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United States · Official source
3,346 records where Rep. Ford, Harold E. [D-TN-9] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 23 April 1987
Designates the week beginning November 29, 1987, as National Home Care Week.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1987
Medicare Home Health Services Improvement Act of 1987 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to permit patients to receive Medicare home health services on a daily basis for up to 60 days and longer when the patient's physician certifies that exceptional circumstances require continued daily services. Provides Medicare coverage of up to three weeks of post-hospital skilled nonskilled home health care, as long as the cost of such benefits does not exceed the cost of care in a skilled nursing facility for an equivalent period of time. Defines as "homebound" (as prerequisite of eligibility for Medicare home health services) any person who has a condition which restricts his or her ability to leave the home without support or for whom leaving the home is medically contraindicated. Provides Medicare home health coverage for homebound individuals in need of occupational therapy. (Currently, occupational therapy is included only after an individual qualifies for home health services by reason of needing skilled nursing care or speech or physical therapy.) Requires Medicare fiscal intermediaries which perform home health payment services to provide an explanation of claim denials for home health services and promptly notify the parties requesting a reconsideration of such determinations of the result of such reconsideration. Requires fiscal intermediaries to make partial payments of disputed claims when such notice has not been transmitted within 60 days of receipt of the reconsideration request. Makes an intermediary's performance on appeals of home health care payment determinations part of the Secretary of Health and Human Services' overall appraisal of the intermediary. Requires a Medicare home health agency to: (1) protect and promote the rights of each individual under its care; (2) furnish the State licensing entity with the name and social security number of any individual hired by the agency as well as information as to whether such individual has been convicted of a felony; (3) inform the State licensing entity of changes in agency ownership or control; (4) furnish items and services through licensed health professionals or persons who have completed or are enrolled in a training program which meets minimums standards established by the Secretary by July 1988; and (5) include the patient's plan of care within its clinical records. Requires an appropriate State or local agency to conduct a standard survey every nine to fifteen months and upon a change in the ownership of, or significant number of complaints against, a home health agency, of the quality of patient care provided by such agencies. Subjects home health agencies which perform poorly on such surveys to an extended survey. Directs the Secretary to evaluate the assessment process, report to the Congress on the result of such evaluation, and make appropriate modifications to such process by 1992. Requires the Secretary to develop and implement criteria and procedures for evaluating plans of correction submitted by home health agencies found out of compliance with Medicare participation requirements. Authorizes the Secretary to impose intermediate sanctions on agencies whose failure to correct deficiencies pursuant to approved plans of correction does not immediately jeopardize the health and safety of health care beneficiaries. Requires the Secretary to promulgate major Medicare rules, requirements, or policy statements through the regulatory process. Sets forth publication requirements. Directs the Secretary to publish and make available to the public without change a directory of home health agencies certified to participate in the Medical program, including certain information garnered with respect to each agency during the latest certification survey. Requires appropriate State or local agencies to maintain: (1) toll-free hotlines to receive complaints and answer questions regarding home health agencies in the State or locality; and (2) units with enforcement authority and access to consumer medical records and survey reports to investigate such complaints. Directs the Secretary to: (1) report to the Congress before 1988 on the appropriateness of reimbursing home health agencies on either a rural or urban basis rather than considering an agency's mix of urban and rural clientele; and (2) determine home health agency cost limits on the basis of recent agency cost reports.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Amends the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 to increase the membership of the board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority (Corporation) from three members to nine members. Requires that: (1) two members be residents of any State; (2) three be residents of Tennessee; (3) one each be a resident of Alabama, Kentucky, and Mississippi; and (4) one be a resident of either Georgia, North Carolina, or Virginia. Requires the President, in making appointments to the Corporation, to consider recommendations of individuals in the service area and seek directors from such area. Provides that the terms of office of directors shall be three years. Provides that directors shall receive: (1) a stipend, if not otherwise employed by the Corporation or the Federal Government; (2) compensation at level V of the Executive Schedule for each day of actual performance, limited to 60 days a year (80 days for the Chairman); and (3) travel expenses. Directs the board to appoint a person to serve as chief executive officer for the conduct of management duties not specifically reserved to the board. Directs the board to create an electric rate review committee, composed of board members, to hold public hearings on electric power rates and make recommendations to the board for rate adjustments. Directs the board to create an audit committee, composed of board members independent of the management of the Corporation, to recommend to the board an external auditor, review such auditor's reports, and make recommendations to the board as necessary. Authorizes the board to create such other committees as deemed appropriate. Requires the board to conduct public hearings on issues that would have a substantial effect on the electric rate payers in the region or the economic, environmental, social, or physical well-being of the people of the region. Authorizes the board to: (1) establish an annual fund of a fixed amount from which the board may grant awards to employees in recognition of superior performance or meritorious acts; and (2) authorize supplements on an annual basis to the basic pay of individual employees when recruitment or retention problems are caused by substantially higher pay for comparable levels of work in the Federal Government, or for which no similar positions are found in the Federal Government. Establishes the Office of Inspector General of the Tennessee Valley Authority to: (1) conduct and supervise audits and investigations relating to the Corporation's programs and operations; (2) recommend policies to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness, and to prevent and detect fraud and abuse, in such programs and operations; and (3) keep the board and the Congress fully informed about problems and deficiencies relating to such programs and operations. Applies specified provisions of the Inspector General Act of 1978 to the Corporation. Transfers the authority to appoint staff from the board to the chief executive officer.