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United States · Official source
9,184 records where Rep. Frost, Martin [D-TX-24] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1993
Grants a Federal charter to Black Veterans of America (a nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of Minnesota).
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1993
Joseph Wallace Child Welfare Act - Amends part B (Child Welfare Services) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide that the use of child welfare services for family unification purposes must be consistent with the best interests of the child. Amends SSA title IV part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) to modify part E State plan provisions to require State agencies to report known or suspected instances of child abuse or neglect to an appropriate court or law enforcement agency.
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1993
Commission on Filipino Veterans Entitlement Act - Establishes the Commission on Filipino War Veterans Entitlement to: (1) review the facts and circumstances surrounding the enactment of provisions of the First Supplemental Surplus Appropriation Rescission Act, 1946, which denied most veterans' benefits and privileges to Filipino veterans of World War II; (2) review existing Department of Veterans Affairs benefits and medical privileges available to those veterans; (3) determine what type of veterans' benefits are due to such veterans; and (4) recommend appropriate changes in law. Terminates the Commission on February 1, 1995. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1993
Calls upon the Government of the Russian Federation to continue to remove its troops from the independent Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania through a firm, expeditious, and conscientiously observed schedule.
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1993
Supports the efforts of the President to consult with congressional leaders regarding the introduction of U.S. armed forces into the former Yugoslavia. Finds that the Constitution vests all power to declare war and to authorize the use of force other than in self-defense in the Congress. Declares that the introduction of U.S. armed forces that are authorized to use military force in the former Yugoslavia, either individually or in conjunction with other countries or international organizations, should be explicitly approved by the Congress before such introduction.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1993
Provides that the effective date for discontinuance of veterans' disability compensation and veterans' pension paid by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall be the date on which the recipient dies (currently the last day of the month preceding death) in the case of a veteran with a surviving spouse. Requires payments of such compensation to be made to the surviving spouse. Provides that the effective date for the award of dependency and indemnity compensation for which application is received within one year from the date of the veteran's death shall be the day following the date of death in the case of a surviving spouse.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1993
Family Caregiver Support Act of 1993 - Amends the Social Security Act (SSA) to establish a program to enable States to furnish services to support informal caregivers of eligible individuals with functional disabilities. Outlines State plan requirements for such caregiver support services, including requirements that: (1) States support 50 percent of program administration costs; (2) program services may not supplant services otherwise available to eligible recipients under Medicare or Medicaid (SSA titles XVIII and XIX) or any other public or private insurance plan; and (3) persons with incomes exceeding 200 percent of the Federal poverty level must make co-payments on a sliding scale basis established by the State. Caps total annual Federal expenditures per eligible recipient. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1993
Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1993 - Expresses the findings of the Congress that the Fairness Doctrine: (1) fairly reflects the statutory obligations of broadcasters; (2) received statutory approval from the Congress in 1959; and (3) reasonably balances first amendment rights. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require broadcast licensees to provide a reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance. Requires enforcement and application of such requirement to be consistent with the rules and policies of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on January 1, 1987.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1993
Calls upon the President to issue a proclamation honoring the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on its 50th anniversary, and reaffirming the United States' commitment to end hunger and malnutrition.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1993
Requires the Postmaster General to issue a commemorative stamp in honor of poet Joyce Kilmer.
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Locate and Case Tracking Title II: Establishment Title III: Parentage Title IV: Enforcement Title V: Collection and Distribution Title VI: Federal Role Title VII: State Role Title VIII: Jobs for Unemployed Noncustodial Parents Title IX: Effective Date Interstate Child Support Act of 1993 - Title I: Locate and Case Tracking - (Sec. 101) Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to allow the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) to be used along with appropriate safeguards for parentage establishment and child support and visitation enforcement. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) denial of visitation rights under a child support order should be treated as irrelevant in any action to enforce its support provisions; and (2) failure to pay child support pursuant to such an order should be treated likewise in any action to enforce visitation rights. (Sec. 102) Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to enter into an agreement to provide the Secretary (Secretary) of Health and Human Services (HHS) with access to quarterly estimated Federal income tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Requires that: (1) State agencies charged with child support enforcement maintain child support order registries and be allowed access to medical, financial, employment, and other specified data base information on absent parents; (2) registry information from each State be sent to the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) (designated under title VI of this Act) within HHS for a national registry of all State child support orders. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary should investigate accessing certain Federal data banks not linked with FPLS. (Sec. 103) Requires the Secretary to expand FPLS to provide State agencies and courts with a national locate and case tracking network. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the network should be used to access State records only through the agency administering the State's part D plan. (Sec. 104) Requires that private attorneys and pro se obligees be given access, in accordance with appropriate safeguards, to State locate resources and enforcement techniques with respect to child support, visitation, and parentage orders. (Sec. 105) Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to require employers to withhold from employee wages amounts owed for child support. