United States · United States Congress · 15 June 1999
Medicare Early Access Act of 1999 - Title I: Access to Medicare Benefits for Individuals 62-to-65 Years of Age - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to add a new part D (Purchase of Medicare Benefits by Certain Individuals Age 62-to-65 Years of Age). Makes eligible to enroll in Medicare during a specified period individuals between the ages of 62 and 65 who: (1) are not eligible for coverage under group health plans or Federal health insurance; but (2) would be Medicare-eligible if age 65. Requires prior notification of each individual seeking to enroll of the deferred monthly premium amount for which the individual will be liable upon attaining age 65. (Sec. 101) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to determine rates for: (1) the base monthly premium; (2) the base annual premium for individuals age 62 or older, adjusted appropriately for each premium area; as well as the maximum amount of such premium; and (3) the deferred premium for such individuals. Directs the Secretary to provide for payment and collection of the base monthly premium. Makes the enrollee liable for the deferred monthly premium payment. Requires collection of both premiums in the same manner as for the payment of monthly premiums under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance). Creates in the Treasury the Medicare Early Access Trust Fund (Trust Fund) to hold collected premiums. Directs: (1) the Trust Fund's Board of Trustees to report annually to Congress on the need for adjustments in the new program in order to maintain its financial solvency; and (2) the Comptroller General to report periodically to Congress on the adequacy of program financing along with appropriate recommendations to accomplish such end. Requires: (1) individuals enrolled under the new part D program to be treated for Medicare purposes as though they were entitled to benefits under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) and enrolled under Medicare part B; and (2) new part D program benefits to be payable under Medicare to such individuals in the same manner as if they were so entitled and enrolled. Provides that the new part D program shall not be treated as Medicare for purposes of the Medicaid program (SSA title XIX), including the provision of Medicare cost-sharing assistance, nor for purposes of COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985) continuation requirements of the Public Health Service Act. Title II: Access to Medicare Benefits for Displaced Workers 55-to-62 Years of Age - Amends SSA title XVIII part D to rename the newly established part D program the Purchase of Medicare Benefits by Certain Individuals Age 55-to-65 Years of Age. Provides for part D coverage for certain displaced workers and spouses between the ages of 55 and 62 under arrangements similar to those in title I. Directs the Secretary to provide for continued enrollment of displaced workers who attain 62 years of age. Title III: COBRA Protection for Early Retirees - Subtitle A: Amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to extend specified group health plan insurance continuation coverage under COBRA to qualified retirees and their dependents, in cases of substantial reduction or termination of a retiree group health plan. Sets forth a special rule for certain dependents in case of termination or substantial reduction of retiree health coverage. Permits an increased level of premiums in the case of an individual provided continuation coverage by reason of the qualifying event. Subtitle B: Amendments to the Public Health Service Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to extend specified group health plan insurance continuation coverage under COBRA to qualified retirees and their dependents, in cases of substantial reduction or termination of a retiree group health plan. Sets forth a special rule for certain dependents in case of termination or substantial reduction of retiree health coverage. Permits an increased level of premiums in the case of an individual provided continuation coverage by reason of the qualifying event. Subtitle C: Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend specified group health plan insurance continuation coverage under COBRA to qualified retirees and their dependents, in cases of substantial reduction or termination of a retiree group health plan. Sets forth a special rule for certain dependents in case of termination or substantial reduction of retiree health coverage. Permits an increased level of premiums in the case of an individual provided continuation coverage by reason of the qualifying event. Title IV: Financing - Provides that any increase in payments under SSA title XVIII resulting from enactment of this Act shall be offset by reductions in payments under such program pursuant to the anti-fraud and anti-abuse provisions enacted as part of the Medicare Fraud and Reimbursement Reform Act of 1999.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 1999
Reaffirms the commitment of the United States to the men and women who have honorably served this nation in the armed forces to provide reasonable access to burial in a national cemetery or State veterans cemetery. Calls on the National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs to commence planning for the construction of new national cemeteries for such purpose.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 1999
Declares that Congress recognizes: (1) the severity of the issue of colorectal cancer; (2) such disease's preventable nature; and (3) the importance of the Screen for Life Campaign. Calls on health educators, elected officials, and the people of the United States to: (1) broaden the message of the Screen for Life Campaign to reach all individuals; and (2) learn about colorectal cancer and its preventable nature and learn to recognize the risk factors and symptoms which enable early detection and treatment.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1999
Young American Workers' Bill of Rights - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to revise and increase requirements relating to child labor standards, including: (1) reporting, recordkeeping, and certification; (2) orders and regulations; (3) penalties; (4) coverage regardless of sales volume; (5) civil actions; and (6) migrant or seasonal agricultural labor. Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) compile (jointly with the Census Bureau) annual child labor data with respect to individuals under age 18; (2) provide for coordination among enforcement personnel for Federal and State labor standards, occupational health and safety laws, and Federal immigration laws; (3) establish an Advisory Committee for Child Labor; and (4) publicize violators of child labor laws. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1999
Child Care Quality Improvement Act of 1999 - Establishes a Child Care Quality Improvement Grant program under the Social Security Act. (Sec. 2) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make such grant program allotments to eligible States to pay the Federal share of costs of State grants to local collaboratives for activities to improve the quality of child care. Bases such allotment amounts on relative numbers of children in poverty in the States. Requires State Governors, in order for their States to be eligible for such grants, to establish or designate an entity to serve as a Child Care Quality Advisory Board (State board), which shall receive the grant and make the grants to local collaboratives. Requires such State boards, in order to be eligible for such grants, to submit to the Secretary annual applications containing specified information, including comprehensive State plans for reaching quantifiable goals for child care quality improvements in the following areas: (1) increased training for child care providers and administrators; (2) enhanced licensing standards that will apply to a broader range of providers; (3) reduced numbers of unlicensed providers; (4) increased monitoring and enforcement; (5) reduce caregiver turnover, through incentives such as increased compensation or scholarships for continuing education; and (6) higher levels of accreditation among licensed providers. Provides for monitoring, enforcement, and technical assistance by the Secretary. (Sec. 3) Requires State boards to use such grants to: (1) establish and enforce State child care licensing requirements; and (2) make competitive grants to local collaboratives to carry out child care quality