · United States Congress · 14 April 1999
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to implement the Class I milk price structure known as Option A as part of the final rule to consolidate Federal milk marketing orders.
United States · United States Congress · 14 April 1999
Bond Price Competition Improvement Act of 1999 - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Act) to replace requirements regarding the National Market Advisory Board with provisions requiring the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to adopt rules and takeactions to assure the prompt, accurate, reliable, and fair collection, processing, distribution, and publication of transaction information, including last sale date, regarding covered debt securities (i.e., bonds, debentures, or other debt instruments of an issuer, other than exempted securities and securities that the SEC determines by rule to except) so that such information is available to all. Directs the SEC, in determining the rules or other actions to take, to consider private sector systems for the collection and distribution of transaction information on corporate debt securities. (Sec. 4) Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study of measures needed in the public interest and for the protection of investors to improve the prompt, accurate, reliable, and fair collection, processing, distribution, and publication of information concerning transactions in: (1) debt securities as to which transaction information is collected but not disseminated pursuant to the Act; and (2) municipal securities. Requires the Comptroller General to report to Congress on such studies.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 1999
Working Families Flexibility Act of 1999 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for compensatory time for all employees. Allows an employee to receive, in lieu of monetary overtime compensation, compensatory time off at a rate not less than one and one-half hours for each hour of employment for which overtime compensation is required under the Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1999
Internet Access Charge Prohibition Act of 1999 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from imposing on any interactive computer service or other information service provider any access charge for the support of universal service that is based on a measure of the time that telecommunications services are used in the provision of such interactive computer or information service.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1999
George Washington, Bicentennial Act of 1999 - Requires that the legal public holiday known as Washington's Birthday be referred to by that name and no other: (1) by all U.S. Government entities and officials; and (2) whenever it appears in any federally funded publications.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1999
Vaccinate America's Children Now Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce from 75 cents to 25 cents per dose the tax on taxable vaccines.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1999
Small Savers Retirement Enhancement Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from $2,000 to $5,000 the annual limits on an individual's contributions to his or her individual retirement account (IRA). Mandates annual indexing of the $2,000 deductible portion of such contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 24 March 1999
Savings and Investment Relief Act of 1999 - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to prohibit the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from collecting transaction fees for FY 2000 through 2006 which in the aggregate exceed specified amounts for the following types of securities: (1) exchange-traded securities; (2) off-exchange trades of exchange registered securities; and (3) off-exchange trades of last-sale reported securities. Directs the SEC to publish annually in the Federal Register notice of such fee limitations and any suspension of fees. Sets a ceiling for the maximum amount of such transaction fees which may be deposited and collected as general revenue of the Treasury. Mandates that the balance of such fees which are not deposited as general revenue shall be deposited and credited as offsetting collections to the SEC appropriations account. Authorizes future appropriations Acts to increase such fee limitations in any year in which the total fees collected are insufficient for SEC budget authority provided under such Acts.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1999
Amends Federal civil service provisions relating to the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System to expand the definition of "law enforcement officer" to include (and thus extend the applicability of such provisions to): (1) a revenue officer of the Internal Revenue Service; (2) a customs inspector of the U.S. Customs Service; (3) a customs canine enforcement officer of the U.S. Customs Service; (4) an Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector; (5) a Department of Defense police officer; (6) a Department of Defense Command Investigations Division detective; (7) a Bureau of Engraving and Printing officer; (8) a postal police officer; (9) a Secret Service special officer; (10) a Drug Enforcement Administration diversion investigator; (11) a U.S. Customs Operation Enforcement Officer; and (12) a U.S. Customs Detection System Specialist Airborne and Flight Engineer. Prohibits applying the amendments made by this Act with respect to any period of service preceding this Act's enactment unless the employee involved (or, if applicable, an appropriate survivor) pays into the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund an amount equal to the total additional amounts which should have been deducted and withheld from pay (in excess of amounts actually deducted and not refunded) if such amendments had then been if effect, with interest. Requires the appropriate agency, no later than 90 days after the date on which such payment is made by an individual, to pay into the Fund any additional amounts which should have been paid by that agency into such Fund, with interest, as if this Act's amendments had been in effect during the prior periods of service involved.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
