United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1981
Authorizes the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to furnish a memorial headstone or marker to commemorate any veteran whose remains are unavailable because of a donation to science, a burial at sea, or other causes. Directs the Administrator to set aside suitable areas in national cemeteries to honor such veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1981
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1970 to revise and increase the mandatory penalties for using or carrying a firearm during commission of a Federal felony. Establishes a mandatory term of imprisonment of five years for a first offender (currently, one to ten years) and eight years for a second or subsequent offender (currently, two to 25 years). Extends to first offenders the stipulations, currently applicable only to second offenders, that the court not suspend any sentence, grant probation, or impose the additional sentence concurrently with the sentence imposed for the felony. Prohibits the granting of parole to an offender.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1981
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases, to: (1) conduct a clinical investigation of the safety and efficacy of dimethyl sulfoxide as a drug to be used by persons with arthritis; and (2) report to Congress within one year of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit married individuals filing separate income tax returns an election to be taxed at rates applicable to unmarried individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1981
Urges the President to extend for three years the orderly marketing agreements between the United States and Taiwan and between the United States and South Korea which limit the exportation from Taiwan and South Korea of nonrubber footwear to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1981
Title I: Export Trading Companies - Export Trading Company Act of 1981 - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to promote export trading companies by providing information and by facilitating contacts between producers of exportable goods and export trading companies. Authorizes any banking organization to invest up to specified amounts in export trading companies upon notifying, but without obtaining the prior approval of, the appropriate Federal banking agency, if such investment does not cause an export trading company to become a subsidiary of such organization. Allows greater investment by Edge Act Corporations not engaged in banking. Permits any banking organization to invest beyond such limitations with prior approval of the appropriate Federal banking agency. Requires prior notification of such agencies in specified circumstances. Sets forth further limitations on export trading companies and investments by banking organizations. Specifies factors to be taken into consideration by the banking agencies. Permits such agencies to impose conditions in approving applications to invest in export trading companies. Requires such agencies to report to the appropriate Congressional committees with their recommendations concerning implementation of this Act, related changes in U.S. law, and effects of ownership of U.S. banks by foreign banking organizations. Provides for judicial review of denial orders in the appropriate U.S. Court of Appeals. Sets forth the grounds for disapproval. Provides for remand for further consideration by the banking agency. Directs the Economic Development Administration and the Small Business Administration to give special weight to export-related benefits when considering applications for loans and guarantees by export trading companies. Authorizes up to $20,000,000 to be appropriated for initial investments and operating expenses for each of the fiscal years 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985. Directs the Export-Import Bank of the United States to provide loan guarantees to export trading companies or exporters, to be secured by accounts receivable or inventories, when adequate financing is not otherwise available and such guarantees will facilitate expansion of exports. Directs the Board of Directors to try to insure that a major share of such guarantees promotes exports from small, medium-size, and minority businesses or agricultural concerns. Title II: Export Trade Associations - Export Trade Association Act of 1981 - Amends the Webb-Pomerene Act to exempt the trade activities and methods of operation of certified export trade associations and export trading companies from the antitrust laws. Delays the effectiveness of any certificate upon the notification of the Secretary of Commerce by the Attorney General or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of disagreement with the decision to issue a certificate. Sets forth the procedure to be followed by any association or export trading company seeking certification under this Act and by the Secretary in issuing such certificates. Permits automatic certification for existing associations. Provides for appeal of the Secretary's denial of certification. Authorizes the Attorney General or the FTC to bring an action to invalidate a certification. Requires the Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney General and the FTC, to publish guidelines for determining whether an association or export trading company will meet the certification requirements. Requires certified associations and export trading companies to submit annual reports to the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to establish within the Department of Commerce an Office of Export Trade to promote export trade associations and trading companies. Requires such Office to report annually to the appropriate Congressional committees on all East-West trade transactions requiring validated licenses and on the role of U.S. export trading companies in East-West trade. Grants a temporary exemption from the Sherman Act antitrust provisions for existing associations. Requires that all applications for certification be kept confidential with specified exceptions. Authorizes the Secretary to require an association or trading company to modify its operation to be consistent with international obligations of the United States. Directs the President to appoint, with the Senate's advice and consent, a task force seven years after enactment to examine the effect of this Act and to make recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1981