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Stratospheric Ozone Protection Act of 1987 - Amends the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate regulations controlling aggregate emissions of fully halogenated alkanes from the United States, setting a schedule which ultimately requires a 95 percent reduction from 1986 levels within seven years of enactment. Sets forth an emissions calculation formula which multiplies each fully halogenated alkane by its ozone depletion weight, adjusting aggregate amounts for imports, exports, production, and destruction or encapsulation. Requires the Administrator to establish a monitoring network to detect or predict modifications in the ozone layer. Requires the Administrator to conduct a detailed scientific assessment before implementing each stage of required reductions, adjusting the control measures as necessary. Prohibits, within one year of enactment, the import of fully halogenated alkanes in bulk from any nation without sufficiently stringent control measures. Prohibits, within three years of enactment, the import of all products containing fully halogenated alkanes from any nonequivalent nation. Sets forth a schedule of trade restrictions concerning the import or export of such alkanes, the technologies used to produce them, and the products produced by them. Requires the Administrator to report to the Congress annually on aggregate emissions and compliance. Sets forth enforcement provisions, including provisions allowing citizen suits.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that an adequate level of funding should be authorized for vocational education programs for FY 1988 and that funds should not be rescinded from the 1987 appropriation for basic vocational education grants.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1987
Revises the boundary of the Stones River National Battlefield, Tennessee, to include additional lands. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire lands within such boundary. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the city of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the construction and maintenance of a trail linking the Battlefield with Fortress Rosecrans, and for the preservation and maintenance of the Fortress itself. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1987
United States Olympic Checkoff Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow taxpayers to designate on their income tax returns a contribution of one dollar of their income tax refunds and any voluntary cash contributions for use by the U.S. Olympic Committee. Establishes in the Treasury a U.S. Olympic Trust Fund. Appropriates to such trust fund amounts equal to the amounts designated on tax returns. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pay such amounts to the U.S. Olympic Committee at least quarterly. Allows specified administrative expenses of the Department of the Treasury to be paid from such trust fund.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1987
Designates January 30, 1988, as National Day of the Disabled.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1987
Declares that the House of Representatives: (1) calls for the immediate release of all the children detained under state of emergency regulations in South Africa; and (2) pending the release of the children, calls on South Africa to permit parental access to the children, make public their names and their location, provide them with adequate food, clothing, and protection, and permit an international organization to verify the above and make sure that such children are not abused or tortured.
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1987
Pension Portability Act of 1987 - Title I: Rules Generally Applicable to Simplified Employee Pensions - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to define a "simplified employee pension plan" as a pension plan consisting of one or more individual retirement accounts or annuities that meet certain requirements of the Internal Revenue Code. Directs the Secretary of Labor to prescribe an alternative method of compliance with requirements for simplified employee pension plans. Establishes participation and vesting requirements for such plans. Requires each simplified employee pension plan and portable pension plan to provide that: (1) the distribution of the accrued benefit with respect to each participant will be only in a permitted retirement income form; (2) no distribution may be made without the consent of the participant or beneficiary; and (3) the benefit will be distributed in accordance with a timely application in accordance with the terms of the plan. Describes a standard retirement income form for simplified employee pension plans as: (1) a qualified joint and survivor annuity; (2) any other joint life annuity, including a cash refund annuity; (3) a single life annuity, including a refund annuity; or (4) any series of substantially equal periodic payments described under the Internal Revenue Code. Allows participants to elect a form of distribution other than distribution over life expectancy, if such spousal consent requirements are met. Requires the administrator of a simplified employee pension plan, prior to making a distribution, to provide to the individual who is to receive the distribution a written explanation of: (1) the provisions under which the distribution may be subject to tax or penalty under the Internal Revenue Code; and (2) the terms and conditions of the applicable permitted retirement income form, the participant's rights with respect to electing other forms of distribution, and spousal rights. Declares that for simplified employee pension plans a beneficiary means a spouse of the participant or any other person designated by the participant or by the terms of the plan. Specifies conditions under which spousal consent requirements are to be met. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make conforming amendments. Exempts simplified employee pension plans from specified funding provisions of ERISA. Authorizes employees to elect alternative salary reduction arrangements under such plans where the employer may make elective contributions to the pension on behalf of the employee or directly to the employee in cash for any year. Specifies the maximum salary reduction amount. Establishes rules governing employer contributions, including participation requirements, the method of determining employer contributions and compensation amounts, and tax reporting requirements. Allows employees to establish simplified employee pension plans with respect to separate lines of business. Title II: Portable Pensions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA to define a portable pension plan as an arrangement of one or more individual retirement accounts or annuities which: (1) meets the requirements of a simplified employee pension; and (2) provides for the transfer of plan investment accumulations to other tax-qualified plans. Makes provisions relating to favorable tax treatment inapplicable to cash distributions from rollovers from portable pension plans. Preserves the five-year income averaging treatment for lump sum distributions from portable pension plans which are separately accounted for under such plans. Provides that amounts exceeding the maximum rollover allowable shall not be taxable if such amounts are transferred to a portable pension plan in a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer. Establishes special rules for portable pension plans under ERISA. Relieves the administrators of such plans of liability for reliance in good faith on information provided by an employer, participant, or beneficiary which constitutes a misrepresentation or mistake of fact. Sets forth the responsibilities of the plan sponsor, administrator, and employer. Requires a portable pension plan to: (1) meet employee self-directed account regulations; (2) designate a fiduciary; and (3) provide at least one investment option in U.S. securities. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe by regulation one or more prototype portable pension plans. Amends ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the direct transfer to a portable pension plan from any other pension plan of the entire nonforfeitable benefit of a participant under such other pension plan.