Landowners Equal Treatment Act of 1999 - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require the head of an agency to make every possible effort to avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts on non-Federal property that result from Federal use of the property (including constructive use) as a direct result of an agency action under such Act (including actions to provide or retain habitat for endangered or threatened species or to designate non-Federal property as critical habitat). Prohibits an agency from taking action under such Act that results in a Federal use of non-Federal property unless it: (1) obtains the landowner's permission; (2) negotiates a voluntary agreement authorizing such use; or (3) compensates the landowner for the fair market value of the Federal use. Sets forth provisions governing landowner requests for compensation, compensation negotiations, arbitration or civil actions to resolve compensation disagreements, and payment of compensation from an agency's annual appropriations. Prohibits an agency from taking any action that is a Federal use of non-Federal property unless it has given 30 days notice to each property owner directly affected explaining their rights and either obtaining their permission or providing procedures for obtaining compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act - Authorizes the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make grants on a competitive basis to a variety of fire departments for any of a number of specified purposes, including: (1) hiring additional firefighting personnel; (2) training them; (3) funding creation of rapid intervention teams to protect firefighting personnel at the scenes of fires and other emergencies; (4) certifying fire inspectors; (5) establishing wellness and fitness programs for firefighting personnel; (6) funding emergency medical services; (7) acquiring additional firefighting vehicles and equipment, including personal protective equipment required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; (8) modifying fire stations, fire training facilities, and other facilities; (9) enforcing fire codes; (10) funding fire prevention programs; and (11) educating the public about arson prevention and detection. Requires the FEMA Director to establish an office to set specific criteria for the selection of grant recipients and administer the grants. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
Historic Homeownership Assistance Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for 20 percent of the qualified rehabilitation expenditures made by a taxpayer with respect to a qualified historic home which has been substantially rehabilitated and which is owned by the taxpayer and used as his or her principal residence. Allows the credit for such expenditures to be taken by a purchaser of the rehabilitated home. Permits, in lieu of the credit, a historic rehabilitation mortgage credit certificate, which may be transferred to a lender in exchange for a reduction in the rate of interest on the loan secured by the building.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1999
Printed Circuit Investment Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to classify as three-year depreciable property any printed wiring board or printed wiring assembly equipment.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1999
Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to give States the option of making medical assistance for breast and cervical cancer-related treatment services available during a presumptive eligibility period to certain low-income women without creditable coverage who have already been screened for such cancers under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention breast and cervical cancer early detection program and need treatment. Provides for an enhanced match with regard to such Medicaid treatment services.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1999
Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 1999 - Provides collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed by States or local governments. Directs the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to determine whether State law provides specified rights and responsibilities for public safety officers, including: (1) granting public safety employees the right to form and join a labor organization which excludes management and supervisory employees, and which is, or seeks to be, recognized as the exclusive bargaining agent for such employees; and (2) requiring public safety employers to recognize and agree to bargain with the employees' labor organization. (Sec. 5) Requires the FLRA to issue regulations establishing collective bargaining procedures for public safety employers and employees in States that do not substantially provide for such public safety employee rights and responsibilities. Directs the FLRA, in such cases, to: (1) determine the appropriateness of units for labor organization representation; (2) supervise or conduct elections to determine whether a labor organization has been selected as an exclusive representative by a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit; (3) resolve issues relating to the duty to bargain in good faith; (4) conduct hearings and resolve complaints of unfair labor practices; and (5) resolve exceptions to arbitrator's awards. Grants a public safety employer, employee, or labor organization the right to seek enforcement of such FLRA regulations and authority through appropriate State courts. (Sec. 6) Prohibits public safety employers, employees, and labor organizations from engaging in lockouts or strikes. (Sec. 7) Provides that existing collective bargaining units and agreements shall not be invalidated by this Act. (Sec. 9) Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1999
Recognizes and honors Joe DiMaggio for his storied baseball career, for his many contributions to the nation, and for transcending baseball and becoming a symbol of talent, commitment, and achievement.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1999
Expresses appreciation and thanks to the U.S. Capitol Police officers for their hard work and long hours throughout the impeachment proceedings.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1999
