United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1981
Patent Term Restoration Act of 1981 - Amends the patent law to extend the terms of patents which encompass specified products or a method for using a product any of which are subject to certain nonpatent regulatory review periods. Sets forth the terms and conditions of such extension, including a seven year limitation. Directs the Commissioner of Patents to issue to the owner of record of a patent a certificate of extension stating the fact and length of the extension and identifying the product and the use and the claim to which such extension is applicable. Makes such certificate a part of the original patent. Limits the application of such patent term extension to patents for products subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Public Health Service Act, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Act of March 4, 1913 (relating to virus, serum, toxin, and analogous products).
United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1981
World War I Veterans Service Pension Act of 1981 - Requires the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to pay (in addition to any pension already paid) a monthly pension of $150: (1) to each veteran of World War I who meets specified service requirements; (2) to the surviving spouse of each such veteran; or (3) when there is no surviving spouse, to the child or children of each such veteran.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1981
Petroleum Displacement Act of 1981 - Amends the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 to repeal certain prohibitions and limitations on the use of natural gas as a primary energy source in electric powerplants. Repeals the authority of the Secretary of Energy to prohibit the use of petroleum or natural gas or both: (1) as a primary energy source in electric powerplants where coal or alternate fuel capability exists; and (2) in excess of a minimal amount in an electric powerplant in which it is feasible to use a mixture of petroleum or natural gas or an alternate fuel as a primary energy source.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit married individuals filing separate income tax returns an election to be taxed at rates applicable to unmarried individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1981
Declares the sense of the Congress that the President and the Secretary of State should take all necessary steps to: (1) bring the Baltic States question before the United Nations; (2) urge the United Nations to request the Soviet Union to withdraw all non-native troops, agents, colonists, and controls from the Republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia; and (3) return all Baltic exiles from Siberia, prisons and labor camps in the Soviet Union. Requires the Secretary of State to do his utmost to bring the matter of the Baltic States to the attention of all nations by means of special radio programs and publications. Declares that the United States should not agree to the recognition of the Soviet Union's annexation of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Directs the President to take steps to provide that all maps of Europe show the Republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia as independent states. Calls for a return of self-determination to Lithuania, Latvia,and Estonia through free elections conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1981
Expresses the sense of Congress that, in accordance with specified international agreements, the Soviet Union should provide proper medical care for Viktor Brailovsky and permit him to emigrate to Israel with his family. Urges the President to: (1) continue to express U.S. opposition to the imprisonment and treatment of Brailovsky; and (2) inform the Soviet Union that the United States, in evaluating its relations with other countries, will consider the extent to which those countries honor their commitments to human rights under international law.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1981
Urges the United States Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp to honor the sixty-six Americans who were taken hostage in Iran, the six Americans who escaped with the assistance of the Canadian Government, and the eight American servicemen who died in the attempt to rescue the hostages.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1981
Amends the Federal criminal code to establish penalties for whoever, with intent to interfere with any person freely exercising his religion, damages or destroys any cemetery, religious building, or any religious article contained in such building or steals any such religious article.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1981
Capital Cost Recovery Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the method for determining useful lives of business assets for purposes of computing allowable depreciation deductions. Replaces the asset depreciation range (ADR) method with a schedule of capital cost recovery periods for three classes of business property. Establishes capital cost recovery periods for the following classes of business property: (1) buildings and their structural components, ten years; (2) tangible property, five years; and (3) automobiles, taxis, and light-duty trucks (up to $100,000), three years. Permits calculation of the investment tax credit for such property without regard to the useful life of the property. Requires the recapture of depreciation amounts and investment tax credit amounts applicable to assets which are sold or otherwise disposed of prior to the expiration of the capital cost recovery period. Permits a taxpayer to deduct less than the full allowance for capital cost recovery in any taxable year. Permits a carryover to succeeding taxable years of any unused depreciation amounts. Disqualifies capital cost recovery property from the allowance for first year depreciation. Treats amounts claimed as the capital cost recovery of noncorporate lessors as an item of tax preference for purposes of the minimum tax. Adopts as an accounting practice the "half year convention" under which investments eligible for capital cost recovery treatment or the investment tax credit which are made at any time during the taxable year are deemed to be made in the middle of such year.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1981
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 an individual may earn while receiving benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1981
