United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1989
Authorizes any person who receives an unsolicited sexually oriented advertisement through the mails to request the Postal Service to order the sender to disclose the source from which the recipient's name or address was obtained. Authorizes the Postal Service to request the Attorney General to apply to a U.S. district court for an order directing compliance.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1989
Amends the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 to authorize appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994 for the Appalachian development highway system. Directs the Appalachian Regional Commission to allocate funds appropriated under this Act among the States within the Appalachian region according to a specified formula.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1989
Radio License Renewal and Improvements Act of 1989 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission, with respect to applications for radio license broadcast renewals, to grant a renewal if during the preceding term of the license the licensee: (1) has broadcast material responsive to issues of concern to the residents of its service area; and (2) has not committed violations of such Act or the rules or regulations of the Commission, which taken together would constitute a pattern of abuse. Authorizes the Commission to deny a renewal or grant limited renewal if an applicant has failed to meet such requirements. Prohibits the Commission, in evaluating a licensee's performance in broadcasting material responsive to matters of public concern, from establishing or applying any requirement with respect to the broadcast of any specific subject or quantity of material. Directs the Commission to accept the licensee's judgment if found to be reasonable and made in good faith. Prohibits the Commission, in determining whether to renew a license, from considering whether the public interest, convenience, and necessity might be served by granting a license to a competing applicant. Directs the Commission to conduct an inquiry and prescribe any necessary regulations concerning any additional information that licensees should be required to maintain and make available to the public regarding the licensee's responsibility to broadcast material responsive to matters of public concern. Makes it unlawful for a license applicant and any other person, while a license application is pending, to effectuate an agreement whereby the other person withdraws or withholds the filing of a competing application, an informal objection, or a petition to deny in exchange for the payment of anything of value by, or on behalf of, the applicant. Requires the Commission to establish a procedure for the review of informal complaints received by the Commission during the license term of a radio licensee. Authorizes the Commission to consider such complaints at the time of a license renewal if such complaints constitute a pattern of abuse for purposes of this Act or evidence of the licensee's effort to serve the public interest.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Provides for all Federal civilian and military retirees to receive the full cost-of-living adjustment in annuities payable under Federal retirement systems for FY 1990. (Includes benefits payable under the Civil Service Retirement and Disability System, military retirement and survivor benefit programs, the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability System, the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and railroad retirement programs.)
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Amends Federal law to extend the immediate retirement provisions applicable to Federal law enforcement officers to: (1) revenue officers for the Internal Revenue Service; (2) customs inspectors for the U.S. Customs Service; (3) customs canine enforcement officers for the U.S. Customs Service; and (4) inspectors for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual taxpayer an income tax deduction of up to $2,000 per year for cash contributions to a first home savings account established for the exclusive benefit of an individual who has never owned his or her principal residence. Limits total deductions to $20,000. Permits an exclusion from gross income of account payments and distributions used exclusively in connection with the purchase of a principal residence for the eligible beneficiary. Exempts an account from taxation (except for the tax on unrelated business income of a charitable organization) unless the beneficiary either engages in prohibited transactions or acquires a principal residence. Imposes a ten percent surtax on distributions used for other than the purposes for which the account was established. Requires the account trustee to report to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the account's beneficiary concerning the account. Imposes a penalty for failure to report. Allows taxpayers who do not otherwise itemize deductions to deduct for contributions to a first home savings account. Exempts account contributions from the gift tax. Imposes penalty taxes in connection with excess contributions or prohibited transactions associated with an account. Excludes from the gross income of an individual any distributions from an individual retirement account or certain other tax-deferred plans if the distribution is used in connection with the purchase of the first principal residence for the individual. Limits the exclusion to the excess of $20,000 over the individual's aggregate contributions to a first home savings account.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Postal Reorganization Act Amendments of 1989 - Declares that the receipts and disbursements of the Postal Service Fund: (1) shall not be included in the totals of the Federal budget or the congressional budget; (2) shall be exempt from Federal budget limitations on expenditures and net lending; and (3) shall be exempt from any sequestration order under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) and shall not be counted for purposes of calculating the Federal deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Anabolic Steroid Restriction Act of 1989 - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide criminal penalties for knowingly: (1) receiving, depositing, or causing to be deposited or delivered by mail any anabolic steroid or controlled substance for use in humans other than the treatment of disease pursuant to the order of a physician, except as otherwise permitted by law; and (2) using any communication facility in committing, causing, or facilitating a violation of such prohibition. Makes any property involved in a violation of this Act subject to forfeiture.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Truth in Social Security Accounting Act of 1989 - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to exclude, beginning with FY 1991, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund receipts and outlays in Federal deficit determinations for purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Designates July 27, 1989, as National Korean War Veterans Recognition Day and expresses the gratitude of the Congress and the Nation for the contributions made by the Korean War veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Establishes the Medicare Geographical Classification Review Board to decide on a rural hospital's application for classification as an urban hospital for Medicare payment purposes. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to alter the Rural Health Care Transition Grant Program to extend and increase authorized appropriations for such program through FY 1992, and permit the Secretary to waive the hospital grant limit. Expands, from four to ten hospitals, a Medicare demonstration program covering additional costs incurred by teaching hospitals in sending their residents to rural hospitals for training. Requires the Secretary to establish five-year Medicare demonstration programs covering costs incurred by five hospitals in providing clinical training to undergraduate nurses. Extends the regional referral center classification of hospitals so classified as of September 30, 1989, and the payment rates applicable to such hospitals under the Medicare program, through FY 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Social Security Administrative Reform Act of 1989 - Title I: Establishment of the Social Security Administration - Amends title VII (Administration) of the Social Security Act to establish as an independent executive agency a Social Security Administration, headed by a Social Security Board. Provides that it shall be the duty of the Administration to administer the programs established by titles II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) and XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) of the Social Security Act. Requires the Board to study and make recommendations as to the most effective methods of providing economic security through social insurance and supplemental security income, and as to legislation and matters of administrative policy. Establishes in the Administration: (1) an Executive Director; (2) a Deputy Director of Social Security; (3) a General Counsel; (4) an Inspector General; and (5) an Office of the Beneficiary Ombudsman, to be headed by a Beneficiary Ombudsman who shall represent the interests of beneficiaries under the OASDI and SSI programs within the Administration. Requires the annual report of the Board to include a description of the activities of the Beneficiary Ombudsman. Requires the Board to make annual budgetary recommendations relating to the Administration. Requires that appropriations requests by the Administration for staffing and personnel be based upon a comprehensive workforce plan as established by the Board. Provides for the apportionment of administrative costs. Requires the annual report of the Board to include a section reflecting the use of budget authority provided to the Administration. Requires that authority for automated data processing procurement and facilities construction be provided in the form of contract authority covering the total cost of such acquisitions. Makes amounts needed for the liquidation of contract authority so provided available from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund to the extent that such amounts are not needed to meet current obligations for benefit payments. Requires the Board to cause a seal of office to be made and judicial notice taken thereof. Requires the establishment of demonstration projects involving the delegation of authority from the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration to the Board. Provides for the transfer to the Administration of all functions carried out by the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to the programs and activities to be carried out by the Administration under this Act. Abolishes the position of Commissioner of Social Security in the Department of Health and Human Services. Title II: Conforming Amendments and Rules of Construction - Requires the Secretary and the Board to report to the Congress within 120 days after the beginning of each regular session on their administration under this Act. Requires the Secretary to study and make recommendations on the most effective methods of providing economic security and on the administrative policy for the programs. Directs the Board to appoint, quadrennially, an Advisory Council on the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Program and an Advisory Council on Health and Supplementary Medical Insurance to review the relation of the trust funds supporting the OASDI and Medicare programs and the long-term commitments of those programs. Requires each council to submit a report to the Board for transmittal to the Congress and the Board of Trustees of each Trust Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Homeownership Assistance Act of 1989 - Amends the National Housing Act to create a special mortgage insurance program for first-time homebuyers. Defines "first-time homebuyer" as an individual who or whose spouse has not owned a principal residence during the 18 months prior to a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured home purchase. Authorizes downpayment reductions. Authorizes an FHA demonstration program to insure 100 percent of a home's value for a first-time homebuyer. Authorizes FHA to insure adjustable rate mortgages with annual interest rate increases of up to two percent (currently one percent). Repeals the aggregate annual limit. Amends the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act to provide for secondary market purchases of such downpayment mortgage loans. Amends the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 to exempt such loans from specified offset debt collection provisions. Requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to submit annual program reports to the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Social Security Investment Reform Act of 1989 - Amends titles II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) and XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Managing Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, and Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund (trust funds) to immediately invest that portion of the trust funds which is not required for current withdrawals. Prohibits the sale and redemption of trust fund assets or the expenditure of trust fund amounts for purposes other than those specified in such titles. Requires members of such trust funds' Boards of Trustees to faithfully execute their duties, but does not impose a fiduciary duty. Requires that, in consideration of the public debt limit, required investment of funds or amounts over which the Secretary of the Treasury has investment authority occur prior to the issuance of other obligations. Requires the Boards of Trustees of the trust funds to meet at least twice each year. Sets forth provisions requiring reports by the Boards of Trustees and the Managing Trustees to the Congress regarding the operation and status of the trust funds.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Community Revitalization Tax Act of 1989 - Amends Internal Revenue Code income tax accounting rules to treat rehabilitation investment credits and low-income housing credits as credits not derived from passive activities. Revises the limitation on the general business credit to allow a maximum annual credit equal to the first $20,000 of an individual taxpayer's income tax liability plus 80 percent of any excess liability.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Calls for: (1) continued support for the Cooperative Extension System; and (2) commemoration on May 8, 1989, of the 75th anniversary of the enactment of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest on any indebtedness incurred to pay the educational expenses of the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent. (Under current law, such a loan must be secured by an interest in real property.)
