United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1994
Head Start Enhanced Parental Involvement and Family Literacy Act of 1994 - Amends the Head Start Act to require parental involvement activities, family literacy services, parenting skills training, and family needs assessments. Authorizes Head Start agencies to offer parental social self-sufficiency training, substance abuse counseling, or opportunities for parents to assist in program operation. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide training and technical assistance for Head Start personnel engaged in providing parental involvement services. Makes compliance with parental involvement requirements a consideration in funding renewal or supplementation decisions.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1994
Prohibits the Department of Transportation or any other Federal department, agency, or instrumentality from requiring any State or political subdivision to convert highway signs to metric units.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1994
Small Business Empowerment Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual retirement account to be pledged as security for a qualified business loan.
United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1993
Postal Service Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1993 - Rescinds a specified amount of the funds made available for the U.S. Postal Service in the Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations Act, 1994 on January 1, 1994, unless, before such date, the Postmaster General notifies the Congress that the Postal Service will not proceed with the adoption and implementation of a new corporate logo.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993
Child Abuse and Neglect Accountability Act of 1993 - Amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to require a State, in order to be eligible for a grant for child abuse and neglect prevention and treatment programs, to have in effect a law providing for the prosecution of a person who makes a report of child abuse or neglect without having a reasonable belief that the report is true, or with the intent to expose the reported person to public hatred, ridicule, or criminal investigation. Requires such State law to also make it a criminal offense to cause or persuade a child to make such a report.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Amendments to National School Lunch Act Title II: Amendments to Child Nutrition Act of 1966 Title III: Effective Dates National School Lunch Act and Child Nutrition Act of 1966 Amendments of 1993 - Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) and the National School Lunch Act (NSLA) to revise and reauthorize child nutrition programs. Title I: Amendments to National School Lunch Act - Amends NSLA to direct the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) to permit schools to offer low-fat yogurt (which may be required to be fortified) as a meat alternative in the school lunch program. (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary to assist States through grants and other means to provide information to parents on the importance of nutrition, including parent-student education and parent visiting of school breakfast and lunch programs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 103) Revises income guidelines for free lunches to increase the numbers of eligible elementary school students. (Sec. 104) Directs the Secretary to develop and make available public service advertisements that promote healthy eating habits for children. (Sec. 105) Directs the Secretary to award annual grants to private nonprofit educational organizations in three States to create and demonstrate food and nutrition projects that are fully integrated with elementary school curricula. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 106) Revises the summer food service program for children, expanding or making more flexible such program with respect to: (1) defining areas in which poor economic conditions exist; (2) private nonprofit organizations' number of sites and children served, and waiting period for a waiver to use a vendor; (3) second helpings; (4) single rate for operational and administrative costs; (5) offer vs. serve option; and (6) startup costs. Extends such program's authorization of appropriations. (Sec. 107) Reauthorizes the commodity distribution program. Directs the Secretary to: (1) improve overall nutritional quality of entitlement commodities provided in schools; and (2) require that nutritional content information labels be placed on packages or shipments of such entitlement commodities or otherwise provide such information. (Sec. 108) Requires that specified activities be conducted with assistance for food service management institutes and other institutions. Extends the authorization of appropriations for training, technical assistance, and food service management institutes. (Sec. 109) Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the coordinated review system under NSLA. (Sec. 110) Requires revision of menu planning guides with respect to reduction of fat and saturated fat. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on compliance with such fat guidelines as well as those for dietary fiber, sodium, and sugar in school breakfast and lunch programs. Title II: Amendments to Child Nutrition Act of 1966 - (Sec. 201) Amends CNA to provide for increased payments for State administrative expenses under CNA and NSLA programs. (Sec. 202) Increases funding and activities under the WIC breastfeeding promotion program. (Sec. 203) Expands the WIC farmers' market program. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to promote use of farmers' markets by recipients of Federal nutrition programs administered by the Secretary. Extends the authorization of appropriations for such program. (Sec. 204) Adds several authorized uses of funds under nutrition education and training programs. Extends and increases the authorization of appropriations for such programs. (Sec. 205) Revises a formula for carryover funds. Changes the name of the WIC program to the special nutrition program for women, infants, and children. Title III: Effective Dates - Sets forth effective dates.
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1993
Declares that the United States should not establish diplomatic relations with the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam until: (1) the demands of Venerable Thich Huyan Quang for the right of the Unified Buddhist Church to exist and function in Vietnam are fully met; (2) he and all other monks, as well as clergy of other religions, who have been detained for the nonviolent expression of dissent are released; (3) such Government abides by internationally accepted standards of religious liberty as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, including freedom of conscience and belief and freedom to worship, teach religion, train and appoint clergy, publish and express religious views, and meet with coreligionists abroad; and (4) other major issues of concern in U.S. bilateral relations with Vietnam have been fully resolved.
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1993
Health Care Antitrust Improvements Act of 1993 - Exempts from the antitrust laws specified "safe harbor" activities listed in, or designated by the Attorney General pursuant to, this Act. Sets forth provisions regarding the award of attorney's fees and costs of suit to the prevailing party in an action based on a claim involving activity found to be exempt. Lists as safe harbors specified: (1) activities relating to health care services of combinations of health care providers with market share below a specified threshold; (2) activities of medical self-regulatory entities relating to standard setting or enforcement activities not conducted for purposes of financial gain; (3) participation of a health care provider in a written survey of the prices of services, reimbursement levels, or the compensation and benefits of employees and personnel; (4) activities relating to health care joint ventures for high technology and costly equipment and services; (5) activities relating to hospital mergers; (6) joint purchasing arrangements; and (7) negotiations. Directs the Attorney General to publish a notice in the Federal Register soliciting proposals for additional safe harbors. Sets forth criteria in establishing safe harbors, including: (1) the extent to which a competitive or collaborative activity will accomplish an increase in health care access and quality, the establishment of cost efficiencies, and increased ability of health care facilities to provide services in medically underserved areas or to underserved populations; and (2) whether designation as a safe harbor will result in specified desirable outcomes. Directs the Attorney General to issue certificates of review for providers of health care services and to assist persons in applying for such certificates. Sets forth procedures regarding applications for, revocation of, and review of determinations regarding, such certificates. Limits the disclosure of information. Sets forth provisions regarding notifications providing for a reduction in certain penalties under the antitrust laws for health care cooperative ventures. Directs the Attorney General to periodically review the safe harbors and certificates of review. Establishes within the Department of Health and Human Services an Office of Health Care Competition Policy.
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: AFDC Transition and Work Program Title II: Paternity Establishment Title III: Expansion of Statutory Flexibility of States Title IV: Expansion of State and Local Flexibility Title V: Child Support Enforcement Title VI: Welfare Restrictions for Aliens Title VII: Controlling Welfare Costs Title VIII: Consolidated Block Grant to States for Food Assistance Title IX: Miscellaneous Responsibility and Empowerment Support Program Providing Employment, Child Care, and Training Act - Title I: AFDC Transition and Work Program - Amends part F (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program) (JOBS) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to give the JOBS program the new purpose of assuring that needy families with children obtain not only the education and training needed to prepare them for a life without welfare, but the work experience as well. (Sec. 101) Requires State JOBS programs to include a transition component and a work supplementation component that: (1) are each allowed to include any State work experience program approved by the Secretary; and (2) with respect to the first component, must include the State's job search program, and, with respect to the second component, may include the State's work supplementation or community work experience program. Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of SSA title IV to revise State AFDC plan participation requirements to incorporate participation in the two JOBS program components above under specified guidelines as a requirement for qualified individuals to receive AFDC. Imposes sanctions for a qualified individual's failure to participate in the JOBS program as required under such guidelines, which include a reduction in AFDC benefits and eventual benefit termination for repeated failures. Revises the exemptions from JOBS program participation requirements. Extends to all States the option to limit AFDC-UP. Increases State JOBS program and work program participation rates with regard to, respectively, AFDC-eligible individuals and unemployed parents. Provides for additional payments to States for JOBS programs. (Sec. 102) Amends community work experience and work supplementation program provisions. Title II: Paternity Establishment - Amends SSA title IV part A to: (1) provide for denial or reduction of AFDC for children whose paternity is not established; and (2) require unmarried individuals under 19 who are eligible for AFDC and are pregnant or with dependent children under their care to reside at home in order to receive AFDC. (Sec. 203) Amends SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) to require earlier specified paternity establishment efforts by States. Expresses the encouragement of the Congress for States to develop procedures in public hospitals and clinics to facilitate the acknowledgment of paternity. (Sec. 204) Increases the paternity establishment percentage. Title III: Expansion of Statutory Flexibility of States - Amends SSA title IV part A to give States the option to: (1) convert AFDC into a block grant program; (2) exempt themselves from otherwise mandatory denial of AFDC where either parent is a minor; (3) treat families moving interstate who apply for AFDC in their new State of residence (where they have resided for less than on year) under the AFDC rules of their former State of residence; (4) reduce AFDC for parents under 21 who have dropped out of school and dependent children who, without good cause, do not maintain minimum school attendance; (5) exempt themselves from otherwise mandatory denial of AFDC for additional children; (6) modify certain AFDC income disregard rules; (7) provide for a married couple transitional benefit in cases where an AFDC recipient marries an individual who is not a parent of the recipient's child, and the resulting family would become ineligible for AFDC by reason of the marriage; (8) disregard certain savings and income of a family on AFDC designated for education, training, employability, home purchase, or residence change in determining eligibility for AFDC; and (9) condition the receipt of AFDC on the recipient's attendance at parenting and money management classes and prior approval of any action requiring a change in the educational institution attended by the recipient's dependent child. Title IV: Expansion of State and Local Flexibility -Establishes an Interagency Waiver Request Board in order to provide a focal point within the Federal Government for the development and coordination of waiver requests to improve opportunities for low-income individuals and families. (Sec. 402) Prescribes contents of applications to implement Federal assistance plans, as well as the review, approval, implementation, and evaluation processes. (Sec. 405) Requires any entity applying for plan approval to establish a Public Private Partnership Committee to advise it on plan development and implementation. Title V: Child Support Enforcement - Provides for a national system for employee reporting of any child support owed, the obligee involved, and other specified related information on W-4 forms for employer withholding and distribution of support owed, and reporting of related information to the State involved for availability to other States through the Interstate Locate Network established under this title. (Sec. 502) Makes various changes with regard to State child support order registries, the Parent Locater Service, regulations for sharing child support information, withholding orders, and noncustodial parents with child support arrearages who are receiving certain public welfare assistance. Title VI: Welfare Restrictions for Aliens - Makes aliens (except refugees, permanent residents, and certain current residents) ineligible for various specified types of public welfare assistance, including non-emergency related assistance under Medicaid, food stamps, and job training assistance. (Sec. 602) Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require State AFDC agencies to provide information on illegal aliens to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Title VII: Controlling Welfare Costs - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act), and other Federal law to establish various specified measures for controlling welfare costs, including Federal spending caps. Title VIII: Consolidated Block Grant to States for Food Assistance - Repeals the Food Stamp Act of 1977, National School Lunch Act, Commodity Distribution Reform Act and WIC Amendments of 1987, and other specified Federal laws and replaces them with a: (1) State food assistance block grant program to provide food assistance to economically disadvantaged individuals and families (eligible populations); and (2) new food coupon program. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 803) Grants the Secretary of Agriculture and the Commodity Credit Corporation the authority to sell surplus commodities and foodstuffs to the States to provide food assistance to eligible populations. Title IX: Miscellaneous - Amends SSA title IV part A to require AFDC applicants and recipients to undergo any necessary substance abuse treatment as a condition of receiving AFDC. (Sec. 902) Amends SSA title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to: (1) make ineligible for SSI benefits individuals receiving SSI on the basis of a disability resulting from illegal drug addiction who continue to use illegal drugs or refuse to be tested for them; and (2) make representative payee changes. (Sec. 903) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) conduct research projects to evaluate the impact of education and training programs on the ability of individuals to end participation in the AFDC program; (2) conduct demonstration projects and report to the Congress on whether providing benefits based on need through the use of electronic cards and automatic teller machines would reduce administrative costs and fraud; and (3) establish a commission to determine the cost and feasibility of creating an interstate system to compare the social security numbers of all AFDC recipients in order to identify those recipients receiving AFDC from multiple States. (Sec. 904) Amends SSA to require State AFDC applicants to participate in job search activities while the application is pending, unless a State by law exempts itself from this requirement. (Sec. 906) Public Housing Rent Reform and Empowerment Act - Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 with regard to the determination of income and rent charges. Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to allow, upon request, under certain circumstances, a public housing agency or resident management corporation to carry out a demonstration program to determine the feasibility and desirability of providing such entities with the authority to establish policies for agency-administered public housing projects, without regard to the public housing requirements of the United States Housing Act of 1937. (Sec. 907) Amends SSA title IV part A to deny AFDC for certain children who have not received appropriate medical examinations and immunizations. Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act with regard to childhood immunizations. Requires the Surgeon General to issue and periodically revise recommendations for the immunization of children under age six.
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1993
FECA Fraud Deterrence Act - Amends the Federal Employees' Compensation Act to provide that an individual convicted of making a false statement to obtain Federal employees' compensation or of other fraud related to the application for or receipt of benefits shall forfeit entitlement to benefits for any injury occurring before conviction. Specifies that no benefits shall be provided to any individual confined in a correctional facility pursuant to that individual's conviction of a felony offense, except that the Secretary of Labor may pay a specified percentage of the benefits to such individual's dependents. Requires a Federal, State, or local agency to make the name and social security account number of any individual who is confined in a correctional facility under the agency's jurisdiction pursuant to the individual's conviction of felony offense available to the Secretary upon request to carry out provisions of the Act. Revises provisions of the Federal criminal code to provide that whoever knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up a material fact or makes or knowingly uses a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation in connection with the application for or receipt of Federal employees' compensation shall be guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or up to five years' imprisonment.
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1993
Designates the division of the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center at University Drive in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, constituting the Aspinwall long-term care facility as the Mathew B. Ridgway Division of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 1993
Congressional Safety and Health Act of 1993 - Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to apply such Act's provisions to the House of Representatives and the instrumentalities of the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 1993
Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to: (1) prohibit Federal election activities by political action committees (PACs); (2) limit House of Representatives election contributions from persons other than local individual residents; (3) limit soft money contributions; (4) permit political party contributions to challengers that match any campaign funds carried forward by the incumbent from an earlier election; (5) eliminate, in specified circumstances, limitations on contributions to candidates whose opponents use more than $100,000 from personal funds; (6) permit expenditures by labor organizations only if the organization meets specified requirements; (7) set forth a transition rule relating to excess funds for House of Representative candidates; (8) require disclosure of election related activity by corporations, labor organizations, and nonprofit organizations; (9) prohibit bundling of contributions to candidates by PACs and lobbyists; (10) prohibit transfers among noncandidate, nonparty political committees; (11) prohibit a candidate from establishing a leadership committee; and (12) prohibit contributions between principal campaign committees.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1993
Smoke-Free Environment Act of 1993 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to add a new title on smoke free environments. Requires the responsible entity for each public facility to adopt, implement, and post a policy prohibiting smoking in the facility and on facility property in the immediate vicinity of the facility's entrance. Allows designated smoking areas if: (1) the area is ventilated to exhaust directly to the outside; and (2) nonsmoking individuals do not have to enter the area for any purpose. Allows enforcement actions by any aggrieved person, any State or local government agency, or the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Provides for civil monetary penalties.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: National Leadership for Educational Technology Title II: State Planning Grants Title III: Local Challenge Grants Title IV: Miscellaneous Programs Technology for Excellence in Education Act - Title I: National Leadership for Educational Technology - Directs the Secretary of Education to appoint a Director of Educational Technology within the Department of Education, with specified duties. Title II: State Planning Grants - Authorizes the Secretary to make one-time competitive grants to State educational agencies (SEAs), according to a specified allotment formula, for: (1) a comprehensive, long-term State educational technology plan; and (2) competitive subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to implement such plan strategies. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Local Challenge Grants - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to SEAs for use by LEAs of three-year competitive demonstration grants to implement State technology plans. Gives priority to demonstration programs that: (1) provide access to quality educational technology to disadvantaged urban and rural areas; and (2) may be replicated in other areas nationwide. Reserves certain funds for the Director to disseminate effective models of the use of high-quality educational technology on a national basis. Sets certain matching funds requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Miscellaneous Programs - Makes acquisition and use of, and training for, educational technology authorized activities for existing Federal education programs, through various amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Indian Education Act of 1988, Head Start Act, Head Start Transition Project Act, Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1993
Consultation Act of 1993 - Establishes the Standing Consultative Group within the Congress to facilitate improved interaction between the executive branch and the Congress with respect to the use of U.S. military force abroad.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1993
Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1993 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in the case of specified contaminants listed in the Federal Register for which national primary drinking water regulations have not been promulgated, to: (1) publish maximum contaminant level goals and promulgate such regulations for those contaminants that occur in drinking water and are of public health concern; and (2) eliminate monitoring, compliance, and enforcement requirements for those contaminants that do not occur in drinking water at levels of public health concern. (Current law requires the promulgation of such goals and regulations for specified numbers of such contaminants by certain dates.) Directs the Administrator to promulgate such goals and regulations for new contaminants every five years. Requires the Administrator to establish in each national primary drinking water regulation best technology treatment techniques for public water systems serving fewer than 1,000, between 1,000 and 10,000, and more than 10,000 people, respectively. Directs the Administrator to promulgate national primary drinking water regulations for radionuclides, disinfection and corrosion byproducts, and sulfate. Revises provisions concerning variances from national drinking water regulations to permit the issuance of a variance by a State only if the water system cannot afford to install the best available technology to meet the maximum contaminant level and it is not feasible for the system to connect with another source of water that will meet the standards. Requires variances to be reviewed by the State at least every three years. Repeals provisions that authorize States to exempt public water systems from requirements respecting maximum contaminant levels or treatment techniques. Prohibits treated drinking water from being removed from a public water system or routed through any device or pipes outside the system and returned to the system. Includes such action in the definition of "tampering," a violation for which criminal penalties are imposed. Makes such prohibition inapplicable to pipes and devices totally within the control of one or more public water systems or to connections between water mains. Requires (currently, authorizes) the Administrator to conduct research relating to diseases and other impairments resulting from contaminants in drinking water or to the provision of a safe supply of drinking water. Authorizes appropriations. Extends the authorization of appropriations for grants for State public water system supervision programs. Requires the Administrator to promulgate revised regulations every five years that list up to 30 unregulated contaminants to be monitored by public water systems. Directs the Administrator to assemble a national drinking water occurrence data base to include information on the occurrence of regulated and unregulated contaminants.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1993
Higher Education Technical Amendments of 1993 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make certain technical corrections and conforming amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 21 October 1993
Prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from expending, in any year, any amounts in connection with instituting a new logo if its total obligations and expenditures incurred in the previous year exceeded its total revenues.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1993
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Department of Justice should repudiate its reinterpretation of Federal child pornography laws, defend the conviction won in lower courts in Knox v. United States, and vigorously prosecute sexual exploitation of children.
United States · United States Congress · 15 October 1993
Prohibits the imposition of additional charges or fees for attendance at the U.S. Military, Naval, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Merchant Marine Academies, unless such charge or fee is specifically authorized by law.