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to modify the W-4 form completed by new employees in order to enable employers to obtain employee child support and other information for the appropriate State employment security agency. (Sec. 106) Requires the heads of national and regional individual tracking systems to allow child support enforcement agencies access to their information for paternity or child support purposes. (Secs. 107 and 109) Requires that States: (1) broadcast warrants issued in child support proceedings over their crime information systems; (2) remit, in a criminal case, to any individual owed child support any security posted by or on behalf of the individual owing the support and then forfeited, to the extent of any arrearage in support owed; and (3) have procedures to obtain access to financial records for purposes of child support establishment and enforcement. Title II: Establishment - (Sec. 201) Amends the Federal judicial code to establish the jurisdictional basis for State court recognition, enforcement, and modification of parentage and child support orders of other States. (Sec. 202) Amends SSA title IV part D to provide for service of process on Federal employees and members of the armed forces in connection with parentage and child support proceedings. (Secs. 203 through 205, 209, 211, 213, and 214) Requires that: (1) parents' identification and locate information be filed with the appropriate adjudicating entity in parentage and child support actions; (2) there be appropriate safeguards on such information where a court has ordered that the custodial parent or child receive physical protection against the noncustodial parent; (3) appropriate administrative agencies make reasonable attempts to timely notify any individual owed child support of any proceeding to establish, modify, or enforce the support obligation; (4) States allow parties seeking both parentage and child support establishment in a judicial proceeding to bring a joint action in a single cause of action; (5) States provide for continuation of parental child support obligations until they terminate as described; (6) States allow parties to participate in interstate parentage and child support proceedings by telephonic means; (7) marriage licenses, birth certificates, and divorce and parentage decrees contain social security numbers; and (8) appropriate State agencies be allowed subpoena power in connection with child support hearings. Sets forth guidelines for uniform State procedures regarding jurisdiction and venue in parentage and child support cases. (Sec. 209) Expresses the sense of the Congress that, if children receive child support while obtaining postsecondary education, they will attain higher levels of education affording them a greater chance to break the welfare cycle. (Sec. 206) Amends the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) to allow appropriate State agencies to obtain from credit reporting agencies information for establishing and modifying child support awards. (Sec. 207) Creates a National Child Support Guidelines Commission to study and report to the President and the Congress on national child support guidelines, and to develop such guidelines for congressional consideration should it be advisable. (Sec. 208) Amends SSA title IV part D to specify certain principles to be used in accordance with the application of State child support guidelines. (Secs. 210 and 212) Requires the new OCSE Assistant Secretary to develop a: (1) national subpoena duces tecum for distribution to child support agencies and others to use to reach income information; and (2) uniform abstract of a child support order for State court use. (Sec. 215) Requires the Legal Services Corporation to ensure the use of a specified amount of funding for child support cases. (Secs. 216 and 217) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) children on Indian reservations be accorded the same right of support currently afforded to off-reservation children; (2) State and tribal governments should, to the greatest extent possible, ensure that jurisdictional issues do not prevent any Indian child from receiving the support to which the child is entitled; and (3) States should work with community-based organizations with ties to underserved populations to develop better methods to reach and work with such populations to encourage the filing of more support orders. (Sec. 216) Amends the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 to require Indian tribes to give full faith and credit to child support orders of other Indian tribes, to the extent such entities already give full faith and credit to the acts, records, and proceedings of the other entity. (Sec. 217) Amends SSA title IV part D to set forth specific measures designed to secure child support services in underserved areas and combat domestic violence. Title III: Parentage - (Sec. 301) Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) require States to provide for hospital-based paternity outreach programs and adopt various specified procedures for voluntary paternity acknowledgment; and (2) provide for 90 percent Federal matching for such programs. Expresses the sense of the Congress that, in a proceeding to establish paternity, once paternity is alleged, the burden of proof should shift to the alleged father. Title IV: Enforcement - (Secs. 401 through 403, 405 through 411, 413 through 417, 420, and 424 through 426) Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) (Sec. 401) require States to mandate that any individual or entity engaged in commerce, as a condition of doing business in that State, comply with wage withholding orders issued by any State court or administrative agency, and keep records of wages withheld for child support; (2) (Sec. 402) specify the priority for applying amounts withheld from income for child support and child health insurance; (3) (Sec. 403) subject to withholding for child support income from workers' compensation and other specified Federal sources; (4) (Sec. 405) prohibit State court application of the election of remedies doctrine to prevent collection of child support; (5) (Secs. 406-407) deny State occupational, professional, and business licenses, and driver's licenses and vehicle registrations to delinquent noncustodial parents; (6) (Secs. 408-410) authorize liens on vehicle titles, seizure of bank accounts, and holds on lottery winnings, settlements, payouts, bequests, and proceeds from the sale of forfeited property to satisfy child support arrearages; (7) (Sec. 411) require States to make a rebuttable presumption that any transfer of property by an individual who owes a child support arrearage is made with the intent to avoid payment of the arrearage; (8) (Sec. 412) revise the mechanism for collection of past-due child support from Federal tax refunds to cover additional children; (9) (Sec. 414) authorize attachment of retirement plan interests without a separate court order to satisfy child support arrearages; (9) (Sec. 415) mandate reporting monthly child support obligations to credit bureaus; (10) (Sec. 416) permit enforcement of any child support order until the child is at least 30; (11) (Sec. 417) require interest on all child support judgments; (12) (Sec. 420) require States to adopt the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws in August 1992; (13) (Sec. 424) allow State courts to order the assignment of life insurance benefits and interests in jointly held property to satisfy child support arrearages; and (14) (Sec. 426) require States to treat international child support cases in the same manner as interstate child support cases. (Sec. 404) Amends CCPA with respect to State laws and garnishments for securing child support. Gives Federal debts a lower priority than child support debts when the obligor's disposable