United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1991
Freedom for Kashmir Resolution - Deplores the excessive use of force and violence by the security forces of the Government of India against civilians in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Demands that such Government open such state's borders to the media and to international human rights and humanitarian organizations to permit an accurate assessment of the human rights situation. Reaffirms that the question of the future status of the state must be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite. Calls on the President, the United Nations, and the international community to use all measures at their disposal to establish the conditions necessary for such a plebiscite.
United States · United States Congress · 20 February 1991
Congressional Pay Reform and Accountability Act of 1991 - Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to declare the rate of pay for Members of Congress to be that payable on the date of the enactment of this Act. States that the provisions of this Act applicable to the House of Representatives and the Senate are enacted by the Congress as an exercise of its rulemaking power with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change such rules. Amends rule VIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and rule XII of the Standing Rules of the Senate to require: (1) a recorded vote on final passage of legislation that adjusts the pay of Members of Congress; and (2) such legislation to be considered separately from other legislation.
United States · United States Congress · 19 February 1991
Human Rights in India Act - Directs the President to report to the Congress on whether the Government of India is preventing human rights organizations from visiting India to monitor human rights conditions. Terminates development assistance to India (except for specified health projects) if the President reports that the Government of India is implementing such policy. Provides for the resumption of assistance if the President reports to the Congress that India is no longer implementing such policy.
United States · United States Congress · 19 February 1991
Older Americans' Freedom to Work Act of 1991 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to remove the limitation on the amount of outside income which beneficiaries who have attained retirement age may earn without incurring a reduction in benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
Volunteer Protection Act of 1991 - Prescribes circumstances under which volunteers working for nonprofit organizations or government entities shall be immune from personal financial liability for acts on behalf of the organization or entity. Sets forth exceptions and conditions that a State may impose on the granting of such immunity. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to increase by one percent the fiscal year allotment which would otherwise be made to a State to carry out the Social Services Block Grant Program under title XX of the Social Security Act if such State has, within two years, certified to the Secretary that it has enacted a State law which provides such immunity. Provides for the continuation of such increase based on an annual recertification.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
School Improvement and Flexibility Act - Title I: Improvement of Student Performance - Directs the Secretary of Education to report by January 1, 1994, on the administration of public schools in ten to 15 States, identifying and analyzing the impact of new legal, regulatory, and organizational requirements (promulgated since 1980) that affect educational practices. Requires impact analysis of mandated curricula and student-teacher ratios and data collection and paperwork requirements. Requires such report to include recommendations on how best to simplify Federal or State regulations so that more resources can be used to improve student performance. Title II: Educational Performance Agreements for School Restructuring - Establishes a national program of educational performance agreements for school restructuring, under which: (1) local authorities develop proposals for enabling students to achieve higher performance; (2) schools with such proposals are allowed to combine Federal, State, and local funds under specified Federal laws relating to the education of special needs students, drug education, and training programs (and to waive certain restrictions under such programs); (3) Federal, State, and local protections with respect to civil rights, nondiscrimination, and safety will be upheld; and (4) States will make available funds necessary to plan, develop, monitor, and evaluate local performance agreements. Provides that funding combinations and waiver restrictions may include such types of programs under specified Federal laws in the case of: (1) training programs at the secondary level for children in vocational education courses; and (2) special needs programs at the elementary level for disadvantaged children served under chapter 1 title I of ESEA. Provides for: (1) authority of other Federal agencies; (2) limitations; (3) sunset of combination authority after the sixth year of the agreement; (4) audits; (5) State assurances and State educational performance agreements; (6) local performance agreements and local review and assessment; and (7) evaluation and report to the Congress. Title III: Incentives for Program Improvement - Provides for education program improvement, accountability measures, and incentives under the following Federal laws: (1) the General Education Provisions Act; (2) the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; (3) the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act; (4) the Adult Education Act; (5) the Bilingual Education Act; and (6) the Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education Act. Waives certain repayment requirements for violations of administrative regulations if the State, local educational agency, or other educational entity recipient has sustained improved educational performance over the year or program period in question.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