improvement activities. Sets forth requirements for composition and eligibility of local collaboratives and their uses of grant funds to carry out planned activities and make reports. Requires State boards to: (1) ensure that at least 60 percent of the funds made available through each grant are used to provide the activities to improve the quality of child care to children (and parents of children) who reside in school districts in which half or more of the students would be eligible to receive free or reduced price lunches under the National School Lunch Act; and (2) monitor activities of local collaboratives that receive such grants. (Sec. 6) Amends the Social Security Act to make appropriations for the Child Care Quality Improvement Grant program. (Sec. 7) Establishes the Advisory Commission on Quality Child Care to study and report to the President, the Congress, and the Secretary on: (1) the most important issues affecting the quality of child care; and (2) the most efficient and effective manner of ensuring that families in the United States receive quality health care. Directs the Commission to make recommendations regarding: (1) feasible goals and targets for child care programs to improve the quality of child care; and (2) national standards for the quality of child care.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1999
Abolishment of Obsolete Agencies and Federal Sunset Act of 1999 - Establishes the Federal Agency Sunset Commission to: (1) submit to Congress a schedule for review by the Commission, at least once every 12 years, of the abolishment or reorganization of each agency; (2) review and evaluate the efficiency and public need for each agency; and (3) recommend whether each agency should be abolished or reorganized. Requires the abolishment of any agency within one year of the Commission's review, unless the agency is reauthorized by Congress. Authorizes the deadline to be extended for an additional two years if enacted by a super majority of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Sets forth criteria for such review. Directs the Comptroller General and the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, in cooperation with the Director of the Congressional Research Service, to prepare an inventory of Federal programs within each agency for the purpose of advising and assisting Congress and the Commission in carrying out the requirements of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1999
Condemns: (1) Palestinian efforts to circumvent United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, as well as violate the Oslo peace process, by attempting to revive UN General Assembly Resolution 181 and thereby placing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process at risk; and (2) the UN Commission on Human Rights for voting to formally endorse such Resolution as the basis for the future of Palestinian self-determination. Reiterates: (1) that any just and final peace agreement regarding the final status of the territory controlled by the Palestinians can only be determined through direct negotiations and agreement between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization; and (2) Congress' continued unequivocal support for the security and well-being of the State of Israel and of the Oslo peace process based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. Calls for the President to declare that: (1) it is U.S. policy that UN General Assembly Resolution 181 is null and void; (2) all negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians must be based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338; and (3) the United States regards any attempt by the Palestinians, the UN, or any entity to resurrect UN General Assembly Resolution 181 as a basis for negotiations, or for any international decision, as an attempt to sabotage the prospects for a successful peace agreement in the Middle East.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1999
Expresses congratulations and thanks to U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops for bringing peace to Kosovo and ensuring the safety of Kosovar Albanians.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1999
State Responsible Alcohol Access Enforcement Act - Amends the Webb-Kenyon Act and provisions of the Liquor Law Repeal and Enforcement Act to authorize any State, the District of Columbia, any U.S. territory, and any place noncontiguous to but subject to U.S. jurisdiction to bring an action in the appropriate U.S. district court (or in the case of a place outside the United States, in an appropriate court of Federal jurisdiction) to enjoin the shipment or transportation of liquor in violation of either Act or to enforce the laws of such State, District, territory, or place with respect to such shipment or transportation. Directs the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a study to determine if it needs additional authority under the Federal Trade Commission Act to regulate the sale, marketing, and advertising of alcoholic beverages in commerce through all forms of remote commerce. Directs that such study include an examination of the current state of alcoholic beverage retailing through all forms of remote commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1999
Group Health Plan Disclosure Act of 1999 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require covered group health plans to give their participants and beneficiaries an annual separate written notice of ERISA limitations on certain protections that would otherwise apply under State law.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1999
Long-Term Care and Retirement Security Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction for premiums on qualified long-term care insurance contracts. Expands the child care credit and renames it the family care credit. Amends title XI of the Social Security Act to require annual social security account statements to include information concerning the limitation on Medicare and Medicaid long-term care benefits. Authorizes appropriations. Amends Medicaid (title XIX) provisions of the Social Security Act to expand State long-term care partnerships by exempting 75 percent of partnership assets from Medicaid estate recovery.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1999
Exempts an importer with under 100 employees during the two preceding calendar quarters from increased tariffs and retaliatory actions with respect to European Union (EU) goods subject to increased tariffs announced by the United States Trade Representative on March 3, 1999, in response to the EU banana regime, and on March 22, 1999, in response to the EU ban on imports of U.S. beef that has been treated with safe hormones, or any other such increased tariffs or retaliatory actions imposed in response to such EU actions. Applies such exemption to that quantity of an article which does not exceed 125 percent of the quantity of the same article that is a product of the EU and was imported by that importer during the preceding calendar year.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 1999
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to extend the retroactive eligibility dates for financial assistance for higher education for spouses and dependent children of law enforcement officers who are killed in the line of duty.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 1999
Declares that the House of Representatives recognizes the importance of: (1) families pledging to each other to share their lives as organ and tissue donors; and (2) discussing organ and tissue donation as a family.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 1999
Expresses: (1) the sense of the House of Representatives that the artwork displayed in the Capitol and the House office buildings should also represent the contributions of women to American society; and (2) full support of the House for the efforts of the House Fine Arts Board, the Joint Committee on the Library, and the Architect of the Capitol to incorporate into their regular plan for the Capitol and the House office buildings a selection of displayed artwork that is more fully representative of such contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 1999