income cannot satisfy both debts through withholding. Prohibts employers from discharging any employee whose earnings are subject to garnishment for additional indebtedness arising from a child support order. (Sec. 406) Denies Federal occupational, professional, and business licenses of delinquent individuals until the license hold is released. (Sec. 412) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the IRS Commissioner should instruct IRS field officers and agents to give a high priority to requests for the use of full collection in delinquent child support cases. Requires the Secretary of Treasury to simplify the full collection process and reduce the amount of child support arrearage needed before an individual may apply for full collection. (Sec. 418) Amends the Federal bankruptcy code to: (1) allow parentage and child support case establishment, modification, and enforcement to proceed uninterrupted after a bankruptcy petition is filed; (2) treat as outside chapter 11, 12, or 13 plans any debt owed to child support creditors, except as specified; and (3) allow a claim for payment of a debt for child support to be asserted in court. (Sec. 419) Sets forth requirements pertaining to parentage establishment and child support payments in the armed forces. (Sec. 421) Directs the Comptroller General and Secretary of the Treasury to study an annual reconciliation process for paying child support arrearages as part of the Federal income tax process. (Sec. 422) Authorizes the Secretary of State to refuse, revoke, or restrict passports in cases where the applicant or holder is a noncustodial parent subject to a State arrest warrant for nonpayment of a substantial child support arrearage. (Sec. 423) Prohibits Federal benefits, loans, guarantees, and employment for individuals owing certain child support arrearages. (Sec. 426) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should ratify the United Nations Convention of 1956. Title V: Collection and Distribution - (Secs. 501 through 504) Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) set priorities for State distribution of child support collections; (2) require States to limit claims against noncustodial parents for reimbursement of a child's portion of AFDC to the amount in the child support order; (3) revise part D plan provisions concerning fees; and (4) require States to provide for collection and disbursement points for child support cases. (Sec. 501) Requires Comptroller General studies and pilot projects with respect to requiring State systems to pay the child support collected under a State plan to the individuals to whom the support is owed before making any payment to reimburse any State for AFDC provided with respect to the child in question. Amends IRC to revise the Federal income tax refund offset mechanism. (Sec. 505) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should encourage parents to use the State child support agency to process and distribute child support payments. Title VI: Federal Role - (Sec. 601) Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) designate the separate organizational unit currently charged with various parentage and child support responsibilities as the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE); and (2) change OCSE's organizational structure. (Secs. 602 and 603) Requires: (1) the new OCSE Assistant Secretary to provide training assistance to the States; (2) States to provide for training of child support personnel; and (3) the Secretary to study staffing at State child support enforcement programs and reduce payments to States that have not implemented recommended staffing levels. (Sec. 604) Requires the Secretary to: (1) authorize demonstration projects to test alternative approaches to incentive funding for State child support programs; and (2) reduce payments to States which have not reinvested incentive payments in their child support programs. Provides that "support" under SSA title IV part D with respect to incentive payments to States includes premiums paid for health insurance coverage pursuant to a support order. Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should not use amounts paid to them pursuant to SSA title IV part D, which are reinvested in child support activities, to supplant State funding of such activities. (Secs. 606, 607, and 611) Requires the Secretary to: (1) contract for a study of OCSE's audit process to develop criteria and methodology for auditing activities of State child support enforcement agencies; and (2) provide for State demonstration projects for the purpose of ensuring that custodial parents owed child support have a consistent source of income for the support of their children. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) (Sec. 607) children should have a consistent source of income to meet their education and medical needs; (2) the provision of public assistance to a custodial parent for the support of a child with respect to whom the noncustodial parent owes child support does not absolve the latter of the obligation to provide such support; (3) the States must continue to vigorously pursue efforts to establish parentage, and establish and enforce child support obligations; and (4) (Sec. 611) OCSE should develop a mechanism to publicize the best State practices in child support. (Sec. 608) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish in the Treasury a Children's Trust Fund to hold the contributions designated by individuals on their tax returns for funding child support programs. (Secs. 609 through 612) Requires: (1) the Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on delinquent child support payments and the effectiveness of administrative vs. judicial adjudication of parentage and child support cases; and (2) OCSE to produce and update a certain compendium of State child support laws published by the National Conference of State Legislatures, and establish a permanent child support advisory committee. Title VII: State Role - (Secs. 701, 702, and 704) Amends SSA title IV part D to require States to: (1) promote the greatest economic security possible for children, within the obligor's ability to pay; (2) provide custodial parents with certain information on child support cases and the services available under their part D plans; and (3) require any changes in child support payees to be made only through administrative procedures. (Secs. 703, 705, and 706) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should: (1) work closely with parents to improve the quality of child support services; (2) have offices in areas accessible to public transportation with convenient hours that allow parents to meet privately with attorneys and caseworkers; and (3) establish administrative procedures to process child support cases and a child support council to recommend improvements in State paternity and child support programs. Title VIII: Jobs for Unemployed Noncustodial Parents - (Sec. 801) Expresses the sense of the Congress that any Federal program to provide jobs for noncustodial parents should be administered so as not to adversely affect any Federal program for custodial parents. Requires the Secretary to transmit evaluations of certain projects under the JOBS program under SSA title IV part F (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program) to the Secretary of Labor for study and possible action, including authorizing States to provide services of greater scope and duration to unemployed noncustodial parents under such program. Title IX: Effective Date - (Sec. 901) Sets forth the effective date of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 1993
Designates July 17 through 23, 1993, as National Veterans Golden Age Games Week.