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1987
Pension Portability Act of 1987 - Title I: Rules Generally Applicable to Simplified Employee Pensions - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to define a "simplified employee pension plan" as a pension plan consisting of one or more individual retirement accounts or annuities that meet certain requirements of the Internal Revenue Code. Directs the Secretary of Labor to prescribe an alternative method of compliance with requirements for simplified employee pension plans. Establishes participation and vesting requirements for such plans. Requires each simplified employee pension plan and portable pension plan to provide that: (1) the distribution of the accrued benefit with respect to each participant will be only in a permitted retirement income form; (2) no distribution may be made without the consent of the participant or beneficiary; and (3) the benefit will be distributed in accordance with a timely application in accordance with the terms of the plan. Describes a standard retirement income form for simplified employee pension plans as: (1) a qualified joint and survivor annuity; (2) any other joint life annuity, including a cash refund annuity; (3) a single life annuity, including a refund annuity; or (4) any series of substantially equal periodic payments described under the Internal Revenue Code. Allows participants to elect a form of distribution other than distribution over life expectancy, if such spousal consent requirements are met. Requires the administrator of a simplified employee pension plan, prior to making a distribution, to provide to the individual who is to receive the distribution a written explanation of: (1) the provisions under which the distribution may be subject to tax or penalty under the Internal Revenue Code; and (2) the terms and conditions of the applicable permitted retirement income form, the participant's rights with respect to electing other forms of distribution, and spousal rights. Declares that for simplified employee pension plans a beneficiary means a spouse of the participant or any other person designated by the participant or by the terms of the plan. Specifies conditions under which spousal consent requirements are met. Exempts simplified employee pension plans from specified funding provisions of ERISA. Title II: Portable Pensions - Amends ERISA to define a portable pension plan as an arrangement of one or more individual retirement accounts or annuities which: (1) meets the requirements of a simplified employee pension; and (2) provides for the transfer of plan investment accumulations to other tax-qualified plans. Establishes special rules for portable pension plans under ERISA. Relieves the administrators of such plans of liability for reliance in good faith on information provided by an employer, participant, or beneficiary which constitutes a misrepresentation or mistake of fact. Sets forth the responsibilities of the plan sponsor, administrator, and employer. Requires a portable pension plan to: (1) meet employee self-directed account regulations; (2) designate a fiduciary; and (3) provide at least one investment option in U.S. securities. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe by regulation one or more prototype portable pension plans. Amends ERISA to provide for the direct transfer to a portable pension plan from any other pension plan of the entire nonforfeitable benefit of a participant under such other pension plan.
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1987
Social Security Lump-Sum Death Benefits Act of 1987 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to permit the payment of lump-sum death benefits for burial expenses in the case of an insured individual who has no surviving spouse living in the same household at the time of his or her death. (Currently, the payment of lump-sum death benefits in such a case is restricted to a widow or widower entitled to benefits on the basis of the insured's wages and self-employment income or a child so entitled.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1987
Designates the week beginning October 4, 1987, as National School Yearbook Week.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 1987
Makes permanent the income tax credit for qualified research expenditures by repealing the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that would terminate such credit for expenses incurred or paid after 1988.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 1987
Amends the Federal criminal code to make it unlawful for an employer to monitor an employee's work phone call unless a repeating audible warning tone is utilized. Allows any person whose call is monitored in violation of this Act to recover civil damages.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 1987
Pension Plan Assets Protection Act of 1987 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to disallow reversions of residual assets to employers upon single-employer plan termination. Provides that, if any assets of the plan remain after all liabilities to participants and their beneficiaries have been satisfied, such assets shall be equitably distributed to such participants and beneficiaries in the same proportions as assets of the plan are allocated to the benefits of such participants and beneficiaries in satisfying such liabilities. Provides for the applicability of rules with regard to fiduciary duties in relation to plan terminations.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1987
Social Security Transitional Benefit Computation Act of 1987 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to alter the formula for computing the primary insurance amount of individuals who attain age 65 in or after 1982 and would otherwise be subject to the benefit computation rules of the Social Security Amendments of 1977. Extends the application of such transitional benefit computation rules to those who become eligible for benefits before 1989. (Currently those who become eligible after 1983 are subject to the benefit computation rules of the Social Security Amendments of 1977.)
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1987
Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to exempt the Pell grant higher education assistance program from reduction pursuant to a sequestration order.
United States · United States Congress · 1 April 1987
Equity in Interstate Competition Act of 1987 - Empowers any State and the District of Columbia to require a person to collect a State sales tax imposed with respect to the sale of tangible personal property if: (1) the destination of sale is in such State; and (2) such person engages in regular or systematic soliciting of sales in such State and has, within a specified one-year period, gross receipts from the sale of such property that exceed either $500,000 within the State or $12,500,000 nationally. Sets forth certain requirements that will qualify certain local sales taxes for treatment as State sales taxes. Prohibits a State from requiring any person who collects a State sales tax to make an accounting for the receipts of such tax on the basis of the geographical location at which the taxable transaction occurs. Limits the authority of the State to require a taxpayer to: (1) file more than four tax returns reporting the amount of such tax collected or required to be collected in any one-year period; or (2) file a return and remit the receipts of such tax more frequently than once in a calendar quarter, or before the expiration of the 20-day period beginning on the last day of the period for which such return is required to be filed. Provides that any person required by a State to collect a State sales tax shall be subject to the laws of that State relating to such tax.
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1987
Authorizes the Librarian of Congress to designate employees of the Library of Congress as police for duty with respect to the Library buildings and adjacent streets. Requires the rank structure and pay for such employees to be the same as that for the Capitol Police. Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to make Library of Congress police eligible for public safety officers' death benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1987
Amends Federal armed forces provisions relating to defense contracts to require the head of a defense agency to reserve at least 25 percent of all sums obligated for military construction contracts for local contractors (contractors located within 175 miles of the construction project site).
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1987
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to require executive agencies to obligate to local contractors 25 percent of obligations for construction or improvement of any public building.
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1987
Constitutional Amendment - Provides for the appointment by the Virgin Islands of the United States, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands of electors of the President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which such territories would be entitled if they together were a single State, but in no event more electors than the least populous State appoints.