Amends the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 to provide that provisions of such Act shall not apply to: (1) any surface sand or gravel, stone, or clay mine; or (2) any surface structure or road, if constructed by employees not engaged in mining.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1981
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to require Federal agencies which are about to dispose of surplus real property suitable for agricultural use to offer such property for sale to the individual who transferred such property to the agency or to the individual who leased such property from the agency for a specified period, provided that the individual had used such property for agricultural purposes. Requires the deed of conveyance of any property sold under this Act to provide that the property shall revert to the United States if it is not used and maintained for agricultural purposes for at least 15 years.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1981
Amends the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 to permit local distribution companies to provide natural gas service to residential customers for use in outdoor lighting fixtures installed and receiving natural gas before the enactment of such Act. Requires each local distribution company, in accordance with rules established by the Secretary of Energy, to: (1) periodically inform its customers of the amount of natural gas consumed by outdoor lighting; and (2) report such information method to the Secretary.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1981
Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish the Committee on Internal Security with jurisdiction over communist, terrorist, and other subversive activities. Removes such jurisdiction from the Judiciary Committee. Transfers to the Internal Security Committee all of its property under the control of the Judiciary Committee or any other government agency.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1981
Commends former President Jimmy Carter, former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, and former Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher for their success in securing the release of the American hostages held in Iran. Conveys appreciation to the Algerian negotiators for the role they played in resolving the hostage crises. Pays tribute to the eight servicemen killed in the April 1980 effort to rescue the American hostages. Commends President Reagan for designating former President Carter to officially greet the freed hostages.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the leaders of the United States, Mexico, and Canada should meet to discuss North American economic development, trading relationships, specific problems, and cooperation and reciprocal negotiations in the joint development of solutions to these problems.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the maximum reduction (currently $500,000) in valuation under the special estate tax valuation for certain farm and small business real property shall be increased annually between 1981 and 1985 by $100,000 each year plus an inflation adjustment amount.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the unified credit against the estate and gift tax from $47,000 to $155,800 by specified annual increments through 1985. Provides for a yearly inflation adjustment of the amount of such credit.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Repeals the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires the rate of wages for workers employed on public buildings by contractors to be based upon the prevailing wages for corresponding classes of workers employed on similar projects in the same area.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Provides that a specified period of employment of a named individual shall be included and credited in the determination of his length of Federal employment.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Declares a named individual to have satisfied specified requirements under the Immigration and Nationality Act relating to required periods of residence and physical presence within the United States. Authorizes such individual to be naturalized.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1981
Capital Cost Recovery Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the method for determining useful lives of business assets for purposes of computing allowable depreciation deductions. Replaces the asset depreciation range (ADR) method with a schedule of capital cost recovery periods for three classes of business property. Establishes capital cost recovery periods for the following classes of business property: (1) buildings and their structural components, ten years; (2) tangible property, five years; and (3) automobiles, taxis, and light-duty trucks (up to $100,000), three years. Permits calculation of the investment tax credit for such property without regard to the useful life of the property. Requires the recapture of depreciation amounts and investment tax credit amounts applicable to assets which are sold or otherwise disposed of prior to the expiration of the capital cost recovery period. Permits a taxpayer to deduct less than the full allowance for capital cost recovery in any taxable year. Permits a carryover to succeeding taxable years of any unused depreciation amounts. Disqualifies capital cost recovery property from the allowance for first year depreciation. Treats amounts claimed as the capital cost recovery of noncorporate lessors as an item of tax preference for purposes of the minimum tax. Adopts as an accounting practice the "half year convention" under which investments eligible for capital cost recovery treatment or the investment tax credit which are made at any time during the taxable year are deemed to be made in the middle of such year.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1981