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 1993
Calls for the U.S. Trade Representative to insist that any trade agreement negotiated pursuant to the Uruguay Round must provide U.S. copyright-based industries with: (1) fair and equal access to the markets of the nations that are party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; (2) equal opportunities to obtain government funding; (3) adequate and effective copyright protection, including full national treatment and recognition of contractual rights; and (4) a mechanism to resolve expeditiously disputes concerning market access, national treatment, and copyright protection.
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 1993
Waives points of order against the consideration of the conference report on H.R. 2 (establishing national voter registration procedures for Federal elections) with respect to failure to comply with rule XXVIII of the House of Representatives, relating to germane modification of a disagreement to an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Character Education Demonstration Program Title II: National Conference on Character Education Character Education Act of 1993 - Title I: Character Education Demonstration Program - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to provide for an ethics and values demonstration program under the Secretary's Fund for Innovation in Education. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make grants to State educational agencies, local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, and other public and private organizations to conduct activities designed to stimulate understanding of ethics, civic and character values, and the principles of democracy as a means of enhancing and improving elementary and secondary education. Title II: National Conference on Character Education - Directs the Secretary of Education to sponsor the National Conference on Character Education. Directs the Secretary to report, with recommendations, to the Congress after such Conference.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1993
King Holiday and Service Act of 1993 - Amends Federal law to: (1) authorize appropriations for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission; (2) extend the Commission; and (3) revise its membership. Amends the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to authorize the Commission to make grants to eligible entities to carry out service opportunities on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1993
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) an appropriate commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Mariana campaign of World War II should be planned by the United States in conjunction with the Governments of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; and (2) the Secretary of the Interior should take steps to ensure the completion of visitor centers at the War in the Pacific National Historic Park, Guam (Park), and the American Memorial Park, Saipan, by June 15, 1994, for the historical interpretation of the campaign. Authorizes the Secretary, within the boundaries of the Park, to: (1) construct a monument to commemorate, by individual name, the people of Guam, living and dead, who suffered personal injury, forced labor, forced marches, internment or death incident to enemy occupation of Guam between December 8, 1941, and August 10, 1944; and (2) implement programs to interpret experiences of the people of Guam during World War II, including, but not limited to, oral histories of those people of Guam who experienced the occupation. Requires the Secretary, through the Director of the National Park Service, to develop and submit to specified congressional committees a report containing updated cost estimates for the development of the Park, a general plan to implement such development, and at a minimum, cost estimates for the design and construction of the monument. Requires the Secretary to take steps to preserve and protect various World War II vintage weapons and fortifications which exist within the Park. Increases the authorization of appropriations for both Parks.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1993
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the $15 million limitation on the amount of private activity tax-exempt bonds that may be issued to provide an output facility.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1993
Former Soviet Union Nuclear Threat Reduction Act of 1993 - Directs the President to establish a program to reduce the environmental and national security threats from nuclear facilities in the former Soviet Union. Requires the President to establish multilateral technical working groups with the appropriate independent states of the former Soviet Union and other nations capable of producing nuclear weapons to examine monitoring and inspection arrangements that could be applied to verification. Authorizes the President to provide assistance under this Act only upon certification to the Congress that the country: (1) has ratified the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START I); (2) has acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; (3) is eligible for specified demilitarization and nonproliferation and disarmament assistance under other Acts; and (4) will not use assistance to support the continued operation or enhancement of plants for chemical separation of plutonium from fission products in spent nuclear fuel. Sets forth reporting requirements. Transfers funds from amounts appropriated to the Department of Energy for prior years for programs under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1993
Fisk University Historic District Restoration and Preservation Act - Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of the Interior for the restoration of historic buildings in the Fisk University Historic District, Nashville, Tennessee.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1993
Designates November 22, 1993, as National Military Families Recognition Day.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1993
Designates the week beginning February 6, 1994, as Lincoln Legacy Week.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1993
Urges the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee of the U.S. Postal Service to recommend to the Postmaster General that a postage stamp be issued honoring Americans held as prisoners of war or listed as missing in action.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
