United States · United States Congress · 7 November 1991
Calls upon the President not to proceed toward the normalization of diplomatic and economic relations with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam until the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs has reported its findings on the accounting of missing American servicemen in Southeast Asia.
United States · United States Congress · 6 November 1991
States that U.S. policy to foster banking and thrift institution stability shall be consistent with the preservation of credit in order to create employment and promote economic recovery. Directs the Department of the Treasury and other Federal instrumentalities to review and change as appropriate related policies and procedures.
United States · United States Congress · 30 October 1991
Urges the President to: (1) support and negotiate with the United Nations (UN) to earmark funds, in the range of 25 percent of the monies collected for the UN Commission Fund, towards the costs of oil spill cleanup and restoration in the Arabian Gulf and Kuwait, including the costs incurred by the U.S. Coast Guard; and (2) enhance U.S. cooperation and assistance in providing expertise to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in cleanup and restoration efforts.
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 1991
Declares that Members of Congress are no longer exempted from Federal laws, including the: (1) Americans with Disabilities Act; (2) title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; (3) Equal Opportunity Act; (4) Occupational Safety and Health Act; (5) Fair Labor Standards Act; and (6) Freedom of Information Act. Makes it illegal to furnish any Member of the Congress, at the expenses of the Federal Government, free or at reduced costs: (1) medicine; (2) hospital care; (3) ambulance services; (4) meals; (5) flowers or plants; (6) pictures or picture frames; (7) haircuts; or (8) other items, services, or privileges, except official office expenses such as supplies and stationery.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 1991
Improved Bottled Water Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to modify quality standards for bottled water. Sets forth labeling requirements. Allows testing to be performed only by a certified laboratory. Provides for annual inspections of facilities. Provides for recalls. Regulates transportation, storage, processing, and bottling. Establishes a regulatory program office for bottled water in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1991
Illegal Alien Transportation Prevention Act of 1991 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit transportation of illegal aliens for employment purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1991
Immigration Document Fraud Prevention Act of 1991 - Provides for: (1) the replacement of current green cards with new counterfeit-resistant identification cards (which shall not be considered national identity cards) for all permanent resident aliens eligible to work in the United States; (2) a national program to educate employers about their responsibilities under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the uses of such cards; and (3) a demonstration program to determine the feasibility of a computerized telephone worker verification system for employers. Increases immigration fraud penalties. Authorizes FY 1993 and 1994 appropriations for activities under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1991
Cancer Screening Incentive Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a refundable tax credit for expenditures (not paid by insurance or otherwise) incurred by the taxpayer for qualified cancer screening tests.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1991
Improved Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 1991 - Increases FY 1993 personnel levels and funding for the Border Patrol. Provides for inservice training to familiarize Border Patrol personnel with the rights and varied cultural backgrounds of aliens and citizens. Authorizes FY 1993 appropriations. Increases FY 1993 personnel levels in the Wage and Hour Division with the Employment Standards Administration of the Department of Labor, and assigns such additional personnel to areas with high concentrations of undocumented aliens. Increases for FY 1993 the number of Assistant United States Attorney positions, and assigns such additional personnel to prosecute persons who harbor or bring into the United States illegal aliens. Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase penalties for harboring or bringing into the United States aliens for profit. Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Attorney General and the Secretary of State should initiate programs with Mexico and Canada to prevent and prosecute the smuggling of aliens into the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1991
Employer Sanctions Improvements Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide for the issuance of new counterfeit-resistant social security cards to employable aliens solely for the purpose of providing employment eligibility. Requires that cards issued to certain aliens specify the work authorization expiration date. Requires employers to: (1) maintain records of employee expiration dates; and (2) request expired-date employees to provide new cards. Directs the Administrator of Social Security to update the Social Security database with regard to such social security cards. States that such cards shall not be considered a national identity card. Authorizes FY 1993 and 1994 appropriations. Directs the Attorney General to conduct a related nationwide employer education program.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1991
Directs the Secretary of Education to report within six months to the Congress on the use of Pell Grants (as student assistance under the Higher Education Act of 1965) by prisoners, including specified types of information, analyses, and recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1991
Fair Competition in Broadcasting Act of 1991 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit, one year after the enactment of the Local Broadcast Service Protection Act of 1991, any cable system (system) or other multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) from retransmitting the signal of a commercial broadcasting station, or any part thereof, without the express authority of the originating station, with exceptions. Makes such prohibition inapplicable to the retransmission of the signal of a broadcasting station to a home satellite antenna by a cable operator (operator) or other MVPD of the signal of a superstation if the originating station was a superstation on May 1, 1991, and the system or other MVPD does not obtain the signal directly from the originating station. Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish regulations to govern the exercise by television (TV) stations of the right to grant retransmission authority and the right to signal carriage under such Act. Specifies that: (1) such regulations shall require that TV stations make an election between such rights; (2) if an originating TV station elects to exercise its right to grant retransmission authority, such Act shall not require the carriage of the signal of such station by such system; (3) such election shall not interfere with or supersede the rights of any station electing to assert the right of signal carriage; and (4) such provisions shall not be construed as affecting program licensing agreements between broadcasters and program suppliers. Requires each system operator with: (1) 12 or fewer usable activated channels to carry the signals of at least three local commercial TV stations, with exceptions where there are 300 or fewer subscribers; and (2) more than 12 such channels to carry the signals of local commercial TV stations up to one third of the aggregate number of usable activated channels of such system. Grants the operator discretion in selecting which signals to carry on its system whenever the number of local commercial TV stations exceeds the maximum number of signals a system is required to carry under such provision, with exceptions. Requires an operator to carry: (1) in its entirety, on the system of that operator, the primary video and accompanying audio transmission of each of the local commercial TV stations carried on the system and, to the extent technically feasible, program-related material carried in the vertical blanking interval or on subcarriers; and (2) the entirety of the program schedule of any TV station carried on the system unless carriage of specific programming is prohibited, and other programming authorized to be substituted, under Federal regulations. Requires that: (1) the signals of local commercial TV stations that an operator carriers be carried without material degradation; (2) the FCC adopt carriage standards to ensure that, to the extent technically feasible, the quality of signal processing and carriage provided by a system for the carriage of local commercial TV stations will be no less than that provided for carriage of any other type of signal; and (3) the FCC, at such time as it prescribes modifications of the standards for TV broadcast signals, initiate a proceeding to establish any changes in the signal carriage requirements of cable TV systems necessary to ensure cable carriage of such broadcast signals of local commercial TV stations which have been changed to conform with such modified standards. Specifies that an operator shall not be required to carry the signal of any local commercial TV station that substantially duplicates the signal of another local commercial TV station which is carried on its system, or to carry the signals of more than one local commercial TV station affiliated with a particular broadcast network. Sets forth provisions with respect to: (1) channel positioning; (2) signal availability; (3) identification of signals carried; and (4) notification of a local commercial TV station prior to deleting carriage or repositioning the station. Bars an operator from accepting or requesting compensation for carriage of local commercial TV stations or for channel positioning rights, with exceptions. Establishes procedures for complaints by broadcast stations against operators. Directs the FCC to: (1) afford the operator an opportunity to respond to the allegations; and (2) make a determination and take appropriate action with respect to the complaint. States that no operator shall be required to provide or make available, or provide information to subscribers about, any input selector switch or comparable device. Directs the FCC to issue regulations implementing the requirements established by this Act. Specifies that nothing in this Act shall require (or prohibit) an operator to (or from) carrying on any tier the signal of any commercial TV station or video programming service that is predominantly utilized for the transmission of sales presentations or program length commercials. Requires an operator with: (1) 12 or fewer usable activated channels to carry the signal of at least one qualified local noncommercial educational TV station; and (2) 13 to 36 such channels to carry the signal of at least one such station (but does not require carriage of the signals of more than three such stations). Sets forth additional requirements where a system operates beyond the presence of any qualified local noncommercial educational TV station. Requires all operators to continue to provide carriage to all qualified local noncommercial educational TV stations whose signals were carried on their systems as of March 29, 1990, subject to waiver under specified circumstances. Specifies that: (1) an operator required to add the signals of qualified local noncommercial educational TV stations to a system may do so by placing such additional stations on public, educational, or governmental channels not in use for their designated purposes; (2) an operator of a system with a capacity of more than 36 usable activated channels which is required to carry the signals of three qualified local noncommercial educational TV stations shall not be required to carry the signals of additional such stations the programming of which substantially duplicates the programming broadcast by another qualified local noncommercial educational TV station requesting carriage; and (3) a qualified local noncommercial educational TV station whose signal is carried by an operator shall not assert any network nonduplication rights it may have under specified Federal regulations to require the deletion of programs aired on other qualified local noncommercial educational TV stations whose signals are carried by such operator. Requires an operator to: (1) retransmit in its entirety the primary video and accompanying audio transmission of each qualified local noncommercial educational TV station whose signal is carried on the system and, to the extent technically feasible, program-related material carried in the vertical blanking interval, or on subcarriers, that may be necessary for receipt of programming by handicapped persons or for educational or language purposes; and (2) provide each qualified local noncommercial educational TV station whose signal is carried with bank-width and technical capacity equivalent to that provided to commercial TV broadcast stations carried on the system, and carry the signal of each qualified local noncommercial educational TV station without material degradation. Sets forth additional provisions with respect to: (1) notification of changes in carriage; (2) signal quality; (3) channel positioning; (4) availability of signals; (5) payment for carriage (which is generally prohibited); (6) complaint procedures and remedies; and (7) signal identification.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 1991
Designates 1992 as the Year of the Gulf of Mexico. Directs all Federal and State agencies which have responsibility for matters affecting the Gulf to work to increase public awareness regarding the immeasurable value of this resource and current conditions which threaten its aesthetic and economic value.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1991
