United States · United States Congress · 13 April 1989
Establishes a Commission on Employment Discrimination in the Legislative Branch. Directs the Commission to: (1) employ a nongovernmental consultant to study the compensation paid to Library of Congress personnel and analyze personnel policies of the Library; (2) evaluate the compensation system of the Library for compliance with title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and make any recommendations needed to achieve compliance; (3) develop a plan for the application of title VII through the legislative branch; and (4) make recommendations to the Congress for improvement of personnel policies and practices in the legislative branch. Directs the Commission to submit a final report to the Congress 18 months after enactment of this Act. Terminates the Commission 30 days after submission of the final report.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 1989
Coast Guard License Verification Act - Amends the National Driver Register Act of 1982 to authorize applicants for new and renewed merchant seamen licenses and certificates of registry to serve on or operate a commercial vessel to request the chief State driver licensing official to transmit to the Commandant of the Coast Guard information regarding such applicants' motor vehicle driving records. Prescribes the use of such information by the Commandant. Precludes access to information that was entered more than three years before the date of request unless it relates to revocations or suspensions which are still in effect on the date of request. Directs the Commandant to initiate a rulemaking to require each applicant to make available to the Commandant information regarding the motor vehicle driving record of the applicant.
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 1989
Refuge Wildlife Protection Act of 1989 - Amends the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act to require that any wildlife management or other activity which affects wildlife in any area of the System be conducted in the most humane manner possible. Permits the Secretary of the Interior to authorize any killing of a member of a wildlife species within any area of the System, based upon evidence that such killing is necessary for the health and habitat of wildlife species within the area, to protect public health and safety, and that non-lethal management alternatives are not available. Requires the Secretary to provide the scientific information upon which the authorization is based as well as details such as the numbers to be killed. Authorizes public hearings on such decisions unless an emergency exists. Authorizes the Secretary to contract out such killing. Authorizes the Secretary to donate the carcass to a charitable organization for a charitable purpose.
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 1989
Urges the Government of Iran to uphold the human rights of all its nationals, including members of the Baha'i faith, and to extend the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Calls upon the President to continue to: (1) emphasize human rights improvements as an important factor in the development of relations between the U.S. and Iranian Governments; (2) cooperate with other governments to initiate and support actions by the United Nations and its agencies to promote the protection of the religious rights of the Baha'is; and (3) provide, and urge others to provide, for refugee and humanitarian assistance for those Baha'is fleeing their homelands to escape religious repression.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 1989
Armed Felon Prohibition Act of 1989 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit any licensed dealer from transferring a handgun to an unlicensed individual without being presented with a valid: (1) permit issued by the chief law enforcement officer of such individual's place of residence; and (2) identification used to obtain such permit. Sets requirements for the issuance of such permits, including: (1) a background check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); (2) a seven-day waiting period before a handgun may be transferred by the dealer to the individual if the FBI has notified such officer that such individual does not fall within a specified category of individuals (including fugitives, unlawful drug users, or addicts); and (3) a 30-day waiting period where the FBI has not so notified such officer. Requires the destruction of information obtained from an individual applying for a permit after 60 days if no information has been obtained that such transfer would violate Federal, State, or local law. Subordinates this Act to more restrictive State law provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Common Sense Budget Act of 1989 - Amends Federal law to require both the President and the Congress to draft a budget based on estimates of current fiscal year spending, proposing increases or decreases based on this level (rather than on an estimated baseline). Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require the Congressional Budget Office to use such a current fiscal year baseline in its report to the congressional budget committees, projecting growth for entitlement and discretionary spending based on current fiscal year spending.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Multilingual Radio Act of 1989 - Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to begin procedures to prescribe regulations to: (1) establish demonstration frequencies to provide multilingual frequency modulation radio broadcasting services to large metropolitan areas with large multilingual populations; (2) require such demonstration frequency to be licensed in the New York City area; (3) create other demonstration frequencies, if possible, in other large metropolitan areas with large multilingual populations; (4) make such frequencies available through the use of directional antennas, allowing for coexistence with existing radio or television frequencies; and (5) require the licensee of such a multilingual operation to devote a specified amount of air time in programming other than English per day and per week, and a specified amount of time per day in instructional English. Directs the FCC to establish such frequencies as not-for-profit operations and award the license for such frequencies by comparative hearing to nonprofit groups with substantial experience in serving the needs of the multilingual and multiethnic communities.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Neighborhood Housing Services Act of 1989 - Amends the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation Act to authorize FY 1990 through 1994 appropriations for the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. States that appropriations in excess of amounts necessary for existing Corporation services shall be available to: (1) expand the national neighborhood housing services network; (2) expand the Neighborhood Housing Services of America's loan purchase capacity; (3) make grants for incentives to extend low-income housing use; (4) increase purchases of Department of Housing and Urban Development multi-family properties; and (5) provide assistance to mutual housing associations to ensure housing affordability for low and moderate income families.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Designates the week beginning September 1, 1989, as World War II Remembrance Week in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of that War.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1989