United States-China Act of 1993 - Prohibits the President from recommending for a 12-month period in 1994 continuation of a waiver of human rights and emigration requirements for nondiscriminatory treatment (most-favored-nation treatment) for China under the Trade Act of 1974 unless the President reports to the Congress that China has: (1) taken steps to adhere to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in China and Tibet and allowed the unrestricted emigration of Chinese citizens who desire to leave for reasons of political or religious persecution; (2) accounted for and released prisoners who dissented in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, and other citizens detained for the nonviolent expression of their political beliefs or the exercise of internationally guaranteed rights of freedom of speech, association, and assembly; and (3) prevented the export to the United States of products manufactured by convict or forced labor. Requires such report to state whether China has made significant process in: (1) ceasing religious persecution in China and Tibet (including ceasing to threaten the survival of the Tibetan culture) and releasing religious leaders incarcerated as a result of the expression of their religious beliefs; (2) ceasing unfair trade practices which restrict American business; (3) providing U.S. exporters fair access to Chinese markets, including lowering tariffs, removing nontariff barriers, and increasing the purchase of U.S. goods and services; (4) adhering to the Missile Control Technology Regime, the Nuclear Suppliers Group controls, and the Australian Group on Chemical and Biological Arms controls; (5) adhering to the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong; (6) accounting for U.S. military personnel listed as prisoners of war or missing in action with respect to the Korean and Vietnam conflicts; (7) ceasing the jamming of Voice of America broadcasts; and (8) providing humanitarian groups access to prisoners and places of detention. Requires the President, if he recommends such extension, to report on the extent of China's compliance with the above-mentioned objectives. Grants nondiscriminatory treatment to products produced by nonstate-owned enterprises in China. Declares that despite China's entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), most-favored-nation treatment shall not automatically be conferred on Chinese products unless China satisfies the above-mentioned conditions. Requires the President, if he decides not to seek such extension, to ensure that members of the GATT take similar action with respect to China.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Amends the Job Training Partnership Act to direct the Secretary of Labor to enter into a cooperative agreement with the National Center for Housing Management to provide for a training program to assist recently discharged members of the armed forces to obtain training and employment as managers and employees with public housing authorities and management companies. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Buddy System Computer Education Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to award a competitive grant to each of three States to create a computer-based education project for children in grades six through eight. Gives preference to applications: (1) from States with demonstrated ability or commitment to computer-based technology education; and (2) describing projects serving school districts serving a large number or percentage of economically disadvantaged students. Requires such projects to: (1) be provided in a continuous four-year form to consecutive groups of students at the applicable grade levels; (2) be conducted in not more than seven public schools within the State; and (3) ensure each student in such classes participates and has access to a computer at school during the school year and at home during the school year and summer. Requires the use of grant funds to provide: (1) hardware and software components to all sites; and (2) training for classroom teachers as well as parents, administrators, and technical personnel. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Privacy for Consumers and Workers Act - Establishes certain privacy protections for employees and customers with respect to electronic monitoring in the workplace by employers. Directs the Secretary of Labor to enforce such protections. Provides for coverage of employees of the House of Representatives and the Senate under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from OASDI coverage all service performed during the calendar year by State and local election officials and workers if it is performed only on an election day.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Amends Federal law relating to unlicensed shipping personnel to require merchant mariner's documents for individuals serving on a vessel of at least five gross tons (currently, at least 100 gross tons), subject to certain exceptions, including small passenger vessels (currently, including vessels operating only on rivers and lakes, except the Great Lakes). Removes provisions excepting barges. Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation from: (1) collecting a fee under provisions of Federal shipping law for any service related to a merchant mariner's document required to be obtained under this Act; or (2) making available to the public any personal information concerning an individual required to obtain such a document.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Gulf of Mexico Economic and Environmental Protection Act of 1993 - Authorizes an interagency program for the preservation and protection of the economic and environmental resources of the Gulf of Mexico, to be known as the Gulf of Mexico Program. Designates the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the lead agency of the Program. Establishes a Gulf of Mexico Program Office within EPA, to be located in a Gulf State. Requires the President to establish a Gulf of Mexico Executive Board. Directs the Board to establish a Gulf Citizens Advisory Committee. Directs the Board to: (1) develop a preliminary comprehensive joint plan for the Gulf to recommend a mechanism for balancing priority actions to address Gulf economic and environmental problems; and (2) report to the Congress on the impact of environmental quality on the economic viability of the Gulf. Directs the EPA Administrator to develop a final plan similar to the preliminary plan. Requires Federal agencies represented on the Board and appropriate non-federal and private entities to carry out the plan. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Defense Procurement Specifications Title II: Retraining Defense Workers for New Employment Title III: Commercialization and Dual-Use Research Opportunities for Defense Contractors and Small Business Title IV: Fast Response State Technological Competitiveness Grants Defense Workers Economic Reinvestment Act of 1993 - Title I: Defense Procurement Specifications - Directs the Secretary of Defense to examine and report to the Congress on all existing Department of Defense (DOD) procurement contracts to determine whether those which apply to dual-use technologies (having both military and commercial applications) contain overly restrictive specifications on systems, supplies, and services that are also available commercially. Requires defense procurement specifications to encourage the use of commercially available systems, supplies, and services. Title II: Retraining Defense Workers for New Employment - Directs the Secretary to establish an Office of Training Oversight and Administration to coordinate and oversee retraining, placement, and other transition assistance for former employees of qualified defense contractors or former civilian DOD employees. Directs the Office to disseminate retraining and placement assistance information. Authorizes the Office to: (1) carry out a skills development program for retraining eligible defense workers in skills determined to be in short supply; and (2) award one- and two-year scholarships to assist such eligible defense workers to attend educational institutions. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Commercialization and Dual-Use Research Opportunities for Defense Contractors and Small Business - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish a program to assist qualified defense contractors to participate in the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other appropriate programs of the Department of Commerce to commercialize significant new scientific discoveries and technologies. Directs the Secretaries of Defense and Energy to encourage research proposals involving dual-use applications and proposals involving military to civilian conversion. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to make loans to qualified defense contractors to carry out commercialization projects. Directs the Secretary of Defense to: (1) encourage the creation of industrial parks or technology incubator centers to transfer technology from defense contractors to small businesses; and (2) create and administer an awards program for redirection efforts by qualified defense contractors in the area of commercialization. Title IV: Fast Response State Technological Competitiveness Grants - Provides Federal grants to States for defense reinvestment programs which stress economic development, quality job growth, education and retraining, technology transfer and infrastructure, and enhanced competitiveness. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Amends the National Trails System Act to designate the Great Western Scenic Trail, a system of trails to accommodate a variety of travel users in a corridor extending from the Arizona-Mexico border to the Idaho-Montana-Canada border, for study for addition to the national scenic trails system. Permits motorized vehicles on components of the Great Western Scenic Trail system.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Health Insurance Claims Fairness Act of 1993 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to revise claims procedures for employee welfare benefit plans. Establishes: (1) review requirements for qualified welfare plan claims; and (2) standards for treatment of requests to group health plans for preauthorization. Sets additional notice and disclosure requirements, as well as records maintenance requirements, for group health plans and employee welfare plans. Prohibits requiring any party to waive any right under the plan or ERISA as a condition for approval of any qualified welfare plan claim, except as specified in a formal settlement agreement. Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish a qualified welfare plan claims assistance program to provide participants and beneficiaries ongoing assistance in resolving such claims. Treats terms of settlement agreements as terms of the plan. Directs the Secretary to establish an Early Resolution Program (ERP), to be administered in the Department of Labor by a Claims Resolution Board. Sets conditions for eligibility of cases for submission to ERP, including nature of the claim and exhaustion of plan remedies. Allows facilitators to serve on a pro bono basis or be compensated at a fixed fee. Requires attorney referral panels to include pro bono and fee-paid attorneys. Establishes ERP mediation procedures. Treats findings and conclusions as advisory and nonbinding. Provides that participation shall not affect the rights of the parties, unless the case is settled through mediation and the settlement agreement shall be binding on the parties. Revises enforcement provisions to allow: (1) recovery of damages for failure to provide benefits as required under an employee welfare benefit plan; (2) actions for violations of certain ERISA provisions as well as plan provisions; and (3) actions by plans against fiduciaries. Entitles participants or beneficiaries who prevail or substantially prevail in any action or settlement proceeding to attorney's fees or other costs of action. Declares that ERISA does not preempt State laws that provide for: (1) any program making available to participants and beneficiaries ongoing assistance in the resolution of claims under group health plans; or (2) the licensing or regulation of insurance contractors, or sanctions against insurance contractors for unfair claims settlement practices. Directs the Secretary of Labor to study and report to specified congressional committees on the effects of ERISA preemption of State laws relating to employee benefit plans.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the requirement that the amount of monthly benefits payable to a spouse, surviving spouse, or parent be reduced by the amount such individual receives in monthly payments from a Federal or State pension plan.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Social Security Notch Adjustment Act of 1993 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to establish a new alternative formula for computing the primary insurance amount (used in calculating the amount of OASDI benefits to which an individual is entitled) of workers born after 1916 and before 1927.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Retail Food Stores and Wholesale Food Concerns Title II: Miscellaneous Food Stamp Anti-Fraud Act of 1993 - Title I: Retail Food Stores and Wholesale Food Concerns - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 with regard to retail food stores participating in the food stamp program (program) to: (1) permit the use of application information by Federal or State enforcement authorities; and (2) repeal the limits on civil money penalties for food stamp trafficking and firearms or controlled substance trading. Title II: Miscellaneous - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to permanently disqualify a recipient from program participation for trading of firearms, ammunition, explosives, or controlled substances for food stamps.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1993
Designates May 23 through 29, 1993, as International Student Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1993
Disregards payments made to victims of Nazi persecution in determining eligibility for and the amount of need-based benefits and services under any Federal or federally assisted program.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1993