Lead Battery Recycling Incentives Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate regulations for persons who generate, transport, store, recycle, or dispose of spent lead-acid batteries. Requires the Administrator, in developing such regulations, to conduct an analysis of the economic impact of the regulations on the recycling industry. Sets forth required elements of such regulations, including specific requirements for: (1) the storage and transfer of batteries by generators; (2) recordkeeping by battery generators, transporters, and recyclers; and (3) management practices of recyclers. Directs battery retailers to accept from customers spent lead-acid batteries of the same type and quantity of the batteries sold. Requires transporters to acquire an identification number from the EPA or the State enforcing this Act. Directs the Administrator to implement education activities to inform the public about the environmental and safety hazards associated with improper handling and disposal of spent lead-acid batteries. Authorizes appropriations. Applies such requirements to batteries which are transported to or managed by a lead-acid battery recycling facility, a secondary lead smelter, or any facility that prepares batteries for recycling. Requires producers or importers of lead-acid batteries to recycle, for the ten-year period beginning 24 months after this Act's enactment, an amount of spent lead equal to at least the amount determined by multiplying the amount of lead in the batteries produced or imported by such persons by the recycling percentage established by the Administrator. Authorizes compliance with such requirement by: (1) reclaiming lead from such batteries and using it in the production of new batteries; (2) purchasing reclaimed lead from secondary lead smelters for purposes of producing new batteries or shielding; or (3) purchasing recycling credits. Directs producers or importers to report annually to the Administrator on the amount of virgin and secondary lead used in new lead-acid batteries produced or imported by such persons. Sets the recycling percentage at 80 percent. Increases such percentage by two points annually. Authorizes the Administrator to reduce or waive the two percent increase if the rate exceeds 95 percent. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations to allow: (1) producers of lead-acid batteries to create credits for recycling an amount of batteries greater than required; and (2) producers of new batteries to purchase such credits for purposes of complying with this Act. Sets forth minimum requirements for the credit system. Applies battery recycling requirements to persons who produce or import more than 10,000 pounds of new lead-acid batteries annually. Sets the recycling percentage at 90 percent if the Administrator fails to promulgate recycling regulations.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
Oil Recycling Incentives Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from identifying used oil or affiliated materials as hazardous wastes under the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Defines "affiliated materials" as used oil filters and any materials used for cleaning up after changing oil that are contaminated with used oil. Provides that any fuel derived from used oil that does not meet used oil specifications established by the Administrator and would otherwise be identified as a hazardous waste shall be deemed to be a hazardous waste. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations for persons who generate, store, transport, recycle, or dispose of used oil. Requires the Administrator, in developing such regulations, to conduct an analysis of the economic impact of such regulations on the used oil recycling industry. Provides that regulations for used oil generators shall: (1) prohibit the storage of used oil in an underground storage tank unless such tank meets requirements under this Act; (2) prohibit the storage of used oil for more than 12 months; (3) require generators to transfer such oil to specified permitted used oil recycling or disposal facilities or transporters; and (4) require generators to keep specified records on such oil. Requires used oil transporter regulations to provide that such transporters: (1) acquire identification numbers from EPA; (2) meet applicable financial responsibility requirements; and (3) keep specified records. Includes intermediate storage requirements in transporter regulations. Provides that used oil recycler regulations shall require recyclers to: (1) keep specified records; (2) test fuel produced from the recycling process before departure from the facility; and (3) obtain certain permits. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations for exempt refineries that recycle used oil as necessary to protect human health and the environment. Sets forth minimum requirements for such regulations. Requires used oil disposal and affiliated material regulations to prohibit mixing used oil with any hazardous waste identified under the Solid Waste Disposal Act unless the mixture is stored, treated, or disposed of at a permitted facility. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations requiring owners or operators of new and existing recycling facilities to have class permits. Sets forth permit requirements. Provides for annual inspections of such facilities to assure permit compliance. Sets forth requirements for interim class permits. Exempts from permit requirements: (1) facilities which refine at least 10,000 barrels daily of crude oil into petroleum products, are classified as S.I.C. number 2911 (pursuant to the Office of Management and Budget Standard Classification Manual) facilities, and at which the amount of refined used oil is equal to no more than the amount of used oil that the owner is required to recycle and the used oil contains less than a specified amount of halogens; and (2) facilities which compound or blend lubricating base oil into finished lubricant products as their principal activity, are classified as S.I.C. number 2899 or 2992 facilities, and whose volume of used oil compounded or blended into such products is no more than ten percent of the lubricating base oil compounded or blended annually. Exempts from used oil regulation requirements on-site activities at facilities classified as S.I.C. number 4911 facilities. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations governing such facilities. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations establishing specification standards for fuel derived from used oil to be burned in furnaces and boilers. Sets forth requirements to be effective if the Administrator fails to promulgate used oil regulations by the applicable deadline. Requires the Administrator to implement education programs to inform the public and small businesses about the environmental and safety hazards associated with improper handling and disposal of used oil and the benefits derived from used oil recycling. Authorizes appropriations. Sets forth labeling requirements for oil packages and oil filters to encourage the return of used oil to collection centers. Requires States to develop plans for making information available to the public about recycling of used oil and oil filters. Directs the Administrator to establish a toll-free telephone line to give out information about State used oil recycling programs. Requires producers or importers of lubricating oil to recycle for a period of ten years an amount of used oil equal to at least the amount determined by multiplying the amount of lubricating oil produced or imported that year by such persons by the recycling percentage established by the Administrator. Authorizes such individuals to comply with this Act by: (1) recycling (through re-refining) used oil or purchasing re-refined oil for purposes of producing lubricating oil; or (2) purchasing recycling credits under this Act. Requires producers and importers to report annually to the Administrator on the amount of oil produced or imported by such persons. Requires a producer or importer to be treated as having recycled two units of used oil for each unit of re-refined oil or lubricant base stock purchased. Directs the Administrator to establish a recycling percentage that is two points higher than the existing recycling rate for lubricating oil. Provides for increases in such percentage of two points annually for ten years. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations allowing recyclers to create credits for used oil recycling and producers or importers of lubricating oil to purchase such credits. Provides that such regulations shall require: (1) specified records to be kept by recyclers and by importers or producers; and (2) recyclers to sell or distribute in commerce such oil as specification used oil, off-specification used oil, industrial specification used oil, or re-refined oil. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress on such regulations and to include: (1) a discussion of the effects of such regulations on the oil industry and the environment; and (2) an evaluation of the level of the recycling percentage and whether such percentage should be increased in future years. Requires an updated version of such report to be submitted within ten years of this Act's enactment. Applies recycling requirements to persons who import or produce more than 100,000 gallons of lubricating oil annually. Sets the recycling percentage at 40 percent if the Administrator fails to promulgate such regulations.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
Tire Recycling Incentives Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require tire producers or importers to recycle an amount of scrap tires equal to at least the amount determined by multiplying the amount of tires produced or imported that year by the recycling percentage established by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Authorizes compliance by: (1) recycling scrap tires through reintroducing the recovered rubber into a manufacturing process to produce new tires or retread old tire casings; or (2) purchasing recycling credits under this Act. Requires such individuals to report annually to the Administrator on the amount of tires produced or imported. Directs the Administrator to establish a recycling percentage that is five percentage points higher than the existing recycling rate for tires. Provides for increases in such percentage of five points annually in the ten years following the date of enactment of this Act. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations allowing recyclers to create credits for tire recycling and tire producers or importers to purchase such credits. Sets forth: (1) specified recordkeeping requirements for owners or operators of tire sale and installation facilities, scrap tire collection facilities, and tire producers and importers; and (2) the amount of credits allowed for scrap tires. Directs the Attorney General to determine the effects of the credit system on competition within the tire and scrap tire recycling industries and to report annually to the Congress. Sets the recycling percentage at 60 percent if the Administrator fails to promulgate regulations. Prescribes civil penalties for violations of recycling requirements. Considers a scrap tire recycling or disposal facility to be a solid waste disposal facility for purposes of Internal Revenue Code provisions concerning exempt facility bonds. Directs the Administrator to: (1) publish in the Federal Register minimum requirements for State scrap tire management and procedures under which such requirements shall be incorporated into State solid waste management plans; (2) provide for expedited review of State plans which include specified scrap tire recycling measures; and (3) establish standards to minimize health and environmental damages from the improper disposal and storage of tires. Requires such standards to provide for: (1) bans on the disposal of tires in land disposal facilities and on the intentional infliction of damage on tire casings to preclude casings from being used in retreading; (2) State inventories of scrap tire collection facilities, tire advisory boards, and scrap tire abatement plans; (3) agreements between facilities which distribute more than 1,000 tires annually and licensed tire haulers for the exclusive hauling of scrap tires by licensed haulers; and (4) prohibitions on the transportation of scrap tires by transporters without transportation identification numbers, with specified exceptions. Directs the Administrator to publish guidelines for States for the issuance of permits to scrap tire collection facilities. Provides for: (1) limits on the size of scrap tire piles at such facilities; (2) bans on open burning within 50 feet of a scrap tire pile; (3) regulations on vegetation, rodent, and mosquito control at such facilities; and (4) different requirements for collection facilities located in 100-year flood plains or other areas where water resources are critical. Requires the Administrator to promulgate guidelines for States for facility emergency plans. Directs facility owners or operators to maintain and update emergency preparedness manuals. Requires facility owners or operators to notify the State immediately in the event of an emergency with potential offsite impacts. Sets forth specified emergency and operational recordkeeping, reporting, and inspection requirements. Requires all regulated facilities to have appropriate financial responsibility or insurance to maintain the facility for at least five years after closure. Exempts specified persons from permitting requirements. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations for the State to use to issue permits to scrap tire recycling facilities. Requires the Secretary of the Interior, together with the heads of agencies responsible for public lands or military installations, to implement a plan to remediate tire piles. Applies plan requirements to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Directs the Administrator to develop a guideline for procuring items that make use of scrap or used tires. Requires Federal departments, if the Administrator fails to promulgate such guideline, to procure items containing at least 75 percent of post-consumer scrap rubber from scrap tires if the rubber is available within a reasonable amount of time at a reasonable price and meets performance standards. Directs the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to publish standards to determine the life-cycle costs and benefits of items that make use of rubber from scrap or used tires as compared with items that make use of rubber other than from scrap or used tires. Requires such standards to be used by Federal departments covered by the procurement guideline. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to determine and report to the Congress on: (1) direct worker environmental health effects relating to asphalt made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; (2) the recyclability of asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; and (3) the estimated life of existing asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires. Permits States to: (1) enter into consent agreements with owners and operators of scrap tire collection facilities for proper management and abatement of scrap tires; and (2) levy fines on facilities for noncompliance. Imposes fines on tire facilities and landfills for specified violations of this Act. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
Child Care Tax Credit Reform Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from $2,400 to $3,600 (from $4,800 to $5,400 in the case of two or more qualifying dependents) the amount of employment-related expenses subject to the dependent care income tax credit. Denies the credit to taxpayers having adjusted gross income of $50,000 or more. Removes the 20 percent minimum credit percentage, thus subjecting taxpayers having income above $28,000 to an incremental decrease in the applicable credit percentage.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Commends the President and the Secretary of State for their diplomatic initiative whereby representatives of the Governments of the United States, the Soviet Union, Portugal, the People's Republic of Angola, and the Union for the Total Independence of Angola met on December 31, 1990, with the goal of achieving a multiparty democracy in Angola. Supports the six principles agreed to in the talks. Expresses hope that the six principles will encourage the Angolan parties to seek an early ceasefire and guarantee free and fair elections at the earliest possible date.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions governing the income tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to: (1) make the deduction permanent (under current law it will expire after tax year 1991); and (2) phase in an increase in the allowable deduction, reaching 100 percent for taxable years beginning in 1994 and thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Repeals provisions of the Rural Development, Agriculture, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1991 to prohibit a specified rural development grant for the restoration of the birthplace of Lawrence Welk.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Right to Safe Drinking Water Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit regulated public utilities a corporate income tax exclusion of governmental contributions in aid of construction of water mains necessitated by the contamination of well water.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
National Literacy Act of 1991 - Title I: Literacy: Strategic Planning, Research, and Coordination - Establishes an Interagency Task Force on Literacy. Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to direct the Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education to coordinate literacy-related programs. Establishes the National Institute for Literacy and the National Institute Board. Authorizes the Institute to award Literacy Leader Fellowships. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Adult Education Act (AEA) to authorize the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to make grants to establish a network of State or regional adult literacy resource centers. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Workforce Literacy - Establishes in the Department of Labor a National Workforce Literacy Assistance Collaborative. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Adult Education Act (AEA) to revise provisions for national workforce literacy strategies grants to business, industry, labor, and education partnerships for workplace literacy. Requires the Secretary of Education (the Secretary), in awarding grants for exemplary demonstration partnerships for workplace literacy, to: (1) give priority to partnerships which include small businesses; and (2) limit such grant awards to not more than three years. Directs the Secretary to reserve a specified amount, whenever appropriations for workforce literacy partnership grants exceed a certain level, to establish a program of grants for large-scale national workforce literacy strategies. Authorizes appropriations for AEA workforce literacy programs. Title III: Investment in Literacy - Extends through FY 1995 the authorization of appropriations for programs under the Adult Education Act (AEA). Revises the use of funds under the AEA basic State grants program. Requires that basic grants to States also be used for competitive two-year Gateway Grants to public housing authorities for literacy programs and related activities. Requires biennial evaluations and reports on such Gateway Grants. Revises AEA to give State advisory councils, plans, and evaluations literacy-related responsibilities. Requires States to report biennially to the Interagency Task Force on meeting literacy goals, coordinating workplace literacy services, and building a high quality delivery system for adult literacy programs. Provides for training educators to recognize and serve illiterate individuals more effectively. Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to revise targeted assistance programs under ESEA to include training programs to enhance the ability of teachers and school counselors to identify, particularly in the early grades, students with reading and related problems which place them at risk for adult illiteracy. Renames the Even Start program under ESEA as the Even Start Family Literacy Program. Revises the program to expand eligibility to include community-based organizations or other nonprofit organizations of demonstrated quality applying in collaboration with a local educational agency (LEA) (as well as LEAs and LEA consortia). Sets minimum grant amounts. Makes individual children eligible from birth through age seven (currently from age one through age seven). Provides for continuation of eligibility for certain participants until the parents become ineligible due to educational achievement or until all children in the family attain age eight. Gives priority to applicants demonstrating that the area to be served has a high percentage or a large number of children and adults in need of program services. Authorizes appropriations for the Even Start Family Literacy Program. Establishes a Family Literacy Public Broadcasting Program. Authorizes the Secretary of Education, subject to availability of appropriations, to contract with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for production and dissemination of family literacy programming and accompanying materials to assist parents in improving family literacy skills and languages development. Requires CPB to: (1) cooperate with local public broadcasting stations; (2) arrange for distribution of audio and video instructional media materials for use, and distribution on loan, to families at sites chosen from among State and local libraries with literacy programs and nonprofit entities serving hard-to-serve populations; and (3) report to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations for the Family Literacy Public Broadcasting Program. Title IV: Business Leadership for Employment Skills - Amends the Adult Education Act (AEA) to provide for education programs for commercial drivers. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make competitive matching grants for adult education programs which increase the literacy skills of eligible commercial drivers so that they may successfully complete the knowledge test requirements under the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986. Requires grantees to refer individuals identified as having literacy skill problems to appropriate adult education programs. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Books for Families - Revises the ESEA inexpensive book distribution program to require that priority be given in selection of additional local programs to those which serve children and students with special needs. Requires the program contractor (Reading is Fundamental) to report to the Secretary of Education annually on such additional programs. Amends the Library Services and Construction Act to direct the Secretary of Education, in awarding grants for library literacy programs and services, to give priority to those that: (1) will be delivered in areas of greatest need with highest concentrations of adults without secondary education or its equivalent, and which either have few community or financial resources or have low per capita income, unemployment, or underemployment; and (2) coordinate with literacy organizations and community-based organizations providing literacy services. Title VI: Students for Literacy - Amends HEA to authorize appropriations for Student Literacy Corps programs. Requires individual students in such programs, as a condition of course credit, to perform at least 60 hours of voluntary, uncompensated service as tutors in a public community agency's educational or literacy program. Title VII: Volunteers for Literacy - Amends the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to establish a Literacy Challenge Grants program. Authorizes the Director of the ACTION Agency to award such grants to eligible public and private entities to pay the Federal share of costs of establishing, operating, or expanding community or employee literacy programs that include the use of full- or part-time volunteers. Authorizes appropriations for Literacy Challenge Grants, but only if there are specified levels of funding for the VISTA Program and the VISTA Literacy Corps. Title VIII: Literacy for Incarcerated Individuals - Amends the Adult Education Act (AEA) to establish requirements for mandatory functional literacy programs for incarcerated adults in State correctional systems and local jails or detention centers. Requires such a program to be in effect in at least one major correctional facility, for each State correctional system and each local jail or detention center with an inmate population, within two years after enactment of this Act. Requires, if adequate funds are available, each State correctional system and each local jail or detention center with over 150 inmates to have such a program in effect within five years after enactment of this Act. Sets forth required components of such programs, including inmate mandatory participation any individual who is serving a life sentence without parole, or terminally ill, or under a sentence of death. Requires annual reports. Encourages: (1) parole agencies to make educational recommendations for those being released who do not have a marketable job skill or a high school diploma; and (2) jails with less than 150 inmates to develop such mandatory functional literacy programs.