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Clinton administration should: (1) be commended for supporting United Nations Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1999-13 (concerning continued discrimination against religious minorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran), and should continue to work through the United Nations to assure that Iran implements that resolution's recommendations; (2) condemn the recent arrest of members of Iran's Jewish minority and urge their immediate release; (3) urge all nations having relations with Iran to condemn the treatment of religious minorities in Iran and call for the release of all prisoners held on the basis of their religious beliefs; and (4) maintain the current U.S. policy toward Iran unless and until that country moderates its treatment of religious minorities.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 1999
Bone Marrow Blood Testing Coverage Act of 1999 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Public Health Service Act to provide coverage of human (leukocyte) antigen (bone marrow blood) testing under specified conditions. Gives the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Health and Human Services oversight authority under the respective Acts with regard to the administration and enforcement of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1999
Export Enhancement Act of 1999 - Sets forth policy recommendations for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the International Trade Administration (ITA). Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to extend through FY 2003 OPIC's authority to issue investment insurance and guarantees. Revises the purposes of the Trade and Development Agency to include, with respect to the promotion of U.S. private sector participation in development projects in developing and middle-income countries, special emphasis on economic sectors with significant U.S. export potential, such as energy, transportation, telecommunications, and environment. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes appropriations to the ITA for its Market Access and Compliance program, Trade Development program, and Commercial Service program. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to take steps to ensure the appointment of United States and Foreign Commercial Service employees in no fewer than ten sub-Saharan African countries, including the adequate appointment of personnel for South and Central America and the Caribbean, in order that U.S. businesses are made aware of existing market opportunities for goods and services. Directs the ITA to undertake the Global Diversity and Urban Export Initiative in order to increase exports from minority-owned businesses, focusing on businesses in under-served areas, including inner-city urban enterprise zones. Authorizes the ITA to advertise in newspapers, business journals, and other relevant publications and related media to inform businesses about ITA services. Revises the composition of the OPIC Board of Directors. Amends the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 to require the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) to develop a Federal trade promotion plan that, among other things, shall: (1) ensure that all export promotion activities of the U.S. Agency for International Development are fully coordinated and consistent with those of other agencies; (2) identify the means for providing more coordinated export promotion services to small and medium-sized businesses; and (3) establish a set of priorities to promote U.S. exports to, and free market reforms in, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and other emerging markets, that are designed to stimulate job growth both in the United States and those regions and emerging markets. Requires the TPCC to: (1) report on actions taken to eliminate the areas of overlap and duplication identified among Federal export promotion activities; (2) coordinate efforts to sponsor or promote any trade show or trade fair; (3) work with all relevant State and national organizations, including the National Governors' Association, that have established trade promotion offices; and (4) report to Congress on actions taken to promote better coordination among State, Federal, and private sector export promotion activities.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1999
Civil Rights Tax Fairness Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income amounts received by a claimant on account of claims based on unlawful discrimination (as defined). Permits income averaging for backpay and frontpay awards received on account of such claims.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1999
Harold Hughes-Bill Emerson Substance Abuse Treatment Parity Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and the Internal Revenue Code to provide for parity in the application of treatment limitations and financial requirements to substance abuse treatment benefits under group health plans and individual health insurance coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1999
Children's Lead Screening Accountability For Early-Intervention Act of 1999 or Children's Lead SAFE Act- Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require State Medicaid plans to provide for reporting to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) of the number of children who: (1) are under age three and enrolled in the State plan; and (2) have received a blood lead screening test. Requires each contract between the State and an entity responsible for provision of medical assistance under the State plan to provide for: (1) compliance with mandatory blood lead screening requirements consistent with prevailing guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for such screening; and (2) coverage of qualified lead treatment services. Allows reimbursement for qualified lead treatment services for children with elevated blood lead levels. Provides for enhanced Federal matching contributions for an information retrieval system that determines whether a child is enrolled under a State plan and whether an enrolled child has received mandatory early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment services. Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Head Start Act to mandate blood lead poisoning screening tests for an infant or child to be eligible to participate in either the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children (WIC) or early Head Start and Head Start programs. Amends SSA title XXI (Children's Health Insurance Program) (CHIP) to mandate CHIP coverage for blood lead poisoning screening tests for children Amends the Public Health Service Act and SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) with regard to grants for lead poisoning related activities. Authorizes appropriations. Imposes specified requirements on the CDC Director, including that the Director offer various assistance to the States with regard to children and lead poisoning. Authorizes appropriations. Outlines provisions for training and congressional reports with regard to HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration and childhood lead poisoning and blood lead screening tests. Mandates a CDC bonus program to improve the blood lead screening rates of States for children under age three enrolled in Medicaid. Details program particulars. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1999
Military Survivor Benefits Improvement Act of 1999 - Amends Federal provisions concerning the military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) to adjust the basic SBP annuity amount for surviving spouses age 62 or over of former military personnel to: (1) 35 percent of the retired pay of the decedent, for months beginning on or before the enactment of this Act (current law); (2) 40 percent of such pay, for months beginning after the date of enactment of this Act until October 2004; and (3) 45 percent of such pay, for months beginning on or after October 2004. Adjusts similarly the percentage amounts of SBP supplemental annuity authorized to be provided for such surviving spouses. Directs the Secretary of Defense to ensure appropriate adjustments in the computation of retired pay reductions for such supplemental annuities made necessary by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1999
States that in the case of a taxable year beginning before January 1, 1980, the determination of whether a tax deduction as a trade or business expense is allowable under the Internal Revenue Code for flight training expenses shall be made without regard to whether the taxpayer was reimbursed for any portion of such expenses through certain veterans educational assistance programs. Sets forth statute of limitations provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1999