Date Certain Tax Code Replacement Act - Prohibits the imposition of any tax by the Internal Revenue Code: (1) for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2002; and (2) in the case of any tax not imposed on the basis of a taxable year, on any taxable event or for any period after December 31, 2002. Excepts the: (1) tax on self-employment income (chapter 2 of the Code); (2) Federal Insurance Contributions Act (chapter 21 of the Code); and (3) Railroad Retirement Tax Act (chapter 22 of the Code). Declares that any new Federal tax system should be: (1) a simple and fair system; and (2) approved by the Congress in its final form no later than July 4, 2002.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
Veterans' Hepatitis C Benefits Act of 1999 - Considers hepatitis C becoming manifest in a veteran to be service-connected, and therefore compensable under veterans' disability provisions, notwithstanding that there is no record of evidence of such illness during the period of such service, as long as it is shown that during such service the veteran experienced: (1) a blood transfusion before December 31, 1992; (2) blood exposure on or through skin or mucous membrane; (3) hemodialysis; (4) a tattoo, body piercing, or acupuncture; (5) unexplained liver disease or abnormal liver function tests; or (6) working in a health care occupation.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
Workplace Preservation Act - Prohibits the Secretary of Labor from promulgating, through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, any standard or guideline on ergonomics until the National Academy of Sciences completes a study and submits a report to the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
Directs the President to impose quotas, tariff surcharges, or negotiate enforceable voluntary export restraint agreements in order to ensure that the volume of imported steel products (semifinished, plates, sheets and strips, wire rods, wire and wire products, rail type products, bars, structural shapes and units, pipes and tubes, iron ore, and coke products) during any month does not exceed the average volume of imported steel for the 36-month period preceding July 1997. Directs the Secretaries of the Treasury and of Commerce to implement a program for administering and enforcing the restraints on such imports. Authorizes the Customs Service to refuse entry into the U.S. customs territory for a three year period of any steel products that exceed the allowable levels of such products. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish and implement a steel import notification and monitoring program. Requires any person who intends to import steel products into the United States to first obtain an import notification certificate. Sets forth specified import notification certificate requirements. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to publish on a weekly basis through the Internet certain information obtained from steel import notification certificate applications regarding imported steel, including country of origin, the port of entry, quantity, value of steel imported, single producer or exporter countries, and whether such imports are entered into a bonded warehouse or foreign trade zone. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to charge reasonable fees to defray the costs of carrying out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
Helpers Job Opportunity Act - Provides for the creation of an additional category of laborers or mechanics known as helpers under the Davis-Bacon Act. Requires a helper of a laborer or mechanic to be paid the prevailing wage of helpers of laborers or mechanics employed on similar projects in the same subdivision of the State.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
District of Columbia College Access Act - Establishes the District of Columbia College Access Scholarship Program and the District of Columbia College Access Fund out of which the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall award such scholarships. Treats any contribution or gift to or for the use of the Fund as deductible from gross income under the Internal Revenue Code. Provides that: (1) any payment from the Fund shall not be subject to any Federal, State, or local income or gift tax; and (2) the Fund shall be treated as a tax-exempt organization. Sets forth administrative procedures for the Program. Requires the Mayor to award a scholarship for attendance at an eligible institution of higher education located outside the District to each applicant who is a qualified high school graduate and has resided in the District for at least the 12 consecutive months preceding the academic year for which the scholarship is sought. Sets the amount of each scholarship at the difference between the institution's non-resident and resident tuition, with a ratable reduction if the amount available from the Fund for any academic year is not sufficient to pay the scholarship. Allows the Mayor to enter into a contract with a nongovernmental agency to administer the Program and the Fund. Authorizes appropriations to: (1) the Fund for FY 2000 and each of the five succeeding fiscal years; and (2) the University of the District of Columbia for the same period.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Liberty Dollar Bill Act - Amends Federal law to mandate that the design of the reverse side of $1 Federal reserve notes incorporate: (1) the preamble to the Constitution; (2) a list describing the Articles of the Constitution; and (3) a list describing the Articles of Amendment. Prescribes the design format. States that such requirements do not limit the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) include other inscriptions or material on the reverse side of $1 bills; or (2) adopt other design features to deter counterfeiting of currency.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Education IRA Plus Act of 1999 - Amends the education individual retirement account provisions of the Internal Revenue Code to define the "contribution limit" as: (1) $1,000 beginning in taxable year 2000; (2) $1,500 beginning in taxable year 2001; and (3) $2,000 beginning in taxable year 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1999