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to raise from $5,000,000 to $25,000,000 the threshold amount of tax-exempt bonds that a small governmental unit may issue and still remain within the exception from arbitrage rebate requirements. Makes the exception from such rebate for construction bonds effective as if included under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Permits elections concerning such bonds to be made until 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act. States that any rebates paid shall not be refunded. Increases from $10,000,000 to $25,000,000 the amount of tax-exempt obligations excepted from the pro rata allocation of interest expense of financial institutions to tax-exempt interest for qualified small issuers. Repeals the five percent unrelated and disproportionate private use rules for private activity bonds. Provides that a bond shall not be treated as an arbitrage bond by reason of any failure to meet any requirements of temporary period investments if all earnings which would cause such bond to be an arbitrage bond are paid to the United States by the issuer by the required due dates. Reduces from 100 percent to 90 percent the amount of arbitrage to be rebated to the United States if certain State and local bonds are not to be treated as arbitrage bonds. Provides that an advance refunding bond will not be tax-exempt if it results in amounts becoming available which are invested in substantially guaranteed higher yielding investments pursuant to a contract entered during a certain period before or after issuance of the bond.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that Federal agencies should not engage in activities that threaten the civil liberties of U.S. citizens, or legal residents, of Arab descent. Urges the Federal Bureau of Investigation to: (1) inform Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies that Arab Americans are potential victims of, and should be protected from, hate crimes and related discrimination; and (2) encourage such law enforcement agencies to work with community leaders to report such crimes and discrimination.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1991
Andean Trade Preference Act of 1991 - Authorizes the President to grant duty-free treatment to eligible articles from an Andean beneficiary country. Sets forth factors the President must take into account in determining whether to designate a country a beneficiary country, limited to a choice of Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru. Requires goods imported from a U.S. insular possession to receive duty treatment no less favorable than the treatment afforded such goods imported from a beneficiary country. Authorizes the President to withdraw or suspend the designation of a country as a beneficiary country or the application of duty-free treatment to a product if circumstances have changed to bar such designation. Sets forth criteria with respect to the eligibility for duty-free treatment of products grown or manufactured in a beneficiary country. Declares that duty-free treatment shall not apply to: (1) textile and apparel articles which are subject to textile agreements; (2) footwear not designated as eligible under the General System of Preferences; (3) tuna in airtight containers; (4) petroleum or any derivative product; (5) certain watches; (6) certain articles which are subject to reduced rates of duty; or (7) certain sugars, syrups, and molasses. Requires the President to reduce duty rates on handbags, luggage, flat goods, work gloves, and leather wearing apparel that: (1) are the product of a beneficiary country; and (2) were not designated on August 5, 1983, as eligible articles under the General System of Preferences. Provides for presidential suspension of duty-free treatment. Authorizes filing of a petition with the Secretary of Agriculture with a request for emergency relief regarding a perishable product if it has already been filed with the International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging injury from imports from a beneficiary country. Authorizes the President to withdraw duty-free treatment with respect to such products after the Secretary's recommendation to take emergency action under this Act. Makes conforming amendments to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. Requires the ITC to report to the Congress on the economic impact of this Act on U.S. industries and consumers. Requires the Secretary of Labor to review and analyze the impact of this Act on U.S. labor.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1991
Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize the imposition of the death penalty for any individual who kills a U.S. national while such national is outside the United States, if the killing is a first degree murder. Increases penalties for killings other than first degree murders. Sets forth procedures for the imposition of the death penalty. Requires that a defendant be sentenced to death for a death-eligible offense if, after consideration of specified mitigating and aggravating factors, the defendant is found beyond a reasonable doubt, at a special hearing, to have: (1) intentionally killed the victim; (2) intentionally participated in an act, contemplating that the life of a person would be taken or intending that lethal force would be used in connection with a person, other than one of the participants in the offense, and the victim died as a result of the act; or (3) acting with reckless disregard for human life, engaged or substantially participated in conduct which the defendant knew would create a grave risk of death to another person or persons and death resulted from such conduct. Sets forth provisions with respect to notice by the Government that it intends to seek the death penalty if the defendant is convicted, the conduct of a special hearing to determine whether a sentence of