United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1998
Federal Protective Service Reform Act of 1998 - Amends the Act of June 1, 1948, to redesignate special policemen of the General Services Administration (GSA) as police officers. (Sec. 3) Extends the powers of sheriffs and constables granted to such police officers upon Federal property under the GSA Administrator's control to any area within 500 feet from such property and makes such powers concurrent with State and local law enforcement authorities in the area in which the property is located. Empowers such police officers to: (1) carry firearms; (2) petition Federal courts for and execute arrest and search warrants; (3) make arrests without a warrant; and (4) conduct investigations, on and off the property of offenses on such property; and (5) coordinate with other law enforcement agencies that have intelligence gathering authority for the protection of such persons and property. Authorizes police officers to exercise any power granted in such an area if: (1) the officer reasonably believes that the action is necessary to prevent or stop a felony in progress; (2) the felony is being committed in the presence of the officer; and (3) there is a known, immediate threat. (Sec. 4) Increases from $50 to $5,000 the maximum penalty for violations of any rules or regulations with respect to Federal property. (Sec. 5) Empowers nonuniformed special law enforcement officers with the same authority outside Federal property (within 500 feet of a Federal area) as police officers have. (Sec. 6) Directs the Administrator to establish the Federal Protective Service (FPS) as a separate operating service of GSA. Provides for the FPS to be headed by a Commissioner who: (1) shall be appointed by and report directly to the Administrator; and (2) has at least five years of professional law enforcement experience in a command or supervisory position. Requires the Commissioner to: (1) assist the Administrator; (2) serve as the principal U.S. law enforcement officer and security official with respect to the protection of Federal officers and employees in such property; (3) render assistance to other Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies upon request; and (4) carry out his or her duties in coordination with the Commissioner of the Public Buildings Service. (Sec. 7) Requires FPS police officers' and criminal investigators' pay and benefits to be determined in accordance with a pay and benefits package established by the Administrator that is equivalent to the pay scale and benefits package applicable to U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division members. (Sec. 8) Requires there to be at least 730 full-time police officers in the FPS one year after the enactment of this Act. Prohibits any reduction in such number of officers unless specifically authorized by law. Directs the Comptroller General to study and report on the feasibility of merging all building security forces of the executive branch within and under the FPS's supervision. (Sec. 9) Directs the Commissioner to prescribe standards for the contracting of security personnel for Federal property. Provides for such standards to ensure that contract personnel receive adequate training and are subject to the same background check requirements as FPS police officers.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1998
Silicone Breast Implant Research and Information Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to: (1) appoint an official of the Department of Health and Human Services to serve as the NIH coordinator regarding silicone breast implant research; (2) establish either a study section or special emphasis panel for NIH to review extramural silicone breast implant research grant applications to ensure research design and quality, as well as quality intramural research; and (3) conduct or support research to expand the understanding of the health implications of silicone breast implants. Directs the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to: (1) take specified steps to make updated information about the risks of silicone breast implant available to the public, via the toll-free Consumer Information Line and other means; (2) revise the breast implant information update to clarify the procedure for reporting implant problems; (3) require manufacturers to update implant package inserts and informed consent documents regularly with accurate information; and (4) require any manufacturer conducting an adjunct study on implants to take specified measures with respect to informed consent documents, including informing women on how to obtain a Medwatch form and encouraging women who withdraw from the study, or who would like to report a problem, to submit such a form. Establishes the President's Interagency Committee on Silicone Breast Implants to ensure strategic management, communication, and oversight of Federal policy formation, research, and activities regarding silicone breast implants. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1998
Authorizes unpaid veterans' benefits that have accrued to an individual for up to eight (currently, two) years prior to his or her death to be paid to survivors.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1998