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1987
Designates 1987 as the National Year of Shelter for the Homeless.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1987
Designates the week of May 3 through May 10, 1987, as National Older Americans Abuse Prevention Week.
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 1987
Petroleum Marketing Practices Act Amendments of 1987 - Amends the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act to provide that, with respect to the sale, consignment, or distribution of motor fuel, the term "franchise" includes any contract between specified parties which is economically necessary to the operation of the leased marketing premises. Provides that the termination or non-renewal of a franchise relationship, upon expiration of an underlying lease for a marketing premises, is reasonable in the event that the franchisor: (1) has an option to renew or purchase an underlying lease or premises and, at least 90 days before such option expires, provides the franchisee with the name, address, and phone number of the owner or lessor; and (2) agrees not to terminate the franchise relationship solely because of the lease and option expiration during any term during which the franchisee is able to retain possession of the premises as a result of entering into an agreement with the owner or lessor.
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 1987
Minimum Wage Restoration Act of 1987 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for specified annual increases in the minimum wage. Provides, after such increases reach a certain level, for annual indexing of the minimum wage to 50 percent of the average hourly rate in the private sector.
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 1987
Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to increase the dependent care deduction.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1987
Grants a Federal charter to the 82nd Airborne Division Association, Incorporated.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1987
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should: (1) recognize the legitimacy of the plight of the Namibian people; (2) urge the Government of South Africa to take actions to end its illegal occupation of that country and to implement U.N. Resolution 435; (3) take a role in pursuing the resumption of negotiations between South Africa and the leaders of the Namibian people; (4) reject any policy which links the implementation of Resolution 435 to the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola; and (5) call for the termination of U.S. business in Namibia until South Africa complies with Resolution 435.
United States · United States Congress · 24 March 1987
Minority Business Development Act of 1987 - Redesignates the Minority Business Development Agency in the Department of Commerce as the Minority Business Development Administration, to be headed by an Assistant Secretary of Commerce appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to report to the Congress on the organizational structure within the Administration and its organizational position in the Department of Commerce. Title I: Market Development - Empowers the Administration to: (1) assist disadvantaged businesses in penetrating domestic and foreign markets by making available to them management and technological assistance, a skilled labor pool, and financial and marketing services; and (2) encourage disadvantaged firms to establish joint ventures and projects to increase their share of the market. Allows the Assistant Secretary of the Administration, if certain conditions are met to approve any agreement between disadvantaged firms or public or private sector organizations providing for a joint program for market development. Exempts from the antitrust laws or the Federal Trade Commission Act any act within the scope of any approved joint program for market development. Authorizes the Administration to provide financial assistance to public and private sector organizations to carry out this Act, unless the assistance is intended primarily to facilitiate the use by disadvantaged businesses of federally-administered programs not established under this Act. Requires the Administration to consult with State and local governments for the purpose of leveraging local resources and recommending local administrative and legislative initiatives to promote the position of disadvantaged businesses. Authorizes the Administration to provide financial assistance to States and cities and to allocate such assistance on the basis of relative populations of disadvantaged individuals, numbers of disadvantaged businesses, and unemployment rates of disadvantaged individuals. Requires the Administration to publish in the Federal Register: (1) amounts available for financial assistance and proposed allocations; (2) responses to public comments in connection with the allocation scheme; and (3) changes in allocation methodology. Title II: Capital Formation - Authorizes the Administration to defray all or part of the costs of pilot projects conducted by public or private organizations and designed to assist disadvantaged businesses in obtaining equity capital. Directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to cooperate with the Administration to promote access to securities markets for disadvantaged businesses. Establishes within the Treasury a revolving fund to be available to the Administration to provide financial assistance to qualified disadvantaged businesses through the purchase of equity investments in such businesses. Permits the Administration to provide such assistance to qualified businesses only after determining that: (1) such assistance is unavailable on reasonable terms from other sources; (2) the assistance will permit a concern to operate profitably in a reasonable period of time; (3) the proceeds will be used in a reasonable period of time for plant construction, to finance the acquisition of equipment, or to supply working capital; (4) the terms under which the assistance is provided will not be breached by the business; and (5) salaries paid by the business are reasonable. Limits the amount of equity investments that may be purchased by the Administration and be outstanding at any one time. Title III: Management Educational Development - Requires the Administration to: (1) encourage universities, business leaders, and other public and private entities, to offer scholarships, sponsor seminars, and provide internships for the benefit of disadvantaged individuals; and (2) accelerate curriculum design in support of disadvantaged business development. Title IV: Research and Information - Requires the Administration to submit to the Congress a report describing the resources needed to advance and represent disadvantaged businesses in all levels of the economic system in numbers that would have existed were it not for past discrimination. Authorizes the Administration to: (1) provide financial assistance to public and private organizations to assist the Administration in collecting data on the causes for success and failure of disadvantaged businesses and in conducting research on how economic conditions affect their development; (2) develop and maintain a data bank on disadvantaged businesses; and (3) establish an information clearinghouse for data pertinent to disadvantaged business. Title V: Administrative and Miscellaneous Powers of the Administration - Sets forth the administrative powers of the Administration. Requires: (1) recipients of assistance to keep records for audit purposes; (2) the Comptroller General to review and report to the Congress on programs authorized by this Act; and (3) the Assistant Secretary to submit to the Congress an annual report on the Administration's activities. activities to the Congress. Excludes the Administration from the coordination functions of the Small Business Administration's Associate Administrator for Minority Small Business and Capital Ownership Development. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1987
