United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Increases the salaries of the Chief Justice and associate Supreme Court justices of the United States and the judges of the United States courts of appeals, the United States district courts, and the United States Court of International Trade by 9.6 percent. Requires future adjustments in judicial salaries to equal the percentage by which General Schedule pay rates are adjusted (currently, the percentage change in the Employment Cost Index).
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the long term capital gains rate from 28 percent by two percent (but not below 14 percent) for each year the asset was held beyond two years. Reduces the net capital gain by the amount the taxpayer elects to take into account as investment income under specified provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Authorizes the Ralph David Abernathy Memorial Foundation to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor Dr. Ralph David Abernathy and the Poor People's Campaign. Exempts the memorial from provisions of the Commemorative Works Act which: (1) prohibit commemorative works honoring a nonmilitary event, individual, or group of individuals from being authorized until after the 25th anniversary of the event or death of the individual(s); and (2) require the offset of Federal funds used to pay maintenance and preservation expenses of the memorial and its infrastructure (but requires excess construction funds received by the Foundation to be deposited in a Treasury account for such expenses).
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Recognizes the importance of African-American music to global culture. Calls on the people of the United States to study, reflect on, and celebrate African-American music.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1997
Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 1995 (sic) - Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions to include certain service in the organized military forces of the Philippines and service as Philippine Scouts within the definition of active U.S. military service for purposes of eligibility for various veterans' benefits for former active-duty military personnel.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1997
Eating Disorders Information and Education Act of 1997 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide for a program of information and public education concerning the prevention and treatment of eating disorders. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1997
Access to College Education (ACE) Act of 1997 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a new part F, Administrative Support for State Prepaid Tuition Programs, under title X of such Act. Directs the Secretary of Education to: (1) make grants to States to support temporarily the establishment and operation of State prepaid tuition programs; and (2) disseminate to States applying for such grants certain studies and information on successful administrative practices for such programs. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1997
Battered Women's Employment Protection Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to unemployment tax to require appropriate State laws to provide for unemployment compensation for an individual separated from employment due to circumstances directly resulting from the individual's experience of domestic violence. Amends the Social Security Act to require State laws approved under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act to provide for training for claims reviewers and hearing personnel in the nature of domestic violence, and in methods of ascertaining its existence, so that employment separations stemming from domestic violence are reliably screened, identified, and adjudicated. (Sec. 4) Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act to entitle an employee to such leave: (1) in order to care for the employee's child or parent, if such child or parent is addressing domestic violence and its effects; or (2) because the employee is addressing domestic violence and its effects, the employee is unable to perform any of the functions of the employee's position. Allows leave, in such cases, to be taken intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule. Allows the employee to elect, or the employer to require, substitution of accrued paid leave for such leave. Sets forth provisions Provides for certification and confidentiality of domestic violence information involved in such cases. (Sec. 5) Amends specified Federal law to provide for entitlement to leave for Federal employees in such domestic violence situations. (Sec. 6) Allows unemployment compensation or leave benefits under other laws, collective bargaining agreements, or employment benefit programs greater then those provided by this Act; but prohibits diminishment of the rights and benefits established by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1997
False Bomb Threat Penalty Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide a one-year mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for conveying false bomb threats through instrumentalities of interstate and foreign commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1997
Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to repeal the prohibition on communication restrictions between State and local agencies and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) regarding an alien's immigration status. Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to prohibit any communication restrictions between a government entity or official and INS regarding the immigration status of an individual who has been convicted of a crime.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to disregard $10 million of capital expenditures in applying the $10 million limitation on the face amount of qualified small issue bonds. Excludes any qualified small issue bond from the limitation on use for land acquisition. Repeals the percentage limitation on directly related and ancillary facilities which may be financed by qualified small issue bonds. Changes the private activity bond volume cap State ceiling maximum amount.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1997
Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and the Public Health Service Act to require any group health plan which provides emergency health services to cover emergency services furnished to a plan participant: (1) without need for any prior authorization; (2) subject to stated exceptions, whether or not the physician or provider is plan participant; and (3) subject to stated exceptions, without regard to any other term or condition of the plan. Defines "emergency medical services" and related terms. Amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) to provide for the provision of the same benefits to Medicare and Medicaid plan participants. Provides for the establishment of guidelines by the appropriate Secretaries in order carry out the provisions of this Act. Directs the Secretaries to jointly establish an advisory panel to assist in the development of such guidelines.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1997
Menopause Outreach, Research, and Education Act of 1997 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institute on Aging to provide for the expansion of at least five centers for research on: (1) menopause; and (2) conditions arising from the diminishing or cessation of the functioning of the ovaries, whether occurring naturally or otherwise. Outlines research activities to be performed at each center. Requires the Director to establish a program to develop protocols for the prevention and treatment of menopausal health conditions and other conditions regarding women's midlife health. Requires the Director to provide for an equitable geographical distribution of such centers. Requires each center to be supported for at least five years, with possible renewal after review and recommendation by an appropriate technical and scientific peer review group established by the Director.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1997
Directs the Attorney General to promulgate regulations relating to gender-based persecution, including female genital mutilation, for use in determining an alien's eligibility for asylum or withholding of deportation.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1997
Amends the Paperwork Reduction Act to require that a list of racial or ethnic classifications for a collection of information provide an opportunity for a respondent to specify "multiracial" or "multiethnic."
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1997
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee of the U.S. Postal Service should recommend to the Postmaster General that a postage stamp be issued to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Volunteer Fire Service.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Child Passenger Protection Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to enter into contracts with, and make grants to, State highway offices and other experienced child passenger safety organizations to distribute national, State, and local motor vehicle child restraint education programs and supporting educational materials. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
21st Century Scholars Act of 1997 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to establish a 21st Century Scholars Program, which shall give eligible 21st Century Scholars (eligible Scholars) a legally binding promise, secured by the full faith and credit of the United States, to provide the maximum authorized Pell Grant to cover the costs of attendance for each of up to four years of attendance at an eligible institution. Makes students eligible Scholars if they successfully completed the uppermost grade at a qualifying elementary school and were residents of the such school's attendance area during the school year in which such grade was completed. Makes schools qualifying elementary schools if they serve attendance areas in which the concentration of children from low-income families exceeds 75 percent, as determined under specified provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Affordable Higher Education-Through-Pell Grants Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to increase the maximum Federal Pell Grant award (from $4,500) to $5,000 for academic year 1998-1999 and each of the four succeeding academic years. Amends HEA to declare that there shall be available to the Secretary of Education, from funds not otherwise appropriated, sums necessary to provide funds for such grants in the maximum amounts authorized.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Pension Reform Title II: Protection of Rights of Former Spouses to Pension Benefits Under Certain Government and Government-Sponsored Retirement Programs Title III: Reforms Related to 401(k) Plans Title IV: Modifications of Joint and Survivor Annuity Requirements Title V: Spousal Consent Required for Distributions from Section 401(k) Plans Title VI: Women's Pension Toll-Free Phone Number Title VII: Periodic Pension Benefits Statements Comprehensive Women's Pension Protection Act of 1997 - Title I: Pension Reform - Amends the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to apply specified integrated plan nondiscrimination rules to all accrued benefits. Amends the Internal Revenue Code (Code) to repeal the permitted disparity provision with respect to simplified employee pension contributions. (Sec. 102) Applies minimum coverage requirements to a separate line of business employer plan for qualified trust purposes. Establishes a single line of business special rule. (Sec. 103) Sets forth provisions concerning the division of pension benefits upon divorce. Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to set forth similar provisions. (Sec. 104) Provides for the continued availability of certain remedies with respect to pre-1985 domestic relations orders. (Sec. 105) Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to eliminate specified employee-annuitant requirements with respect to a divorced wife's annuity. Title II: Protection of Rights of Former Spouses to Pension Benefits Under Certain Government and Government-Sponsored Retirement Programs - Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 and Federal law to provide for protection of former spouses to railroad and civil service pension benefits. Title III: Reforms Related to 401(k) Plans - Applies a specified limitation on acquisition and holding of employer securities and real property to 401(k) plans. Title IV: Modifications of Joint and Survivor Annuity Requirements - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Code to permit, with respect to specified plans, a qualified joint and two-thirds survivor annuity. Defines such an annuity. Title V: Spousal Consent Required for Distributions from Section 401(k) Plans - Amends the Code to require spousal consent for 401(k) plan distributions. Title VI: Women's Pension Toll-Free Phone Number - Directs the Secretary of Labor to provide for a women's pension toll-free telephone number. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Periodic Pension Benefits Statements - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to prescribe time periods for furnishing pension benefits statements.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
National African American Museum Act - Establishes within the Smithsonian Institution the National African American Museum, to be operated as a center for scholarship and a location for museum training, public education, exhibits, and collection and study of items and materials relating to the life, art, history, and culture of African Americans. Authorizes the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to plan, design, reconstruct, and renovate the Arts and Industries Building to house the Museum. Establishes a Board of Trustees of the Museum in the Smithsonian Institution. Directs the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to appoint a Director to manage the Museum. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Amends Federal aviation law to direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations requiring the use of federally-approved child safety restraint systems (including weight and age limits) on commercial aircraft. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization should seek an international standard to require that passengers on civil aviation aircraft be restrained: (1) on takeoff and landing; and (2) when directed by the aircraft captain on commercial aircraft.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Crop Insurance Improvement Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to define "designated disaster area" to include an area: (1) declared a major disaster area by the President; or (2) determined to be a disaster area by the Secretary of Agriculture. Prohibits the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation from: (1) listing a producer with disaster-area crop losses on the nonstandard classification list; and (2) considering such losses in yield determinations.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Decennial Census Improvement Act of 1997 - Requires the Bureau of the Census, in conducting the 2000 decennial census, to: (1) attempt to contact every household directly, whether by mail or in person (and allows the use of sampling as a substitute for direct contact in a particular census tract only after direct contact has been made with at least 90 percent of the households in such tract); and (2) seek to make more effective use of State and local government offices and appropriate local groups to reduce the undercount and include in a specified report a description of the measures it intends to pursue to carry out such requirement. Prohibits taking into account compensation for services performed by an individual appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to a temporary position for purposes relating to the 2000 decennial census (if the position is so designated by the Secretary at the time of such individual's appointment) for purposes of determining either the individual's eligibility for benefits, or the amount of benefits payable to an individual, under any Federal, State, or local program financed with Federal funds. Modifies Federal law regarding exemptions for reemployed annuitants and former uniformed service members to make such law: (1) applicable to service in any temporary position within the Bureau established for purposes relating to the 2000 decennial census; and (2) inapplicable to any service performed after December 31, 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives concerning actions that the President should take to resolve the labor dispute between the Allied Pilots Association and AMR, the parent company of American Airlines. Declares that the President should: (1) monitor the National Mediation Board's attempt to help resolve such dispute; (2) encourage settling the issues in such dispute through use of Board services before the strike deadline, or achieving, by such deadline, the parties' agreement to arbitrate the issues through the Board; and (3) if recommended by the Board, promptly establish an emergency board, under specified provisions of the Railway Labor Act, to investigate and report on matters relating to such dispute.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1997