Congressional Pay Reform Act of 1981 - Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 and the Federal Salary Act of 1967 to specify that pay adjustments for Members of Congress shall become effective on the March 1 following the beginning of the next Congress after the Congress during which such adjustment was approved. Conditions such adjustment on the adoption of a concurrent resolution by each House of Congress. Requires a recorded vote on such resolution to reflect the vote of each Member. Prohibits any congressional employee from being paid at a rate in excess of the rate payable for Senators and Members of the House of Representatives. Requires the President to transmit to the Congress, within a specified time period, recommendations with respect to the rates of pay of Members of Congress, legislative, and judicial employees. Prohibits the House of Representatives and the Senate from considering any bill or joint resolution carrying an appropriation for compensation of Members of Congress for any fiscal year if such bill or joint resolution carries an appropriation or a limitation on appropriations for any other purpose.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to permit the introduction, or delivery for introduction, of laetrile (amygdalin) into interstate commerce without the approval of a new drug application.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from $20,000 to $75,000 in 1981 (with annual adjustments up to $95,000 in 1985 and thereafter) the earned income exclusion for U.S. citizens working abroad who are bona fide residents of a foreign country. Repeals the requirement that, as a condition of their employment, such individuals reside in a hardship area. Reduces from 17 to 11 months the residency requirement for such exclusion. Provides for an income tax exclusion for the value of employer-provided lodging in a camp in cases where satisfactory housing is not generally available. Reduces from 17 to 11 months the foreign residency requirement with respect to the deduction for certain housing expenses of living abroad.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Requires a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress to pass any concurrent resolution on the budget which carries a deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 16 January 1981
Prohibits the total annual Government expenditures for the care of a former President, excepting Secret Service protection, from exceeding ten times the poverty level income for one urban family of four.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1981
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow preference visas to be given to an alien who: (1) requests such treatment; (2) was born after 1950 in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, or Thailand; (3) was fathered by an American serviceman; and (4) provides a guarantee of financial support. Stipulates that such guarantee must: (1) be signed by a citizen or lawful permanent resident who is at least 21 years old; and (2) provide that such signing sponsor will provide necessary financial support for five years. Allows the Attorney General to enforce such guarantee against the sponsor in a civil suit unless such sponsor dies or is adjudicated bankrupt.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the standard mileage rate used in computing the charitable deduction for expenses incurred in the operation of a motor vehicle shall be the same as the standard mileage rate for the business related deduction.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1981
Grants a Federal charter to the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865. Directs such corporation to submit to Congress an annual report on its activities.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce from 70 percent to 50 percent the maximum rate of income tax for individuals. Requires separate computation of personal service income and nonpersonal service (unearned) income, applying each category to the lowest tax rates initially. Prohibits separate computations in the case of any taxpayer with more than $10,000 in tax preference items.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Small Business and Family Farm Preservation Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the unified credit against estate and gift taxes from $47,000 to $155,800. Increases the amount of the annual gift tax exclusion from $3,000 to $6,000.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Campuses for the Elderly Act - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to: (1) solicit and review plans for the development of campus-style residential and health care projects for the elderly; and (2) make interest subsidy payments to developers of such projects. Authorizes appropriations necessary to make such interest subsidy payments. Amends the National Housing Act to authorize the Secretary to insure and to make commitments to insure mortgages on properties being developed under this Act. Requires a report to the Congress evaluating projects developed under this Act by a committee of Congressional members, representatives of the medical profession, and administrators of health-care facilities. Authorizes appropriations for such committee.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that bonds issued by a volunteer fire department to finance the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, or improvement of firefighting property shall be treated as obligations of a local government and the interest on such bonds shall be excluded from gross income. Provides that a volunteer fire department qualifies for such tax treatment of its bonds if it: (1) is organized and operated to provide firefighting services in an area which does not have any other firefighting services; (2) is required by a local government to furnish firefighting services; (3) receives over half of its funding from local government; and (4) makes no charge for its services.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Limitation on Government Recordkeeping Requirements and Actions Act of 1981 - Prohibits any Federal agency from: (1) requiring any person to maintain, prepare, or produce records (other than records relating to a dangerous material) of an event more than four years after the event has occurred; and (2) commencing an action against a person for a violation of a regulation more than four years after such violation has occurred, except as otherwise provided by the Internal Revenue Code.