Bilingual Education Improvement Act of 1987 - Amends the Bilingual Education Act (title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) to extend the Federal bilingual education program through FY 1993. Requires programs receiving assistance under this Act to be designed to enable students to meet grade-promotion and graduation requirements. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1993. Increases from $50,000 to $75,000 the minimum State education grant under this Act. Allows grantees to engage in preservice activities for up to one year (the current limit is six months). Requires parental notification of program instructional goals to be in a language and form that parents understand. Requires the Department of Education to consult with State Directors of bilingual education in matters pertaining to the administration of Federal bilingual education programs. States that nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorizing the Secretary of Education to study the content of textbooks. Declares that a minimum of 500 fellowships shall be made available each year (for FY 1988 through 1993) for the advanced study of bilingual education. Requires the Director of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs to submit annual reports to the President and to the Congress on the grants and contracts made pursuant to this Act. Requires the Secretary to submit biennial reports (beginning in 1988) to the Congress on the condition of bilingual education and the administration and operation of this Act. Prohibits the Secretary from imposing restrictions on the availability or use of funds authorized under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1987
Family Welfare Reform Act of 1987 - Declares that, hereafter, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program (part A of title IV of the Social Security Act) shall be known as the Family Support Program and the aid paid to needy families with dependent children shall be called family support supplements. Title I: National Education, Training, and Work (Network) Program - Amends the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program to require States to establish an education, training, and work program (program) which helps needy children and parents avoid long-term welfare dependence. Requires private sector involvement in planning and Program design to assure that participants are trained for jobs that will actually be available in the community. Requires adult recipients of family support supplements to participate in the Program if it is available in the political subdivision where he or she resides and State resources otherwise permit. Directs the State to fully inform such recipients of the opportunities offered under the Program. Lists recipients who are exempt from mandatory participation in the Program, including individuals who: (1) are ill, incapacitated, pregnant, or age 60 or older; (2) are needed at home due to the illness or incapacity of another family member; (3) work 20 or more hours a week; or (4) care for a child under age six, but such exception shall apply to only one parent in two-parent families. Authorizes States to require the participation of an otherwise exempt parent or relative of a child under age six if day or infant care is guaranteed by the State and participation is on a part-time basis. Directs States to actively encourage exempt supplement recipients to participate in the Program. Provides that if the adult family caretaker is attending a school or a course in vocational or technical training designed to lead to employment when he or she would otherwise commence participation in the Program, such attendance may constitute satisfactory participation in the Program, though the costs of such school or training shall not be covered by the Family Support Program. Directs States to give priority in Program participation to families: (1) with teenage parents and parents who were under age 18 when their first child was born; (2) that have been receiving family support supplements continuously for two or more years; and (3) with children under age six. Requires States to make an initial assessment of the educational needs, skills, and employability of each Program participant and on that basis develop an employability plan for the participant's family which, to the maximum extent possible, reflects the participant's preferences. Requires each participant to then negotiate a contract with the State which specifies the duration of his or her participation as well as the activities the State will conduct and services it will provide in the course of such participation. Directs the State to assign a case manager to each participating family who is responsible for obtaining, on the family's behalf, any other services which may assure the family's effective participation. Requires State Programs to provide a broad range of services and activities, including: (1) high school or equivalent education; (2) remedial education; (3) job search, training and placement services; and (4) counseling, information, and referral for participants experiencing personal and family problems which may be affecting their ability to work. Requires that children in participating families be encouraged to engage in the education or training activities available under the Program and be provided with additional services and incentives designed to keep them in school and help them obtain marketable job skills. Requires each work assignment to be consistent with the physical capacity, skills, experience, health, family responsibilities, and place of residence of each participant. Prohibits work assignments which displace a currently employed worker or position, impair existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements, or fill the job of a worker who has been laid off or fired. Establishes a complaint procedure for employees who allege that such prohibitions have been violated. Prohibits States from requiring participants to work at less than the minimum wage or accept a job which would result in a loss of income to the participant or his or her family. Requires that Program activities be coordinated with Job Training Partnership Act programs and any other relevant employment, training, and education programs available in the State. Authorizes any State to institute a work supplementation program under which such State reserves that sums which would otherwise be payable to program participants as family support supplements and uses such sums instead to subsidize jobs for such participants. Authorizes any State to establish a community work experience program to provide experience and training for individuals not otherwise able to obtain employment. Limits such programs to projects which serve a useful public purpose utilizing, if possible, the participant's prior training, experience, and skills. Limits community work program participants to work or training (or both) for up to 12 months or unpaid work experience or training for up to three months. Requires that: (1) a reassessment be made and a new employability plan developed for participants who do not obtain employment after participation in a community work program; and (2) other Program activities be coordinated with the community work program so that job placement has priority over participation in such program. Prohibits an individual from participating in job search without participating in one or more other Program services or activities if job search has continued for eight weeks or longer without the individual obtaining a job. Provides that when a mandatory Program participant fails without good cause to comply with any requirement imposed on his or her participation in such Program: (1) such participant's needs shall not be taken into account in determining the family support supplement; or (2) supplements shall be denied to all family members until the participant complys. Continues sanctions for a minimum of three months if the participant failed to comply on a previous occasion. Directs States, after three months of a participant's noncompliance, to remind the participant in writing of his or her option to end the sanction. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) publish final regulations and performance standards for such Programs within one year of this Act's enactment; (2) develop a legislative proposal for modifying the Federal AFDC matching rate so that it reflects the relative effectiveness of the various States in carrying out the Programs; and (3) provide for the continuing evaluation of State Programs and the conduct of research on making such Programs more effective. Directs the Secretary to establish uniform reporting requirements requiring each State to periodically furnish Program information to the Secretary, including the average monthly number and types of families assisted under each Program service and activity, the amounts expended on such families, and the length of time for which such families are assisted. Sets the federal matching rate at 75 percent of the expenditures for the operation and administration of the State Program if at least three-fifths of the non-Federal share is contributed in cash and at 50 percent if less than such amount is in cash. Broadens the definition of a "dependent child" to authorize States to provide benefits for individuals under age 21 who are regularly attending a course of higher, secondary, or primary education or vocational or technical training. Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe a standard for determining whether an individual is employed at the time of his or her application for family support supplements which is based upon whether or not the applicant has performed a specific number of hours of work within a designated period. Amends title XI (General Provisions) of the Act to authorize States to conduct demonstration projects testing financial incentives and interdisciplinary approaches to reducing school dropouts, encouraging skill development, and avoiding the welfare dependence of children receiving family support supplements. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States to assist in financing such projects. Title II: Day Care, Transportation, and Other Work-Related Expenses - Requires States to either: (1) provide day care for dependent children and incapacitated individuals living in the same home as a dependent child; or (2) reimburse the caretaker relative for the cost of such care, if and to the extent that such care is directly related to an individual's participation in the Program, reasonably necessary for such participation, and cost-effective. Provides coverage for certain transportation and other work-related costs. Continues day care coverage for one year after a family's eligibility for support supplements ceases, but permits States to reduce such coverage on the basis of a family's ability to pay. Directs States to regularly assess the availability and reliability of child care services available to Program participants, and, when necessary, develop new child care resources. Title III: Real Work Incentives - Excludes, in determining a family's eligibility for supplement payments: (1) the earned income of students who are not full-time employees; (2) $100 plus 25 percent of any family member's monthly earned income; (3) $100 of monthly family support payments; and (4) earned income credits payable to the family under the Internal Revenue Code. Prohibits application of the $100 and 25 percent earned income exclusion in the case of individuals who, without good cause: (1) terminate their employment or reduce their income; (2) refuse a bona fide offer of employment; or (3) fail to make a timely report of their monthly earned income. Authorizes States to increase the amount of an individual's earned income excluded under this Act in making family support supplement eligibility determinations. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude any benefit provided under any Federal, State, or local governmental assistance program for the support of the individual or for maintenance of the household in determining whether a taxpayer is providing such support or maintenance. Title IV: Transitional Services for Families - Requires a State to continue a family's Medicaid (title XIX of the Act) eligibility for one year (a State may provide a two-year continuance of such eligibility) after the family's eligibility for family support supplements ends, unless such eligibility was terminated due to fraud or the imposition of a sanction. Terminates extended Medicaid coverage if the family ceases to include a dependent child or a family member engages in certain conduct which would warrant sanctions under the Family Support Program. Title V: Child Support Enforcement Amendments - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Act to direct States to: (1) establish binding guidelines for child support award determinations (currently, such guidelines need not be binding); and (2) periodically review and update all child support orders to ensure that they continue to comply with child support award guidelines. Requires States to abide by State procedural due process requirements when updating child support awards and notify absent parents of their right to contest the award. Requires that, to the extent possible, the paternity of a child be established at birth. Excludes the cost of paternity determinations as well as the cost of certain interstate child support enforcement projects from the computation of the incentive payment to a State for collecting child support payments. Amends title XI (General Provisions) of the Act to authorize States to conduct demonstration projects identifying and testing possible solutions to problems arising in connection with visitation by absent parents. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States to assist in financing such projects. Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to establish time limits within which a State must respond to requests for assistance in locating absent parents or establishing paternity, and begin proceedings to establish child support awards. Makes it mandatory that States establish an automatic data processing and information retrieval system for the child support enforcement and establishment of paternity determination process. Title VI: Pro-Family Welfare Policies - Requires States to pay family support supplements with respect to dependent children of unemployed parents in two-parent families. Includes within the definition "quarter of work", for the purpose of determining a family's eligibility for assistance, the parent's: (1) full-time attendance as an elementary or secondary school student; (2) full-time attendance in a vocational or technical training course; and (3) participation in a Job Training Partnership Act education or training program. Directs States to assign an individual case manager to each family receiving family support supplements which is headed by a minor parent. Requires unmarried minor parents to live with a parent, legal guardian, other adult relative, or in a foster home, maternity home, or other supportive living arrangement, unless the State determines that, given specified circumstances, it is impossible or inappropriate for them to do so. Treats the minor parent and minor parent's children as a family separate from the parent and parent's children with whom the minor parent resides in determining the minor parent's eligibility for supplement payments. Authorizes States to condition a minor parent's eligibility on his or her: (1) part-time school attendance; or (2) training in parenting and family living skills. Sets the Federal share of the cost of providing case management services for minor parents at 75 percent. Title VII: Benefit Improvements - Directs each State to re-evaluate annually its need and payment standard under the Family Support Program, giving particular attention to whether the amount it has assumed to be necessary for shelter is adequate. Sets forth reporting requirements. Increases the Federal share of a State's Family Support program costs if such State increases the level of family support supplement payments after FY 1987. Sets a mandatory State Family Support program benefit level to be implemented five years after this Act's enactment. Title VIII: Miscellaneous Provisions - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture to appoint an advisory group to make recommendations to the President and the Congress within one year of this Act's enactment regarding the coordination of the food stamp program under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 and the Family Support Program. Directs the Secretary to establish uniform reporting requirements requiring each State to periodically furnish the Secretary with information regarding the implementation of the Family Support Program.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1987
Designates the week of May 10 through May 16, 1987, as Senior Center Week.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1987
Designates October 16, 1987, as World Food Day.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1987
Expresses the sense of the Congress the mail fraud charges brought against black leader Marcus Garvey in 1923 were not substantiated and that his conviction was unjust and unwarranted.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1987