Family Education Assistance Act of 1993 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual income tax deduction for contributions to a savings account established to pay the educational expenses (tuition, supplies, meals, and lodging) of the taxpayer's child or certain other relatives at an institution of higher education or a vocational school. Limits the deduction to $1,500 annually (adjusted for inflation) for each account. Disallows the deduction for contributions to an account maintained for any individual aged 19 or older. Requires any account balance to be distributed after the beneficiary attains age 30. Permits an exclusion from the gross income of the contributor or the beneficiary of account distributions used to pay educational expenses of the latter. Exempts an account from taxation (except for the tax on unrelated business income of a charitable organization), unless a contributor or the beneficiary engages in specified prohibited transactions in connection with it. Imposes a ten percent surtax on distributions not used for educational purposes. Requires the account trustee to report to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the account's beneficiary concerning the account. Imposes a penalty for failure to report. Allows taxpayers who do not otherwise itemize deductions to deduct for contributions to an education savings account. Imposes penalty taxes in connection with excess contributions or prohibited transactions associated with an account.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1993
Designates September 1993 as Childhood Cancer Month.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: National Education Goals Title II: National Education Reform Leadership, Standards, and Assessments Title III: State and Local Education Systemic Improvement Title IV: National Skill Standards Board Title V: Miscellaneous Goals 2000: Educate America Act - Title I: National Education Goals - (Sec. 102) Sets forth national goals for education, to be achieved by the year 2000, in the following categories: (1) school readiness; (2) school completion; (3) student achievement and citizenship; (4) mathematics and science; (5) adult literacy and lifelong learning; and (6) safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools. Sets forth specific objectives for each goal. Title II: National Education Reform Leadership Standards, and Assessments - Part A: National Education Goals Panel - (Sec. 202) Establishes the National Education Goals Panel in the executive branch. (Sec. 203) Requires the Panel to issue an annual national report card on progress toward achieving the national education goals and on actions that Federal, State, and local governments should take to enhance such progress. Part B: National Education Standards and Improvement Council - (Sec. 212) Establishes the National Education Standards and Improvement Council in the executive branch. (Sec. 213) Requires the Council to develop and certify (subject to Panel review and approval) voluntary national standards for content areas, student performance, and fair opportunity-to-learn. Authorizes the Council to certify any such standards presented by a State, if these are consistent with the national standards. Directs the Council to certify a system of assessments voluntarily presented by a State if such system meets certain criteria, including coverage of all students, especially those with disabilities or limited English proficiency. Prohibits such a system from being used to make decisions regarding graduation, grade promotion, or retention of students for five years after enactment of this Act. (Sec. 218) Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make a competitive grant to a consortium of various individuals and organizations to develop voluntary national opportunity-to-learn standards. (Sec. 219) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to applicant States and local educational agencies (LEAs) to help defray costs of developing, field testing, and evaluating systems of assessments aligned to Council-certified State content standards. Part C: Authorization of Appropriations - (Sec. 221) Authorizes appropriations for the Panel, the Council, the opportunity-to-learn development grant, and the assessment development and evaluation grants. Title III: State and Local Education Systemic Improvement - Establishes a five-year grant program for State and local education systemic improvement. (Sec. 303) Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 306) Sets forth requirements for State improvement plans, including strategies for: (1) improving teaching and learning (including standards for content, student performance, and opportunity-to-learn); (2) system governance and management; (3) parental and community support and involvement; (4) State system-wide improvement; and (5) promoting bottom-up reform. (Sec. 309) Requires State education agencies (SEAs) to make competitive subgrants for: (1) local reform, to LEAs; and (2) preservice teacher education and professional development activities, to consortia of LEAs, higher education institutions, private nonprofit organizations, or combinations of these, through a peer-review process. Requires that at least 50 percent of local reform subgrants be awarded to LEAs with a greater percentage or number of disadvantaged children than the statewide average. (Sec. 310) Authorizes the Secretary to waive requirements and related regulations of specified Federal laws relating to education upon request of SEAs, LEAs, and schools if such requirements impede their ability to carry out the State or local education improvement plans, and if other conditions are met. (Sec. 312) Authorizes the Secretary to provide for national leadership activities, including technical assistance, data-gathering, research, evaluation, and information-dissemination. Reserves funds for grants to urban and rural LEAs with large numbers of concentrations of students economically disadvantaged or with limited English proficiency, to assist in school improvement plans development and implementation. (Sec. 313) Provides for assistance under this title for outlying areas, Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and Department of Defense schools. Title IV: National Skill Standards Board - (Sec. 402) Establishes a National Skill Standards Board. (Sec. 40) Directs the Board to identify broad clusters of major occupations (except certain construction industry occupations or trades with recognized labor-management-developed apprenticeship standards) that involve one or more industries in the United States and, with respect to each cluster, promote and assist in voluntary development and adoption by specified representative groups of industries, employees, and educational institutions of: (1) skill standards; (2) assessment and certification systems; (3) evaluation systems; (4) information dissemination systems; and (5) revision and updating of systems. Provides for Board endorsement of standards. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to make grants and contracts to carry out purposes of this title. (Sec. 406) Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Miscellaneous - (Sec. 502) Prohibits the use of funds under titles II or III of this Act to undertake assessments that will be used to make decisions regarding the graduation, grade promotion, or retention of students for five years from the enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1993