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Citizenship and National Service Act of 1989 - Title I: Establishment of the Citizens Corps - Establishes the Citizens Corps, which shall provide the following national service options: (1) Civilian Service; (2) Service in the armed forces; and (3) Senior Service. Allows individuals to serve in the Civilian Service who: (1) are age 17 or over; (2) have received a high school diploma or its equivalent; and (3) are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Allows individuals to be eligible to enlist for service in the armed forces as Citizen Corps members (subject to existing personnel requirements of the armed forces) who: (1) have received a high school diploma or its equivalent; (2) satisfy applicable enlistment requirements; and (3) satisfy other eligibility criteria established by the Secretary of Defense. Allows individuals to serve in the Senior Service who: (1) are age 65 or over; and (2) meet eligibility criteria established by the Corporation for National Service. Makes such Civilian Service one year of full-time national service, with the option of requesting an additional year. Makes such Armed Forces Service either: (1) two years of active duty in the armed forces, two years in the Selected Reserve of a reserve component, and four years in the Individual Ready Reserve; or (2) eight years in the Selected Reserve of a reserve component. Makes the Senior Service for such time period as the Corporation for National Service allows and either full- or part-time. Provides that Civilian Service or Senior Service members may perform national service to meet the unmet needs of a State, local government, or other community. Allows such service to include the following types: (1) educational service (such as literacy and numeracy programs, Head Start, tutoring, and service in schools, libraries, and adult education centers); (2) human service (such as service in hospitals, hospices, clinics, community health centers, homes for the elderly, and child-care centers, and in programs assisting the elderly, poor, and homeless, including improving their housing); (3) conservation service (such as conservation of urban and rural natural resources, community betterment); (4) public safety service in support of the criminal justice system (including police, courts, prisons, and border patrol); and (5) service in existing national programs (such as the Peace Corps and VISTA). Directs the Secretary of Defense to designate appropriate national service positions for Citizens Corps members serving in the armed forces. Sets forth application requirements for Civilian Service and Senior Service. Directs the Secretary of Defense to establish a system to enlist individuals for service in the armed forces as Citizens Corps members. Title II: Administration of the Citizens Corps - Subtitle A: Administration of the Civilian Service and Senior Service - Makes the Corporation for National Service (CNS) responsible for administering the Civilian Service and Senior Service of the Citizens Corps. Establishes the Corporation for National Service as a nonprofit corporation which shall not be considered an agency or establishment of the U.S. Government. Makes the CNS subject to this Act and, if consistent with this Act, the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act. Directs CNS to establish: (1) types and amounts of allowances and support for Civilian and Senior Service members; (2) appropriate types of national service activities for such members; (3) procedures to monitor provision of financial assistance under title III of this Act to assure that Citizens Corps members and graduates faithfully perform and complete their service; (4) procedures to examine the effect of such national service on the availability and terms of employment in an area; and (5) rates of pay, eligibility criteria, and terms of service for Senior Service members. Directs CNS to make general grants, pursuant to a specified allocation formula, to assist States in: (1) paying civilian and senior service member stipends and wages; (2) providing and administering national service opportunities for such members; and (3) making grants to national service councils in each State. Authorizes CNS to make supplemental grants during a fiscal year to: (1) States which have an unusual increase in Civilian and Senior Service members (excluding those serving with Federal agencies) in such fiscal year; and (2) Federal agencies to assist them in placing Civilian and Senior Service members for such fiscal year. Directs CNS also to: (1) serve as a clearinghouse for national service opportunities information; (2) assist States in placing applicants in out-of-State positions, if they are unable to place them in within-State positions; (3) assist Federal agencies in acquiring national service participants; (4) investigate claims of abuses in placement or administration; and (5) issue rules for administering and monitoring service performance and provision of service opportunities. Subtitle B: Provision of National Service Positions for Members of the Civilian Service and Senior Service - Directs each State Governor to: (1) prepare a national service plan for the State, specifying priorities; and (2) designate volunteer service areas in the State. Requires each volunteer service area to have a national service council. Requires such councils to: (1) recruit and place volunteers; (2) prepare and implement a plan for such purposes; (3) provide oversight; and (4) perform other duties. Conditions provision of funds to a national service council upon its being certified and its volunteer recruitment and placement plan's being approved. Requires councils to consider agency effectiveness and community-basing in selecting service sponsors, i.e. the public agencies or public or nonprofit organizations with which the Civilian or Senior Service members are placed. Requires the Council to take measures to prevent worker displacement. Requires each State to establish grievance procedures for resolving complaints of regular employees