Employee Educational Assistance Act of 1987 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the income tax exclusion for employee educational assistance programs. (Present law terminates such exclusion as of December 31, 1987.) Requires, for every taxable year beginning after 1988, an annual cost of living adjustment of the maximum excludable amount. Waives the maximum excludable amount for any educational assistance furnished by certain educational institutions to graduate students engaged in teaching or research activities for such organization.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1987
Homecare Quality Assurance Act of 1987 - Adds a new title XXI to the Social Security Act entitled "Homecare Quality Assurance." Defines "homecare services" to include home help services (i.e., homemaker, personal care, and sitter services) and Medicare (title XVIII of the Act) home health services. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate a homecare consumer's bill of rights which includes rights: (1) facilitating consumer participation in the planning and delivery of services; (2) requiring consumer notification regarding services, charges for services, and the termination or reduction of services; (3) protecting consumer dignity, privacy, and property; and (4) ensuring service from properly trained and competent individuals. Requires homecare contractors to: (1) satisfy Medicare home care agency requirements, unless they provide only home help services; (2) provide consumers with copies of the homecare bill of rights; (3) implement grievance review procedures and provide copies of such procedures to consumers; (4) provide consumers with schedules of the services to be provided; (5) have methods for identifying and reviewing a homecare consumer's needs and coordinating the provision of services with other homecare contractors; (6) ensure that each homecare provider whom they employ or have under contract receives training; and (7) evaluate annually and supervise each homecare provider whom they employ or have under contract. Requires the Secretary to encourage States to place at least as stringent conditions on State homecare service programs not covered by title XXI as those placed on covered services. Conditions coverage of durable medical equipment services on providers: (1) issuing written instructions to and training the homecare consumer and staff in the operation of such equipment; and (2) formulating an emergency plan for providing services to the consumer. Directs the Secretary to establish procedures for: (1) conducting an equal number of announced and unannounced surveys of a homecare contractor's compliance with title XXI participation conditions, with more frequent surveys required for contractors with poor compliance records; and (2) validating surveys of contractors performed by accrediting organizations and States. Exempts certain homecare contractors from the Secretary's survey procedures provided they are subject to State quality assurance or licensing programs and certified by accrediting organizations whose standards and survey procedures are at least as stringent as those established under title XXI. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations, within one year of this Act's enactment, pursuant to which peer review organizations (PROs) shall monitor the provision of home health services, devoting at least 75 percent of their efforts to quality assurance. Requires the inclusion of: (1) both documentary review and personal interviews of homecare consumers and providers in the PRO review process; and (2) representatives of homecare providers and consumers in PRO membership. Requires each State to appoint a home help monitoring agent to monitor the provision of home help services. Requires each State to establish a Consumer Advisory Board, within one year of this Act's enactment, to oversee the quality assurance review activities of PROs and the home help monitoring agent. Directs the Board to report to the Secretary and the State's chief executive on October 1 of each year regarding such quality assurance review activities. Requires the Secretary to encourage PROs and home help monitoring agents to develop coordinated mechanisms and outcome-orientated criteria for monitoring the quality of homecare, requiring that such monitoring include direct contact with homecare consumers. Requires that PROs and home help monitoring agents: (1) establish and operate statewide toll-free hotlines for receiving homecare questions and complaints, unless the State establishes such a hotline; and (2) assist consumers in resolving homecare quality problems. Directs Consumer Advisory Boards, PROs, and home help monitoring agents to cooperate with State and local officials in educating consumers regarding quality assurance programs and the assistance available for consumers with quality assurance problems. Directs the Secretary to encourage States to develop ombudsman programs for nonelderly homecare consumers. Requires the Secretary to establish and the States to develop procedures for imposing sanctions against contractors and providers failing to comply with this Act. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on January 1 of each year regarding the availability, adequacy, and use of sanctions. Requires the Secretary to develop incentives to contractor compliance with title XXI participation conditions, including an annual directory of homecare contractors having a consistent record of compliance with such conditions. Directs the Secretary to: (1) encourage States to develop homecare provider licensing and certification policies; and (2) issue a biennial report on State implementation of such policies. Establishes a Homecare Quality Assurance Council with which the Secretary must consult in implementing and administering title XXI of the Social Security Act. Directs the Secretary to award grants for homecare contractor and provider training programs and furnish States, contractors, and providers with training materials. Directs the Secretary to establish guidelines, fund, and issue a report regarding: (1) studies on homecare quality assurance measures; and (2) demonstration projects which include projects exploring the feasibility and desirability of developing certification requirements for individuals who provide homecare services, and projects considering alternatives to the use of PROs in monitoring homecare contractors. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on January 1 of each year and States to report to the Secretary on October 1 of each year regarding the nature and performance during the preceding fiscal year of the homecare quality assurance system. Authorizes appropriations for: (1) the home health monitoring activities of PROs and home help monitoring agents; (2) home health training program grants; and (3) the studies and demonstration projects established pursuant to this Act. Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to extend the long-term care ombudsman program to homecare services. Requires each State to establish a toll-free telephone hotline to facilitate the communication of complaints regarding long-term and homecare services. Authorizes appropriations for the hotline and homecare ombudsman program. Directs the Secretary to conduct demonstration projects to determine the most effective methods for an ombudsman to: (1) administer and perform homecare activities; and (2) coordinate such activities with other ombudsman activities. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress regarding such projects by 1990. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study, within three years of this Act's enactment, into the feasibility of extending the ombudsman program to physician and hospital services received by older individuals. Sets forth administrative and reporting requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1987
Amends Federal armed forces provisions to prohibit the Secretary of a military department from contracting for the purchase of administrative motor vehicles that are manufactured in a country other than the United States or Canada unless: (1) the contract or agreement is for an amount less than $50,000; or (2) the purchase of such motor vehicles is specifically authorized by law.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1987
Designates the week of September 21 through September 27, 1987, as National Historically Black Colleges Week.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1987
WIC Food for Life Resolution - Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) should receive increasing appropriations until all eligible persons are being served; and (2) an outreach program should be conducted to identify persons eligible for WIC assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1987