Title I: Statehood Centennial Coin - Statehood Centennial Commemorative Coin Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue not more than a specified number of one-dollar silver coins and five-dollar palladium coins in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the statehood of Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. Sets forth certain features of such coins and provides for their design, issuance, and sale. Requires the Secretary to provide a specified amount of all surcharges to the Documents West exhibition program with the remaining amount of surcharges to be deposited in the Treasury to be used to reduce the national debt. Requires the Secretary to obtain silver for the one-dollar coins only from stockpiles established under the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act. Requires the Secretary to obtain palladium for the five-dollar coins by purchase of palladium mined and refined in the United States. Grants the Comptroller General the right to examine records and other data of the Idaho Centennial Commission. Title II: Silver Proof Sets - Silver Coin Proof Set Act - Authorizes the Secretary to mint and issue silver coin proof sets. Sets forth certain specified features of such coins and provides for their sale to the public. Requires the Secretary to obtain silver for such coins by purchase from stockpiles established under the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act and from Treasury stocks on hand.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1989
Utah BLM Wilderness Act of 1989 - Title I: Designation of Wilderness - Designates the following lands in Utah as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System: (1) the Great Basin Wilderness; (2) the Zion and Mojave Desert Wilderness; (3) the Grand Staircase and Kaiparowits Plateau Wilderness; (4) the Escalante Canyons Wilderness; (5) the Henry Mountains Wilderness; (6) the Dirty Devil River Wilderness; (7) the Cedar Mesa Wilderness; (8) the Canyonlands Wilderness; (9) the San Rafael Swell Wilderness; and (10) the Book Cliffs and Uinta Basin Wilderness. Title II: Administrative Provisions - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to administer the wilderness areas designated under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1989
Older Women's Breast Cancer Prevention Act of 1989 - Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the cap on coverage of screening mammography.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1989
Acid Deposition Control Act of 1989 - Title I: Stationary Sources - Amends the Clean Air Act to require each Governor to submit to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for approval a two-phased plan establishing emission limitations and compliance schedules for sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen emissions from fossil fuel fired electric utility steam generating units in the State. Requires reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions by 1994 (phase I) and reductions in oxides of nitrogen and further reductions in sulfur dioxide by 1998 (phase II). Directs each Governor to submit to the Administrator for approval an emissions limitations plan for such units, other than electric utilities' units, requiring both sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen emissions reductions by 1998. Requires the Administrator to conduct and update an annual inventory of sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen emissions from stationary sources. Directs the Administrator to identify the total statewide potential reductions in such emissions and to transmit such information to the State. Requires each Governor to submit to the Administrator a plan for establishing emission limitations from stationary sources of industrial process emissions to achieve such State's potential reductions by 1998. Requires the Administrator to study and report to the Congress by June 30, 1994, on the reductions achieved during phase I, granting the Congress an opportunity to legislate by the start of 1995 against the implementation of phase II. Grants States an opportunity to modify disapproved plans. Establishes emissions standards and Administrator-promulgated plans for States without an approved plan. Requires units in such States to submit a compliance plan and schedule to the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to impose fees on the generation and importation of electric energy if a utility is eligible for Federal subsidies to cover rate increases attributable to emission reduction requirements. Limits such fee to a maximum of 1/2 mill per kilowatt hour and makes it inapplicable to the generation of electric energy within the United States by hydroelectric or nuclear power. Prohibits the application of such fees after December 31, 1997. Prescribes civil penalties for violations in connection with such fees. Establishes the Acid Deposition Control Fund to provide for subsidies to electric utilities to cover rate increases attributable to emission reduction requirements. Prohibits the payments of subsidies to any utility, unless the State's Governor has assured that such rate increases are: (1) equivalent for residential electric utility ratepayers throughout the State; and (2) made level over the period during which such requirements are in effect. Prohibits costs for any technological system of emission reduction from being attributed to such requirements, unless such system meets specified conditions. Authorizes the Administrator to provide financial assistance to the owners or operators of stationary sources to promote the use of innovative technologies to control sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other emissions from fossil fuels covered under the Clean Air Act. Sets forth eligibility and evaluation requirements. Allows State plans to provide for the use of innovative technology if contingent emission limitations are included in such plans. Authorizes the Administrator to impose fees on the generation of electric energy in such States to promote the use of innovative technologies. Prescribes civil penalties for violations in connection with such fees. Directs the Administrator to revise standards for emissions of nitrogen oxides for electric utility steam generating units burning bituminous or subbituminous coal. Requires the Administrator to promulgate standards for such emissions from nonelectric utility units which are new sources over a certain capacity. Title II: Emissions from Mobile Sources - Establishes emission standards for: (1) oxides of nitrogen from passenger cars and trucks manufactured after model year 1990; and (2) hydrocarbons from trucks manufactured after model year 1991. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations setting a maximum percentage for the sulfur content of motor vehicle diesel fuel. Prohibits any manufacturer or processor of diesel fuel from selling or introducing into commerce any fuel not in compliance with such regulations after January 1, 1991. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations to require the use of either hydrocarbon control technology by motor vehicles manufactured after model year 1991, or gasoline vapor recovery of hydrocarbon emissions emanating from the fueling of motor vehicles, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1989