American Land Sovereignty Protection Act - Amends the National Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 1980 to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from nominating any Federal lands for inclusion on the World Heritage List pursuant to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage unless: (1) the Secretary publishes a finding that commercially viable uses of nominated lands and lands within ten miles of them will not be adversely affected by such inclusion; (2) the Secretary has reported to the Congress on the lands' natural resources and the impact that the inclusion would have on existing and future uses of such lands; and (3) such nomination is specifically authorized by a law. Authorizes the President to submit proposals for legislation authorizing such a nomination after publication of the Secretary's finding. Requires the Secretary to object to the inclusion of any property in the United States on the list of World Heritage in Danger (established under the Convention) unless the Secretary: (1) has reported to the Congress on the necessity for such inclusion, the natural resources associated with the property, and the impact such inclusion would have on existing and future uses of such property; and (2) is specifically authorized to assent to the inclusion by a joint resolution of the Congress enacted after the report is submitted. Directs the Secretary to submit an annual report to specified congressional committees on the management of each World Heritage Site within the United States. (Sec. 4) Prohibits any Federal official from nominating any lands in the United States for designation as a Biosphere Reserve under the Man and Biosphere Program of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Provides that any such designation before enactment of this Act shall not have any force or effect, unless the Biosphere Reserve: (1) is specifically authorized by a law enacted before December 31, 2000; (2) consists solely of federally owned lands; and (3) is subject to a management plan that specifically ensures that the use of intermixed or adjacent non-Federal property is not limited or restricted as a result of that designation. Directs the Secretary of State to report annually to specified congressional committees information on the management of each Biosphere Reserve within the United States. (Sec. 5) Prohibits any Federal official from nominating, classifying, or designating any Federal land located within the United States for a special or restricted use under any international agreement for conserving, preserving, or protecting the terrestrial or marine environment, flora, or fauna (with specified exceptions) unless specifically authorized by law, but authorizes the Secretary to submit proposals for authorizing legislation. Provides that any such nomination, classification, or designation of private or State or local lands shall have no force or effect without the owner's consent or specific authorization by State or local law, respectively.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1999
Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 1999 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to repeal the limitation on the amount of outside income which beneficiaries who have attained retirement age may earn (earnings test) without incurring a reduction in benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1999
Education Savings and School Excellence Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to educational individual retirement accounts (IRAs) to: (1) permit distributions for qualified elementary and secondary education expenses, including home schooling expenses; (2) increase the annual contribution limit; (3) waive the beneficiary age limitation for contributions on behalf of special needs beneficiaries; and (4) permit corporate contributions. (Sec. 3) Excludes from a beneficiary's gross income distributions from qualified State tuition programs (or from certain prepaid tuition programs established by educational institutions), except to the extent that they exceed qualified higher education expenses. Expands the definition of such expenses. Denies allowance of any other deduction or credit for any qualified education expenses taken into account in determining exclusion from gross income of education IRA distributions. Defines "excess contributions" with respect to private qualified tuition programs. (Sec. 4) Makes permanent the exclusion from employee gross income of employer-provided educational assistance. (Sec. 5) Increases the amount by which certain governmental bonds used to finance public school capital expenditures may be exempted from specified arbitrage bond provisions. (Sec. 6) Excludes from gross income certain amounts received under the National Health Corps Scholarship Program and the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship and Financial Assistance Program.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
Save Our Satellites Act of 1999 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish different predictive models for making determinations of the television broadcast signal boundaries of areas within the Grade B Contour of television broadcast stations for purposes of such Act and other Federal statutes and regulations. Requires any subscriber who, on February 24, 1999, is receiving from a satellite carrier for private home viewing secondary transmissions of programming contained in a primary transmission made by a network station, to be treated, during the period beginning on such date and until the FCC completes the above action, as residing in an unserved household for purposes of Federal copyright license requirements for secondary transmissions by satellite carriers.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
Americorps Program Elimination Act - Amends the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to repeal the National Service Trust Program (Americorps) under which certain persons who perform national or community service receive stipends and educational awards for such service.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
State and Local Investment Opportunity Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the State ceiling on private activity bonds. Provides for inflation adjustment.