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit taxpayers who do not itemize income tax deductions to claim a deduction from gross income for charitable contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to include within the categories of deportable aliens foreign students who knowingly participated in a political demonstration resulting in, or intending to result in, injury or damage to another's person or property. Permits the Attorney General to suspend deportation of such students.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Directs the Education Appeal Board to dismiss all actions which are based on final audit determinations issued prior to the enactment of the Education Amendments of 1978, and which seek the repayment of funds provided to State or local agencies under the Financial Assistance to Meet the Special Educational Needs of Children provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Anti-Inflation Tax Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require annual cost of living adjustments, based on the Consumer Price Index, to individual income tax rates, the personal tax exemption, withholding requirements, and minimum income tax return amounts.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow married individuals filing jointly an income tax deduction from gross income equal to ten percent of the earned income of the lower income spouse (or of one spouse if both incomes are the same). Limits the amount of such deduction to $2,000 for the taxable year. Denies such deduction if one spouse has earned income amounting to less than 20 percent of the combined income of both spouses.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Requires that each State establish and maintain an approved workfare program as a condition of its eligibility for Federal payments or other assistance under the: (1) program of aid to families with dependent children under the Social Security Act; (2) food stamp program under the Food Stamp Act of 1977; and (3) public housing and assisted housing programs under the United States Housing Act of 1937. Requires that such State workfare program shall require every State resident applying for or receiving aid under such Federal public assistance program to perform work in return for, and as a condition for, such aid. Directs the appropriate Federal agencies to promulgate guidelines for approval, supervision, and oversight of such State workfare programs. Exempts from required participation in such programs those who are: (1) under age 18 or over age 65; (2) disabled; (3) regularly employed for at least 40 hours a week; or (4) primarily responsible for the care of a child less than three years old (or for the care of a child more than two but less than six years old if suitable child care is not available at reasonable cost). Requires that each State workfare program must provide that if any individual who is required to participate in such program refuses to accept a bona fide offer of qualified employment or to perform qualified employment, in any month, neither such individual nor any other person in the family or household of which such individual is a member shall be eligible to receive any aid under such Federal public assistance programs for that month. Requires that State workfare programs include provision for job counseling, assistance in obtaining employment outside the program, and job search activities. Provides for: (1) Federal matching funds to cover administrative costs of such State programs; (2) Federal cut-offs of funds to State agencies for failure to comply with this Act; and (3) Federal agency reports to Congress on such State programs. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Nondiscrimination in Insurance Act - Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the consideration of applications for, or the granting of, insurance policies and the terms of such policies. Permits insurers who regularly provide insurance solely to persons of a single religious affiliation to continue to do so. Grants to State or local governments having insurance discrimination laws the primary opportunity to enforce this Act. Permits an aggrieved person to file a civil action in State or Federal court against an insurer, if a State or local authority which has received notice of a complaint fails to act within 60 days or with respect to those authorities not having insurance discrimination laws. Authorizes the Attorney General to bring a civil action in district court when there is reasonable cause to believe that a person or group is engaged in a pattern or practice of resistance to the rights granted by this Act and that such denial raises an issue of general public importance.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1970 to revise and increase the mandatory penalties for using or carrying a firearm during commission of a Federal felony. Defines such offense as using a firearm to commit a felony over which the district courts have exclusive jurisdiction or carrying a firearm during such a felony involving violence. Deletes the requirement that the firearm be carried "illegally." Increases the additional penalty imposed for such offense from one to ten years' imprisonment to five to ten years' imprisonment for a first offender and from two to 25 years to ten years to life imprisonment for a second or subsequent offender. Extends to first offenders the directions, currently applicable only to second offenders, that the court not suspend any sentence or grant probation and that the additional sentence not run concurrently with any term of imprisonment imposed for the offense itself. Makes a first offender ineligible for parole for five years and a second or subsequent offender ineligible for ten years. Expresses the sense of Congress that the executive prosecute vigorously such offenses.