Religious Liberty Protection Act of 1998 - Prohibits a State (or any person acting under color of State law) from placing a substantial burden upon a person's religious exercise: (1) in a State-operated program or activity that receives Federal financial assistance; or (2) in or affecting international or interstate commerce. Declares that a State (or any person acting under color of State law) may substantially burden a person's religious exercise if such burden is: (1) in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest. Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the United States to deny or withhold Federal financial assistance as a remedy for a violation of this Act. (Sec. 3) Places upon a State the burden of persuasion on all issues relating to an alleged violation supported by prima facie evidence of the Free Exercise Clause. Prohibits a State from imposing a land use regulation that: (1) substantially burdens religious exercise; (2) denies religious assemblies a reasonable location; or (3) excludes religious assemblies from areas in which nonreligious assemblies are permitted. Declares that this Act does not preempt State law that is equally or more protective of religious exercise. (Sec. 4) Subjects both a State and the Federal Government to liability for a violation of the Free Exercise Clause, including a civil action for money damages. (Sec. 5) Emphasizes that this Act does not: (1) authorize a State to burden any religious belief; (2) create any basis for the regulation of religious exercise or for claims against a religious organization not acting under color of law; (3) create or preclude a right of any religious organization to receive State funding or assistance; (4) authorize State regulation of the activities or policies of a person other than a government as a condition of receiving funding or other assistance; or (5) restrict any authority that may exist under other law to so regulate or affect, except as provided in this Act. (Sec. 6) Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, interpret, or in any way address the Establishment Clause of the Constitution (prohibiting laws respecting an establishment of religion). (Sec. 7) Amends the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 to repeal its applicability to the States and to make it applicable only to the Federal Government, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories and possessions. Redefines exercise of religion to mean an act or refusal to act that is substantially motivated by a religious belief, whether or not the act or refusal is compulsory or central to a larger system of religious belief.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1998
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) undercover law enforcement investigations, including sting operations, are necessary to counter increasingly sophisticated money laundering schemes that involve financial institutions in this country and other countries, including Mexico; and (2) the United States should not agree to extradite to Mexico U.S. law enforcement agents involved in Operation Casablanca for actions taken within the scope of such Operation.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1998
Designates the U.S. Postal Service building located at 2601 North 16th Street, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the Roxanne H. Jones Post Office Building.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1998
Designates the U.S. Postal Service building located at 5209 Greene Street, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the David P. Richardson, Jr., Post Office Building.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1998
Designates the U.S. Postal Service building located at 5300 West Jefferson Street, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the Freeman Hankins Post Office Building.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1998
Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act - Establishes the Nazi War Criminal Records Interagency Working Group to locate, identify, inventory, recommend for declassification, and make available to the public at the National Archives and Records Administration, all classified Nazi war criminal records of the United States. Requires that: (1) Group members include the Director of the Holocaust Museum, the Historian of the Department of State, and the Archivist of the United States; and (2) the Group submit a report to the Congress describing all such records, their disposition, and the Interagency Group's activities. Authorizes appropriations. Requires such records to be released in their entirety, except that an agency head may exempt from release specific information that would compromise privacy, national security, or U.S. foreign policy, as specified. States that in applying the exemptions there shall be a presumption that the public interest in the release of Nazi war criminal records will be served by disclosure and release of the records. Permits assertion of such exemption only when the agency head determines that disclosure and release would be harmful to a specific interest identified. Requires such a determination to be promptly reported to the appropriate congressional committees, including the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. Subjects such exemptions to the same standard of review that applies to records withheld under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for matters that are specifically authorized by an executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy. Provides an additional exception from disclosure for records: (1) related to or supporting any investigation, inquiry, or prosecution by the Office of Special Investigations of the Department of Justice; or (2) solely in the possession or control of that office. Amends the National Security Act of 1947 to provide that the exemption from public disclosure authorized under such Act for operational files of the Central Intelligence Agency shall not apply to information regarding any operational file, or portion of any operational file that constitutes a Nazi war criminal record. Provides for expedited processing of FOIA requests for Nazi war criminal records.