Drug Supply Reduction Act of 1991 - Title I: Interdiction Systems Improvements - Order To Land and To Bring To Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal criminal code to make it unlawful for a pilot or operator (pilot) of any aircraft which has crossed the border of the United States, or any aircraft subject to U.S. jurisdiction operating outside the United States, to refuse to obey the order of an authorized Federal law enforcement officer to land (in enforcing controlled substances or money laundering provisions). Directs the Secretaries of the Treasury and of Transportation to: (1) prescribe regulations governing the means by which an order to land may be communicated to a pilot by Federal law enforcement officers; and (2) delegate Federal law enforcement seizure and forfeiture responsibilities under this title to other law enforcement officers. Makes it unlawful for any master, operator, or person in charge (master) of a U.S. vessel or vessel under U.S. jurisdiction to fail to stop and land upon being ordered to do so by a Federal law enforcement officer authorized to issue such an order. Specifies that consent or waiver of objection by a foreign nation to the enforcement of U.S. law by the United States under this Act may be obtained by radio, telephone, or similar oral or electronic means and may be proved by certification of the Secretary of State or the Secretary's designee. Sets forth penalties for violation of this Act. Authorizes the seizure and forfeiture of any aircraft that is used in violation of this Act. Provides for the immediate revocation of the registration of an aircraft upon the failure of the operator to follow the order of a Federal law enforcement officer to land the aircraft. Directs the Administrator to: (1) notify the owner of the aircraft that such person no longer holds U.S. registration for such aircraft; and (2) establish procedures for the owner of the aircraft to show cause why the registration was not revoked as a matter of law by operation of such provision, or why circumstances existed pursuant to which the Administrator should determine that it would be in the public interest to issue a new certificate of registration to the owner, effective concurrent with the revocation. Authorizes the Coast Guard to issue orders, make inquiries, searches, seizures, and arrests, and take other lawful action relating to violations of U.S. laws occurring aboard any aircraft over the high seas or waters over which the U.S. has jurisdiction. Establishes a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for any master of a vessel or pilot or operator of an aircraft who intentionally fails to comply with an order of a Coast Guard commissioned officer, warrant officer, or petty officer to stop or land, as well as in rem liability with respect to the aircraft. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to establish analogous civil penalties with respect to intentional failures to obey an order to land. Title II: New Coast Guard Authorities - Coast Guard Assistance Act of 1991 - Authorizes the Coast Guard: (1) to exchange information with international organizations (currently limited to foreign governments); (2) to suggest to the Secretary of State international collaboration and conferences on all matters dealing with maritime law enforcement and maritime environmental protection (currently limited to safety of life and property at sea); and (3) when so requested by the Secretary, to utilize its personnel and facilities to assist any foreign government or international organization to perform any activity for which such personnel and facilities are especially qualified. Authorizes the President, upon application from foreign governments or international organizations (current law excludes the latter) to utilize officers and enlisted members (under current law, to detail members) of the Coast Guard to assist such governments or organizations in matters concerning which the Coast Guard may be of assistance. Amends the Mansfield Amendment to permit maritime law enforcement operations in archipelagic waters of foreign countries. Title III: Financial Enforcement - Financial Enforcement Act of 1991 - Prohibits structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements with respect to identification, verification, and recordkeeping required to purchase certain monetary instruments. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations requiring that financial institutions report suspicious transactions relevant to possible violation of law or regulation. Bars such an institution from notifying any person involved in the transaction that such transaction has been reported. Makes provisions of the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (RFPA) applicable with respect to protection from liability for notification by financial institutions to a Government authority of the existence of information in records relevant to a possible violation of statute or regulations. Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe: (1) regulations requiring financial institutions to have anti-money laundering programs; and (2) minimum standards for such programs. Bars any financial institution, or officer, director, employee, or agent of such institution (financial institution), from disclosing the existence or terms of an order requiring a domestic financial institution or group of institutions in a geographic area to report with respect to records of domestic coin and currency transactions. Amends the RFPA to: (1) shield from liability financial institutions for refusal to do business with any person before or after disclosure of a possible violation of law or regulation to a Government authority; and (2) authorize the transfer of financial records originally obtained by an agency in accordance with such Act to the Secretary for analysis and use by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for criminal law enforcement purposes without customer notice. Amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to transfer control of the Drug Pollution Fund from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Secretary of Agriculture. Title IV: Drug Testing - Amends the Federal criminal code to require: (1) the Director of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts to establish a program of drug testing of Federal offenders on postconviction release, including such standards and guidelines as deemed necessary to ensure the reliability and accuracy of such programs; and (2) the chief probation officer, in each district where it is feasible, to arrange for the drug testing of defendants on postconviction release pursuant to a conviction for a felony or other specified offenses. Requires the court to provide, as an explicit condition of a sentence of probation for a felony, an offense involving a firearm, a drug or narcotic offense, or a crime of violence, that the defendant refrain from any unlawful use of a controlled substance and submit to periodic drug tests. Specifies that: (1) this latter condition may be suspended or ameliorated upon request of the Director or the Director's designee; and (2) a defendant who tests positive may be detained pending verification of a drug test result. Sets forth similar requirements with respect to the supervised release and parole of persons convicted of such offenses. Provides for the revocation of probation, supervised release, and parole for unlawfully using a controlled substance or refusing to cooperate in drug testing. Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (Omnibus Act) to condition eligibility for drug control and system improvement grants on a State's implementation of a drug testing program for targeted classes of persons subject to charges, confinement, or supervision by the State (but does not require the State to expend an amount for drug testing in excess of ten percent of the minimum amount which such State is eligible to receive under such Act). Directs the Attorney General to promulgate regulations to implement such provision and to ensure the reliability and accuracy of drug testing programs. Title V: Other Law Enforcement System Improvements - Drug Law Enforcement System Improvements Act of 1991 - Provides for enhanced penalties for drug trafficking in prisons. Amends the Anti-Smuggling Act of 1935 to provide that prima facie evidence that a vessel, vehicle, or other conveyance is being, has been, or is attempted to be employed in smuggling or to defraud the revenue of the United States shall be the fact that a vessel fails to display lights under specified circumstances and, in the case of a vehicle or other conveyance, that it has a compartment or equipment that is built or fitted for smuggling and is not part of the normal vehicle configuration. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to make the penalty for failure to declare a controlled substance 1,000 percent of the value of the article (as under current law) or $500, whichever is greater. Amends the Anti-Drug Abuse Act to make amendments with respect to certain Internal Revenue Service undercover operations effective upon the date of the enactment of this Act. Amends the CSA to authorize the Attorney General to bring a civil action against any person who violates drug paraphernalia provisions of such Act and to assess a civil penalty of up to $100,000 and grant other appropriate (including injunctive) relief. Specifies that if a defendant is found by the court to be in possession of a controlled substance, thereby violating such defendant's probation, the court shall resentence such person to a sentence that includes a term of imprisonment (under current law, to not less than one-third of the original sentence). Amends the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (CSIEA): (1) and the CSA to make penalties applicable to offenses involving less than 50 kilograms of marihuana applicable with respect to less than 50 kilograms of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marihuana; and (2) to reduce from 100 to 50 the number of marihuana plants needed to qualify for specified penalties. Adds drug conspiracies and attempts and serious crack possession offenses by juveniles as warranting adult prosecution. Makes serious drug offenses by juveniles predicates to punishment under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Adds certain drug offenses as requiring fingerprinting and records for recidivist juveniles under the CSA and CSIEA. Amends the CSA and CSIEA to require that persons violating specified CSA provisions after two or more prior convictions for a felony drug offense have become final be sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment without release and be fined under such Act. Increases penalties for a second offense of distributing drugs to a minor. Amends the Omnibus Act to authorize States to request a waiver of the four-year limitation for effective Bureau of Justice Assistance projects, subject to specified limitations.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Intermodal Carriers Competitiveness Act of 1991 - Prohibits a State, political subdivision, or interstate agency of two or more States from adopting or enforcing any law, rule, regulation, or standard relating to interstate or intrastate rates, routes, services, or terms of service of any national intermodal carrier with respect to the provision of surface transportation of property in the State.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Food Quality Protection Act of 1991 - Title I: Cancellation and Suspension - Amends provisions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) relating to cancellation and changes in classification or other terms or conditions of registration with respect to the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Requires that a rulemaking under such provisions be based on a validated test or other significant evidence raising prudent concerns of unreasonable adverse effects to man or to the environment. Sets forth procedural requirements for such a rulemaking. Provides for amendment of a rule and for judicial review. Allows the Administrator, in the case of a suspension, to waive certain requirements. Allows the Administrator to elect to proceed with a special review proceeding or a public interim administrative review proceeding, if published before a specified date, under the law in effect before enactment of this Act. Requires the Administrator to reassess each tolerance and exemption from the requirement for a tolerance at certain times in connection with reregistration of pesticides. Establishes the Science Review Board to assist the Scientific Advisory Panel in reviews conducted by the Panel. Revises procedures applicable after denial of an application for registration. Allows the Administrator to deny an application for registration because it does not comply with the requirements of a rule issued under provisions of this Act. Repeals provisions regulating the authority of the Administrator to initiate a public interim administrative review process. Declares a decision made after a hearing in certain circumstances during phase three of reregistration to be final. Amends provisions regulating: (1) review by district courts of suspension of registrations; and (2) public hearings. Title II: Data Collection - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to collect pesticide use data of Statewide or regional significance for all the major crops and crops of dietary significance. Mandates research, development, and dissemination of integrated pest management techniques and other pest control methods that enable producers to reduce or eliminate application of pesticides which pose a greater than negligible dietary risk to humans. Title III: Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to define, subject to exception, "pesticide chemical" as it is defined in the FIFRA. Adds to the list of prohibited acts under the FDCA violation of provisions relating to confidentiality of data, as amended by this Act. Deems a food adulterated if it bears or contains: (1) a pesticide chemical residue that is unsafe; or (2) a new animal drug, or conversion product thereof, that is unsafe. Sets forth requirements relating to tolerances and exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance for pesticide chemical residues in food, including residues of degradation products. Prohibits establishment of a tolerance higher than a level the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency determines is adequate to protect the public health. Sets forth the factors the Administrator must consider. Allows a greater than negligible dietary risk if: (1) use protects from greater adverse health effects to humans or the environment; (2) use avoids greater risks from another pesticide; or (3) the unavailability of the pesticide would reduce the availability of an adequate, wholesome, and economical domestic supply of the food, and the adverse effects from the reduction would outweigh the risk posed by the residue. Allows the Administrator to issue an exemption from the requirement for a tolerance only if the Administrator determines that a tolerance is not needed to protect the public health, in view of the levels of dietary exposure that could reasonably be expected to occur. Sets forth the factors the Administrator must consider. Sets forth procedures and requirements in connection with: (1) petitions for tolerances