Roadside Emergency Safety Act of 1999 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to study and report to Congress on means for improving the safety of persons present at roadside emergency scenes, including motor vehicle accident scenes. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to improve the safety of emergency personnel at roadside emergency scenes. Amends Federal highway law to require State highway safety programs to include, among other things, guidelines to improve the safety of law enforcement, fire department, and emergency medical services personnel, and any other persons who may be called upon to respond, in the case of a roadside emergency.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1999
Declares that: (1) no Member of Congress or any other American should generalize or stereotype the actions of an individual to an entire group of people; (2) Americans of Asian ancestry are entitled to all rights and privileges afforded to all Americans; and (3) the Attorney General, the Secretary of Energy, and the Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission should, within their respective jurisdictions, vigorously enforce the security of the national laboratories and investigate all allegations of discrimination in public or private workplaces.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1999
Commends the bravery and honor of the citizens of Remy, France, for their actions with respect to the American fighter pilot Lieutenant Houston Braly during and after August 1944. Recognizes the efforts of the surviving members of the U.S. 364th Fighter Group to raise funds to restore the stained glass windows of Remy's 13th century church.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 1999
Asthma Awareness, Education and Treatment Act of 1999 - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to public and nonprofit private entities for carrying out projects to provide for individuals in low-income communities: (1) screenings and referrals regarding asthma, allergies, and related respiratory problems; (2) information and education regarding such conditions; and (3) workshops regarding such conditions for specified individuals who serve in supervisory roles of children in such communities. Outlines requirements for such projects. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004. Authorizes the Secretary to award contracts for a national media campaign to provide to the public and health care providers information on such conditions, with priority given to the occurrence of such conditions in children. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax credit, effective as of January 1, 2000, to providers of pest control or climate control services who donate such services in any public housing or low-income multifamily residential rental property. Directs the Secretary to conduct research to determine whether and to what extent there is a causal relationship between air pollutants and the occurrence of such conditions, requiring priority to be given to clinical evaluations of low-income individuals. Requires the Director of the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute to: (1) identify all Federal programs that carry out asthma-related activities; (2) develop a Federal plan for responding to asthma; and (3) submit recommendations to Congress on strengthening the coordination of Federal asthma-related activities. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to: (1) conduct local asthma surveillance activities in order to collect asthma prevalence, severity, and management data; and (2) compile and annually publish data on the prevalence of children suffering from asthma in each State, as well as the childhood asthma mortality rate nationally and in each State.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 1999
Amends the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 with respect to the farmland protection program to: (1) specify that the program shall be a matching grant program carried out through eligible entities such as State and local government, Indian tribes, and nonprofit conservation organizations; (2) eliminate acreage limits; (3) require State certification; and (4) increase the existing funding cap, revising it from a total program to a fiscal year cap.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 1999
Calls for the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend and the Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of the U.S.S. New Jersey and all those who served aboard her.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 1999
Calls for the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend and the Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring the U.S. Submarine Force on its 100th anniversary.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Health Information Privacy Act - Title I: Protection of Health Information - Provides that use of protected health information by health information custodians (HICs) shall protect the reasonable expectation of privacy of protected individuals and shall be in accordance with fair information practices. Sets restrictions on such use and on disclosure. Requires an HIC to limit use of protected health information to the minimum amount and duration necessary to accomplish the use. Establishes the following: (1) standards for authorizations for use and disclosure; and (2) safeguards against misuse and prohibited disclosures, requiring an HIC to consider providing additional protections for mental health and other especially sensitive protected health information, as appropriate. Title II: Rights of Protected Individuals - Grants protected individuals the right to the following: (1) a reasonable opportunity to inspect and copy protected health information maintained by an HIC; (2) a reasonable opportunity to correct or amend protected health information maintained by an HIC; (3) a reasonable opportunity to review a history of the disclosures of protected health information about the individual made by an HIC: and (4) notice of the information practices of HICs and a reasonable opportunity to seek limitations on the use and disclosure of protected health information in addition to the limitations provided in such practices. Title III: Permissible Disclosures of Protected Health Information - Allows an HIC to disclose protected health information, without obtaining an authorization under title I of this Act, for the purpose of providing health care to an individual or paying for health care so provided. Prohibits HIC disclosure without such authorization to a health care payer, however, of protected health information created or received in the course of providing such care to an individual who pays for it himself or herself. (Sec. 302) Permits an HIC to disclose protected health information for the purpose of health oversight, without obtaining such an authorization. Requires the Secretary to permit an HIC to disclose protected health information to Federal, State, and local agencies (or affiliated persons) authorized by law to investigate, regulate, enforce laws relating to, or license, certify, or accredit persons engaged in, the provision of, or payment for, health care. (Sec. 303) Authorizes an HIC to disclose protected health information without obtaining such an authorization: (1) to a public health authority for public health purposes in disease or injury reporting, surveillance, or investigation or intervention; and (2) for health research. (Sec. 304) Requires the Secretary to promulgate regulations that, among other things, and at a minimum require a person conducting health research to remove or destroy personal identifiers at the earliest opportunity consistent with the purpose of the research, unless it is determined otherwise that there is a health or research justification for retention of such identifiers and that they will be protected from improper use and disclosure. (Sec. 305) Authorizes an HIC to disclose protected health information to a law enforcement official for an appropriate inquiry if such official complies with the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (Sec. 306) Sets forth provisions on judicial or administrative proceedings and disclosure of protected health information. (Sec. 307) Authorizes other specified disclosures without authorization, such as where it is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to an individual's health or safety. (Sec. 308) Authorizes an HIC who receives protected health information through a disclosure under this title to redisclose it to carry out the purposes for which the information was disclosed to the HIC. Prohibits protected health information received by an HIC through a disclosure under this title from being disclosed to any person for use in any administrative, civil, or criminal action or investigation directed against the protected individual who is the subject of the information, except under specified conditions. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Outlines various provisions pertaining to: (1) minors; (2) individuals exercising power of attorney to act for protected individuals; (3) deceased individuals; (4) obtaining or disclosing protected health information from an HIC or an affiliated person under false pretenses; (5) prohibiting on-the-job retaliation against an individual for reporting to a governmental agency conditions that may constitute a violation of this Act; and (6) mental health and other especially sensitive information (allowing the Secretary to limit an individual's access to his or her mental health information under certain conditions). (Sec. 405) Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt, supersede, or modify the operation of the recent legally recognized psychotherapist-patient privilege. (Sec. 406) Requires the Secretary to promulgate regulations to ensure the reasonable expectation of privacy of protected individuals in protected health information is maintained when HICs cease operations. (Sec. 407) Amends the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 to generally conform with the amendments made by this Act. Title V: General Provisions - Directs the Secretary to promulgate implementing regulations for this Act, including, at the Secretary's discretion, any necessary to protect the privacy of individually identifiable health information that is not protected health information. (Sec. 501) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) sponsor or carry out research and development activities related to the protection of the privacy of individually identifiable health information; (2) sponsor or carry out activities to inform protected individuals of their rights, or other persons of their rights or responsibilities, under this Act; and (3) hold hearings, administer oaths, and perform a variety of other specified tasks to ensure compliance with this Act or otherwise further its purposes. (Sec. 502) Outlines enforcement provisions, from allowing the Secretary to bring an action in an appropriate court to enjoin a violation of this Act, to providing for civil money and criminal penalties as well as civil actions. (Sec. 503) Provides that this Act shall not preempt, supersede, or modify the operation of: (1) any Federal, State, or local law that provides greater protection of protected health information or more rights to protected individuals regarding such information; or (2) any law that provides for the reporting of vital statistics such as birth or death information, that requires the reporting of abuse or neglect information or other information relating to violence against an individual, and other specified laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Father Theodore M. Hesburgh Congressional Gold Medal Act - Authorizes the President to present, on behalf of Congress, a congressional gold medal to Father Theodore M. Hesburgh in recognition of his outstanding and enduring contributions to civil rights, higher education, the Catholic Church, the Nation, and the global community. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to strike and sell bronze duplicates. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Home Health Access Preservation Act of 1999 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, subject to certain restrictions, to pay an additional amount, determined in accordance with specified guidelines, to home health agencies furnishing qualified home health services during a cost reporting period beginning on or after October 1, 1997, under the Medicare program (title XVIII of the Social Security Act). Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits the Secretary from making additional payments under this Act for all or portions of cost reporting periods beginning on or after the date of the implementation of the prospective payment system (PPS) for home health services under Medicare. Bars judicial review with regard to any action of the Secretary with respect to the determination of an additional payment under this Act. Addresses overpayments to home health agencies, giving them a repayment option over a 36-month period, and prohibiting interest accrual on the outstanding balance of the overpayment amount during such period. Prohibits home health agencies from electing to make such a repayment for all or portions of cost reporting periods beginning on or after the date of the implementation of the PPS for home health services under Medicare. Makes the repayment option effective retroactively to the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Directs the Secretary to meet periodically with the staff of the appropriate congressional committees to provide an informal update regarding the Secretary's progress in implementing such PPS.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
William G. Barr Amputee Protection Act of 1999 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) publish a list of those items of orthotics and prosthetics for which the individual supplying such an item must meet certain minimum education requirements or other criteria because of its custom design, fabrication, and fitting; and (2) establish a process for certification by the State in which the supplier practices, or by a qualified third party certifier, that the individual supplier has met such requirements. Prohibits payments to uncertified suppliers who are not rural suppliers.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Amends Federal law to require the Postal Service to establish a special rate of postage for first class mail that is up to 25 percent higher than the regular rate as a voluntary alternative that the public may use to contribute to funding for Alzheimer's disease research. Requires payment of collected amounts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Expresses the sense of Congress that nothing in this Act should: (1) cause a net decrease in total funds received by NIH below the level that would have otherwise been received but for this Act's enactment; or (2) affect first-class or other regular postage rates.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce from 84 to 36 months the amortization period for reforestation expenditures and to increase from $10,000 to $25,000 the maximum amount of such expenditures which may be amortized annually.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Declares that Congress: (1) supports public and private entity efforts to heighten public awareness of pediatric cancer and the importance of regular medical examinations for children; and (2) encourages Federal agencies and departments to support those efforts.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1999
Expresses the commitment of Congress to American farmers and the need for future appropriations to address the existing emergency in American agriculture.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1999