United States · United States Congress · 14 October 1993
Public Accommodations Exception Act of 1993 - Exempts from consideration as copyright infringement communication of a transmission by radio or television embodying a performance or display of a work by the public reception of the transmission on a receiving or recording apparatus in a restaurant, tavern, or other commercial establishment serving food or drink, the performance of which is incidental to the main purpose of such establishment, unless a direct charge is made to see or hear the transmission.
United States · United States Congress · 14 October 1993
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit the United States from granting asylum to an alien who prior to U.S. arrival passes through another country which provides asylum or safe haven.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 1993
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make Internal Revenue Service employees personally liable for a portion of litigation costs resulting from arbitrary, capricious, or malicious acts. Increases (from $100,000 to $1 million) the limitation on recovery of civil damages for certain unauthorized collection actions. Places the burden of proof upon the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to the issue of whether any person has been guilty of fraud with intent to evade tax.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 Title II: Amendments to the General Education Provisions Act Title III: Amendments to Other Acts Improving America's Schools Act of 1993 - Title I: Amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to revise and reauthorize ESEA. (Sec. 101) Establishes a title I program for Helping Children in Need Meet High Standards, which revises and reauthorizes some of the current title I chapter 1 programs of Financial Assistance to Meet the Special Educational Needs of Children. Authorizes appropriations for: (1) grants under the basic program; (2) Even Start; (3) education of migratory children; (4) education for neglected or delinquent youth; (5) capital expenses; (6) school improvement; and (7) Federal activities. Requires any State desiring to receive a grant (under the basic program for making high-poverty schools work) to submit State plans that are integrated with that State's plan under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act or with other State plans under this Act. Requires each State plan to describe high-quality standards for all children that will be used by the State, it local educational agencies (LEAs), and its schools to carry out this Act, including challenging content standards in the core academic subjects and challenging performance standards, as well as assessment provisions and other teaching and learning support provisions. Directs the Secretary of Education to establish a process for peer review and Secretarial approval. Requires LEAs receiving subgrants to have plans with standards and assessments provisions and other teaching and learning support provisions. Provides for State approval and shared program responsibility of schools and the LEA in deciding on schoolwide programs and targeted assistance schools. Allows an LEA to only use basic program funds in eligible school attendance areas in which the percentage of children from low-income families is at least as high as that in the LEA as a whole. Sets forth formulas for ranking eligible school attendance areas for purposes of such funding in various cases where there are insufficient funds. Sets forth criteria which a school must meet in order for the LEA to use basic program funds to upgrade the entire educational program at an eligible school (schoolwide programs). Provides that in participating schools that are ineligible for a schoolwide program or that choose not to operate a schoolwide program, an LEA may use basic program funds only for targeted assistance programs that provide services to eligible children identified as having the greatest need for special assistance (targeted assistance schools). Sets forth criteria for eligible children at such schools. Sets forth requirements for parental involvement and for participation of children enrolled in private schools. Provides for assessment and school and district improvement, including local review, designation of Distinguished Schools, school improvement identification, State review and LEA improvement, State establishment of a corps of Distinguished Educators, and State allocations for school improvement. Revises formulas for allocations of funds. Revises Even Start Family Literacy Programs to increase program services and high-poverty-area targeting and include teenage parents. Revises Education of Migratory Children to restrict eligibility to children who have moved within the previous two years. Revises Education of Neglected and Delinquent Youth to require a 20-hour instructional week. Eliminates title I provisions for the National Commission on Migrant Education, rural technical assistance centers, current chapter 2 State block grants under the partnership for educational improvement, national diffusion network, and law-related education. Eliminates under title I, but provides elsewhere for, evaluation and technical assistance and blue ribbon schools. Provides, later in this Act, for programs for handicapped children to be combined with programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Establishes a new ESEA title II, Improving Teaching and Learning, with a new part A, Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program, to support professional development of elementary and secondary school teachers in core academic subjects. (This replaces the current Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education Act programs.) Gives priority for professional development in mathematics and science. Authorizes appropriations. Establishes a new title II part B, Support and Assistance for ESEA Programs. (This replaces the current Foreign Languages Assistance Act programs.) Includes under such technical assistance program comprehensive regional centers and technology-based technical assistance. Provides for information collection, evaluation, and transition. Authorizes appropriations. Establishes a new ESEA title III, Expanding Opportunities for Learning. (The current title III, Magnet Schools Assistance, is transferred to a new title V, Promoting Equity.) Authorizes appropriations for the following title III parts: (A) Putting Technology to Work for All Students, including educational technology research, development, and demonstration, an Office of Educational Technology, a national long-range plan, and Federal leadership, as well as a revised Star Schools Program; (B) a revised and renamed Fund for the improvement of Education (currently under title IV as the Secretary's Fund for Innovation in Education); (C) a revised Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Education Program (currently under title IV); (D) a new Charter Schools program to increase public school choice through grants for innovative programs and exemptions from regulations that limit school operational and management flexibility; (E) an expanded Arts in Education program; and (F) the Inexpensive Book Distribution Program. Establishes as ESEA title IV a Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program, which replaces and revises the current title V Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act program. (The current title IV Special Programs are replaced as follows: (1) Women's Educational Equity, Gifted and Talented Children, Immigrant Education, and the Secretary's Fund for Innovation are transferred to other titles; and (2) Ellender Fellowships and certain Territorial Assistance are eliminated.) The new program includes: (1) State Grants for Drug and Violence Prevention Programs at State and local levels, including coordinating councils; (2) Postsecondary Drug and Violence Prevention Programs, including higher education institution grants and a national center; and (3) national programs. Establishes as ESEA title V, Promoting Equity, which authorizes appropriations for parts: (A) a revised Magnet Schools Assistance program; (B) a new Equalization Assistance program which provides technical and other assistance, including research, regarding school finance equity; and (C) a revised Women's Educational Equity program. Establishes a new ESEA title VI, Indian Education, which adds revised Indian Education Act programs to ESEA. (Eliminates the current title VI provisions for Projects and Programs Designed to Address School Dropout Problems and to Strengthen Basic Education.) Authorizes appropriations for the following title VI programs: (1) formula grants to LEAs; (2) discretionary programs to improve achievement of Indian children, through grants to Indian-controlled schools and demonstration grants; (3) professional development and adult education programs; (4) national activities and grants to States; and (5) Federal administration through the Office of Indian Education and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education. Revises ESEA title VII, Bilingual Education Programs, while transferring the Emergency Immigrant Education Program to title VII from title IV. Authorizes appropriations for: (1) financial assistance for bilingual education, including enhancement grants and comprehensive district grants; (2) research and evaluation, including academic excellence awards, State grants, and the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education; (3) professional development, including grants to higher education institutions, State educational agencies, and LEAs, and academic fellowships; and (4) the Emergency Immigrant Education Program. Establishes a new ESEA title VIII, Impact Aid. (The current impact aid laws are repealed later in this Act.) Revises the impact aid to LEAs by: (1) terminating payments for children whose parents either live on Federal land or work for the Federal Government; and (2) changing the payment formula for those children whose parents work for the Federal Government and live on Federal property, and those who live on Indian lands. Authorizes appropriations. Revises ESEA General Provisions, transferring them from title X to title IX. Provides for: (1) flexibility in the use of administrative and other funds, through consolidation of State administrative funds for elementary and secondary education programs and consolidation of funds for local administration; (2) coordination of programs, including consolidated State and local applications; (3) waivers of statutory and regulatory requirements; and (4) certain uniform provisions. Title II: Amendments to the General Education Provisions Act - Part A: Applicability of the General Education Provisions Act - Amends the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) to revise applicability and other aspects. Part B: The Department of Education - Revises GEPA with respect to functions of the Department of Education, including an Office of Private Education. Part C: Appropriations and Evaluations - Revises GEPA with respect to availability of appropriations, contingent extension of programs, and biennial evaluation report. Part D: Administration of Education Program - Revises GEPA with respect to joint funding of programs, information collection and dissemination, review of application, use of withheld funds, applications, regulations, reduction of record retention requirements, and equity for students, teachers, and other program beneficiaries. Part E: Advisory Committees - Repeals specified GEPA provisions relating to Advisory Councils. Part F: Enforcement - Repeal specified GEPA provisions relating to use of recovered funds. Part G: Related Amendments to Other Acts - Makes related amendments to the Department of Education Organization Act and the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA). Part H: Conforming Amendments - Makes conforming amendments to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and to HEA. Title III: Amendments to Other Acts - Part A: Amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act - Amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to revise provisions for allocations. Combines the current ESEA title I chapter I State agency program for the handicapped with the IDEA programs of grants to States and for infants and toddlers with disabilities. Part B: Amendments to the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act - Amends the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to revise provisions with respect to grants for State literacy initiatives and grants for State and local activities for the education of homeless children and youth. Authorizes appropriations. Part C: Repeal of Impact Aid Statutes - Repeals certain Federal laws for impact aid. (Impact aid provisions are added to ESEA earlier in this Act.)