United States · United States Congress · 3 June 1998
Modifies the boundaries of the George Washington Birthplace National Monument to include the property known as George Washington's Boyhood Home, Ferry Farm in Stafford County, Virginia.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1998
Drug-Free Ports Act - Directs the Attorney General, upon request, to grant access to identification records to any State, county, port authority, or other local jurisdiction to allow it to conduct criminal background checks on employees, or applicants for employment, at any port under its jurisdiction.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1998
No Gun Tax Act of 1998 - Amends the Federal judicial code to prohibit a Federal officer, employee, or agent, including a State or local employee or officer acting on behalf of the United States (officer), from charging or collecting any fee in connection with a background check required in connection with the transfer of a firearm. Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit and set penalties for the unlawful retention, or transfer to another person, of firearms background check information by such officer or by a Federal contractor or consultant after: (1) the 24-hour period beginning with the receipt of such information on an individual who is determined not to be prohibited from receiving a firearm; and (2) the five-year period beginning with the receipt of such information on an individual who is prohibited from receiving a firearm.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1998
Entitles to veterans' disability compensation a veteran whose disease or injury is attributable in whole or part to the use of tobacco products. Authorizes an additional $1 billion for FY 1999 for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1998
Expresses grave concern regarding the findings of the report of the International Commission of Jurists on Tibet issued in December 1997 concerning religious and cultural repression in Tibet. Supports report recommendations that call on: (1) the People's Republic of China to enter into discussions with the Dalai Lama on a solution to the question of Tibet, to ensure respect for the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people, to end practices which threaten to erode the distinct cultural, religious, and national identity of the Tibetan people, and to cease policies which result in the movement of Chinese people to Tibetan territory; (2) the United Nations General Assembly to resume its debate on the question of Tibet; and (3) the Dalai Lama to enter into discussions with the Chinese Government on a solution to the question of Tibet. Commends the appointment by the Secretary of State of a U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues. Calls on: (1) the People's Republic of China to release from detention the nine-year old Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, to his home in Tibet from which he was taken on May 17,1995, and to allow him to pursue his religious studies; and (2) the President, as a central objective of the 1998 presidential summit meeting with Jiang Zemin in Beijing, to work toward securing an agreement to begin substantive negotiations between the People's Republic of China and the Dalai Lama.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1998
Designates the U.S. Postal Service building located at 658 63rd Street, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the Edgar C. Campbell, Sr., Post Office Building.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1998
Terminally Ill Access to Treatment Act of 1998 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to approve for treating the terminally ill drugs and devices that have not received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) final approval and have not been shown to be unsafe. Declares that it is not illegal for a health care practitioner to administer a drug or device approved under this Act if the practitioner has notified the patient that the drug or device is experimental and not FDA-approved, and has received written approval from the patient or the patient's representative. Requires: (1) a practitioner to stop treatment and report to the Secretary if a drug or device causes acute harm; and (2) the Secretary to give public notice of an approved drug's or device's benefits or harm.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1998
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the definition of a private activity bond to include a bond issued for the construction or acquisition of a governmental electric output facility, except for a bond issued for the construction or acquisition of a local governmental electric output facility (as defined). Subjects to taxation income derived by any governmental utility from sales of electric energy services to persons: (1) not within a qualified governmental service area of such utility; and (2) for resale if such resale is to persons outside such service area. Sets forth exceptions.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1998
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the first Government-wide financial audit demonstrated gross mismanagement by Federal agencies; (2) current reform and reinvention efforts with respect to agency financial management have failed; and (3) Congress must impose consequences on agencies that fail their annual financial audits and conduct more vigorous oversight to ensure that agencies do not waste tax dollars.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1998
Save Our Children Act of 1998 - Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to amend or promulgate sentencing guidelines to provide that certain drug offenses committed in the presence of a child receive a penalty enhancement of the greater of: (1) two offense levels or one year, for the first such offense; or (2) four offense levels or two years, for the second such offense.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 1998