or exemptions; (2) certain actions authorized on the Administrator's own initiative; (3) the required submission of additional data to support the continuation of a tolerance or exemption; and (4) confidentiality of data submitted to the Administrator. Provides for continuation of previously issued regulations. Sets forth transitional provisions. Prohibits a final rule that revokes, modifies, or suspends a tolerance or exemption until the Administrator has taken any necessary action under the FIFRA with respect to the registration of the pesticide involved. Requires the Administrator, if the Administrator takes certain actions with respect to the registration of a pesticide, to revoke any tolerance or exemption that allows the presence of the chemical or chemical residue. Requires the suspension of any tolerance or exemption upon the suspension of the use of an associated registered pesticide. Provides for: (1) tolerances for unavoidable residues in the case of a residue of a canceled or suspended pesticide chemical that will unavoidably persist in the environment and thereby be present in or on a food; and (2) residues resulting from an application which was lawful at the time of the application. Directs the Administrator to require the payment of fees sufficient for the Administrator's functions under these provisions. Prohibits, subject to exception, a State from establishing or enforcing any limit on a qualifying pesticide chemical residue in or on any food which is not identical to Federal requirements. Prohibits a State from enforcing a residue limit which was lawful at the time of application. Authorizes appropriations for increased monitoring by the Secretary of Health and Human Services of pesticide residues in imported and domestic food.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1991
Economic Growth Act of 1991 - Title I: Investment and Job Creation Incentives - Subtitle A: Reduction in Capital Gains Tax for Individuals - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a capital gains deduction for individuals for assets held from one to three years. Provides special rules for the gain or loss from the sale or exchange of collectibles and sales of interest in partnerships. Disallows such deduction in computing the alternative minimum tax. Revises the formula for determining gain from the dispositions of certain depreciable realty to take into account depreciation adjustments (adjustments allowed or allowable for exhaustion, wear and tear, obsolescence, or certain amortization). Subtitle B: Inflation Adjustment for Investments - Requires indexing, based on the consumer price index, of the adjusted basis of certain assets (corporate stock and tangible property that is a capital asset of property used in a trade or business after April 15, 1991) that have been held for more than one year at the time of sale or other transfer, solely for the purpose of determining gain or loss. Provides for the inflation adjustment treatment of: (1) short sales; (2) regulated investment companies and real estate investment trusts; and (3) partnerships, S corporations, and common trust funds. Prohibits gain from the sale or other disposition of an indexed asset from being taken into account under the limitation on investment interest. Subtitle C: Enterprise Zones - Part I: Designation - Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Secretary) to designate enterprise zones for purposes of providing tax and regulatory relief and improving local services. Limits choices to areas nominated by States and local governments. Limits the total number of areas that may be designated, and the time period of the designation. Authorizes the Secretary to designate a zone only if the area meets certain locational, demographic, unemployment, and poverty criteria. Requires nominating local governments, as a condition of the Secretary's designation, to agree in writing to follow a course of action that may include reducing tax rates, improving local services, simplifying or streamlining regulation of business, and providing job training to area residents. Describes areas to which the Secretary must give preference in selecting areas for designation. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress every two years on the effects of such enterprise zones' designation in accomplishing the purposes of this Act. Part II: Federal Income Tax Incentives - Allows a nonrefundable income tax credit to enterprise zone employees for five percent of any wages earned as do not exceed a specified amount. Phases out such credit. Provides for the nonrecognition of capital gain on the sale of enterprise zone property. Allows a taxpayer a deduction on the aggregate amount paid for the purchase of enterprise stock on its original issue by a qualified issuer. Requires any gain from the disposition of the stock to be treated as ordinary income. Excludes enterprise zone capital gains from income computation of alternative minimum taxes. Part III: Regulatory Flexibility - Amends Federal law to revise the definition of "small entity" for purposes of the analysis of regulatory functions to include qualified business, government, and nonprofit enterprises operating within enterprise zones. Authorizes Federal agencies, upon request by a designating government, to waive or modify rules and regulations pertaining to the implementation of projects or activities within an enterprise zone. Requires agencies to approve the request if the resulting benefits of job creation, community development, or economic revitalization outweigh the public interest in retaining the rule unchanged. Disallows waiver or modification of a rule that would directly violate a statutory requirement or present a danger to the public health and safety. Part IV: Establishment of Foreign-Trade Zones in Enterprise Zones - Requires the Foreign-Trade Zone Board to consider on a priority basis and to expedite the processing of applications for the establishment of foreign-trade zones within enterprise zones. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to give priority to, and expedite applications for, the establishment of ports of entry necessary to establish such zones. Part V: Repeal of Title VII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 - Repeals title VII (enterprise zone development) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987. Subtitle D: Research and Experimentation Credit Made Permanent - Makes permanent the tax credit for increasing research activities and the tax credit for clinical testing expenses. Title II: Savings Incentives - Allows individuals to establish individual retirement plus accounts with tax treatment similar to that for individual retirement plans. Makes contributions to such accounts nondeductible. Allows existing individual retirement accounts (IRA) to be rolled over into individual retirement plus accounts with payment of tax on the amount rolled over for which a deduction was once allowable, but no tax when withdrawn. Title III: Homeownership Incentives - Subtitle A: First-Time Homebuyers - Allows a tax credit for the first-time purchase of a principal residence by individuals with incomes of $31,000 or less (phased-out to incomes of up to $41,000). Limits such credit to $1,000. Subtitle B: Penalty-Free IRA Plus Withdrawal for Home Purchase, Higher Education, and Health Costs - Allows penalty-free distributions from IRA Plus accounts of up to 25 percent of the account limit for: (1) first-time homebuyers; (2) medical expenses; and (3) higher education expenses. Title IV: Work Incentives - Subtitle A: Reduction in Social Security Penalty on Working Elderly - Amends title II of the Social Security Act (Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Benefits) to raise the earnings limit for retirees. Appropriates to each payor fund amounts equivalent to the aggregate increase in social security benefits payable from such fund which is attributable to such amendment. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study during 1997 whether further amendments relating to deductions on account of work and the exempt amount under the earnings limit are necessary or appropriate. Subtitle B: Economic Growth Dividend - Requires any economic growth dividend (as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury) to be used to increase the personal exemption amount. Requires, after 1995, all revenues resulting from real growth in the gross national product greater than three percent to fund an increased personal exemption. Requires, for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 1992, and before October 1, 1995, that 50 percent of such dividend be used to increase the personal exemption amount and the other 50 percent be used to make a downward adjustment in the maximum deficit amount.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1991
Tax Fairness and Accountability Act of 1991 - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require any legislation that increases the tax rate, the tax base, or the amount of income subject to tax, or decreases a deduction, exclusion, or credit to be approved in the House of Representatives and the Senate by an affirmative vote of three-fifths of its Members.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1991
Establishes a Joint Committee on the Organization of the Congress to: (1) make a full and complete study of the organization and operation of the Congress; and (2) recommend improvements in such organization and operation with a view toward strengthening its effectiveness, simplifying its operations, improving its relationships with other branches of the Government, and improving the orderly consideration of legislation. Requires a report to the Senate and the House of Representatives not later than the adjournment sine die of the 102d Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1991
Human Protection Act of 1991 - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide for making determinations of whether a species is an endangered species or a threatened species other than solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available. Prohibits an action from being taken under such Act if: (1) the potential economic benefits to society do not outweigh the potential economic costs to society, as determined under a specified Executive Order concerning Federal regulation; or (2) the action does not otherwise comply with the general requirements of such Order. Prohibits the promulgation of any regulation after enactment of this Act until the issuing agency is certified by the Attorney General to be in compliance with an Executive Order concerning constitutionally protected property rights or similar procedures to assess the potential for the taking of private property in the course of Federal regulatory activity, with the goal of minimizing such where possible. Provides for judicial review for such actions.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 1991
Medicare Physician Payment Reform Amendments of 1991 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise the transition rules for phasing in the resource-based relative value scale (RB RVS) method of payment for physician services to prohibit adjustments for asymmetry in the transition and for behavioral responses. Declares spending under this Act to be an emergency requirement under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) and exempt from sequestration.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1991
Condemns Syria's denial of Syrian Jews' right to travel freely and calls upon the Syrian Government to: (1) immediately grant Syrian Jews the right to travel freely without imposing a fee; and (2) release all Jewish prisoners who were charged or suspected of traveling illegally. Urges the President to encourage U.S. allies and trading partners to make similar pleas to the Syrian Government. Calls upon the United Nations to send an official delegation to Syria to investigate the present condition of Syrian Jews.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1991
Directs the Committee on Appropriations to establish a new Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs with exclusive subcommittee jurisdiction over the Department of Veterans Affairs and its programs.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1991
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the operation of and complaints regarding, the U.S. Postal Service.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 1991
Amends Federal law (relating to making surplus U.S. vessels available for humanitarian services to peoples of developing countries) to designate two specified vessels as humanitarian service candidates and to transfer them to the National Defense Reserve Fleet, removing from such designation two other specified vessels. Extends to October 22, 1996, the expiration date of the law being amended.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
World Cup USA 1994 Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a specified number of five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins in commemoration of the 1994 World Cup and the unique appeal of soccer. Sets forth certain features of such coins and provides for their design, issuance, and sale. Requires that all sales include a surcharge of $35 per coin for the five-dollar coins, $7 per coin for the one-dollar coins, and $1 per coin for the half-dollar coins. Requires that all surcharges be paid to the Organizing Committee to organize and stage the 1994 World Cup. Requires that ten percent of such funds shall be made available through the U.S. Soccer Federation Foundation, Inc., for distribution to institutions for scholastic scholarships to qualified students.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