United States · United States Congress · 21 September 1993
Requires educational organizations that offer educational programs to minors for a fee to disclose certain information in written form to the minor or the minor's parent before accepting funds for the cost of the minor's participation in such a program. (Excludes from the definition of educational organization a local educational agency, an elementary or secondary school or organization sponsored by such a school, a recreational organization, or a social club.) Requires each such educational organization to include a verifiable statement of nondiscriminatory enrollment and employment policy on all enrollment or recruitment material. Directs the Secretary of Education to monitor compliance with this Act. Authorizes imposition of civil fines for violations.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Improved Access to Affordable Health Care Subtitle A: Increased Availability and Continuity of Health Coverage for Employees and Their Families Subtitle B: Reform of Health Insurance Marketplace for Small Business Subtitle C: Preemption Subtitle D: Health Deduction Fairness Subtitle E: Improved Access to Community Health Services Subtitle F: Improved Access to Rural Health Services Subtitle G: State Flexibility in the Medicaid Program: The Medical Health Allowance Program Title II: Health Care Cost Containment and Quality Enhancement Subtitle A: Medical Malpractice Liability Reform Subtitle B: Administrative Cost Savings Subtitle C: Deduction for Cost of Catastrophic Health Plan; Medical Savings Accounts Subtitle D: Anti-Fraud Subtitle E: Medicare Payment Changes; Part B Premium Tax for High-Income Individuals Subtitle F: Removing Anti-Trust Impediments Subtitle G: Encouraging Enforcement Activities of Medical Self-Regulatory Entities Subtitle H: Prefunding Government Health Benefits for Certain Annuitants Subtitle I: Miscellaneous Provisions Title III: Long-Term Care Subtitle A: Tax Treatment of Long-Term Care Insurance Subtitle B: Protection of Assets Under Medicaid Through Use of Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance Subtitle C: Studies Subtitle D: Volunteer Service Credit Demonstration Projects Affordable Health Care Now Act of 1993 - Title I: Improved Access to Affordable Health Care - Subtitle A: Increased Availability and Continuity of Health Coverage for Employees and Their Families - Part 1: Required Coverage Options for Eligible Employees, Spouses, and Dependents - Requires each employer to make available to each eligible employee a group health plan under which: (1) coverage of each eligible individual with respect to such employee may be elected on an annual basis; (2) coverage is provided for at least the required coverage specified; and (3) employees may elect to have premiums collected through payroll deduction. Does not require employer contributions to the cost of coverage under such a plan. Provides for the exclusion of: (1) employers who have been employers for less than two years or who have no more than two eligible employees or no more than two eligible employees not covered under any group health plan; and (2) family members under specified circumstances. Specifies that a group health plan shall not be treated as failing to meet the requirements of this Act solely because a period of service by an eligible employee of not more than 60 days is required for coverage. Specifies that the required coverage is standard coverage, except that in the case of a small employer that has not contributed during the previous plan year to the cost of coverage for any eligible employee under any group health plan, the required coverage for the plan year is coverage under a MedAccess standard, MedAccess catastrophic, and MedAccess medisave plan. Provides for a five-year transition for existing group health plans. (Sec. 1002) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) compliance with applicable requirements through multiple employer health arrangements; and (2) coverage options under a State medical health allowance program. Part 2: Preexisting Conditions and Continuity of Coverage; Renewability - Prohibits a group health plan from imposing (and an insurer from requiring an employer from imposing through a waiting period for coverage under a plan or similar requirement) a limitation or exclusion of benefits relating to treatment of a preexisting condition if: (1) the condition relates to a condition that was not diagnosed or treated within three months before the date of coverage under the plan; or (2) the limitation or exclusion extends over more than six month after the date of coverage, applies to an individual who, as of the date of birth, was covered under the plan, or relates to pregnancy. Specifies that, in the case of an individual who is eligible for coverage under a plan but for a waiting period imposed by the employer, the individual shall be treated as having been covered under the plan as of the earliest date of the beginning of the waiting period. (Sec. 1012) Requires each group health plan to waive any period applicable to a preexisting condition for similar benefits with respect to an individual to the extent that the individual, prior to enrollment in such plan, was covered for the condition under any other health plan. (Sec. 1013) Prohibits: (1) a multiemployer plan and an exempted multiple employer health plan from canceling or denying renewal of coverage under such a plan for an employer other than for nonpayment of contributions, fraud or other misrepresentation, noncompliance with plan provisions, or misuse of a provider network provision, or because the plan is ceasing to provide any coverage in a geographic area; (2) an insurer from canceling a health insurance plan or denying renewal of coverage other than as prescribed above; and (3) an insurer who terminates the offering of health insurance plans in an area from offering such a plan to any employer in the area until five years after the date of the termination. Part 3: Enforcement; Effective Dates; Definitions - Makes provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 applicable with respect to enforcement of this Act (by the Department of Labor). Amends the Internal Revenue Code (Code) to impose a tax ($100 per day for each individual involved, subject to specified limitations) on the failure of an insurer to comply with the requirements under part 2 unless the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) determines that the State has in effect a regulatory enforcement mechanism that provides adequate sanctions. Subtitle B: Reform of Health Insurance Marketplace for Small Business - Requires each insurer that makes available a health insurance plan to a small employer in a State to make available to each small employer in the State a MedAccess standard, MedAccess catastrophic, and MedAccess medisave plan, with exceptions for health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and if a State provides for guaranteed availability (rather than guaranteed issue). Requires each insurer that offers a MedAccess plan to a small employer in a State to accept: (1) every small employer in the State that applies for coverage; and (2) every eligible individual who applies for enrollment on a timely basis. Sets forth provision regarding: (1) special rules for HMOs; (2) timely enrollment requirements; and (3) enrollment of spouses and dependents. Makes such requirements inapplicable in a State that has provided (in accordance with specified standards) a mechanism under which each insurer offering a health insurance plan to a small employer in the State must participate in a program for assigning high-risk small employer groups (or individuals within such a group) among some or all such insurers, if the insurers comply. (Sec. 1102) Defines "MedAccess plan" as a health insurance plan that: (1) is designed to provide standard coverage with substantial cost-sharing, only catastrophic coverage, or medisave coverage; (2) includes only essential and medically necessary services; (3) meets applicable requirements relating to guaranteed issue; and (4) meets specifies consumer protection standards. Defines "MedAccess standard plan," "MedAccess catastrophic plan," and "MedAccess medisave plan" to mean a MedAccess plan that provides for at least standard coverage, for only catastrophic coverage, or medisave coverage, respectively. Requests the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to submit to the Secretary a set of rules which NAIC determines is sufficient for determining, in the case of any health insurance plan and for purposes of this subtitle, the actuarial value of the coverage offered by the plan. Directs the Secretary to certify such set of rules for use under this subtitle if they meet such requirements or establish such a set of rules. Specifies that a health insurance plan is considered to provide: (1) standard coverage if the benefits are determined, in accordance with certified rules of actuarial equivalence, to have a value that is within five percentage points of an established target actuarial value for standard coverage; (2) catastrophic coverage if benefits are available under the plan for a year only to the extent that expenses for covered services in a year exceed a deductible amount that is consistent with a specified requirement for a catastrophic health plan under the Code, and are determined, in accordance with certified actuarial equivalence rules, to have a value that is within five percentage points of an established target actuarial value for catastrophic coverage; and (3) medisave coverage if such plan consists of a catastrophic health plan within the meaning of the Code and a medical savings account. Requests NAIC to submit to the Secretary target actuarial values for standard and catastrophic coverage. Permits NAIC to submit periodic revisions of, and permits the Secretary to revise, the set of rules of actuarial equivalence and target actuarial values where necessary to take into account changes in the relevant types of health benefits provisions, in deductible levels for catastrophic coverage, or in relevant demographic conditions. (Sec. 1103) Directs the Secretary to request NAIC to develop model regulations that specify standards with respect to requirements: (1) that insurers make available MedAccess plans; (2) of guaranteed availability of MedAccess plans to small employers; (3) relating to limits on premiums and certain consumer protections; and (4) relating to limitation of annual premium increases. Requires the Secretary to review such standards and, if NAIC fails to specify standards meeting such requirements, to promulgate standards. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the application of MedAccess standards and consumer protection standards by the States; and (2) the Federal role. (Sec. 1104) Sets forth provisions: (1) regarding limits on premiums and annual premium increases; and (2) requiring an insurer, at the time of offering a health insurance plan to a small employer, to fully disclose rating practices for health insurance plans, including rating practices for different populations and benefit designs. (Sec. 1106) Directs the Secretary to: (1) request NAIC to develop models for reinsurance or allocation of risk mechanisms for health insurance plans made available to small employers for whom an insurer is at risk of incurring high costs under the plan; and (2) review such models or specify models. Sets forth provisions regarding implementation of reinsurance or allocation of risk mechanisms by the States and the Federal role. Amends the Code to provide for the imposition of a tax on any health insurance plan which covers any employee in a Federal reinsurance State. (Sec. 1108) Directs the Secretary to establish an Office of Private Health Care Coverage. Requires the Office Director to submit to the Congress annual reports evaluating health care coverage reform. (Sec. 1109) Authorizes the Director to conduct: (1) research on the impact of this subtitle on the availability of affordable health coverage for employees and dependents in the small employers group health care coverage market and other specified topics; and (2) demonstration projects relating to such topics. Requires the Director to develop: (1) methods for measuring the relative health risks of eligible individuals in terms of the expected costs of providing benefits under health insurance plans and, in particular, MedAccess plans; and (2) a model for equitably distributing health risks among insurers in the small employer health care coverage market. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Preemption - Part 1: Scope of State Regulation - Prohibits: (1) State benefit mandates for group health plans; and (2) State or local law prohibitions against two or more employers obtaining coverage under an insured multiple employer health plan. (Sec. 1203) Preempts State restrictions concerning: (1) reimbursement rates or selective contracting; (2) differential financial incentives; and (3) utilization review methods. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study of the benefits and cost effectiveness of the use of managed care in the delivery of health services. Part 2: Multiple Employer Health Benefits Protections - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to allow a limited exemption under preemption rules for multiple employer plans providing health benefits subject to certain Federal standards. (Sec. 1212) Relieves exempted multiple employer plans providing medical care benefits of certain restrictions on preemption of State law. Treats such plans as employee welfare benefit plans. Allows commencement of new arrangements only if such exemption is in effect or an application is pending and the Secretary of Labor determines that provisional protection is appropriate. Sets forth exemption procedures, eligibility requirements, and additional requirements applicable to exempted arrangements. Requires certain disclosures to participating employers, maintenance of reserves, and corrective actions. Provides for expiration, suspension, and revocation of exemptions, and for review of actions by the Secretary. (Sec. 1213) Revises provisions relating to scope of preemption rules, and to treatment of single employer arrangements and of certain collectively bargained arrangements. (Sec. 1215) Establishes special rules for employee leasing healthcare arrangements. Treats such arrangements as multiple employer welfare arrangements except when they are multiple employer health plans. (Sec. 1216) Sets forth enforcement provisions relating to multiple employer welfare arrangements and employee leasing health care arrangements. (Sec. 1217) Sets forth filing requirements for multiple employer welfare arrangements. (Sec. 1218) Provides for cooperation between Federal and State authorities in enforcing ERISA requirements for multiple employer welfare arrangements with the limited exemption. Part 3: Encouragement of Multiple Employer Arrangements Providing Basic Health Benefits - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the commonality of interest or geographic location requirement for tax exempt trust status for multiple employer health plans and insured multiple employer health plans if they meet certain requirements under ERISA and this Act. Part 4: Simplifying Filing of Reports for Employers Covered under Insured Multiple Employer Health Plans - Amends ERISA to direct the Secretary of Labor to prescribe an alternative method providing for a single annual report with respect to all employers who are covered under the same insured multiple employer health plan. Part 5: Compliance with Coverage Option Requirements - Provides for compliance with applicable coverage requirements through multiemployer plans and other multiple employer health arrangements. Subtitle D: Health Deduction Fairness - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide: (1) for a permanent extension and increase in the health insurance tax deduction for self-employed individuals; and (2) that the deduction for certain health insurance costs be determined without regard to an adjusted gross income threshold. Disallows the deduction to individuals eligible for employer-subsidized coverage. Allows the deduction whether or not the individual itemizes other deductions. Subtitle E: Improved Access to Community Health Services - Part 1: Increased Authorization for Community and Migrant Health Centers - Directs the Secretary to provide for grants to migrant and community health centers to promote primary health care services for underserved individuals. Allows grants to be used to promote the provision of off-site services, to improve birth outcomes in areas with high infant mortality and morbidity, to establish primary care clinics in areas in need, and for recruitment and training costs of necessary providers and operating costs for unreimbursed services. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of the impact of such grants on access to health care, birth outcomes, and the use of emergency room services. Part 2: Grants for Projects for Coordinating Delivery of Services - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary to make grants to public and nonprofit private entities: (1) to carry out demonstration projects to increase access to outpatient primary health services in specified geographic areas (i.e., areas that are rational areas for the delivery of health services, have a population of not more than 500,000 individuals, and have been designated by the Secretary as areas with a shortage of personal health services or that have a significant number of individuals with low incomes or insufficient health care insurance through coordinating the delivery of such services under Federal, State, local, and private programs; and (2) for developing plans to carry out such projects. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle F: Improved Access to Rural Health Services - Part 1: Establishment of Rural Emergency Access Care Hospitals Under Medicare - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for: (1) establishment of rural emergency access care hospitals under Medicare; and (2) coverage of and payment for rural emergency access care hospital services under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance). Part 2: Rural Medical Emergencies Air Transport - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary to make grants to States to assist in the creation or enhancement of air medical transport systems that provide victims of medical emergencies in rural areas with access to treatments. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) application and State plan requirements; (2) considerations in awarding grants; (3) State administration and use of grants; (4) the number of grants; and (5) reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Part 3: Emergency Medical Services Amendments - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary to: (1) establish an Office of Emergency Medical Services, headed by a Director; (2) engage in specified emergency medical services activities, including disseminating information obtained in carrying out specified activities to public and private entities, providing technical assistance to State and local agencies, coordinating Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) activities with those of other Federal agencies; and (3) ensure that such activities are carried out consistent with certain requirements regarding maintaining an adequate number of health professionals with expertise in the provision of services, developing, periodically reviewing, and revising as appropriate guidelines for the provision of such services, appropriately using available technologies, and serving the unique needs of underserved inner-city and rural areas. (Sec. 1522) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for the purpose of improving the availability and quality of emergency medical services through the operation of State offices of emergency medical services, subject to specified matching fund, budgetary, and other requirements. (Sec. 1523) Provides for demonstration projects to establish telecommunications between rural medical facilities and medical facilities with expertise or equipment. Directs the Secretary to ensure that the telecommunications technologies demonstrated include interactive video telecommunications, static video imaging transmitted through the telephone system, and facsimiles transmitted through such system. (Sec. 1524) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) emergency medical services (including for State offices of Emergency Medical Services and for telecommunications demonstrations); and (2) trauma care and certain other activities. Subtitle G: State Flexibility in the Medicaid Program: The Medical Health Allowance Program - Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to provide for the establishment of State health allowance programs under which the State makes payments to a group health plan which provides coverage to an eligible individual as an allowance towards the costs of providing the individual with benefits under the plan. Subtitle H: Medicaid Program Flexibility - Amends SSA title XIX Medicaid) to modify: (1) Federal requirements to allow States more flexibility in contracting for coordinated care services under Medicaid; and (2) provisions regarding the extension of certain waivers. Title II: Health Care Cost Containment and Quality Enhancement - Subtitle A: Medical Malpractice Liability Reform - Part 1: General Provisions - Makes this subtitle applicable with respect to any medical malpractice liability claim and to any medical malpractice liability action brought in State or Federal court, except a claim or action for damages arising from a vaccine-related injury or death to the extent that title XXI of the Public Health Service Act applies. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) preemption of State law; (2) effect on sovereign immunity and choice of law or venue; (3) jurisdiction; and (4) effective dates. Part 2: Medical Malpractice and Product Liability Reform - Prohibits a medical malpractice liability action from being brought in any State court during a calendar year unless the relevant claim has been initially resolved (i.e., a decision has been reached on whether the defendant is liable to the plaintiff for damages and on the amount of damages) under a certified alternative dispute resolution (ADR) system or an alternative Federal system. Prohibits a medical malpractice liability action from being brought in Federal court based on diversity of citizenship during a calendar year unless the relevant claim has been initially resolved under such a system in the State whose law applies. Directs the Attorney General to establish an ADR process for tort claims consisting of medical malpractice liability claims brought against the United States under chapter 171 of the Federal judicial code (U.S. Court of Federal Claims). Prohibits a medical malpractice liability action based on such a claim from being brought in any Federal court unless the claim has been initially resolved under such process. Sets forth procedures for filing actions. (Sec. 2012) Limits to $250,000 the amount of noneconomic damages that may be awarded to a claimant and family members in a medical malpractice liability action. Sets limits on punitive damages and on periodic payments for future losses. (Sec. 2013) Set forth provisions regarding: (1) limits on attorney fees and other costs; (2) joint and several liability (generally, liability may be found only for those damages directly attributable to the person's proportionate share of fault or responsibility for the injury); (3) a statute of limitations of seven years; and (4) a uniform standard for determining negligence (the defendant's conduct at the time of providing the health care services was not reasonable). (Sec. 2017) Specifies that in the case of a medical malpractice liability claim relating to services provided during labor or the delivery of a baby, if the health care professional did not previously treat the injured individual for the pregnancy, the trier of fact may not find that the defendant committed malpractice nor assess damages unless the malpractice is proven by clear and convincing evidence. Part 3: Requirements for State Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems - Lists requirements for State ADR systems, including that such a system: (1) applies to all medical malpractice liability claims under the jurisdiction of the courts of that State; (2) requires that a written opinion resolving the dispute be issued within six months after each party against whom the claim is filed has received notice of the claim; (3) is approved by the State or local governments; (4) provides for the transmittal to the State agency responsible for monitoring or disciplining health care professionals and providers of any findings of malpractice; and (5) provides for the regular transmittal of information on disputes resolved under the system to the Administrator for Health Care Policy and Research in a manner that protects the identity of the parties involved. (Sec. 2032) Directs the Secretary, by October 1 of each year, to certify State ADR systems that meet such requirements. Directs the Secretary to establish an alternative Federal ADR system for the resolution of medical malpractice liability claims in States that do not have in effect a certified ADR system. (Sec. 2033) Directs the Secretary, within five years, to submit to the Congress a report describing and evaluating State ADR systems and the alternative Federal system, including: (1) information on the effect of the ADR systems on health care costs, access to health care, and quality of care provided within the State; and (2) to the extent that such report does not provide information on no-fault systems operated by States as ADR systems, an analysis of the feasibility and desirability of establishing a system for resolving medical malpractice liability claims on a no-fault basis. Part 4: Other Provisions Relating to Medical Malpractice Liability - Authorizes a State agency responsible for disciplinary actions for a type of health care practitioner to enter into agreements with State or county professional societies to permit their participation in the licensing of such practitioner and to review any health care malpractice action, claims, or allegation, or other information concerning the practice patterns of any such practitioner. Sets forth agreement requirements. (Sec. 2042) Directs the Secretary to study incentives adopted by State and local governments, insurers, medical societies, and other entities to encourage physicians to volunteer to provide health care services in medically underserved areas. (Sec. 2043) Directs each State to require: (1) each health care professional and health care provider to participate in a risk management program to prevent, and provide early warning of, practices which may result in injuries to patients or endanger patient safety; and (2) each provider of health care professional and provider liability insurance in the State to establish risk management programs or sanction programs of risk management for health care professionals and providers provided by other entities, and require each such professional or provider, as a condition of maintaining insurance, to participate in one such program at least once in each three-year period. (Sec. 2044) Directs the Secretary to make grants: (1) for basic research in the prevention of, and compensation for, injuries resulting from health care professional or provider malpractice and for research of the outcomes of health care procedures; (2) to the States to assist in improving their ability to license and discipline health care professionals; and (3) to States and local governments, private nonprofit organizations, and health professional schools for educating the general public about the appropriate use of health care, realistic expectations of medical intervention, and the resources and role of health care professional licensing and disciplinary boards in investigating claims of incompetence or health care malpractice, and for developing programs of faculty training and curricula for educating health care professionals in quality assurance, risk management, and medical injury prevention. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Administrative Cost Savings - Part 1: Standardization of Claims Processing - Directs the Secretary to adopt standards relating to: (1) data elements for use in paper and electronic claims processing under health benefit plans and in utilization review and management of care; (2) uniform claims forms; and (3) uniform electronic transmission of the data elements. (Sec. 2102) Authorizes the Secretary, two years after standards are adopted for classes of services upon determining that a significant number of claims for benefits for such services under health benefit plans are not being submitted in accordance with such standards, to require that all providers of such services submit claims to health benefit plans in accordance with such standards. (Sec. 2103) Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide for the ongoing receipt and review of comments and suggestions for changes in the standards adopted and promulgated; (2) establish a schedule for the periodic review of such standards; and (3) revise such standards. Part 2: Electronic Medical Data Standards - Directs the Secretary to promulgate standards for hospitals concerning electronic medical data, including standards for transmission of such data and confidentiality of patient-specific information. Authorizes the Secretary to periodically revise such standards. (Sec. 2112) Sets forth requirements with respect to: (1) the sharing of hospital information under Medicare; (2) waiver of such requirements; and (3) application of such requirements to hospitals of the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Sec. 2113) Authorizes the head of a Federal agency to require a provider to present and transmit a required data element electronically in accordance with applicable presentation or transmission standard. (Sec. 2114) Sets forth limitations on data requirements where standards with respect to data elements are in effect. (Sec. 2115) Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory commission on the standards established under this part and operational concerns about the implementation of such standards. Authorizes appropriations. Part 3: Development and Distribution of Comparative Value Information - Directs the Secretary to determine whether each State is developing and implementing a health care value information program that meets specified criteria and a specified schedule. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make grants to enable each State to plan development and initiate implementation of its health care value information program; and (2) recover the amount of such a grant by offset against any other amount payable to the State under the Social Security Act under specified circumstances. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 2122) Directs the Secretary to take actions necessary to implement a comparable program in a State that fails to develop or implement a health care value information program in accordance with such criteria and schedule. Authorizes the Secretary to charge fees for the information materials provided pursuant to such a program. (Sec. 2123) Directs the head of each Federal agency with responsibility for the provision of health insurance or health care services to individuals to develop health care value information relating to each program that such head administers and covering the same types of data that a State program meeting such criteria would provide. (Sec. 2124) Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop model systems to facilitate the gathering of data on health care cost, quality, and outcome and the analysis of such data in a manner that will permit the valid comparison of such data among providers and among health plans; (2) support experimentation with different approaches to achieve such objectives in the most cost effective manner; and (3) evaluate the various methods to determine their relative success. Authorizes the Secretary to establish standards for the collective and reporting of data on health care cost, quality, and outcomes. Authorizes appropriations. Part 4: Additional Standards and Requirements; Research and Demonstrations - Directs the Secretary to: (1) adopt standards relating to the design and use of magnetized Medicare identification cards to assist health care providers in determining whether individuals are eligible for benefits for provided services under the Medicare program and in billing the Medicare program for covered services; (2) take steps to encourage and assist States in the design and use of magnetized Medicaid identification cards under their Medicaid plans; and (3) establish a Medicare and Medicaid information system to provide information on group health and other health benefit plans that are primary payors to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 2132) Specifies that, effective January 1, 1994, no effect shall be given to any provision of State law that requires medical or health insurance records (including billing information) to be maintained in written, rather than electronic, form. (Sec. 2133) Requires, effective January 1, 1995, each health benefit plan: (1) to use a beneficiary's social security number as the personal identifier for claims processing and related purposes (authorizes the Secretary to impose a civil money penalty on any plan that fails to do so); and (2) to use the unique identifier under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (Medicare) for a provider that furnishes health care items or services to a beneficiary under the plan as the identifier of that provider for claims processing and related purposes. (Sec. 2134) Directs the Secretary to: (1) determine, where benefits are payable under two or more health benefit plans, whether problems relating to the rules for determining the liability of plans or the availability of information among plans causes significant administrative costs; and (2) promulgate standards, if the implementation of standards would significantly reduce such administrative costs. Authorizes the Secretary to impose a civil money penalty on plans that fail to comply with such standards. (Sec. 2135) Directs the Secretary to provide grants to qualified entities for research on the application of comprehensive information systems in continuously monitoring and improving patient care. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to: (1) two to five community organizations or coalitions of health care providers, health benefit plans, and purchasers to establish and document the efficacy of communication links between the information systems of health benefit plans and of health care providers; (2) two to five public or private nonprofit entities for the development of regional or community-based clinical information systems; and (3) public or private nonprofit entities to develop and test the definition of a comprehensive set of data elements and the specification and manner of presentation of the individual data elements of the set, for electronic medical data generated by physicians and other entities (other than hospitals) that provide health care services. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Deduction for Cost of Catastrophic Health Plan; Medical Savings Account - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to include under the medical expense deduction the portion of such expense attributable to coverage under a catastrophic health plan. (Sec. 2202) Allows individuals a tax deduction for percentage of contributions made to a medical care savings account established for the benefit of an eligible individual. Allows such deduction whether or not an individual itemizes deductions. Disallows distributions from such accounts as medical expense deductions. Excludes employer contributions to such accounts from employment taxes. Establishes an excise tax for excess contributions to medical care savings accounts. Subtitle D: Anti-Fraud - Part 1: Criminal Prosecution of Health Care Fraud - Amends the Federal criminal code to: (1) set penalties for health care providers who knowingly engage in any scheme or artifice to defraud any person in connection with the provision of health care; and (2) make activity which, if engaged in by the U.S. Postal Service, would be a violation of mail fraud provisions punishable to the same extent with respect to private or commercial interstate carriers. (Sec. 2303) Authorizes appropriations to hire, equip, and train no fewer than: (1) 225 special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and support staff to investigate health care fraud cases; (2) 50 assistant United States Attorneys and support staff to prosecute such cases; and (3) 25 investigators in the Office of Inspector General, DHHS, to be devoted exclusively to health care fraud cases. (Sec. 2304) Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize the Attorney General to make payments of up to $10,000 to a person who furnishes information unknown to the Government relating to a possible prosecution of health care fraud, subject to specified requirements and exceptions. Part 2: Coordination of Health Care Anti-Fraud and Abuse Activities - Directs the Secretary to establish in the Office of the Inspector General of DHHS a program (all-payer fraud and abuse control program) to: (1) coordinate Federal, State, and local law enforcement programs to control fraud and abuse with respect to the delivery of, and payment for, health care in the United States; (2) conduct investigations, audits, evaluations, and inspections relating to such delivery and payment; and (3) facilitate the enforcement of provisions of the Social Security Act and other statutes applicable to health care fraud and abuse. Directs the Secretary to establish standards to carry out such program, including standards relating to the furnishing of information by health insurers, providers, and other to enable the Secretary to carry out the program and procedures to assure that such information is provided and utilized in a manner that protects the confidentiality of the information and the privacy of individuals receiving health care services. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) qualified immunity for providing information; (2) ensuring access to documentation; and (3) failure to comply as grounds for exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. (Sec. 2312) Authorizes additional appropriations to enable the Secretary to conduct investigations of allegations of health care fraud and to carry out the all-payor fraud and abuse control program. (Sec. 2313) Establishes in the Treasury an Anti-Fraud and Abuse Trust Fund to be used to assist the Inspector General of DHHS in carrying out the all-payor fraud and abuse control program in the fiscal year involved. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the deposit into the Fund of Federal health anti-fraud and abuse penalties; and (2) the use of such penalties to repay beneficiaries for cost-sharing. (Sec. 2314) Amends SSA title XI to provide for the application of Federal health anti-fraud and abuse sanctions to all fraud and abuse against private health benefit plans. Subtitle E: Medicare Payment Changes; Part B Premium Tax for High-Income Individuals: Part 1 - Medicare Payment Changes - Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) eliminate the membership limitation for Medicare health maintenance organizations; and (2) revise the Medicare select policy program and provide for a civil money penalty for misrepresentations made in connection with a Medicare select policy. (Sec. 2402) Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 to: (1) make permanent the Medicare select policy program; and (2) allow access to Medicare select policies in all States. (Sec. 2403) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to take such steps as may be necessary to consolidate the administration of Medicare parts A and B. Part 2: Part B Premium Tax for High-Income Individuals - (Sec. 2411) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a tax on the Medicare part B premiums of high income individuals. Subtitle F: Removing Anti-Trust Impediments - Directs the Attorney General to promulgate guidelines under which a health care joint venture may submit an application requesting that the Attorney General provide the entities participating in the venture with an exemption under which: (1) monetary recovery on an antitrust claim brought against the entity shall be limited to actual damages if specified conditions are met; and (2) the conduct of the entity in making or performing a contract to carry out the venture shall not be deemed illegal per se. Requires the Attorney General to approve or disapprove the application within a specified time frame and to provide a statement explaining the reasons for any disapproval. Directs the Attorney General to approve the application if an entity participating in the venture submits to the Attorney General an application that contains the identities of the parties to the venture; the nature, objectives, and planned activities of the venture; and specified assurances and information. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) revocation and renewal of exemptions and withdrawal of an application; (2) requirements relating to notice and publication of exemptions; and (3) issuance of health care certificates of public advantage to each eligible health care joint venture that complies with specified requirements. Establishes the Interagency Advisory Committee on Competition, Antitrust Policy, and Health Care to: (1) discuss and evaluate competition and antitrust policy and their implications regarding the performance of health care markets; (2) analyze the effectiveness of health care joint ventures receiving exemptions in reducing costs and expanding access; and (3) make recommendations to the Congress. Subtitle G: Encouraging Enforcement Activities of Medical Self-Regulatory Entities - Part 1: Application of the Clayton Act to Medical Self-Regulatory Entities - Provides that no damages, cost of suit, or attorney fee may be recovered under section 4, 4A, or 4C of the Clayton Act, or under any similar State law, except by a State or the United States, from any medical self-regulatory entity as a result of engaging in standard setting or enforcement activities that are: (1) designed to promote the quality of health care provided to patients; and (2) not conducted for purposes of financial gain. Directs the court to award the cost of such a suit, including a reasonable attorney fee, to a substantially prevailing defendant. Part 2: Consultation by Federal Agencies - Requires any Federal agency engaged in the establishment of medical profession standards to consult with appropriate medical societies or associations, specialty boards, or recognized accrediting agencies, if available, in carrying out medical professional standard setting and guidelines or standards relating to the practice of medicine. Subtitle H: Prefunding Government Health Benefit for Certain Annuitants - Requires that certain agencies prefund Government health benefits contributions for their annuitants. Subtitle I: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends Civil Service and Federal Employees' Retirement Systems law to increase the minimum age required to be eligible for an immediate retirement annuity. Provides for the conformance of other Federal retirement systems with the minimum age increase made above. Title III: Long-Term Care - Subtitle A: Tax Treatment of Long-Term Care Insurance - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the treatment of qualified long-term care insurance as accident and health insurance for purposes of insurance company taxation. (Sec. 3002) Excludes from gross income benefits provided under a long-term care insurance contract. Includes in gross income employer-provided coverage for long-term care services. (Sec. 3003) Includes amounts paid for qualified long-term care services as medical expenses for individual itemized deductions. Includes any parent or grandparent as a dependent for purposes of such expenses. (Sec. 3004) Provides for the nonrecognition of gain or loss on the exchange of any life insurance contract or an endowment or annuity contract for a long-term care insurance contract. (Sec. 3005) Excludes from gross income certain amounts withdrawn from individual retirement accounts and certain employer cash or deferred arrangement to pay long-term care premiums. (Sec. 3006) Allows insurance companies to issue accelerated death benefit riders on life insurance contracts. Subtitle B: Protection of Assets Under Medicaid Through Use of Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance - Amends SSA title XIX to require State Medicaid plans to disregard some or all of the individual's assets attributable to coverage under a qualified long-term care insurance contract in determining the individual's eligibility for long-term care services. Subtitle C: Studies - Requires the Comptroller General to study the feasibility of: (1) encouraging health care providers to donate their services to homebound patients; and (2) providing heads of households who care for elderly family members in their home with an income tax credit. (Sec. 3203) Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study and report to the Congress on the feasibility of encouraging or requiring the use of a single designate public or nonprofit agency to coordinate, through case management, the provision of long-term care benefits under current Federal, State, and local programs in a geographic area. Subtitle D: Volunteer Service Credit Demonstration Projects - (Sec. 3301) Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to require the Commissioner of the Administration on Aging to establish and operate a volunteer service credit demonstration project in each State.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1993
General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to set forth a 15-year statute of limitations within which a person may bring a civil action against an aircraft manufacturer for damages for death or injury or damage to property arising from an aircraft accident.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 1993
Amends the Federal criminal code to include within the scope of penalties for animal enterprise terrorism, traveling in interstate or foreign commerce, or using or causing to be used the mail or any facility in interstate or foreign commerce, for the purpose of causing physical harm to another person or to the property of another in order to: (1) prevent that person from participating in an animal enterprise; or (2) retaliate against that person for such participation.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
Occupational Safety and Health Reform Act - Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) to include coverage of Federal, State, and local public employees. Exempts public agencies which primarily rely upon volunteers to operate or provide services to the public. (Sec. 2) Directs the Secretary of Labor to study and report on the potential costs of extending OSHA to public agencies, with a separate estimate for extending OSHA to public agencies which primarily rely upon volunteers. Sets forth separate requirements for OSHA coverage of the House of Representatives and instrumentalities of the Congress. (Sec. 3) Requires the following criteria in development of OSHA standards: (1) significant risk; (2) feasibility; (3) reasonable cost-benefit relationship; (4) cost-effective and minimal job loss; and (5) where practicable, expressed in objective criteria and desired performance. Revises standard priorities based on toxicity and numbers exposed. Revises rulemaking procedures. Requires a regulatory flexibility analysis for each standard promulgated. (Sec. 4) Requires an annual report on the number and nature of complaints to which the Secretary does not respond under OSHA because Federal or State agency has jurisdiction, with recommendations on achieving coordination. Provides that employee safety and health participation committees are not prohibited under the National Labor Relations Act or the Railway Labor Act. Provides a nondisclosure privilege for voluntary safety and health audits and reviews. (Sec. 5) Prohibits citation for violation of a standard for which the employer has a variance pending for at least 90 days. (Sec. 6) Revises inspection provisions. Requires inspections to be conducted by at least one individual trained in and knowledgeable of the industry or the types of hazards. Provides for fire hazard inspection training and referral. Prohibits routine inspections of employers of ten or fewer employees if such employers are: (1) farming operations which do not maintain a temporary labor camp; or (2) in a category of employers having an occupational injury or a lost day rate which is less than the national average. Grants the Secretary discretion in determining which employer complaints must receive formal inspection responses. (Sec. 7) Directs the Secretary to establish a voluntary compliance program granting partial exemption from OSHA general inspections for employers who either retain certain consultation or certification programs or have an exemplary safety record and a safety and health program meeting specified criteria. (Sec. 8) Adds employer defenses of employee misconduct or alternative safer methods. (Sec. 9) Extends the period for employer contests of citations by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Requires deference to be given the Commission's reasonable conclusions with respect to questions of law. (Sec. 10) Revises procedures for discrimination protection for whistle-blowers under OSHA, including extending the time for filing complaints, and providing for reviews, appeals, and mediation. (Sec. 11) Revises enforcement, including special conditions and practices, a mandatory special emphasis program, investigations of deaths and serious incidents, and enforcement against State and local governments. (Sec. 12) Revises penalties in general, and with respect to special assessments, citations, knowing violations, and victim's rights. (Sec. 13) Requires States to make their applicable labeling, content, and hazard information requirements identical to OSHA standards. Authorizes waivers to State safety and health programs. (Sec. 14) Repeals authority for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), thus abolishing it. Transfers to the Secretary of Labor functions and authorities of NIOSH and of the Secretary of Health and Human Services under OSHA. (Sec. 15) Authorizes employers to establish alcohol and substance abuse testing programs where there is a reasonable probability that any employee's safety or health could be endangered because of use of alcohol or a controlled substance in the workplace. Directs the Secretary to establish standards for such programs. (Sec. 16) Establishes small business assistance and training programs, including: (1) model injury prevention programs completion of which qualifies employers for certain exemptions and reductions in penalties; (2) technical assistance and consultative services for employers and employees, targeted at small businesses and the most hazardous industries; and (3) certain consultative services to employers provided under cooperative agreements between the States and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (Sec. 17) Directs the Secretary to periodically make an award to companies and other organizations which have exemplary safety and health programs. (Sec. 18) Directs the Secretary to conduct a continuing economic impact analysis of each OSHA standard, and report biennially to the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Federal Responsibilities Subtitle A: Federal Workforce Preparation and Development Council Subtitle B: National Advisory Board on Workforce Preparation and Development Subtitle C: Federal Waiver Authority for Provisions of Workforce Preparation and Development Program Subtitle D: Implementation Grants and Technical Assistance Title II: State Responsibilities Subtitle A: State Human Resource Investment Council Subtitle B: Unified Single State Plan Subtitle C: Unified Service Areas Subtitle D: Local Workforce Development Boards Subtitle E: Community Job Resource Centers Title III: Conforming Amendments to Wagner-Peyser Act Title IV: Effective Date and Transition National Workforce Preparation and Development Reform Act - Establishes a comprehensive workforce preparation and development (WPD) system. Makes available specified amounts to provide implementation grants and technical assistance to States under this Act from amounts appropriated for national activities under the Job Training Partnership Act and for one-stop career centers. Title I: Federal Responsibilities - Subtitle A: Federal Workforce Preparation and Development Council - Establishes the Federal Workforce Preparation and Development Council, consisting of the Secretaries of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, and Commerce, the Director of the Office of Management and the Budget, and any other Federal agency heads the President may designate, which shall develop a strategic WPD plan for the United States. Subtitle B: National Advisory Board on Workforce Preparation and Development - Establishes a bipartisan National Advisory Board on Workforce Preparation and Development. Directs the Advisory Board to advise the President and the Federal Council. Subtitle C: Federal Waiver Authority for Provisions of Workforce Preparation and Development Programs - Authorizes the Federal Council to waive provisions of law or regulations relating to State planning and reporting, performance standards, or other provisions with respect to WPD programs under unified State plans. Sets forth provisions for waiver applications, review, approval or disapproval, and revocation. Subtitle D: Implementation Grants and Technical Assistance - Authorizes the Federal Council to provide grants and technical assistance to States that have an approved application to carry out the single State plan. Requires a State to provide at least 70 percent of such a grant to the Local Boards. Title II: State Responsibilities - Subtitle A: State Human Resource Investment Council - Requires any participant State to establish a State human resource investment council to assist the Governor in developing a coordinated State strategy for WPD programs, including school-to-work transition and lifelong learning programs. Subtitle B: Unified Single State Plan - Requires any participant State to establish a unified single State plan to coordinate services under WPD programs. Subtitle C: Unified Service Areas - Requires any participant State to ensure establishment of unified service areas throughout the State to provide community-wide WPD services. Subtitle D: Local Workforce Development Boards - Requires any participant State to ensure establishment of a Local Workforce Development Board in each unified service area. Requires a participant Local Board, in partnership with local governments, to submit an annual unified local plan to the State Council for approval. Subtitle E: Community Job Resource Centers - Requires any participant State to ensure that each Local Board designates or establishes a network of community job resource centers in its unified service area, to be composed of specified entities. Title III: Conforming Amendment to Wagner-Peyser