Family Enterprise Estate and Gift Tax Equity Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the unified credit against the estate and gift taxes from $47,000 to $155,800 by specified annual increments through 1985. Increases from $175,000 to $500,000, by specified annual increments through 1985, the minimum gross estate requirement for filing of a return. Repeals the existing limitations on the marital deduction for gift and estate taxes. Increases from $3,000 to $6,000 the annual gift tax exclusion. Qualifies estates of decedents who were disabled or retired for the special valuation of certain farms based on use if such decedents materially participated in the operation of the farm for five out of eight years preceding the year in which they became disabled or eligible for disability benefits, under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act. Permits the spouse of a decedent to use such valuation if the spouse has managed the farm or business for ten years preceding the decedent's death or takes over active management upon the decedent's death. Qualifies the owner of a woodland for the special use valuation if the owner or a member of the owner's family actively managed the property for ten years prior to the owner's death. Reduces from 15 to ten years the length of time a qualified property must be held and put to a qualified use following the decedent's death before it can be disposed of without incurring a recapture of estate tax benefits. Permits active management rather than material participation as a test for qualification of the estate for spouses, children under 21, students, and disabled individuals who receive property from a decedent who qualified for special use valuation. Repeals the $500,000 limitation on the reduction of the value of qualified real property permitted by the special use valuation. Allows the like kind exchange of property without loss of special use valuation eligibility. Allows valuation based on net crop share rentals as an alternative method of valuing farms. Repeals the requirement that an heir elect special treatment for involuntary conversions of qualified real property, thus making such treatment automatic upon such conversion. States that gifts made within three years of a decedent's death shall be valued as of the time of transfer rather than as of the date of death. Authorizes an individual to elect to pay a gift tax rather than use the unified tax credit. Modifies the alternate extension of time for payment of the estate tax where the estate consists largely of an interest in a closely held business to: (1) allow an installment payment election if the value of the interest in the closely held business is either 35 percent of the value of the gross estate or 50 percent of the taxable estate; (2) increase to 50 percent the value of an interest disposed of which will accelerate the payment of tax; and (3) permit payment, but with a penalty, of an installment within six months after the due date. Allows a disclaimer of an interest in property for estate tax purposes in specified circumstances where such disclaimer does not result in the passing of the interest concerned under the applicable State law.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1981
Requires each citizen or resident alien of the United States who was held hostage in Tehran, Iran, at any time during November, 1979, to be considered an American hostage placed in captivity on November 4, 1979, for purposes of receiving certain benefits under the Hostage Relief Act of 1980.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from $20,000 to $75,000 in 1981 (with annual adjustments up to $95,000 in 1985 and thereafter) the earned income exclusion for U.S. citizens working abroad who are bona fide residents of a foreign country. Repeals the requirement that, as a condition of their employment, such individuals reside in a hardship area. Reduces from 17 to 11 months the residency requirement for such exclusion. Provides for an income tax exclusion for the value of employer-provided lodging in a camp in cases where satisfactory housing is not generally available. Reduces from 17 to 11 months the foreign residency requirement with respect to the deduction for certain housing expenses of living abroad.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1981
Establishes a Joint Select Committee on Defense Readiness and Mobilization Capability to investigate and report on defense readiness and mobilization capability, including an analysis of: (1) the kind and extent of threats to the national defense; and (2) the quality and quantity of manpower, material, transportation, budgetary, and programmatic resources needed at present and able to be mobilized in the future. Sets forth the requirements for appointment to the joint select committee.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1981
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow preference visas to be given to an alien who: (1) requests such treatment; (2) was born after 1950 in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, or Thailand; (3) was fathered by an American serviceman; and (4) provides a guarantee of financial support. Stipulates that such guarantee must: (1) be signed by a citizen or lawful permanent resident who is at least 21 years old; and (2) provide that such signing sponsor will provide necessary financial support for five years. Allows the Attorney General to enforce such guarantee against the sponsor in a civil suit unless such sponsor dies or is adjudicated bankrupt.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the standard mileage rate used in computing the charitable deduction for expenses incurred in the operation of a motor vehicle shall be the same as the standard mileage rate for the business related deduction.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Campuses for the Elderly Act - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to: (1) solicit and review plans for the development of campus-style residential and health care projects for the elderly; and (2) make interest subsidy payments to developers of such projects. Authorizes appropriations necessary to make such interest subsidy payments. Amends the National Housing Act to authorize the Secretary to insure and to make commitments to insure mortgages on properties being developed under this Act. Requires a report to the Congress evaluating projects developed under this Act by a committee of Congressional members, representatives of the medical profession, and administrators of health-care facilities. Authorizes appropriations for such committee.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1970 to revise and increase the mandatory penalties for using or carrying a firearm during commission of a Federal felony. Defines such offense as using a firearm to commit a felony over which the district courts have exclusive jurisdiction or carrying a firearm during such a felony involving violence. Deletes the requirement that the firearm be carried "illegally." Increases the additional penalty imposed for such offense from one to ten years' imprisonment to five to ten years' imprisonment for a first offender and from two to 25 years to ten years to life imprisonment for a second or subsequent offender. Extends to first offenders the directions, currently applicable only to second offenders, that the court not suspend any sentence or grant probation and that the additional sentence not run concurrently with any term of imprisonment imposed for the offense itself. Makes a first offender ineligible for parole for five years and a second or subsequent offender ineligible for ten years. Expresses the sense of Congress that the executive prosecute vigorously such offenses.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Clean Air Act to repeal the requirement that State implementation plans for meeting the national primary ambient air quality standard provide for periodic inspection and testing of motor vehicles.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits a Federal court from requiring that a person be assigned to, or excluded from, a school on the basis of race, religion, or national origin.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Establishes in the House of Representatives a Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control to review problems of narcotics abuse, including enforcement, international trafficking, organized crime, and the criminal justice system with respect to narcotics law violations.