death is justified, mitigating and aggravating factors to be considered, proof of such factors, the return of findings, and procedures for appeal and review of a sentence of death. Requires the court, in a hearing held before a jury, to instruct the jury that, in considering whether a death sentence is justified, it shall not consider the race, color, religious beliefs, national origin, or sex of the defendant or any victim. Authorizes the use of State or local facilities and employees to carry out the death penalty. Prohibits requiring any employee of a State department of corrections or the Federal Bureau of Prisons, or an employee providing services to such department or bureau under contract, as a condition of such employment or contractual obligation, to be in attendance at or to participate in any execution carried out under this title if such participation is contrary to the employee's moral or religious convictions. Specifies that where a sentence of death is not imposed, the court may impose a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release or furlough. Prohibits carrying out a death sentence upon a person who: (1) was under age 18 at the time the crime was committed; (2) is mentally retarded; (3) as a result of mental disability, cannot understand the nature of the pending proceedings, what such person was tried for, or the reason for or nature of the punishment; or who lacks the capacity to recognize or understand facts which would make the punishment unjust or unlawful, or lacks the ability to convey such information to counsel or to the court; or (4) is a pregnant woman. Sets forth provisions with respect to the appointment of counsel for indigent defendants in Federal capital cases. Establishes standards for the competence of counsel. Specifies that the ineffectiveness or incompetence of counsel during habeas corpus proceedings in a capital case shall not be a ground for relief from the judgment or sentence in any proceeding (but does not preclude the appointment of different counsel at any stage of the proceedings). Sets forth additional provisions with respect to: (1) the appointment of counsel in State capital cases; (2) time limits for a collateral attack on a judgment imposing a sentence of death; and (3) stays of execution.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1991
Emergency Baltic States Immigration Relief Act of 1991 - Amends the Immigration Act of 1990 to provide special temporary protected status for certain nationals of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1991
Line-Item Rescission Act of 1989 - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to allow the President to transmit to both Houses of the Congress, for expedited consideration, one or more special messages proposing to rescind all or part of any item of budget authority provided in an appropriation bill. Requires that such special message be transmitted on the same calendar day the President approves the appropriation bill and be accompanied by a draft bill or joint resolution that would, if enacted, rescind the budget authority proposed to be rescinded. Sets forth House and Senate procedures for the expedited consideration of such a proposal. Requires the item of budget authority proposed to be rescinded to be made available for obligation unless both Houses adopt the bill rescinding such item within 60 days.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1991
Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt from its requirements certain employees involved in construction or assemblage of display model garments or craft items which are not resold, if the work is voluntary and incidental to the work usually performed by such employees.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require indexing, based on the Consumer Price Index, of the adjusted basis of capital assets that have been held for more than one year, for the purpose of determining capital gain or loss at the time of transfer.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1991
Subjects to execution persons who, within the District of Columbia: (1) commit first degree murder; (2) murder a law enforcement officer while such officer is engaged in official duties or because of the status of an individual as an officer; or (3) engage in conduct during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise and thereby knowingly cause an individual's death. Directs the Government to notify the defendant a reasonable amount of time before trial or the court's acceptance of a guilty plea of its intent to seek the death penalty. Requires that, once a guilty verdict is rendered, a separate sentencing hearing be held at which there must be a unanimous finding, that, in addition to murder, specified aggravating factors, such as a previous murder conviction, commission of the murder for money, or torture of the victim, exist which outweigh specified mitigating factors and justify execution. Requires that the jury be notified that regardless of its findings it is never required to impose the death sentence and that it may not consider the race, color, religious beliefs, national origin or sex of the defendant or victim in passing sentence. Prohibits the execution of minors, the mentally retarded, or certain mentally disabled individuals. Authorizes a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for a capital crime. Sets forth death sentence appeal rights. Affords indigent defendants charged with a capital crime the benefit of an experienced criminal attorney until the execution of judgment. Prohibits correctional employees from being forced to participate in an execution that is against their moral or religious convictions.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1991
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the U.S. Government should: (1) suspend all trade assistance and benefits for the Soviet Union (including commodities credits and export-import credits) until all Soviet troops have been removed from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia; and (2) reaffirm its recognition of such countries as sovereign nations and establish diplomatic relations with them.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