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Removal of Barriers to Affordable Housing Title II: Homeownership Through Mortgage Insurance and Loan Guarantees Title III: Assistance for Self-Help Housing Providers Title IV: Section 8 Homeownership Option Title V: Home Investment Partnerships Program Title VI: Local Homeownership Initiatives Title VII: Manufactured Housing Improvement Title VIII: Indian Housing Homeownership American Homeownership Act of 1998 - Title I: Removal of Barriers to Affordable Housing - Affordable Housing Barrier Removal Act of 1998 - Requires proposed and final agency rules to analyze their impact upon affordable housing availability. Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop model housing impact analyses. (Sec. 103) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to authorize direct appropriations for State and local grants for regulatory barrier removal. (Sec. 104) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to make affordable housing barrier removal eligible for community development block grant (CDBG) assistance. (Sec. 105) States that the regulatory barriers clearinghouse shall be established within the Office of Policy Development of HUD under the direction of the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. Title II: Homeownership Through Mortgage Insurance and Loan Guarantees - Amends the National Housing Act to increase the number of adjustable single family mortgages and loans that may be insured each year. Directs the Secretary to increase premiums as necessary. (Sec. 202) Makes permanent the demonstration program of home equity conversion mortgages for elderly homeowners. Replaces the program limitation based upon number of mortgages with an aggregate outstanding balance limitation. Obligates specified funds for conversion mortgage counseling and related expenses. Requires that mortgagors be given full disclosure of mortgage related costs such as estate planning and financial advice, and that any such costs not be excessive. (Sec. 203) Requires an inspection under the single family housing mortgage insurance program. Directs the Secretary to establish inspection guidelines and maximum costs. (Sec. 204) Authorizes the Secretary to treat a county or statistical area and contiguous or proximate counties as a single area for certain loan insurance limitation purposes. (Sec. 205) Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to eliminate certain rural housing guaranteed loan limitations. Title III: Assistance for Self-Help Housing Providers - Amends the Housing Opportunity Program Extension Act of 1996 to authorize specified appropriations for Habitat for Humanity and other self-help housing programs. Title IV: Section 8 Homeownership Option - Amends the United States Housing Act to provide a home ownership option under the section 8 housing assistance program, including downpayment assistance. Title V: Home Investment Partnerships Program - Amends the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to authorize appropriations for affordable housing programs. Revises the definition of "low-income families." (Sec. 503) Makes limited equity cooperatives and mutual housing associations eligible for home investment partnerships. (Sec. 504) Permits loan pool investment of partnership funds. (Sec. 505) Authorizes the Secretary to make home investment partnerships loan guarantees. Sets forth an aggregate loan guarantee limitation. Title VI: local Homeownership Initiatives - Amends the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation Act to authorize appropriations for the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, including a pilot home ownership initiative set-aside. (Sec. 602) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to authorize the Secretary to modify CDBG home ownership income requirements in high-cost areas. (Sec. 603) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to revise the home ownership zone grant program, including providing: (1) grant eligibility for units of general local government (currently nonprofit organizations); and (2) set-asides for specified low-income homebuyers. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 604) Expresses the sense of the Congress in favor of lease-to-own tenancies as home ownership tools. (Sec. 605) Amends the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to extend authorization of appropriations and authority for home ownership counseling. Title VII: Manufactured Housing Improvement - Manufactured Housing Improvement Act - Amends the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 to revise Federal construction and safety provisions for manufactured homes based upon a consensus standards development process. Eliminates the National Manufactured Home Advisory Council. Title VIII: Indian Housing Homeownership - Establishes the Indian Lands Status Commission which shall analyze and evaluate the Bureau of Indian Affairs' land recording and documentation system. Terminates the Commission one year after appointment of its members.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 1998
Common Sense Prison Work and Victim Restitution Act of 1998 - Amends the Crime Control Act of 1990 to require convicted inmates confined in Federal prisons, jails, and other detention facilities to engage in: (1) work for not less than 50 hours weekly; and (2) job-training and educational and life skills preparation study. Allows nonprofit entities to utilize the services of prisoners if opportunities otherwise provided by law for inmates to work are insufficient to meet such requirements. Directs the Attorney General to submit legislative recommendations to the Congress to permit Federal prisoners to perform work for private employers while minimizing the economic impact on the private sector of this expansion of the use of prison labor. Establishes in the Treasury a Fund into which shall be placed all proceeds and wages from prison labor. Directs that such Fund be used as follows: (1) one third to offset the costs of prisoner incarceration; (2) one third for victim restitution; (3) one tenth for payment into the individual prisoner's account to be paid upon his or her release; and (4) the remainder for payments to States and local jurisdictions that operate correctional facilities with prison work requirements that are substantially the same as Federal requirements for programs to benefit the dependents of prisoners. (Sec. 4) Directs the Bureau of Prisons to ensure that Federal prisoners: (1) do not possess, view, or read pornographic or sexually explicit materials; (2) are subject not less often than once each month to a combination of random and regularly scheduled testing for drugs and illegal substances; (3) do not possess microwave ovens, hot plates, toaster ovens, televisions (unless provided by the prison for group viewing), or VCRs; (4) do not possess or listen to music which contains lyrics that are violent, sexually explicit, or vulgar or that glamorize gang membership or activities, demean women, or disrespect law enforcement; (5) do not view cable television which is not educational in nature; and (6) do not engage in sexual activity. (Sec. 5) Directs the Attorney General to: (1) report to the Congress, one year after this Act's enactment date, on anticipated annual costs, for each of the five following fiscal years, of implementing a monthly drug testing program for all Federal prisoners; and (2) establish a program to utilize dogs in inmate work areas, living quarters, and delivery areas to detect narcotics (authorizes appropriations). (Sec. 7) Amends Federal criminal code provisions regarding substance abuse treatment to require the Attorney General to ensure through the use of all appropriate and available incentives and sanctions that eligible prisoners undergo a program of substance abuse treatment. (Sec. 8) Requires (currently, authorizes for a limited period if the prisoner consents) the Bureau to place in a shock incarceration program any person who is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, with an exception. Limits the initial portion of the term of imprisonment to four weeks. Directs that an inmate who, in the Bureau's judgment, either does not successfully complete the required period of shock incarceration or is physically or mentally unfit to participate, be confined to that inmate's cell for not less than 23 hours each day during the portion of the term of imprisonment that would otherwise be spent in shock incarceration and, during the remainder of that term, be granted no privileges other than those required by law.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 1998