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act Amendments of 1981 - Amends the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act to revise the definition of "employee" to exclude (in addition to the currently excluded masters, or crew members, of any vessel) persons who at the time of injury were: (1) officers or employees of any government; (2) engaged in any employment which is not a direct or integral part of vessel loading, unloading, repairing, building, or breaking; or (3) providing services on or for any vessel less than 65 feet in length, while covered by a State workers' compensation program. Conforms specified conditions, under which compensation for disability or death shall be payable, to the revised definitions made by this Act. Sets the maximum rate of compensation, with specified exceptions, at the lesser of: (1) an amount equal to 80 percent of the employee's spendable earnings; or (2) an amount equal to 200 percent of the applicable national average weekly wage. Defines "spendable earnings" as the employee's average weekly wage reduced by amounts required to be withheld under Federal and State tax laws. Directs the Secretary of Labor to publish tables in the Federal Register showing the amount of such "spendable earnings" for various wage levels. Entitles an employee to choose an attending physician from an applicable listing established by the deputy commissioner. Directs the deputy commissioner to actively supervise such medical care. Requires an attending physician who refers an employee to a medical specialist or consulting physician to notify the employer and submit a report, with reasons for such referral, to the employer and the deputy commissioner. Requires such specialist or consultants to submit reports in order to collect fees. Requires an employee seeking recovery of expenses for medical treatment or services to obtain such treatment in a specified manner and to provide written notice to the employer within ten days after the first treatment or services. Establishes procedures for providing independent medical examinations when medical questions arise. Entitles employees to specified relief in cases where the workplace injury is the sole cause of an impairment or disability. Provides for reexaminations of such estimates of the degree of impairment due to the work place injury. Repeals specified provisions which made certain physicians ineligible for employment as independent medical examiners unless otherwise agreed to. Requires that 80 percent of spendable earnings be paid to an employee during the continuance of permanent total disability, subject to specified limitations. Requires, for a determination of total disability, that an employee prove by substantial evidence that as a result of the injury, in cases other than ones of loss of two or more specified body parts, he or she is permanently unable to earn any wages in employment. Requires that 80 percent of spendable earnings be paid to an employee during the continuance of temporary total disability, subject to specified limitations. Prohibits such compensation from being paid after the employee attains the retirement age for the appropriate industry and geographical region. Sets the compensation rate for permanent partial disability at 80 percent of the spendable earnings of the employee, subject to specified limitations. Extends such limitations to the "other cases" category of permanent partial disability compensation and terminates such compensation after the employee attains the appropriate retirement age. Deletes a provision subjecting such compensation to reconsideration of the degree of impairment by the deputy commissioner. Bars employees suffering injuries in specified categories from seeking additional compensation in this "other cases" category. Allows employers to reduce permanent partial disability compensation when an employee's actual wages or wage earning capacity have increased or to suspend such compensation when such wages equal or exceed average weekly wages before the injury. Requires the approval of the deputy commissioner for such reductions or suspensions, with such approval to be reviewable by an administrative law judge. Allows employees whose actual wages or wage earning capacity decrease, solely as a result of the injury, to less than their average weekly wage before the injury to request reviews of their compensation payments. Eliminates a provision for death benefits for the survivors of an employee who had been receiving "other cases" category permanent partial disability compensation and who dies from causes other than the original injury. Retains the current compensation rate for temporary partial disability, but subjects such rate to specified limitations. Provides for the designation by the Secretary of an attorney to serve as a special fund representative, with specified powers, upon recommendation by an employer and insurance carrier. Revises provisions relating to: (1) compensation for employees undergoing vocational rehabilitation; (2) the wage earning capacity of injured employees in partial disability cases; and (3) approval of settlements by the deputy commissioner and the manner of payment of such settlements. Eliminates a provision for death benefits if the employee who sustains permanent total disability due to the injury thereafter dies from causes other than the injury. Revises methods of determination of the average weekly wages of injured employees at the time of injury. Revises the formula for determining yearly increases in specified compensation for permanent total disability or death. Makes revisions relating to: (1) failure to give notice; (2) the period of installment payments; (3) the right to compensation controverted; (4) penalties for overdue compensation; and (5) notice of payment. Repeals provisions concerning the deputy commissioner's authority: (1) in cases of suspended payments; and (2) to discharge the employer's liability for compensation. Limits the total money allowance payable to an employee or dependent survivors. Provides for preliminary rulings by the deputy commissioner with respect to claims to become final orders if the parties do not request a hearing. Makes other revisions in claims procedures. Repeals provisions relating to the review of compensation orders and the Benefits Review Board. Establishes a new Benefits Review Board to be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate (the former Board was appointed by the Secretary). Transfers to such Board all officers, assets, liabilities, contracts, property, and records of the Benefits Review Board in the Department of Labor. Revises