Waste Reduction Act - Makes it the national policy to reduce or prevent pollution at its source whenever feasible. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish an office within the EPA which will be independent of the EPA's single-medium program offices and have the authority to review and advise such offices on their activities to promote a multi-media approach to source reduction. Directs the Administrator to develop and implement a strategy to promote source reduction. Identifies several review, coordination, outreach, and organizational actions that the Administrator must take as part of such strategy. Requires the Administrator to: (1) make matching grants to States for programs promoting the use of source reduction techniques by businesses; and (2) establish a Source Reduction Clearinghouse to compile information generated by States receiving grants on management, technical, and operational approaches to source reduction. Requires that such information be made available to the public. Requires filings of annual toxic chemical release forms required under the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 to include toxic chemical source reduction and recycling reports for toxic chemicals which are the subject of such filings. Includes in such reports information, on a facility-by-facility basis, as to: (1) the amounts and disposition of each toxic chemical; (2) the source reduction practices used with respect to such chemicals; (3) measurements of changes from past to anticipated levels of chemical reduction and recycling; and (4) the techniques used to identify source reduction opportunities. Makes such information available to the public. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress within one year of this Act's enactment and biennially thereafter on the results of actions taken to implement source reduction strategies. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1989
Research and Experimental Credit Extension and Reform Act of 1989 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the income tax credit for qualified research expenditures by repealing the provisions that would terminate the credit for expenses incurred or paid after 1989. Revises the method for computing: (1) base period research expenses, adding a factor reflecting the gross national product growth rate; and (2) the tax credit, adding an alternative computation component. Applies the credit to in-house research expenses that the taxpayer pays or incurs for the principal purpose of using the research results in the active conduct of a future trade or business.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1989
Eliminates post-1968 service in the National Guard as a prerequisite to civil service retirement credit for former National Guard technicians. Amends the National Guard Technicians Act of 1968 to eliminate post-1968 service as a prerequisite for National Guard technicians for receipt of credit in the determination of length of Federal civil service for purposes of leave, Federal employees' death and disability compensation, group life and health insurance, severance pay, tenure, and status. Sets forth rules for applying provisions of this Act to affected individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1989
Prohibits the obligation of funds for the B-2 Advanced Technology Bomber Program until the Secretary of Defense reports to the Congress on the following information with respect to the program: (1) total cost, including cost estimates and budget requests for future fiscal years; (2) production schedules; (3) test programs; and (4) the Secretary's views regarding the missions and purposes of such aircraft.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1989
Expresses disapproval of the refusal of the U.S.S.R. to recognize the sovereignty of the Baltic Republics. Designates June 14, 1989, as Baltic Freedom Day. Authorizes and requests the President to call upon the Soviet Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Democratic Republic of Germany to renounce the acquisition or absorption of the Baltic Republics by the Soviet Union as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1989
Committee Process Reforms of 1989 - Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to require each standing committee, not later than March 1 in the first session of a Congress, to adopt its oversight plans in a meeting open to the public. Requires the committees to submit such plans to the Committee on House Administration, which shall, not later than March 15 in the first session of a Congress, report such plans to the House with recommendations. Authorizes the Speaker of the House to appoint special ad hoc oversight committees to review specific matters within the jurisdiction of two or more committees. Amends rule XI to require each committee to include in its biennial report to the House a separate section summarizing its legislative and oversight activities during that Congress. Directs the Speaker of the House initially to refer each bill, resolution, or other matter to one committee of principal jurisdiction. Eliminates the Speaker's authority to refer any such matter initially to two or more committees for concurrent consideration, however the Speaker continues to have authority to make sequential referrals to multiple committees. Requires standing committees to be elected by the House within seven legislative days (currently, seven calendar days) after the commencement of a Congress. Requires standing committees to hold organizational meetings not later than three legislative days after election. Requires the membership of each committee (except the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct), select committee, and conference committee (and each subcommittee, task force, or subunit thereof) to reflect the ratio of majority to minority Members. Provides that such ratio be reflected for standing committees at the beginning of each Congress, and for select and conference committees at the time of