or their representatives that placement of Service members violates such prohibitions of worker displacement. Provides for appeal of State decisions under such procedures to CNS. Authorizes CNS to require private nonprofit corporations to pay to CNS up to $1,000 per Service member placed in a position with such organization. Provides for reduction of such payment to reflect part-time or less than full-year service. Subtitle C: Administration of the Citizens Corps with regard to Service in the armed forces - Makes the Secretary of Defense responsible for administering the Citizens Corps with regard to service by Citizens Corps members in the armed forces, and to issue rules for such purpose within 60 days. Title III: Benefits for Participating in the Citizens Corps - Requires States and Federal agencies to provide $100 per week stipends to Civilian Service members. Requires CNS to provide such members with health insurance. Authorizes CNS to provide other appropriate support assistance. Requires States and Federal agencies to pay an hourly wage determined by CNS to Senior Service members. Authorizes CNS to provide other appropriate support assistance. Requires that Citizens Corps members serving in the armed forces receive 66 percent of the rate applicable to other armed forces members of the same pay grade and years of service, for their basic pay and basic allowances for subsistence and quarters. Makes such Citizens Corps members and graduates ineligible for specified benefits for other members and veterans of the armed forces. Establishes certain educational and housing benefits for those who complete Citizens Corps service in the Civil Service or in the armed forces. Provides that such financial benefits shall be to assist such individuals to: (1) pursue a program of education or training at an educational institution or training establishment; or (2) purchase or construct a dwelling to be owned and occupied by such individuals as their primary residence. Excludes such assistance from gross income for income tax purposes. Sets the amount of such education and housing benefits for Civilian Service at not to exceed $10,000 for each year of the term of service completed. Allows CNS to provide portions of such assistance to individuals who are released from such service for just cause. Sets the amount of such education and housing benefits for Citizens Corps service in the armed forces at: (1) not to exceed $24,000 for completion of two years honorable service on active duty, if the member agrees to complete the honorable service obligation selected; and (2) not to exceed $12,000 for each year of satisfactory participation in training in the Selective Reserve, if the member agrees to complete the honorable service obligation selected. Allows the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide portions of such assistance to Citizens Corps members released with an honorable discharge from completing a service obligation in the armed forces. Limits the use of such assistance to the ten-year period after completion of service, unless it is determined that an individual was unavoidably prevented from using such assistance during such time period. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Entitles individuals who successfully complete terms of service in the Peace Corps or VISTA to educational and housing benefits. Provides that entitlement to benefits shall be in the same manner as for a member of the Civilian Service, even though such individuals are not members of such Service, but reduces such benefits to reflect the amount of compensation received by such volunteers over and above the amount of the stipend for Civil Service members. Conditions individual eligibility for Federal higher educational assistance under student loan or loan guarantee programs on current membership or successful completion of a term of service in the Citizen Corps. Makes such condition effective on October 1, 1995 (five years after the effective date of this Act). Sets forth the following exceptions to such condition, if such individuals are otherwise eligible for such assistance: (1) individuals enrolled in an educational institution before the end of such five-year period; (2) individuals age 26 or over; (3) individuals who served honorably in the armed forces; (4) individuals determined by CNS to be ineligible for national service because of physical or mental handicap, compelling personal circumstances, or unavailability of a national service position after a reasonable period; (5) individuals receiving assistance provided by the Department of Defense to members of the armed forces (or the Department of Transportation with respect to the Coast Guard) if further military service is a condition of the assistance; (6) individuals receiving assistance provided by the Directors of the Peace Corps or the ACTION Agency, the head of a Federal agency, or a State, if the condition of such assistance is Peace Corps or ACTION service or national or community service which CNS determines is comparable to Citizens Corps service; and (7) individuals who served in Peace Corps, ACTION, or such Federal or State programs of comparable national or community service. Sets forth similar conditions for parental loan program eligibility. Directs CNS to identify by rule compelling personal circumstances, such as age, family status or size, and income, that may render an individual: (1) ineligible for national service under this Act; but (2) eligible, as an exception, for Federal student loans. Provides for a phase-out of the following Federal higher education student grant programs: (1) Pell Grants; (2) Student Educational Opportunity Grants; and (3) State Student Incentive Grants. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 through 1993.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions relating to the income tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to: (1) increase from 25 percent to 100 percent the allowable deduction; and (2) make the deduction permanent (under current law it will expire after tax year 1989).