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) any missile defense program to protect the United States against a ballistic missile attack should be designed to protect Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories and commonwealths on an equal basis with the contiguous States; and (2) any National Intelligence Estimate prepared with respect to intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities of foreign countries should include assessment of the threat to Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories and commonwealths.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 1998
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Slamming Title II: Switchless Resellers Title III: Spamming Anti-slamming Amendments Act - Title I: Slamming - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 (the Act) to prohibit a telecommunications carrier or a reseller of telecommunications services from submitting or executing a change in a subscriber's selection of a provider of telephone exchange service or toll service, except in accordance with this Act and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) verification procedures. Requires a carrier or reseller, in order to verify a subscriber's selection of a telephone exchange or toll service provider, to require the subscriber to: (1) affirm that the subscriber is authorized to select the service provider for that telephone number; (2) acknowledge the type of service to be changed by the selection; (3) affirm the intent to select the service provider; and (4) acknowledge that such selection will result in a change of service provider. Requires FCC selection verification procedures to: (1) preclude the use of negative option marketing; (2) provide for a complete copy of verification of a change of provider in oral, written, or electronic form; (3) require the retention of such verification in a manner and form and for such time as the FCC considers appropriate; (4) mandate that verification occur in the same language as that in which the change was solicited; and (5) provide for verification to be made available to a subscriber on request. Bars: (1) a carrier from being found in violation of this Act solely on the basis of a violation by an unaffiliated reseller of the carrier's service or facilities; and (2) the FCC from limiting or inhibiting a subscriber's ability to require that any change in the subscriber's choice of a provider not be affected unless the change is expressly and directly communicated by the subscriber to the existing provider. Makes all of the above provisions inapplicable to providers of commercial mobile service. Allows a subscriber whose provider is changed in violation of this Act to pay the former carrier or reseller for all services provided by the unauthorized carrier or reseller. Requires a carrier or reseller selected by a subscriber to notify the subscriber in a specific and unambiguous writing, not more than 15 days after the change is processed by the carrier or reseller: (1) of the subscriber's new carrier or reseller; and (2) that the subscriber may request information regarding the date of the change and the individual authorizing the change. Requires the FCC to: (1) prescribe a period not to exceed 120 days after receipt of notice of a complaint of an unauthorized change for the carrier or reseller to resolve such complaint; and (2) provide a simplified process for resolving such complaints. Authorizes the FCC, if a violation of this Act is found, to award damages of: (1) the greater amount of $500 or actual damages for each violation; or (2) three times such amount. Provides penalties for violations of this Act and authorizes the FCC to collect forfeitures and damages. Treats an initiation of service as a change in a subscriber's selection for purposes of this Act. Authorizes a State, when it has reason to believe that a carrier or reseller has or is engaged in a practice of changing service providers without subscriber authority, to bring: (1) an action on behalf of its residents to recover damages; and (2) an action for the assessment of civil penalties. Gives Federal courts exclusive jurisdiction over such actions. Requires FCC notification of, and authorizes FCC intervention in, any such action. Requires: (1) each carrier or reseller to report quarterly to the FCC on the number of complaints of unauthorized changes in provider services submitted to them by their subscribers; and (2) the FCC to use such information to identify carriers or resellers that engage in patterns and practices of unauthorized changes in provider services. Requires the FCC to report to the Congress on unauthorized changes in subscribers' providers. (Sec. 102) Allows a person's failure to pay a forfeiture imposed for violation of this Act to be used as a basis for revoking, denying, or limiting that person's operating authority. (Sec. 103) Sets forth obligations of telephone billing agents (including carriers or resellers) regarding bills issued to a subscriber of provider services and prohibits such issuance if the agent knows, or should know, that such charges are unauthorized or are otherwise improper. (Sec. 104) Grants the FCC jurisdiction to assess and recover penalties against a billing service provider (other than a carrier or reseller) only if such provider knowingly or willfully violates the provisions of this Act or any FCC rule or order. (Sec. 105) Directs the FCC to issue a report on the telemarketing and other solicitation practices used by carriers or resellers to solicit changes by subscribers in their service providers. Authorizes the FCC to initiate a rulemaking to prohibit such particular practices it determines are being used with the intention to mislead, deceive, or confuse subscribers. Title II: Switchless Resellers - Requires a telecommunications carrier operating or seeking to operate as a switchless reseller to furnish to the FCC a