Kimberly Bergalis Patient and Health Provider Protection Act of 1991 - Title I: Amendments to Public Health Services Act Regarding Certain Communicable Diseases Among Health Care Providers and Patients - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a list of medical and dental procedures that health care providers with communicable diseases should be prohibited from performing because the performance would pose a risk of transmission of the disease from the provider to the patient. Prohibits a grant to a State under existing provisions for early intervention with respect to HIV disease unless the State: (1) requires testing of providers; and (2) prohibits performance, except with informed consent, of the procedure by infected providers. Requires infected providers to inform patients who may have been exposed and offer to provide counseling and testing. Requires the State to provide counseling to providers on the effects of the prohibition of performing listed procedures. Requires HIV disease and hepatitis B to be included on the list of communicable diseases. Requires inclusion on the list of procedures those procedures which pose a risk of transmission of communicable diseases from patient to provider. Prohibits HIV early intervention grants to a State unless the State authorizes providers to test the patient, without consent, for communicable diseases the provider has a reasonable basis to believe the patient has. Applies the requirements of this title to provisions relating to grants for health care and support services for individuals and families with HIV disease. Title II: General Provisions - Sets forth the effective date of the amendments made by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress and the President, prior to each fiscal year, to agree on an estimate of total receipts (except those derived from borrowing) for that fiscal year by enactment of a law devoted solely to that subject. Prohibits outlays for that year (except those for repayment of debt principal) from exceeding this amount unless the Congress, by a three-fifths roll call vote of each House, authorizes a specific excess of outlays over receipts. Requires a three-fifths roll call vote of each House to increase the public debt. Directs the President to submit a balanced budget to the Congress. Requires the approval of a majority of the total membership of each House by roll call vote before any bill to increase revenue may become law. Waives these provisions when a declaration of war is in effect. Makes this article effective beginning with FY 1995 or with the second fiscal year after its ratification, whichever is later.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code and the Social Security Act to exclude from the social security tax on self-employment income amounts received by a former insurance salesman after retirement if: (1) such amounts are deferred or renewal commissions on policies sold before retirement; and (2) such salesman was not an employee for tax purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress and the President, prior to each fiscal year, to agree on an estimate of total receipts (except those derived from borrowing) for that fiscal year by enactment of a joint single subject resolution. Prohibits outlays for that year (except those for repayment of debt principal) from exceeding this amount unless the Congress, by a three-fifths rollcall vote of each House, authorizes a specific excess of outlays over receipts. Requires a three-fifths rollcall vote of each House to increase the public debt. Directs the President to submit a balanced budget to the Congress. Requires the approval of a majority of the total membership of each House by rollcall vote before any bill to increase revenue may become law. Waives these provisions when a declaration of war is in effect. Grants the President line item veto authority with respect to appropriations bills.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 1991
Medicare Physician Regulatory Relief Amendments of 1991 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) prohibit the denial of physician claims because of patient failure to complete Medicare secondary payer questionnaires; (2) prohibit carriers from using extrapolation to recover the amounts they reimbursed physicians for claims for which Medicare disallows payment, if the physician requests that each such claim be individually identified; (3) prohibit the imposition of specified user fees on physicians; (4) require consideration of physician comments in annual carrier performance reviews; (5) allow individuals (including physicians) to file administrative appeals when they have suffered damages as a result of the failure of a carrier to carry out Medicare policies; and (6) require review of medical necessity denials by physicians in the same medical specialty as the physician providing the service. Amends the Medicare and Medicaid (title XIX of the Social Security Act) programs to permit the reimbursement of a patient's regular physician for services provided by another physician who covers for the regular physician under contractual arrangements. Amends title XI of the Social Security Act to repeal the peer review requirement for certain surgical procedures.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1991
James Madison-Bill of Rights Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) to mint and issue five-dollar gold coins emblematic of the Bill of Rights, and one-dollar silver coins emblematic of James Madison. Sets forth guidelines for their sale and issuance, and for financial assurances. Mandates that the surcharges received by the Secretary shall be transmitted to the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Trust Fund. Authorizes audits by the Comptroller General. Provides a general waiver of procurement regulations when implementing this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1991
Authorizes the President, on behalf of the Congress, to present to the Secretary of Defense, Richard B. Cheney, a gold medal in recognition of his exemplary performance as a leader in coordinating the planning, strategy, and execution of combat action by U.S. armed forces which led to the liberation of Kuwait. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for the sale of bronze duplicates of the medal.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1991
Spending Priority Reform Act of 1991 - Expresses the sense of the Congress that any money returned to the Treasury as a result of this Act should be deposited in the General Fund of the Treasury to be applied against servicing the national debt. Title I: Interior Appropriations - Rescinds unauthorized FY 1991 appropriations to the Department of the Interior for: (1) certain National Park Service studies; (2) projects for historic landmarks; and (3) grants for miscellaneous local projects. Title II: Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations - Rescinds unauthorized FY 1991 appropriations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for: (1) a specified fresh-water fish hatchery; (2) a certain seafood consumer center in Oregon; (3) a project for fish oil research; (4) special area management planning in Charleston, South Carolina; and (5) the purchase of a research vessel for the University of Massachusetts. Amends the Small Business Act to repeal the authorization for a tree planting program. Rescinds unauthorized FY 1991 appropriations to the Small Business Administration for such program and for direct grants for miscellaneous projects. Title III: Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations - Rescinds unauthorized FY 1991 appropriations to the General Services Administration for certain projects funded through the Federal Buildings Fund. Title IV: Agriculture Appropriations - Rescinds unauthorized FY 1991 appropriations to the Department of Agriculture for certain special research grants and the rural development grant for the restoration of the birthplace of Lawrence Welk or the construction, alteration, or repair of a Lawrence Welk museum. Title V: Transportation Appropriations - Rescinds unauthorized FY 1991 appropriations to the Department of Transportation for specified Federal Highway Administration demonstration projects. Title VI: Housing and Urban Development Appropriations - Rescinds unauthorized FY 1991 appropriations to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for certain housing projects. Title VII: Defense Appropriations - Rescinds