American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 - Title I: Inventors' Rights - Inventors' Rights Act - Amends Federal patent law to oblige any invention promoter, when entering into a contract for invention promotion services, to disclose to a customer in writing: (1) whether the promoter's usual business practice is to seek more than one contract in connection with an invention, or seek to perform promotion services in one or more phases, with the performance of each phase covered in one or more subsequent contracts; and (2) a summary of the promoter's usual business practices, including the usual business terms of contracts, and the approximate amount of the usual fees or other consideration for each of the services provided. (Sec. 102) Prescribes a standard cover notice for every invention promotion services contract, including: (1) the procedure for contract cancellation; (2) the total number of inventions evaluated by the promoter for commercial potential in the past five years, including the number of positive and of negative evaluations; (3) the total number of customers who have contracted with the promoter in the past five years; (4) the total number of customers known by the promoter to have received a net financial profit as a direct result of the invention promotion services provided; (5) the total number of customers known by the invention promoter to have received license agreements for their inventions as a direct result of such services; and (6) the names and addresses of all previous invention promotion companies with which the promoter or its officers have collectively or individually been affiliated in the previous ten years. Sets forth mandatory contract terms and remedies for certain prohibited contract practices. Establishes a Federal cause of action for inventors injured by material false or fraudulent statements or representations, or any omission of material fact, by an invention promoter, or by the promoter's failure to make the required written disclosures. Sets minimum damages at $5,000, leaving the court discretion to treble actual damages, taking into account past complaints against the same invention promoter. Makes it a misdemeanor for an invention promoter to make fraudulent representations to a customer. Title II: First Inventor Defense - First Inventor Defense Act - Amends Federal patent law to declare that it shall be a defense to an infringement action with respect to any subject matter that would otherwise infringe one or more claims asserting a process or method in the patent being asserted against a person, if such person had, acting in good faith, actually reduced the subject matter to practice at least one year before the effective filing date of such patent, and commercially used the subject matter before the effective filing date of such patent. (Sec. 202) Deems a commercial use, in the case of activities performed by a nonprofit research laboratory, or nonprofit entity such as a university, research center, or hospital, any use for which the public is the intended beneficiary, except that such use: (1) may be asserted as a defense only for continued use by and in the laboratory or nonprofit entity; and (2) may not be asserted as a defense with respect to any subsequent commercialization or use outside such laboratory or nonprofit entity. States that the sale or other disposition of a useful end product produced by a patented method, by a person entitled to assert such a defense with respect to that useful end result, shall exhaust the patent owner's rights under the patent to the extent such rights would have been exhausted had such sale or other disposition been made by the patent owner. Limits the defense to inventions for processes or methods. Prohibits the defense if the subject matter on which the defense is based was derived from the patentee or persons in privity with the patentee. Declares that this defense is not a general license under all claims of the patent at issue, but extends only to the specific subject matter claimed in the patent with respect to which the person can assert a defense. Extends the defense, however, to variations in the quantity or volume of use of the claimed subject matter, and to improvements that do not infringe additional specifically claimed subject matter of the patent. Requires a person asserting the defense to establish it by clear and convincing evidence. Prohibits any person who has abandoned commercial use of subject matter from relying on activities performed before the date of abandonment in establishing a defense with respect to actions taken after such date. Limits assertion of the defense to the person who performed the acts necessary to establish it. Prohibits licensing, assignment, or transfer to any person but the patent owner of the right to assert the defense, except as an ancillary and subordinate part of a good faith assignment or transfer for other reasons of the entire enterprise or line of business to which the defense relates. Restricts the site of use of a subject matter for which the defense may be asserted if the defense has been acquired as part of such a good faith assignment or transfer. Title III: Patent Term Guarantee - Patent Term Guarantee Act of 1999 - Amends Federal patent law to extend the term of a patent one day for each day lost as a result of delay created by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) when the agency fails to: (1) make notifications within 14 months after filing of a non-provisional application about the rejection of any patent claim, or objections to or requirements for it, or of allowance of the application; (2) respond within four months to a reply to a rejection, objection, or requirement, or to an appeal of a twice-rejected claim; (3) act on an application within four months after the date of a decision by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, or a decision by a Federal court in a case in which allowable claims remain in the application; or (4) issue a patent within four months after the date on which the issue fee was paid and all outstanding requirements were satisfied. (Sec. 302) Requires a day-for-day extension of a patent term if: (1) a patent is not issued within three years after the filing of the application; or (2) issue is delayed by interferences, secrecy orders, or appeals. Specifies limitations to such an extension, as well as grounds for its reduction. Requires the USPTO Director to prescribe regulations establishing procedures for the application for and determination of patent term extensions and adjustments. (Sec. 303) Authorizes the Commissioner of Patents to: (1) prescribe regulations for the continued examination, at the applicant's request, of a patent application notwithstanding a final rejection; and (2) establish appropriate fees for continued examination proceedings, with a mandatory 50% fee reduction for qualifying small entities. Title IV: United States Publication of Patent Applications Published Abroad - Publication of Foreign Filed Applications Act - Requires the USPTO Director to publish each patent application 18 months after the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought, unless the applicant requests earlier publication. Makes final and unreviewable the Director's determination to release or not to release information concerning a published patent application. Prohibits publication of any application: (1) no longer pending; (2) subject to a secrecy order; (3) which is provisional; (4) for a design patent; or (5) for an invention the applicant certifies has not and will not be the subject of an application filed in another country, or under a multilateral international agreement, that requires publication of applications 18 months after filing. Requires any applicant, in the latter instance, who subsequently files, in a foreign country or under a multilateral international agreement, an application directed to the invention disclosed in the application filed in the PTO, to notify the Director. (Sec. 402) Allows an applicant to submit a redacted copy of the PTO-filed application, eliminating any part or description of the invention that is not also contained in any of the corresponding applications the applicant has filed in one or more foreign countries whose applications require a less extensive description of the invention than the application or description of the invention in the application filed in the PTO. Requires the USPTO Director to publish only the redacted copy of the application, unless it is not received within 16 months after the earliest effective filing date. Requires the USPTO Director to establish appropriate procedures to ensure that no protest or other form of pre-issuance opposition to the grant of a patent on an application may be initiated after publication of the application without the express written consent of the applicant. Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to specified congressional committees on applicants who file only in the United States on or after the effective date of this subtitle. (Sec. 403) Amends Federal patent law with respect to the option of an applicant seeking patent protection in the United States to claim the filing date of an application for the same invention filed in another Convention country, provided the subsequent application is filed in the United States within 12 months of the earlier filing in the foreign country. Revises requirements for claiming such priority. Authorizes the Director to: (1) consider an applicant's failure to file a timely claim for priority to be a waiver of any such priority claim; and (2) establish procedures (including the payment of a surcharge) to accept an unintentionally delayed priority claim. (Sec. 404) Amends Federal patent law to state that a patent shall contain a (provisional) right to obtain a reasonable royalty for applicants whose applications are published under this title, or international applications designating the United States filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Entitles the applicant to obtain a reasonable royalty from any person who between publication of the application and issuance of the patent: (1) makes, uses, offers for sale, or sells the invention in, or imports it into, the United States; or (2) if the invention claimed is a process, makes, uses, offers for sale, sells, or imports a product made by that process in the United States; and (3) had actual notice of the published application, including a translation into English if it was filed in a non-English language under the PCT designating the United States. Denies availability of such right unless the invention as claimed in the patent is substantially identical to the invention as claimed in the published application. Sets a six-year statute of limitations from the date of patent issuance in which an action for reasonable royalties must be brought. Authorizes an applicant to request issuance of a patent incorporating one or more claims the USPTO Director has indicated allowable. Permits incorporation into the patent, or issuance of a separate patent, of any subsequently allowed claims. (Sec. 405) Grants a published application prior art effect as of its earliest effective U.S. filing date against any subsequently filed U.S. applications. States that any foreign filing date to which the published application is entitled will not be the effective filing date of the U.S. published application for prior art purposes, unless it is an international application designating the United States published in English under the PCT. (Sec. 406) Requires the USPTO Director to recover the cost of early publication required by this title by charging a separate publication fee after a notice of allowance is given. Title V: Patent Litigation Reduction Act - Patent Litigation Reduction Act - Revises requirements with respect to prior art citations. Repeals the authority to exclude, on request, the prior art citator's identity from the patent file, and keep it confidential. (Sec. 503) Revises the procedure for the conduct of reexamination proceedings, adding specified procedures for a third-party requester. Transfers authority to conduct such proceedings and issue orders from the Commissioner of Patents to the USPTO Director. Requires reexamination proceedings and appeals to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences to be conducted with special dispatch within the USPTO. Authorizes a third-party requester to: (1) appeal any final decision favorable to the patentability of any original or proposed amended or new claim of the patent; or (2) be a party to any appeal taken by the patent owner. Declares that any third-party requester whose request for a reexamination results in a reexamination order is estopped from asserting at a later time, in any civil action, the invalidity of any claim finally determined to be valid and patentable on any ground which the third-party requester raised or could have raised during the reexamination proceedings, except newly discovered prior art unavailable at the time of such proceedings. Sets forth prohibitions with respect to subsequent requests for reexamination of a patent and final decisions in civil actions. Authorizes a patent owner to obtain a stay of any pending litigation involving an issue of patentability once an order for reexamination has been issued, unless the court determines a stay would not serve the interests of justice. Requires the USPTO Director to report to Congress on whether the reexamination proceedings established under this title are inequitable to any of the parties in interest, as well as any related legislative recommendations. Title VI: Patent and Trademark Office - Patent and Trademark Office Efficiency Act - Subtitle A: United States Patent and Trademark Office - Amends Federal patent law to reorganize the Patent and Trademark Office in the Department of Commerce into a U.S. agency within the Department, called the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), subject to the general policy direction of the Secretary of Commerce but exercising independent control of its budget, personnel, procurements, and other administrative and management functions. (Sec. 613) Vests the enumerated powers and duties of the USPTO in an Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the USPTO (currently, the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks). Requires the Director to appoint a Commissioner of Patents and a Commissioner of Trademarks. (Sec. 614) Prescribes personnel requirements, including mandatory written agreements with labor organizations. Requires the USPTO Director to establish a performance management system according to specified guidelines. Authorizes the Director to establish one or more broad-banded systems covering all or any portion of the USPTO workforce. (Sec. 615) Establishes a Patent Public Advisory Committee and a Trademark Public Advisory Committee. (Sec. 618) Revises the composition of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences to reflect the changes of this Act. Repeals the current authority (of the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks) to designate any patent examiner of the primary examiner grade or higher to serve as examiner-in-chief for a six-month period, and act as a member of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. Subtitle B: Effective Date; Technical Amendments - Sets forth the effective date of this title, as well as specified technical amendments to Federal patent law. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Sets forth specified administrative requirements with respect to the USPTO and transfers of functions under this title. Title VII: Miscellaneous Patent Provisions - Amends Federal patent law to permit the conversion, upon applicant request, of a provisional application into a non-provisional application. Repeals the requirement that a provisional application be pending on the filing date of a non-provisional application in order for the provisional application to be relied upon in any proceeding in the USPTO. (Sec. 702) Permits persons who filed an application for patent first in a World Trade Organization (WTO) member country to claim the right of priority in a subsequent patent application filed in the United States, even if such country does not yet afford similar privileges on the basis of applications filed in the United States. Provides for the right of priority in the United States on the basis of an application for a plant breeder's right first filed in a WTO member country or in a foreign member of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV Contracting Party). (Sec. 703) Makes certain limitations on remedies for patent infringement applicable only to applications filed on or after September 30, 1996. (Sec. 704) Declares that papers filed in the USPTO may be required to be on an electronic medium. (Sec. 705) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the potential risks to the U.S. biotechnological industry relating to biological deposits in support of biotechnology patents. Requires the USPTO to consider the Comptroller General's recommendations when drafting regulations affecting biological deposits. (Sec. 706) Specifies that an inventor involved in a USPTO interference proceeding who establishes a date of invention is subject to certain requirements, including the one that the invention was not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed. (Sec. 707) Revises the condition of patentability that subject matter developed by another person which qualifies as prior art only in certain circumstances shall not preclude the granting of a patent on an invention with only obvious differences where the subject matter and claimed invention were, at the time the invention was made, owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person. Adds to such qualifying prior art circumstances that the invention was described in another patent granted on an application filed before the applicant's date of invention. (Thus allows an applicant to receive a patent when an invention with only obvious differences from the applicant's invention was described in a patent granted on an application filed before the applicant's invention, provided the inventions are commonly owned or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person.)