surety bond in a form and an amount determined by the FCC to be satisfactory for purposes of paying any: (1) fine or penalty imposed against the carrier for unauthorized changes in subscriber selections; (2) penalty imposed against the carrier regarding such operation; and (3) other fine, penalty, or forfeiture penalty imposed against the carrier under the Act. Requires such reseller to designate a resident agent in the United States for receipt of service of judicial and administrative process if the reseller is not domiciled in the United States. Allows the FCC to suspend the right of the carrier to operate as a switchless reseller for violation of this Act and subjects the carrier to any forfeiture provided for under the Act. Prohibits a common carrier or billing agent from providing billing services for unbonded switchless resellers or for a reseller not domiciled in the United States who has not designated a resident agent. Imposes a civil penalty of up to $50,000 on knowing and willful violators. Sets forth provisions regarding FCC review of surety bonds and their return to the carrier as a result of such review. Precludes this Act from prohibiting the FCC from adopting rules providing for the permissive detariffing of long-distance telephone companies, if the FCC determines that such action would otherwise serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Title III: Spamming - Requires a person who transmits an unsolicited commercial electronic mail message to include at the beginning: (1) the name, physical address, electronic mail address, and telephone number of the person who initiates transmission of the message or who created the content of it; and (2) a statement that further transmissions of such mail to the recipient by the person may be stopped at no cost to the recipient by sending a reply to the originating electronic mail address with the word "remove" in the subject line. (Sec. 302) Empowers the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with regulatory authority over such unsolicited electronic mail, including authority to conduct investigations, commence civil actions against individuals, and impose fines, penalties, and injunctions. Requires the FTC to take appropriate action within two years after the transmission of such electronic mail. (Sec. 303) Authorizes a State to bring a civil action on behalf of its residents against individuals or entities transmitting electronic mail in violation of this Act. Requires such State to notify the FTC of such action. (Sec. 304) States that this Act shall not apply to an electronic mail transmission by an interactive computer service provider unless the provider initiates the transmission or the transmission is not made to its own customers. Authorizes actions by such providers to enforce the sanctions under this Act. Requires such action within one year after receipt of the transmission. (Sec. 305) Requires a person who receives from any other person an electronic mail message requesting the termination of further transmission of commercial electronic mail to cease such transmissions to the individual. States that a person who secures a good or service from, or otherwise responds electronically to, an offer of unsolicited commercial electronic mail shall be deemed to have authorized such transmission.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 1998
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Designation and Evaluation of Renewal Communities Title II: Tax Incentives for Renewal Communities Title III: Additional Provisions American Community Renewal Act of 1998 - Title I: Designation and Evaluation of Renewal Communities - Renewing American Communities Act of 1998 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to designate (upon local or State nomination) up to 100 renewal communities, of which at least 20 percent shall be in rural areas. Requires for nomination purposes that: (1) the area be experiencing high rates of poverty and unemployment and general distress; and (2) State and local governments enter into written contracts with neighborhood organizations to promote specified economic growth and employment activities. Treats renewal communities as labor surplus areas for all Federal law purposes. Title II: Tax Incentives for Renewal Communities - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income capital gains on the sale or exchange of a qualified community asset (stock, business property, or partnership interest) held for more than five years. Allows a specified deduction for amounts paid into a family development account on behalf of an individual or another qualified individual who is a renewal community resident. Excludes from gross income account distributions used for qualified family development expenses (postsecondary education, first-home purchase, business capitalization, medical, and rollovers). Provides a penalty (with exceptions) in addition to inclusion as gross income for nonqualifying distributions. Provides for designation of up to 25 percent of qualifying renewal communities as matching demonstration areas eligible to receive family development account matching contributions. Authorizes: (1) designation of earned income tax credit payments for family development account deposit; (2) a commercial building revitalization tax credit; (3) increased first year expensing for renewal community businesses; (4) extension of environmental remediation cost expensing and the work opportunity credit for renewal communities; and (5) similar tax treatment of renewal communities and enterprise zones for specified youth residence requirements. (Sec. 205) Makes conforming amendments to provisions respecting: (1) tax on excess contributions and prohibited transactions; (2) trust and annuity information; (3) tax exemption applications; and (4) the commercial revitalization credit. Title III: Additional Provisions - Provides for local government transfer of unoccupied and substandard Department of Housing and Urban Development multifamily and single family housing in renewal communities, with subsequent disposition priority to be given to community development corporations. (Sec. 302) Amends the Public Health Service Act to make religious organizations eligible to administer specified substance prevention and abuse programs. Sets forth program provisions. (Sec. 303) Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to provide that a financial institution's investments in community development organizations located in renewal communities may be considered in evaluations under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 1998
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to set forth provisions for: (1) a small employer (100 or fewer employees) retirement plan; (2) a credit for the expenses of establishing such a plan; and (3) a model small employer retirement plan.