Access to Obstetric Care Act of 1993 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) provide for demonstration projects to improve access to obstetric services in underserved urban and rural areas for eligible pregnant women under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act; (2) develop and make public each year a compendium of State initiatives to address the obstetric access crisis; and (3) provide a grant for the study of obstetrical malpractice claims.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1993
Lead Battery Recycling Incentives Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate regulations for persons who generate, transport, store, recycle, or dispose of spent lead-acid batteries. Sets forth required elements of such regulations, including specific requirements for battery storage and transfers and recordkeeping and management practices. Directs battery retailers to accept from customers spent lead-acid batteries of the same type and quantity as the batteries sold. Requires the Administrator to implement education activities to inform the public about the environmental and safety hazards associated with improper handling and disposal of spent lead-acid batteries. Authorizes appropriations. Applies such requirements to batteries which are transported to or managed by a lead-acid battery recycling facility, a secondary lead smelter, or any facility that prepares batteries for recycling. Requires producers or importers of lead-acid batteries to recycle, for the ten-year period beginning 24 months after this Act's enactment, an amount of spent lead equal to at least the amount determined by multiplying the amount of lead in the batteries produced or imported by such persons by the recycling percentage established by the Administrator. Authorizes compliance with such requirement by: (1) reclaiming lead and using it in the production of new batteries; (2) purchasing reclaimed lead from secondary lead smelters to produce new batteries or shielding; or (3) purchasing recycling credits. Sets the recycling percentage at 80 percent. Increases such percentage by two points annually. Authorizes the Administrator to reduce or waive the two percent increase if the rate exceeds 95 percent. Directs the Administrator to allow: (1) producers of lead-acid batteries to create credits for recycling an amount of batteries greater than required; and (2) producers of new batteries to purchase such credits for purposes of complying with this Act. Applies battery recycling requirements to persons who produce or import more than 10,000 pounds of new lead-acid batteries annually. Sets the recycling percentage at 90 percent if the Administrator fails to promulgate recycling regulations.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1993
Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Improvement Act of 1993 - Requires each State to obligate for bicycle transportation and pedestrian walkways not less than three percent of the funds: (1) apportioned to the State under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program and the Surface Transportation Program; (2) apportioned to the State for the National Highway System; and (3) made available for forest development roads and trails, public lands development roads and trails, park roads, parkways, Indian reservation roads, and public lands highways. Allows the Secretary of Transportation to require States to acquire right-of-ways reasonably necessary for bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Prohibits the Secretary from approving Federal-aid system projects, including bridge projects, that will result in the severance, reduction, or destruction of an existing or potential route for nonmotorized transportation traffic and light motorcycles, unless such project provides a reasonable alternative route or such route exists. Requires States to survey all public roads to identify hazardous locations which may constitute a danger to bicyclists and to correct such locations. Permits the use of electric golf carts on trails and walkways, when State and local regulations allow. Requires appointed members of the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee of the Department of Transportation to be selected from, among others, organizations representative of bicyclists and pedestrians.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1993
Federal Environmentally Efficient Building Materials Act of 1993 - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a three-year pilot program to promote research on, and development of, environmentally efficient building materials through use of such materials in new and existing Federal facilities and buildings. Sets forth selection criteria for such materials. Establishes the Environmentally Efficient Building Material Advisory Board. Directs the Administrator to promulgate guidelines for Federal agencies on minimizing the creation of solid waste and maximizing the use of environmentally efficient building materials.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1993
Tire Recycling Promotion Act - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to appoint a Director of Recycling Research and Information. Requires the Director to: (1) make grants to support research and development and studies related to innovative recycling technology, waste tire management, and manufacturing strategies to facilitate tire recycling; and (2) collect and disseminate information on tire reclamation technologies and markets for used tires. Directs the Secretary to work to increase economic opportunities for tire recycling. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1993
Authorizes the President to issue a proclamation designating Sunday, August 1, 1993, as Small-Town Sunday.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Increases from $200 to $500 the monthly special pension payable to persons named to the Medal of Honor Roll.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Small Business Lending and Credit Availability Act of 1993 - Amends the Small Business Act to direct the Small Business Administration (SBA) to participate in loans to small businesses located in States in which one or more insured depository institutions have been closed due to inability to meet depositor demands. Directs the SBA to guarantee 90 percent of any such loan for amounts between $200,000 and $500,000, and 95 percent of any such loan for amounts less than $200,000. Prohibits the SBA from collecting a guarantee fee from the lending institution or the borrower for such loan participation during the first two years of such participation, with a one percent (of the loan) fee permitted for the third through fifth years. Authorizes lenders to retain one-half of any fee so collected in order to encourage lenders to provide loans to small businesses located in areas of failed depository institutions. Limits the loan participation program to five years.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to specify requirements with respect to pregnant teenagers, teenage parents, and the children of such teenagers for: (1) Even Start programs; (2) secondary school programs for basic skills improvement and dropout prevention and reentry; (3) local targeted assistance programs; (4) State and local drug abuse education and prevention programs; (5) assistance to address school dropout problems; and (6) assistance to provide basic skills improvement.