Security and Freedom Through Encryption (SAFE) Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to permit any person within any State, and any U.S. person in a foreign country, to use any encryption regardless of the encryption algorithm selected, encryption key length chosen, or implementation technique or medium used, with an exception for the unlawful use of encryption in furtherance of a criminal act. Allows any person within any State to sell in interstate commerce any encryption. Specifies that no person in lawful possession of a key to encrypted information may be required by Federal or State law to relinquish to another person control of that key, with an exception for access for law enforcement purposes. Sets penalties for the willful use of encryption in furtherance of the commission of a criminal offense. (Sec. 3) Amends the Export Administration Act of 1979 to grant the Secretary of Commerce exclusive authority to control exports of all hardware, software, and technology for information security (including encryption), except that which is specifically designed or modified for military use. Prohibits requiring any validated license (with limited exceptions pursuant to the Trading With The Enemy Act or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act) for the export or reexport of any: (1) software, including software with encryption capabilities that is generally available as is and that is designed for installation by the purchaser, or that is in the public domain for which copyright or other protection is not available or is available to the public because it is generally accessible to the public in any form; or (2) computing device solely because it incorporates or employs in any form software (including software with encryption capabilities) exempted from any requirement for a validated license under this section. Directs the Secretary to authorize the export or reexport of: (1) software with encryption capabilities for nonmilitary end-uses in any country to which exports of software of similar capability are permitted for use by financial institutions not controlled in fact by U.S. persons, unless there is substantial evidence that such software will be diverted to a military end-use or an end-use supporting international terrorism, modified for military or authorization that may be required under the Act; and (2) computer hardware with encryption capabilities if the Secretary determines that a product offering comparable security is commercially available outside the United States from a foreign supplier without effective restrictions.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1997
National Infrastructure Development Act of 1997 - Establishes as a wholly owned Government corporation: (1) the National Infrastructure Development Corporation (NIDC), which shall make new sources of financing available (including public benefit bonds) for the development of infrastructure facilities; and (2) the National Infrastructure Insurance Corporation (NIIC), which shall be a subsidiary of NIDC issuing insurance, reinsurance and related undertakings with respect to obligations for development of such facilities. Requires NIDC and NIIC to conduct their respective businesses as self-supporting entities. Directs the boards of directors of each to establish criteria for determining eligibility for financial assistance. Provides for: (1) initial targeting of ready-to-go projects; (2) development risk insurance; (3) the discretion of NIDC and NIIC to provide assistance; (4) final decisions on providing assistance to be made by an independent investment committee; and (5) capitalization, organization, and management of NIDC and NIIC. Requires the NIDC to prepare and revise as necessary a strategic plan for the transition of NIDC and all its subsidiaries to a Government-sponsored enterprise, and for the sale or transfer to investors other than the Federal Government of NIDC's voting securities. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1997
Revitalizing Cities Through Parks Enhancement Act - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make grants to qualified community organizations to develop open space on municipally owned vacant lots in urban areas. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Commemorative Coins Title II: Circulating Coins Thomas Alva Edison Sesquicentennial Commemorative Coin Act - Title I: Commemorative Coins - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint one-dollar silver coins emblematic of the inventions of Thomas Alva Edison in commemoration of the sesquicentennial of his birth. Directs the Secretary to conduct an open design competition for the design of the obverse and reverse of the coins. Terminates the authority to mint such coins after December 31, 1997. Requires that certain surcharges received from coin sales be distributed to specified entities. Title II: Circulating Coins - Amends Federal law to declare that half-dollar coins minted between specified dates shall have the same design as the commemorative coins minted under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
ISTEA Integrity Restoration Act - Authorizes appropriations out of the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) for the: (1) National Highway System (NHS); (2) Surface Transportation Program (STP); and (3) Federal Lands Highway Program, including Indian reservation roads, public lands highways, and parkways and park highways. (Sec. 4) Defines "highway funds" as funds apportioned and allocations authorized under this Act for the fiscal year and funds allocated to a State for the preceding fiscal year for Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction. Revises the apportionment of NHS funds to allocate 0.4 percent (previously, one percent) to U.S. territories and possessions, and the remaining 99.6 among the States according to a formula based on population density. Includes bridge construction and related activities among eligible NHS projects. (Sec. 5) Repeals provisions regarding: (1) apportionments for resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating, and reconstructing the Interstate System (IS); and (2) the transfer of interstate construction apportionments, the transfer of funds for STP projects, and limits on new capacity. (Sec. 6) Includes bridge construction and related activities as an eligible activity within the streamlined STP. Makes eligible under the STP an area of a State that is a nonattainment area for ozone or carbon monoxide, or for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than or equal to ten micrometers resulting from transportation activities, or for any