United States · United States Congress · 13 May 1998
Children's Hospitals Education and Research Act of 1998 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payment as specified to each children's hospital for each hospital cost reporting period beginning during FY 1999 or 2000 for the direct and indirect expenses associated with operating approved medical residency training programs. States that such payments are in lieu of certain Medicare payments to hospitals for inpatient hospital services, but shall not affect the amounts otherwise payable to such hospitals under a State Medicaid plan. Makes appropriations for such payments for such fiscal years.
United States · United States Congress · 13 May 1998
Border Protection and Infrastructure Act of 1998 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit and set penalties for committing (or attempting to commit) a crime of violence during and in relation to: (1) eluding customs, immigration, or agriculture inspection or failing to stop at the command of an officer of customs, immigration, or animal and plant and health inspection services; or (2) an intentional violation of specified arrival, reporting, entry, or clearance requirements (provides for imposition of a death sentence if death results). Specifies that if two or more persons conspire to commit such an offense, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punishable as a principal, except that the death sentence may not be imposed. (Sec. 3) Increases the penalty for entry of goods by means of false statements. (Sec. 4) Prohibits the master, operator, or person in charge of a vessel of, or subject to the jurisdiction of, the United States from failing to obey an order to heave to that vessel upon being ordered to do so by an authorized Federal law enforcement officer. Prohibits any person on board from knowingly or willfully: (1) failing to comply with an order of such an officer in connection with the boarding of the vessel; (2) impeding or obstructing a boarding, arrest, or other law enforcement action authorized by Federal law; or (3) providing false information to such an officer during a boarding regarding the vessel's destination, origin, ownership, registration, nationality, cargo, or crew. Prohibits the pilot, operator, or person in charge of an aircraft which has crossed the U.S. border, or an aircraft subject to U.S. jurisdiction operating outside the United States, from knowingly failing to obey an order to land by such an officer who is enforcing U.S. laws relating to controlled substances or money laundering. Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to prescribe regulations governing the means by, and circumstances under which, such an officer may communicate an order to land. Authorizes a foreign nation to consent or waive objection to such enforcement of U.S. law by the United States by international agreement or, on a case-by-case basis, by radio, telephone, or similar oral or electronic means. Sets penalties for intentional violations. Authorizes seizure and forfeiture to the United States of an aircraft or vessel used in violations. (Sec. 5) Establishes civil penalties for failure to comply with vessel boarding. (Sec. 6) Directs the Attorney General to increase the number of positions for full-time, active-duty border patrol agents within the Immigration and Naturalization Service to achieve a level of 20,000 positions by FY 2003. (Sec. 7) Prohibits a U.S. Border Patrol agent, within ten miles of the U.S. international border, from ceasing pursuit of an alien suspecting of unlawfully entering the United States, or of an individual suspected of unlawfully importing a narcotic into the United States, until State or local law enforcement authorities are in pursuit of the alien or individual and have the alien or individual in their visual range. (Sec. 8) Authorizes: (1) the Border Patrol to interdict the importation of narcotics; and (2) the Attorney General to install multi-layered barriers and roads in the U.S. border vicinity to deter drug trafficking in high drug trafficking areas. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 12 May 1998
Veterans Medicare Access Improvement Act of 1998 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a program under which the former Secretary shall reimburse the latter Secretary out of the Medicare trust funds for Medicare health care services furnished to certain Medicare-eligible veterans whose closest Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center is geographically remote or inaccessible. Authorizes the Secretaries to establish a demonstration project similar to such program for Medicare-eligible veterans whose closest VA medical center is not geographically remote or inaccessible. Amends the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to repeal the requirement for an implementation plan for veterans subvention. Prohibits payments from the Medicare trust funds for items or services furnished under the program or demonstration project established under this Act before the Director of the Office of Management and Budget determines that: (1) certain legislation restricting entitlement to service-connected compensation for a tobacco-related disability has been enacted; and (2) the net amount of the reductions in expenditures achieved by reason of such legislation during the five fiscal year period beginning with FY 1999, that is available to offset the net aggregate increase in outlays (if any) under the Medicare program, is not less than the estimated net aggregate increase during such period.