Act - Amends the Wagner-Peyser Act to require the local employment service office to participate in the operation of the community job resource centers established under this Act based on the plan developed by the Local Board. Allows such offices to apply to be designated as such centers. Title IV: Effective Date and Transition - Sets forth an effective date and transition provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Authorization of Appropriations Title II: Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork on the Public Title III: Enhancing Federal Agency Responsibility and Accountability for Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork Title IV: Enhancing Government Responsibility and Accountability for Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork Title V: Enhancing Agency Responsibility for Sharing and Disseminating Public Information Title VI: Additional Government Information Management Responsibility Title VII: Effective Dates Paperwork Reduction Act of 1993 - Title I: Authorization of Appropriations - Amends the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 to authorize appropriations to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Title II: Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork on the Public - Applies the Act to all federally sponsored paperwork. Requires a Government-wide paperwork reduction goal of at least five percent and individual agency goals that aggregate to the Government-wide goal. Title III: Enhancing Federal Agency Responsibility and Accountability for Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork - Makes the senior official charged with carrying out the responsibilities of a Federal agency under the Act the head of a separate office with qualified staff responsible for assuring agency compliance with requirements under the Act. Requires each agency to: (1) prepare estimates of the burden that will result from proposed collections of information; (2) develop a strategic Information Resources Management Plan; and (3) establish oversight procedures for agency information systems. Requires each agency head to establish a certification process for the review of each information collection request before it is submitted to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. Title IV: Enhancing Government Responsibility and Accountability for Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork - Makes the OMB Director responsible for ensuring that all information collection requests display an estimate of the paperwork burden for each response. Requires OMB procedures in order for agencies to estimate such burden. Requires OMB pilot projects to test approaches to improve information management practices and related activities. Reduces the time afforded the OMB Director for approving a routine agency request to collect information. Provides for greater participation by the public and Federal agencies in the review of proposed paperwork burdens generated by agency information requests. Requires the OMB Director to make publicly available any decision to disapprove a collection of information requirement contained in an agency rule, together with the reasons for such decision. Provides protection for whistleblowers of unauthorized Federal paperwork burdens. Provides for expedited OMB review of an agency information request with a reduced paperwork burden. Title V: Enhancing Agency Responsibility for Sharing and Disseminating Public Information - Provides for Government-wide standards for sharing and disseminating public information. Imposes certain responsibilities on Federal agencies for sharing and disseminating public information. Abolishes the Federal Information Locator System established in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and replaces it with a system in each agency for providing public access via electronic and other means to a comprehensive inventory of agency information dissemination products. Title VI: Additional Government Information Management Responsibility - Revises the statistical policy and coordination functions of the OMB Director. Requires the OMB Director to: (1) establish an interagency working group on statistical policy to coordinate agency statistical activities; and (2) provide training in the statistical policy functions of the chief statistician to Federal employees. Provides for the use of electronic information collection and dissemination techniques to reduce the Federal paperwork burden. Requires the OMB Director's annual report to the Congress to list any increased Federal paperwork burdens and describe each agency's plans to implement the applicable policies, standards, and guidelines under the Act. Requires the OMB Director to develop a plan for meeting the automatic data processing needs of the Federal Government in accordance with the Act and certain requirements of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. Title VII: Effective Dates - Sets forth the effective dates for this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose Title II: Binding Budget Law Title III: Enforcement Mechanics Subtitle A: Supermajority Required to Break Budget Law Subtitle B: Line Item Reduction Subtitle C: "Blank Check" Appropriations Prohibited Subtitle D: "Pay As You Go" Requirement for New Spending Title IV: Sustaining Mechanism Title V: Protection of Social Security Title VI: Timetable Title VII: Conforming Amendments Title VIII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation Title IX: Effective Date Budget Process Reform Act - Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose - Declares that the purpose of this Act is to facilitate rational, informed, and timely decisions by the Congress. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Federal budget process should focus the attention of policymakers and the public on the aggregate impact of Federal spending on the economy, and on the tradeoffs that must be made among priorities in order to control overall levels of spending. Declares that the budget process should contain safeguards against delay and inaction, so that temporary shut-downs of the Government may be avoided. Title II: Binding Budget Law - Requires the Congress to enact a binding budget law, in the form of a joint resolution, by April 15 of the calendar year before that in which the fiscal period commences. Makes it out of order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any spending bill affecting spending in a major functional category unless and until a joint resolution on the budget is enacted. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to prohibit baseline budgeting. Requires the President to submit to the Congress on or before the 15th day after a joint resolution on the budget is enacted a detailed budget for the fiscal period beginning on October 1 of the current calendar year. Title III: Enforcement Mechanics - Subtitle A: Supermajority Required to Break Budget Law - Requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House and the Senate to consider any spending bill prior to the enactment of the budget law. Requires the Congressional Budget Office to provide to the Congress an estimate of the costs in each major functional category of certain spending bills as soon as practicable after its introduction. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to consider over-budget spending bills. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive any provision of this Act. Subtitle B: Limited Enhanced Rescission Authority - Amends the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to limit the President's rescission authority to spending that is above the limits of the budget law. Subtitle C: "Blank Check" Appropriations Prohibited - Declares the intent of the Congress to end open-ended, "blank check" appropriations which typically authorize spending "such sums as may be necessary." Requires fixed-dollar appropriations for every account except social security and interest on the debt. Prohibits open-ended appropriations. Requires Executive agencies to adjust benefit levels to ensure that appropriations for entitlement programs are not exceeded. Restricts budget authority and entitlement authority to one fiscal period. Subtitle D: "Pay As You Go" Requirement for New Spending - Prohibits the Congress from considering any legislation which exceeds the budget ceiling unless it offsets such increased spending with an equal amount of reductions. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive such prohibition. Title IV: Sustaining Mechanism - Makes appropriations to provide for an automatic continuing resolution if for any account an appropriation for a fiscal period does not become law before the beginning of such period. Restricts legislation providing funding to the Committees on Appropriations. Title V: Protection of Social Security - Provides that no reduction in benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) shall be made as a consequence of this Act. Title VI: Timetable - Revises the timetable for the congressional budget process. Title VII: Conforming Amendments - Makes various technical and conforming amendments, including changing references to a concurrent resolution on the budget to references to a joint resolution on the budget. Title VIII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation - Sets forth definitions for specified terms. Title IX: Effective Date - Declares the effective date of this Act to be January 1, 1995, applicable to fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1995.
United States · United States Congress · 5 August 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: School-to-Work Opportunities Basic Program Components Title II: School-to-Work Opportunities System Development and Implementation Grants to States Subtitle A: State Development Grants Subtitle B: State Implementation Grants Title III: Federal Implementation Grants to Partnerships Title IV: National Programs Title V: General Provisions School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1993 - Establishes a national framework for development of School-to-Work Opportunities systems in all States. Declares the congressional intent that the Secretaries of Education and Labor jointly administer this Act in a flexible manner. Directs the Secretaries to jointly administer the programs established by this Act. Title I: School-to-Work Opportunities Basic Program Components - Requires School-to-Work Opportunities (SWO) programs to: (1) integrate work-based and school-based learning; (2) provide students with the opportunity to complete career majors; and (3) incorporate specified program components including work-based and school-based learning and connecting activities. Title II: School-to-Work Opportunities System Development and Implementation Grants to States - Subtitle A: State Development Grants - Authorizes the Secretaries to award development grants to applicant States to complete development of a comprehensive, statewide SWO system. (Such development may have begun with funds awarded under the Job Training Partnership Act and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act.) Subtitle B: State Implementation Grants - Allows States to apply to the Secretaries for competitive implementation grants, with applications containing: (1) plans for comprehensive, statewide SWO systems meeting content requirements; (2) descriptions of how funds will be allocated to local SWO partnerships; and (3) optional requests for waivers of certain statutory or regulatory requirements. Title III: Federal Implementation Grants to Partnerships - Authorizes the Secretaries to award competitive SWO implementation grants to partnerships in States that have not received State implementation grants. Authorizes the Secretaries to award grants to implement SWO programs in high poverty areas. (Such funds may be awarded in combination with funds appropriated for the Youth Fair Chance Program.) Title IV: National Programs - Directs the Secretaries to provide for: (1) research, demonstration, and other projects; (2) performance outcomes and evaluation, in collaboration with States; and (3) training and technical assistance. Title V: General Provisions - Sets forth provisions relating to: (1) State requests and responsibilities for waivers of statutory and regulatory requirements; (2) such waivers by each of the Secretaries; (3) program safeguards, including nondisplacement of current workers; and (4) acceptance of gifts. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1993
Prohibits the intentional creation of legislative districts based on race, color, or language minority status of voters within such districts. Provides a private right of action for a violation of such prohibition.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1993
Poverty Data Correction Act of 1993 - Requires any data relating to the incidence of poverty produced or published by or for the Secretary of Commerce for subnational areas to be corrected for differences in the cost of living and data produced for State and sub-State areas to be corrected for differences in the cost of living for at least all States of the United States. Requires such corrected data to be published in 1995 and biennially thereafter. Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop or cause to be developed a Sate cost-of-living index which ranks and assigns an index value to each State using data on wage, housing, and other costs relevant to the cost of living; and (2) multiply the Federal Government's statistical poverty thresholds by the index value for each State's cost of living to produce State poverty thresholds for each State. Requires the State cost-of-living index and resulting State poverty thresholds to be published before September 30, 1994, for calendar year 1993 and to be updated annually thereafter.
![Official portrait of Rep. Goodling, William F. [R-PA-19]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/g000291_200.jpg)