combination thereof, for congestion mitigation and air quality improvement projects without regard to any Department of Transportation limitation relating to the type of ambient air quality standard addressed by such project. Revises: (1) State certification procedures; and (2) procedures for payments to States for eligible STP activities. (Sec. 7) Directs that, for purposes of STP and IS provisions, population shall be determined based on the most recent estimate prepared by the Secretary of Commerce. (Sec. 8) Repeals provisions regarding: (1) the highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation program; and (2) the congestion mitigation and air quality improvement program. (Sec. 10) Replaces provisions regarding minimum allocations to States with an apportionment adjustment program under which the Secretary shall apportion among the States amounts sufficient to ensure that the ratio of the highway funds of a State to highway funds of all States for the fiscal year is not less than the adjustment percentage specified for that State under this Act. Requires each State to receive additional apportionments so that its percentage of highway funds is not less than 95 percent of the percentage of estimated tax payments attributable to highway users in the State paid into the Highway Trust Fund. Repeals: (1) existing apportionment adjustment programs; and (2) set-asides for interstate discretionary projects. (Sec. 12) Reduces from 3.75 to 2.35 the percentage of program funds authorized to be set aside for administrative costs. (Sec. 13) Sets forth provisions regarding permissible transfers of unobligated balances of funds apportioned to a State for: (1) congestion mitigation and air quality improvement; (2) interstate construction and maintenance; (3) bridge replacement and rehabilitation; and (4) the STP.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to add providers of assistance to families or individuals with annual incomes below the poverty line to the list of organizations eligible to receive surplus personal property allocated by the Administrator of the General Services Administration.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Primary Care Promotion Act of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to direct graduate medical education for residents enrolled in combined approved primary care medical residency training programs. Provides for full-time-equivalent resident reimbursement for an additional year beyond the minimum number of years of formal training required to satisfy the requirements for initial board eligibility in the longest of the individual programs. Declares that a resident enrolled in a combined medical residency training program that includes an obstetrics and gynecology program qualifies for the period of board eligibility under this Act if the other programs such resident combines with such obstetrics and gynecology program are for training a primary care resident.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the unified credit against the estate tax and the gift tax. Requires an estate tax return in cases where the gross estate exceeds $1.2 million (currently $600,000). Revises the formula for the phaseout of graduated rates and the unified credit.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to limit the late enrollment penalty to a ten percent increase in the monthly part B premium due over a period equal to twice the number of years that the part B beneficiary could have been but was not enrolled under part B.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to provide an exception to food stamp and supplemental security income limited eligibility for totally and permanently disabled permanent resident aliens whose disability arose after U.S. admission.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that studies are needed to further determine the benefits of screening women between the ages of 40 and 49 for breast cancer through mammograms and other emerging technologies and that the House urges the Advisory Panel for the National Cancer Institute to: (1) consider reissuing a specified guideline rescinded in 1993; or (2) direct the public to consider guidelines issued by other organizations until there is more definitive data.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the German Government should investigate and prosecute Dr. Hans Joachim Sewering for his crimes of active euthanasia and crimes against humanity committed during World War II.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1997
Amends the Clean Air Act to delete from the glycol ether category in the list of hazardous air pollutants ethylene glycol monobutyl ether as used or emitted by metal or composite can manufacturing. Amends the toxic chemical release forms provisions of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to delete from the lists of toxic chemicals and extremely hazardous substances employed under such Act any substance that has been deleted or removed from the hazardous air pollutants list unless the Administrator demonstrates on the basis of convincing evidence significant human health or environmental threats posed by the substance's storage, use, or release.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1997
Naturalization of Older Persons Act of 1997 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to exempt certain older persons from the U.S. knowledge naturalization requirement, and to permit certain other older persons to fulfill such requirement in another language.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1997
Airplane Emergency Locator Act - Amends Federal aviation law to make applicable to other specified types of aircraft (currently exempted from them) certain requirements that commercial aircraft be outfitted with an emergency locator transmitter. (Continues to exempt from such requirements aircraft used in flight operations related to design and testing, the manufacture, preparation, and delivery of aircraft, or the aerial application of a substance on agricultural crops.)