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should express to the Soviet Union the U.S. opposition to the Soviet Union's slave labor policies by all possible means, including refusing to permit imports of products made by such labor. Requests the President to end the delay in enforcing the restriction against importing goods produced by forced labor.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Consumer Products Safe Testing Act - Expresses congressional findings that: (1) the Federal Government has encouraged the use of the LD50 test through regulations which mandate or encourage its use or do not prescribe other less costly, more accurate, and more humane alternatives; and (2) private industry is reluctant to use these other tests without Federal Government encouragement. (LD50 is a procedure whereby toxicity is measured in terms of the median dose that will kill 50 percent of the test animals within a specified time.) Prohibits Federal department or agency heads from considering LD50 test results when determining product safety, labeling, or transportation requirements for purposes of Federal regulation. Requires Federal department and agency heads to: (1) review and evaluate directives that call for the use of an animal toxicity test; and (2) promulgate regulations specifying the use of nonanimal alternatives. Permits the use of animal toxicity tests under certain conditions. Requires that animal toxicity testing regulations be subject to periodic agency review and to public comment in certain cases.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Amends the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to delay for one year revision of the taxable years of partnerships, S corporations, personal service corporations, and trusts. Reduces by one year the transition period for such revision.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Performing Arts Labor Relations Amendments - Amends the National Labor Relations Act to exclude specified types of employers and performers in the performing arts from coverage under unfair labor practice provisions prohibiting specified contracts or agreements between employers and labor organizations and prohibiting specified actions of labor organizations to force or require cessation of dealings with others, joining of labor or employer organizations, or recognition of or negotiation with labor organizations not certified as representative. Permits such employers, excluding employers in the broadcasting or motion picture industries, to: (1) agree with a labor organization to make membership in such organization a condition of performing arts employment; and (2) make agreements with a labor organization covering performing artists even if the majority status of the organization has not yet been established. Defines "employer" to include purchasers of musical performance services. Defines "employee" to include independent contractors engaged to perform musical services.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Underutilized Bank Act - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to develop and carry out a program for the expanded use of underutilized banks by Federal agencies for: (1) depositing Federal funds as demand deposits or otherwise; and (2) depositaries or financial agents. Defines an "underutilized bank" as a bank: (1) at least 51 percent of which is owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals; and (2) the management and daily business operations of which are controlled by such individuals. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress annually on program activities and recommendations for legislative and executive actions. Provides for the participation of Federal agencies in such program.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Grants a Federal charter to the Montford Point Marine Association, Incorporated.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1987
Authorizes the President to issue a posthumous commission of brigadier general to Lieutenant Colonel Charles E. Young, U.S. Army, a black graduate of West Point in 1889.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1987
Prohibits any investments in South Africa by U.S. persons. Prohibits the importation into the United States of any article from South Africa, except for strategic minerals which the President certifies to the Congress are essential for military uses, are not sufficiently available from domestic supplies, and for which no substitutes are available. Prohibits the exportation to South Africa of any goods, technology, or other information subject to U.S. jurisdiction. Prohibits any such exportation by any person subject to U.S. jurisdiction. Exempts from such prohibition certain medical supplies and food. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to prohibit the takeoff and landing of any aircraft except for emergencies by a foreign air carrier owned by South Africa or South African nationals. Prohibits the importation into the United States of any South African gold coin. Prohibits any U.S. depository institution from accepting, receiving, or holding a deposit account from South Africa. Prohibits the United States from engaging in any military or intelligence activities in cooperation with South Africa. Authorizes the President to limit imports into the United States from a foreign country to the extent that such foreign country benefits from, or takes commercial advantage of, any prohibition imposed by this Act. Provides for the enforcement of this Act. Repeals the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 and the amendments made by that Act to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1987
Administrative Law Judge Corps Act - Amends Federal law to establish, in Washington, D.C., an Administrative Law Judge Corps (the Corps) comprised of all current administrative law judges. States that the chief administrative law judge shall be the chief administrative officer of the Corps as well as its presiding judge. Specifies the qualifications for chief judge. States that such judge shall be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Directs the chief judge to submit a written report to the President and the Congress. Establishes divisions (to number between four and ten) within the Corps, with each division headed by a division chief judge appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate. Identifies initial divisions and their respective areas of jurisdiction. Specifies qualifications required for division chief judges. States that the Corps' policymaking body shall be the Council of the Corps (the Council), comprised of the chief judge and the division chief judges. Authorizes the Council to approve or disapprove: (1) the assignment of judges to divisions; (2) creation, abolition, or reorganization of divisions; and (3) re-assignments of division chief judges. Authorizes the Council to determine matters of general Corps policy, including: (1) the issuance of regulations for Corps proceedings; (2) creation or abolition of divisions or regional offices; (3) contractual transactions; and (4) delegation of functions to division chief judges. Establishes a Judicial Nomination Commission (the Commission) to submit a list of qualified nominees for positions of chief judge and division chief judges. Specifies officials who shall appoint a member to the Commission. Sets the terms of initial Corps appointments and the procedure for filling vacancies. Prescribes a procedure for recommending appointments to the President. Directs the Corps to appoint new judges from a register maintained by the Office of Personnel Management. Confers jurisdiction upon members of the Corps to adjudicate cases under specified sections of the Administrative Procedure Act. Requires cases arising under such sections to be referred to the Corps. Directs the Council to issue regulations for assigning such cases. Provides guidelines for the removal and discipline of administrative law judges. Establishes a Complaints Resolution Board within the Corps to recommend action upon complaints against the official conduct of judges. Details the membership of such Board and the procedures to be followed. Declares Board proceedings and the contents of complaints to be privileged and confidential. Exempts documents and reports considered by the Board from the disclosure and publication requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. Exempts the Board from compliance with the public meeting requirements of specified Federal law. Authorizes appropriations.