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the U.S. flag should be treated with respect, that public desecration of the flag is not symbolic speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that Federal provisions prohibiting the willful and knowing display of contempt for the flag should be enforced.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1989
Equal Opportunity for Medical Licensure and Reciprocity Act of 1989 - Prohibits discrimination against any person who graduated from a medical school outside the United States and who is a licensed physician in the United States: (1) in equal access to practice medicine within any U.S. jurisdiction; (2) by law, regulation, policy, or requirements; and (3) by conditions or requirements which differ from the conditions or requirements as applied to graduates of U.S. medical schools. Applies the prohibition to any medical specialty as well as to the general practice of medicine. Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from making a grant, loan guarantee, or interest subsidy to, or for the benefit of, any school of medicine, unless the application contains assurances that the school will not discriminate against a graduate of a non-U.S. medical school. Requires States to adopt medical licensure and medical reciprocity standards which provide equal opportunity to any graduate of a non-U.S. medical school, as compared to any graduate of a U.S. medical school, provided the non-U.S. medical school graduate has completed the U.S. postgraduate training and obtained a license to practice medicine in any U.S. State.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1989
Child Protection Act of 1989 - Amends the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute to extend its coverage to the sexual exploitation of children. Allows any person injured personally or in his business or property by such violations to bring a civil suit for treble damages. Amends the Federal criminal code to require a mandatory life sentence in kidnapping offenses involving the murder of a minor. Establishes mandatory minimum sentences for the sexual exploitation of minors. Provides that the period of any applicable limitation for the commencement of prosecution for certain offenses involving the sexual exploitation of children shall not begin until the child has reached the age of 18 years. Directs the Attorney General to submit a report to the Congress detailing possible changes in the Federal Rules of Evidence, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and other procedures which would facilitate the participation of child witnesses in cases involving child abuse and sexual exploitation. Directs the Attorney General to modify the classification system used by the National Crime Information System and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with respect to offenses involving the sexual exploitation of children by: (1) including the age of the victim and the relationship of the victim to the offender; and (2) using a uniform definition of a child.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1989
Congressional Compensation Reform Act of 1989 - Transfers to the Comptroller General all functions of the Commission on Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Salaries. Amends the Federal Salary Act of 1967 to make the President's recommendation for congressional salaries of an advisory nature only, unless otherwise provided by law. Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to eliminate the annual adjustment in compensation for Members of Congress. Provides that the annual rate of pay for Members of Congress shall be the rate payable on the date of enactment of this Act. States that any increase in compensation shall take effect at the beginning of the Congress following the Congress during which such benefits are authorized. Amends rule VIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and rule XII of the Standing Rules of the Senate to require a recorded vote on such types of legislation. Makes it out of order in the House or Senate to consider such legislation if it contains items other than those relating to adjusting the rate of pay of Members.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to allow nonprofit volunteer fire departments and rescue squads to receive donations of Federal surplus personal property.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
Permits certain veterans with service-connected disabilities who are retired members of the uniformed services to receive compensation concurrently with retired pay, without deduction from either.
![Official portrait of Rep. Flippo, Ronnie G. [D-AL-5]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/f000208_200.jpg)