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1997
Legal Immigrants' Fairness Act of 1997 - Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to permit legally admitted permanent resident aliens to receive Federal Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid payments.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1997
Constitutional Amendment - Authorizes the Congress, with respect to all Federal, State, and all other elections, to adopt reasonable regulations of campaign funds expended, including contributions, to influence the outcome of elections, provided that such regulations do not impair the right of the public to a full and free discussion of all issues and do not prevent any candidate for elected office from amassing the resources necessary for effective advocacy.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1997
Designates the U.S. courthouse to be constructed at the corner of Superior and Huron Roads, in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Carl B. Stokes United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1997
Medigap Amendments of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to certification of Medicare supplemental health insurance (Medigap) policies, particularly coverage for pre-existing conditions, providing for additional consumer protections for certain individuals whose enrollment with an eligible organization ceases for one or more specified reasons. Prohibits a Medigap policy issuer from denying or conditioning a policy to such an individual, from imposing preexisting condition exclusions, and from discriminating in pricing because of the individual's health, claims experience, or disability in the case of such an individual who has had continuous coverage (with no break longer than 63 days), if the policy in which the individual wishes to enroll has a comparable or less generous benefits package. Revises the prohibition against an insurer's excluding benefits based on a pre-existing condition during the initial six-month enrollment period after an individual first becomes eligible for Medicare. Extends the six-month initial enrollment period to non-elderly Medicare beneficiaries. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide grants to private, independent, nonprofit consumer organizations and State agencies applying to conduct programs to prepare and make available to Medicare beneficiaries comprehensive and understandable information on enrollment in health plans with a Medicare managed care contract and in Medigap policies in which they are eligible to enroll. Requires any eligible organization with a Medicare managed care contract or any issuer of a Medigap policy to: (1) conduct a consumer satisfaction survey of the enrollees under such contract or such policy; and (2) make the survey results available to the Secretary and the State Insurance Commissioner of the State in which the enrollees are so enrolled. Requires each organization which provides a Medicare managed care contract or issues a Medigap policy to pay to the Secretary its pro rata share of the estimated costs to be incurred by the Secretary in providing the grants. Makes necessary appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from 50 percent to 100 percent the deduction for business meal and entertainment expenses. Repeals the limitation on the deduction of travel expenses of a spouse, dependent, or others accompanying the taxpayer on business.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Patient Right to Know Act - Prohibits any contract or agreement, or the operation of any contract or agreement, between an entity operating a health plan (including any partnership, association, or other organization that enters into or administers such a contract or agreement) and a health care provider (or group of health care providers) from prohibiting or restricting the provider from engaging in medical communications with his or her patient. Requires that each State shall enforce this Act with respect to health insurance issuers that sell, renew, or offer health plans in the State. Provides for enforcement of this Act by the Secretary of Health and Human Services if the Secretary, after consultation with the chief executive officer of a State and the insurance commissioner or chief insurance regulatory official of the State, determines that the State has failed to substantially enforce the requirements. Mandates a civil money penalty. Allows State requirements equal to or more protective of medical communications than the requirements of this Act. Defines "medical communication" as a communication between a provider and a patient (or the patient's guardian or legal representative) regarding the patient's health status, medical care, or treatment options.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Homeowners Insurance Protection Act - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require a creditor to provide free, specified written disclosures about cancellation rights for private mortgage insurance if a consumer is required to obtain such insurance as a condition for entering into a residential mortgage transaction. Imposes civil liability in the amount of treble damages for noncompliance with such disclosure requirements.
![Official portrait of Rep. Frost, Martin [D-TX-24]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/f000392_200.jpg)