United States · United States Congress · 12 May 1998
Reinstatement of the Medicare Rehabilitation Benefit Act of 1998 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal the financial limitation on rehabilitation services under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of the Medicare program. Provides that for outpatient physical therapy services, outpatient occupational therapy services, and outpatient speech-language pathology services covered under Medicare and furnished on or after January 1, 2000, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall implement a new payment methodology based on the classification of individuals by diagnostic category, functional status, and prior use of services in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Requires that such payment methodology be designed so that, taking into account the increased expenditures resulting from this Act, it does not result in any increase or decrease in the expenditures under Medicare on a fiscal year basis.
United States · United States Congress · 12 May 1998
Children's Sleepwear Safety Act of 1998 - Requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a rule amending its Flammable Fabrics Act standards to revoke specified amendments to standards for the flammability of children's sleepwear. Declares that no statute or Executive order shall apply regarding the promulgation of the amendment prescribed by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1998
American Economy Protection Act - Prohibits the use of Federal funds to implement the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, unless or until the Senate has given its advice and consent to ratification of the Protocol. Prohibits Federal agencies from having authority to promulgate regulations to limit the emissions of carbon dioxide, unless a law is enacted specifically granting such authority.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1998
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a limited credit for qualified medical innovation expenses for clinical testing research expenses attributable to academic medical centers and other qualified hospital research organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1998
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States, at the 50th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Oman, should: (1) remain firmly opposed to any resumption of commercial whaling; (2) initiate and support efforts at the Commission to ensure that all activities conducted under reservations to the Commission's moratorium or whale sanctuaries are ceased; (3) oppose the lethal taking of whales for scientific purposes unless specifically authorized by the Commission's scientific committee; (4) seek the Commission's support for specific efforts by member nations to end illegal trade in whale meat; and (5) support the permanent protection of whale populations through the establishment of whale sanctuaries in which the commercial killing of whales is prohibited. Urges the United States to make full use of all appropriate mechanisms to implement such goals.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1998
Library of Congress Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Act of 1998 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue five-dollar gold coins and one-dollar silver coins emblematic of the Library of Congress. Authorizes the Secretary to mint and issue $10 bimetallic coins of gold and platinum in lieu of the gold coins. Requires payment of coin sale surcharges to the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board to support Library activities.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1998
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 dollar bills; or (2) adopt other design features to deter counterfeiting of currency.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 1998
Child Online Protection Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require anyone who, in interstate or foreign commerce, is engaged in the business of selling or transferring, by means of the World Wide Web, material that is harmful to minors to restrict access to such materials by persons under 17 years of age. Provides civil and criminal penalties for violations of such requirement, as well as an affirmative defense. Directs the Federal Communications Commission to post on its Internet website a definition of material that is harmful to minors.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 1998
Amends the Bretton Woods Agreements Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to present to the IMF's Executive Board, and work for the adoption of, a proposal to amend the IMF's bylaws to disallow it from issuing a tax allowance to the Governors, the Executive Directors, their alternates, the Managing Director, or any other IMF employee.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 1998
Rescue and Emergency Services Prepared for Our Nation's Defense Act - Establishes the Commission to Assess Weapons of Mass Destruction Domestic Response Capabilities to: (1) assess Federal agency efforts to enhance domestic preparedness for incidents involving weapons of mass destruction and Federal training programs for local emergency responses to such incidents; (2) recommend strategies for the coordination of response efforts; (3) assess the appropriate role of State and local governments in funding local response capabilities; and (4) report to the Congress within six months after its first meeting.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 1998
Amends the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act to repeal the sunset date for (and thus permanently extend) certain authority relating to self-employment assistance programs.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 1998
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to disregard certain Native American housing assistance in determining whether a building is federally subsidized for low-income housing credit purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 1998
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President and the Senate should act to prohibit the sale or diversion of Great Lakes water to foreign countries, businesses, corporations, and individuals.
![Official portrait of Rep. English, Phil [R-PA-3]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/e000187_200.jpg)