National Biological Diversity Conservation and Environmental Research Act - States that the conservation of biological diversity is a national priority. Requires Federal actions to be consistent with such goal. Directs the Council on Environmental Quality to: (1) issue regulations to require agencies to assess the impacts of Federal actions on biological diversity in preparing environmental impact statements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; and (2) identify those biotic communities, species, and populations that appear to be in decline, in imminent danger of loss of viability, or otherwise of special concern. Requires Federal agencies to review their programs for consistency with the conservation of biological diversity pursuant to this Act and to report the results of such reviews to the President, the Council, and the Congress. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in reviewing environmental impact statements, to take into account the impacts of proposed actions on biological diversity. Establishes an Interagency Working Committee on Biological Diversity to be responsible for developing a coordinated Federal strategy for conservation of biological diversity. Dissolves the Committee after the submission to the Congress of the strategy. Sets forth the required contents of such strategy and reporting requirements. Establishes a National Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation Research within the Smithsonian Institution to: (1) set research priorities; and (2) coordinate the understanding and promotion of knowledge of the biota and make such knowledge accessible to the public. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Council to retain the National Academy of Sciences to: (1) provide scientific and technical advice and counsel in the preparation of the Federal strategy; and (2) provide a general reference and scientific and technical advisory source for the Nation in matters relating to the conservation of biological diversity.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to make granting independence to the Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as an additional condition for the extension of most-favored-nation treatment to the Soviet Union.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the targeted jobs credit permanently. Increases the maximum age requirement for economically disadvantaged youth from 23 to 25.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that the Congress and the States shall have power to prohibit the act of physical desecration of the U.S. flag and to set criminal penalties for such act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Proclaims the English language to be the official language of the United States. Prohibits the United States or any State from requiring the use of any other language. Declares that this article shall not prohibit educational instruction in a language other than English for the purpose of making students proficient in English. Authorizes the Congress and the States to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Condemns the recent violence by Soviet forces in Lithuania. Calls upon President Gorbachev to immediately cease the use of force against the people and the democratically-elected governments of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia and supports President Bush's condemnation of such Soviet actions in Lithuania. Calls upon the President to: (1) make this issue a priority item on the agenda of the upcoming U.S.-Soviet summit or otherwise to convey the message directly to the Soviet Government; (2) review bilateral relations and, in consultation with European allies, consider coordinated economic sanctions if the Soviets continue such actions; and (3) consider other ways to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to nonrecognition of the forcible annexation of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union and to show support for the people of the Baltic States. Calls upon the Soviet Government to: (1) enter into peaceful and meaningful negotiations with Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia on the nature of their future relations; (2) resolve peacefully disputes with all Soviet republics; and (3) abide by its obligations under the Helsinki Final Act, the United Nations Charter, and other international documents to respect human rights and self-determination. Urges that the new conflict resolution mechanisms created within the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in November 1990 be employed to help resolve this crisis peacefully.
United States · United States Congress · 16 January 1991
Establishes the Manzanar National Historic Site in California to protect historical and cultural resources associated with the relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Establishes the Manzanar National Historic Site Advisory Commission to consult with the Secretary of the Interior on matters relating to the development, management, and interpretation of the site. Terminates the Commission within ten years after the enactment of this Act. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 January 1991
Amends the Federal judicial code to make a person convicted of a crime and serving a prison sentence pursuant to such conviction ineligible to receive witness fees or allowances.
United States · United States Congress · 10 January 1991
Employee Educational Assistance Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the income tax exclusion of amounts paid under employee educational assistance programs. (Under current law the exclusion expires for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1991.)
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1991
House Commission on Congressional Reform Act - Establishes the House Commission on Congressional Reform to develop comprehensive and impartial recommendations for the House of Representatives that would improve: (1) institutional integrity; (2) accountability to the public; (3) efficiency; (4) effectiveness; and (5) any other aspects that would serve to increase public confidence in the House. Terminates the Commission within 90 days after submission of its report to the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House.
![Official portrait of Rep. Fawell, Harris W. [R-IL-13]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/7663b8ba61b7443f47452bfc59ff1299_200.jpg)