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1999
E-Mail User Protection Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to make it unlawful for any person to: (1) initiate the transmission of an unsolicited bulk electronic mail message that contains a false or misappropriated name of the sender, return address, or name and phone number of a telephone contact person; (2) initiate such a message to an interactive computer service with the knowledge that such message falsifies identifying information; (3) initiate such a message and fail to comply with the recipient's request to not receive such messages; or (4) use, create, sell, or distribute any computer software that is primarily designed to create false identifier information. Provides civil fines and criminal sanctions for such violations. Authorizes enforcement through the Federal Trade Commission as an unfair or deceptive act or practice. Provides appropriate relief for both interactive computer services and recipients.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1999
Iran Nonproliferation Act of 1999 - Directs the President to report periodically to specified congressional committees on foreign persons who, on or after January 22, 1998, have transferred to Iran: (1) controlled goods, services, or technology; or (2) non-controlled goods, services, or technology that would nevertheless would be, if they were U.S. goods, services, or technology, prohibited for export to Iran because of their potential contribution to the development of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, or ballistic missile systems. Excludes from identification in such reports any such persons who were previously identified, or who have acted on behalf of, or in concert with, the U.S. Government. Authorizes the President, with specified exceptions, to apply to such foreign person certain measures: (1) set forth in Executive Order 12938 prohibitions; (2) prohibiting the sale to such persons of defense items on the United States Munitions List and defense articles and defense services, or design and construction services under the Arms Export Control Act; and (3) prohibiting the export to such persons of controlled goods and technology under the Export Administration Act of 1979. Prohibits any U.S. agency from making extraordinary payments to the Russian Space Agency in connection with the International Space Station, or any other organization or entity of the Government of the Russian Federation, unless the President has determined, and reported to specified congressional committees, that: (1) it is the policy of the Government of the Russian Federation to oppose the proliferation to Iran of weapons of mass destruction and missile systems capable of delivering such weapons; (2) such government is taking the necessary steps to prevent the transfer from Russia to Iran of goods, services, and technology useful in the development of such weapons and systems; and (3) neither the Russian Space Agency, nor any organization under its control, has, during the one-year period prior to the determination, made transfers to Iran of controlled goods, services, or technology or non-controlled goods, services, or technology that has potential to contribute to Iran's development of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, or of ballistic missile systems.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1999
Health Care Worker Needlestick Prevention Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to amend the bloodborne pathogens standard to require that: (1) employers utilize needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps injury protections in their work sites to prevent the spread of bloodborne pathogens; and (2) non-managerial direct care health care workers of employers participate in the identification and evaluation of such systems and sharps. Provides an exemption where an employer demonstrates that needleless systems and sharps: (1) do not promote employee safety, interfere with patient safety, or interfere with the success of a medical procedure under certain circumstances in the employer's work facility; or (2) are not commercially available to the employer. (Sec. 2) Includes under such revised standard requirements relating to: (1) exposure control plans; (2) sharps injury logs; and (3) worker training in the use of such systems and sharps. (Sec. 3) Requires the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to establish and maintain a national database on existing needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps injury protections. Requires the Director to: (1) develop a set of evaluation criteria for use by employers, employees, and other persons in evaluating and selecting such systems and sharps; (2) develop a model training curriculum to train employers, employees, and other persons in such evaluation process, and provide requested technical assistance to the extent feasible; and (3) establish a national system to collect comprehensive data on needlestick injuries to health care workers, including data on mechanisms to analyze and evaluate prevention. Authorizes NIOSH access to information recorded by employers in sharps injury logs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 5) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to require hospitals, as a condition of their Medicare program participation, to comply with the bloodborne pathogen standard as amended under this Act with respect to hospital employees, even if they are not otherwise subject to such standard because they are exempt from OSHA regulation.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1999
Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act of 1999 - Provides for coverage of qualified acupuncturist services under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1999
School Anti-Violence Empowerment Act - Title I: School Safety Programs - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for: (1) crisis intervention programs, including the hiring of school counselors; and (2) school safety programs for students, staff, and school facilities. Requires reservation of 50 percent of funds under this title for grants to hire school counselors, and the other 50 percent for grants for school safety programs. Requires awards to be based on one or more of the following factors: (1) quality of existing or proposed violence prevention program; (2) greatest need for crisis intervention counseling services; and (3) documented financial need based on number of students served under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Increased COPS Funding - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to extend through FY 2004 the authorization of appropriations for certain grant programs for Community Policing and "Cops on the Beat" (COPS program). Requires 50 percent of such funds to be used for cooperative partnerships between schools and State and local police departments to provide for the use of police officers in schools. Eliminates provisions for decreasing Federal matching funds and for terminating grant program authority (thus making the authority permanent). Title III: 21st Century Learning - Amends ESEA to extend through FY 2004 the authorization of appropriations for after-school and life skills programs for at-risk youth. Title IV: Model Program and Clearinghouse - Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop a model violence prevention program to be made available to LEAs; and (2) establish and maintain a national clearinghouse to provide LEAs with information on alternative violence prevention programs, and technical assistance to establish and to operate such programs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1999
National Information Disclosure Month Act - Expresses the sense of the Congress that all Federal agencies that have responsibilities with respect to health, safety, payments to individuals, delivery of services to consumers, and national defense issues shall participate, and all State, local, or private agencies or organizations having responsibilities with respect to those issues shall be encouraged to participate, in a National Summer of Community Conversation which will take place across the country in June, July, and August of 1999 to provide information to the public about their Y2K readiness. Requires that all such Federal agencies and all such State, local, or private agencies or organizations be encouraged to participate in a National Y2K Disclosure Month during July 1999, to disclose the readiness of mission critical computer systems in those areas for January 1, 2000, and to disclose contingency planning efforts associated with those systems and advance notice of problems that may occur on such day with such computer systems, with the interoperation of such computer systems, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1999
Empowering Minorities with Procurement Opportunities Which Expand and Revive Businesses Resolution (EMPOWER Businesses Resolution) - Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that all Federal agencies would benefit from implementing, and urges agencies to implement, specified recommendations to improve equitable access for minority-owned businesses to Federal procurement possibilities.
![Official portrait of Rep. Frost, Martin [D-TX-24]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/f000392_200.jpg)