unauthorized FY 1991 appropriations made under the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1991, for certain universities and certain miscellaneous projects. Title VIII: Foreign Operations Appropriations - Rescinds unauthorized FY 1991 appropriations for a specified grant relating to foreign development and development assistance made to a university. Title IX: Legislative Branch Appropriations - Rescinds unauthorized appropriations to study the location for a new staff gymnasium for the House of Representatives. Title X: Supplemental Appropriations (Public Law 102-27) - Rescinds unauthorized appropriations made under the Dire Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Consequences of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Food Stamps, Unemployment Compensation Administration, Veterans Compensation and Pensions, and Other Urgent Needs Act of 1991 for: (1) the service life extension program for the U.S.S. Kennedy at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard; and (2) the costs of establishing a Center for Commerce and Industrial Expansion at Loyola University of Chicago.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1991
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to suspend, through December 31, 1994, the duty on 2-phosphonobutane-1,2, 4-tricarboxylic acid and sodium salts.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1991
Communications Competitiveness and Infrastructure Modernization Act of 1991 - Title I: Communications Infrastructure Modernization Policy - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 (the Act) to establish a new national goal that by 2015 the United States will have established an advanced, interactive, interoperable broadband communications system nationwide. Requires local telephone companies to submit a plan to achieve such goal for approval by the appropriate agency in each State in which they operate. Requires disapproval only when the plan is not in the public interest. Requires such plan to give priority consideration to accelerated deployment of such a system for educational institutions, health care facilities, and small businesses. Requires such plan to provide for deployment to less densely populated and economically disadvantaged areas at a rate reasonably related to the rate of deployment in more populous and affluent areas. Requires the FCC, after final State action, to review the plan to certify compliance with the goals and objectives of this Act. Requires FCC procedures for local telephone companies to ensure coordinated communications network planning in the development of a nationwide communications infrastructure and to assure broad availability of information services. Title II: Regulatory Changes to Promote Efficient Multiple Uses of Communications Technologies - Amends the Act to establish a policy to permit multiple uses of communications technologies and to eliminate restrictions on communications technologies to single lines of services in order to promote communications technology deployment in a manner which secures communication services for the public at reasonable costs. Title III: Modification of Impediments to Convergence of Telephone and Video Technologies - Amends the Act to modify ownership restrictions to permit local telephone companies to provide video programming subject to specified regulatory safeguards to prevent anti-competitive activities only after the FCC makes the certification described under title I and certifies that the company has filed a plan pledging it to comply with such safeguards. Outlines safeguards against telephone company monopolization of the cable service industry, including those: (1) requiring separate video programming subsidiaries for telephone companies; (2) allowing competitors attachment rights to telephone poles and conduits and rights-of-way within telephone company service areas; (3) prohibiting cross-subsidization between local telephone companies and affiliated video programming subsidiaries and marketing by a local telephone company of its subsidiary's video programming; and (4) subjecting local telephone companies to local cable franchise requirements. Requires local telephone companies which distribute affiliated video programming over a broadband communications system to provide video gateway services to facilitate user access to video programming. Exempts from the safeguards outlined above a carrier which provides video programming in rural areas with a population of 10,000 or below in which it also provides local exchange service. Requires periodic FCC evaluation of the effect of the provision of video programming by telephone companies on the video marketplace and recommendations to the Congress concerning any modifications needed as a result of such evaluation. Requires FCC and State rules and regulations to prevent consumers from paying more for telephone services as a result of their local telephone company's provision of video programming. Revises multiple cable franchise provisions. Requires an FCC report to the Congress regarding competition and consumer choice in the delivery of video programming and telephone services. Requires an FCC review of the rural exemption described above to determine how to expedite access to broadband multichannel video programming for all parts of the United States. Sets forth penalties for violations of the safeguards outlined above to prevent telephone company monopolization of the cable service industry.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1991
Vehicular Natural Gas Act of 1991 - Amends the Natural Gas Act of 1938 to exempt from its provisions any person engaged in the sale or transportation of vehicular natural gas and who is: (1) not otherwise a natural gas company; or (2) subject primarily to State regulation. Exempts from Federal regulation the sale or transportation of natural gas in closed containers by any person who is not otherwise a public utility to another person for the use as vehicular fuel. States that a company shall not be considered to be a gas utility company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 solely because it owns or operates vehicular natural gas distribution facilities. Permits a company registered under such Act solely because of its ownership of gas utility company voting securities to acquire any interest in any company that is not a public utility company and whose primary business relates directly to specified vehicular natural gas activities.
United States · United States Congress · 3 June 1991
Trauma Research Act of 1991 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health to establish a comprehensive program of conducting basic and clinical research on trauma, including research on diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and general management of trauma. Requires the Director to submit a plan and an estimate of funding needs to the Congress. Requires the program to include: (1) studies regarding all phases of trauma care; and (2) research regarding trauma care for pediatric and geriatric patients. Authorizes grants to carry out the program. Establishes the Trauma Research Interagency Coordinating Committee to make recommendations regarding program activities carried out by various agencies and the funds needed by each agency.
![Official portrait of Rep. Fields, Jack [R-TX-8]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/f000111_200.jpg)