the procedures, functions, powers, and duties of such Board. Revises provisions relating to: (1) powers of the deputy commissioner or an administrative law judge in proceedings under such Act; (2) fees for services; (3) institution of proceedings by a person entitled to compensation; and (4) compromises obtained by a person entitled to compensation. Prohibits the Secretary from: (1) furnishing specified information and assistance in processing claims to persons covered under such Act (formerly permitted such information and assistance upon request); and (2) participating, except as an intervenor, in proceedings relating to this Act which are before any court. Repeals provisions relating to an administration fund and to the availability of appropriations. Establishes an Advisory Committee on Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation to evaluate whether this Act provides an adequate, prompt, equitable, and insurable system of compensation. Declares that the Committee shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Provides that nothing contained in the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to reduce the amount of any benefits being received under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act by any individual on the date of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Regulation Reform Act of 1981 - Title I: The Analysis, Management, and Organization of Agency Functions - Requires the head of each Federal agency to publish for each proposed major rule a preliminary regulatory analysis which describes: (1) the need for the rule; (2) the reasonable alternative approaches; (3) regional differences; (4) the projected benefits, adverse economic effects, and effectiveness of the proposed rule and alternatives; (5) the estimated effect on small businesses, organizations, and governmental jurisdictions and competition in interstate and foreign commerce; and (6) the advantages and disadvantages of adopting performance standards rather than design standards. Requires each agency to provide interested persons 60 days after the preliminary analysis is issued to submit written comments and to provide 20 additional days for persons to respond to such comments. Requires that each agency publish for each final major rule a final regulatory analysis which includes: (1) a justification over alternatives which are more cost-effective or which have less adverse economic effects; (2) a summary of the significant issues raised by public comments; (3) a statement on the possibilities of providing requirement exemptions or less burdensome compliance standards for small businesses, organizations, or governmental jurisdictions; and (4) the total costs of the agency of the preliminary and final regulatory analysis. Directs each agency to: (1) include in the notice of each proposed and final major rule instructions of how the public may obtain copies of such analyses; and (2) send a copy of such analyses to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Authorizes an agency to delay completing such analyses by publishing a finding that the rule is being adopted in response to an emergency that makes completion of such analyses impossible. Terminates any such emergency rule if such analyses are not completed within 180 days of the publication of the rule. Bars judicial review of such regulatory analyses. Directs an agency to issue a rule providing exemptions or less burdensome compliance standards to small businesses, organizations, or governmental jurisdictions when it has indicated in the final regulatory analysis that such regulatory flexibility is lawful, feasible, and desirable. Requires the Director of OMB and the Comptroller General to report to Congress on agency compliance with the requirements of this title. Requires each agency to publish in the Federal Register, semiannually, a regulatory agenda containing a list of major and other rules for the next year and certain specified information concerning such rules. Directs each agency to submit its proposed major rules to the President for incorporation, semiannually, into the Calendar of Federal Regulations. Requires the Director of OMB to review and publish a list of rules submitted which potentially duplicate or conflict with other proposed or existing rules. Directs each agency to: (1) include in the notice of rulemaking or adjudicatory proceeding the date by which the agency intends to complete such proceeding; and (2) prepare and publish in the first regulatory agenda of the year a report on such proceedings which includes the number of proceedings the agency failed to complete by the established deadline and the reasons for such failure. Requires that such report also disclose specified information concerning the use of funds by the agency for procuring services for the preparation of any report in connection with such a proceeding. Requires each agency, within six months of the effective date of this act, to: (1) establish an office, within such agency, to be responsible for regulatory planning and management; (2) issue guidelines for determining which rules are significant rules according to specified standards; and (3) issue guidelines to insure that an adopted major or significant rule meets certain criteria including requirements that: (a) the rule is written to be easily understood; (b) there has been full consideration with affected State and local governments; and (c) the public has been given a full opportunity to participate in the rulemaking process. Directs each agency to publish and report to Congress on the costs of performing regulatory analyses and of reviewing its rules during the preceding year. Requires that each agency submit to OMB and publish in the Federal Register a draft schedule for the review, over a ten-year period, of its major rules and practices. Sets forth guidelines for such review. Directs each agency to publish a final review schedule within one year. Requires that each agency announce the review date for each major rule upon its publication. Requires each agency to publish an assessment of each precept reviewed. Declares that such review requirements shall not apply to precepts involving the internal revenue laws of the United States. Title II: Reorganizing and Improving Agency Proceedings - Requires that the general notice of a proposed rule include: (1) a statement that the agency seeks proposals from the public of alternative methods; and (2) a statement of where the file of the rulemaking proceeding may be inspected or how file copies may be obtained. Subjects rules concerning public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts to notice and comment rulemaking procedures. Directs each agency to maintain a file of each rulemaking proceeding. Requires each agency to prepare, semiannually, and transmit to the appropriate Congressional committees an agenda listing all areas in which the agency intends to propose major rules during the following year. Directs each agency to transmit a copy of each final rule to each House of Congress and to such committees on the day the rule is published. Prohibits the rule from becoming effective: (1) within 30 days after it is received by such committees; (2) until the earlier of the expiration of 60 days after the date on which a committee reports a resolution disapproving the rule or the date on which such resolution is rejected; or (3) if such a resolution is enacted. Exempts from such time constraints any major rule promulgated in response to an emergency situation. Prohibits an agency from promulgating a new rule substantially the same as a disapproved rule. Requires agencies to respond in an appropriate manner to good faith requests from interested persons for interpretations of agency rules. Creates a new procedure for administrative proceedings required by statute. Establishes an "expedited procedure" which applies to any proceeding predominantly concerning policy issues of a general character, including rulemaking and initial licensing. Requires "trial-type procedures" for proceedings concerning specific factual questions, including proceedings to assess a civil penalty or fine or to determine a claim for certain individual benefits. Enumerates the powers and responsibilities of a presiding employee at proceedings under trial-type procedure. Directs the agency, in such a proceeding, to conduct a hearing to afford parties an opportunity to submit written data, arguments, and responses, and an opportunity for oral argument. Authorizes the presiding employee to designate disputed questions for formal cross-examination. Sets forth procedures for issuing subpoenas in formal proceedings under the expedited or trial-type procedures. Allows an agency to designate an appropriate employee to recommend a decision for a proceeding under expedited procedure when the presiding employee submits a record of the proceeding without a recommended decision. Authorizes each agency to establish employee boards to review the decisions of presiding employees. Directs each agency to specify conditions under which it will accept an appeal of a decision of a presiding employee or such a board and conditions under which it will exclude a decision from the jurisdiction of a review board. Requires an action to be brought in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the review of an agency rule for which there is no applicable special statutory review procedure. Prohibits a court reviewing an agency action involving a rule from making any presumption in favor of the agency action if either the House of Representatives or the Senate has agreed to a resolution finding that the rule exceeded the agency's statutory authority or is inconsistent with legislative intent. Title III: Organizational and Program Improvements - Amends the Administrative Conference Act to repeal a requirement that the public members of the Conference be attorneys, scholars in government, or otherwise especially informed about Federal administrative procedure. Prohibits an agency from providing financial assistance for the costs of public participation in agency proceedings without specific statutory authority. Limits the maximum amount of such assistance. Requires any person awarded such assistance to enter into an agreement with the Chairman which outlines the representation to be provided by such person in the proceeding and permits the Chairman to examine expenditures from such assistance. Directs the Chairman to examine expenditures from such assistance. Directs the Chairman and the Director of OMB to report to Congress on the identity of applicants for such assistance and the amounts of assistance provided for fiscal years 1981 through 1984. Directs the Comptroller General to audit and report to Congress regarding the financial assistance procedures. Title IV: Congressional Review of Agency Regulations - Establishes the Committee on Regulatory Affairs as a permanent select committee of the House of Representatives to monitor the rulemaking activities of Federal agencies on a continuing basis. Requires each agency, upon proposing and upon promulgating a rule, to notify the Committee of certain information about the rule. Authorizes the Committee to investigate any such rule and report to the House. Specifies grounds for objections. Requires the Committee to transmit copies of such a report to the House committees with jurisdiction over the rule and to the promulgating agency. Directs the agency head to submit to the Speaker of the House within 30 days a statement indicating that the report has been reviewed, responding to issues raised by the Committee, and describing any accommodative agency actions. Precludes the House from considering any legislation appropriating funds to promulgate or implement such rule if the agency fails to submit such statement. Authorizes the Committee to report a joint resolution to prevent the promulgation of, postpone the effectiveness of, or repeal any rule on which it has issued a report. Permits the Speaker of the House to refer to the Committee: (1) any bill or resolution which authorizes an agency to issue rules which carry civil or criminal penalties for noncompliance; and (2) any resolution other than a joint resolution introduced pursuant to a provision of law authorizing Congressional disapproval of an agency rule. Directs the Committee to submit to the Ninety-eighth Congress a report on its activities during the Ninety-seventh Congress.
![Official portrait of Rep. Goodling, William F. [R-PA-19]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/g000291_200.jpg)