appointment. Prohibits any standing committee from establishing more than six subcommittees, and any Member serving at any one time on more than four subcommittees. Defines subcommittee as any subunit of a standing committee established for a period of more than six months. Prohibits the vote by any member of any committee or subcommittee from being cast by proxy. Requires open meetings unless disclosure of matters to be considered would endanger national security, tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any person, or otherwise violate any law or rule of the House, or involve committee personnel. Provides that a majority of members of each committee or subcommittee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business. Requires committee rollcall votes on a motion to report any bill or resolution of a public character to include the names of members voting for and against. Requires each nonrecord vote to include the names of those Members actually present at the time the bill or resolution is ordered reported. Requires that a draft copy of each report of a measure or recommendation be made available to the Members of the appropriate committee at least one legislative day prior to the date such measure is scheduled to be reported. Makes an exception for the Committee on Rules in specified cases. Requires prior committee or subcommittee approval before the public dissemination of any print, document, or other material intended for such public dissemination, other than reports on measures or recommendations. Requires the printing of a specified disclaimer in boldface type on the cover of such materials if committee members are not afforded the opportunity to include views. Lists the types of materials for which such requirements do not apply. Provides for the consideration of any order of business resolution from the Committee on Rules which provides for the consideration of unreported bills. Prohibits the House from considering any primary expense resolution until the Committee on House Administration has reported and the House has adopted a resolution establishing the committee staff personnel ceiling for the year. Requires such committee to specify in any primary or supplemental expense resolution the number of staff positions authorized therein. Authorizes the House to consider any supplemental expense resolution in excess of such ceiling by a vote of two-thirds of the Members present. Prohibits the overall staff ceiling of the 101st Congress from exceeding 90 percent of the total committee staff personnel employed at the end of the 100th Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1989
Designates September 15, 1989, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Recognizes the National League of Families POW/MIA flag as the official symbol of the United States' commitment to resolving the fates of Americans still prisoner or missing in action in Southeast Asia.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1989
Immigration Exclusion and Deportation Amendments of 1989 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make only the following classes of aliens ineligible to receive visas for admission into the United States: (1) any alien with a communicable disease of public health significance; (2) any alien with a record of recent physical or mental disorder that poses a threat to property or safety; (3) any alien with a drug addiction; (4) any alien convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, with specified exceptions; (5) any alien convicted of specified drug violations or involved in drug trafficking; (6) any alien who has engaged in prostitution, or procurement of prostitutes, within ten years of the date of application for U.S. entry; (7) any alien likely to be a security risk; (8) any alien who has engaged in terrorist activity or likely to engage in such activity; (9) any alien whose entry would endanger the lives or property of U.S. citizens living abroad; (10) any alien whose entry would convey the impression of U.S. support for a government or group that the United States does not recognize or support, or whose entry would have a serious negative effect on U.S. diplomatic relations; (11) any alien who participated in Nazi persecutions; (12) any alien who is likely to become a public charge, with admission on bond at the discretion of the Attorney General; (13) any alien seeking to enter the United States for the purpose of performing skilled or unskilled labor, with specified exceptions (teaching, postgraduate research, and science or arts), or in situations of insufficient U.S. workers; (14) any alien who is a graduate of a medical school not accredited by a body approved for such purpose by the Secretary of Education, with certain exceptions; (15) any excluded or deported alien who seeks readmission within five years of the event, unless such readmission is consented to by the Attorney General; (16) any alien seeking to enter the United States by fraud or the willful misrepresentation of a material fact; (17) any stowaway alien; (18) any alien who aids any other alien in illegal entry; (19) any immigrant not in possession of a valid immigrant visa and passport at the time of admission; (20) any nonimmigrant without a valid passport authorizing the alien to return to the country from which he or she came or without a valid nonimmigrant visa or border crossing card (provides for a Guam visa waiver for up to 15-day pleasure or business entries); and (21) any alien ineligible for U.S. citizenship, including a person who left or remained outside the United States to avoid U.S. military service in time of war or national emergency. Repeals the ideological grounds for exclusion. Directs the Attorney General and the Secretary of State to jointly develop guidelines for the review of exclusion lists and other mechanisms used to screen alien visa applicants. Requires the Attorney General and the Secretary to report jointly to the appropriate committees regarding the development of such guidelines (within one year) and the results of the review of such alien lists (within two years). Makes deportable by the Attorney General only those aliens within one of the following classes: (1) any alien who at the time of entry was within one or more of the classes of aliens excludable by then existing law; (2) any alien entering the United States without inspection or at a time and place other than as designated by the Attorney General; (3) any alien admitted as a nonimmigrant who has failed to maintain such status; (4) any alien admitted as a temporary agricultural worker (H-2A visa) whose status has been terminated (with family hardship exceptions); (5) any alien who within five years of entry knowingly and for gain has aided another alien to illegally enter the United States; (6) any alien admitted as an additional special agricultural worker who fails to show the necessary number of seasonal work days; (7) any alien who gained U.S. entry through marriage fraud; (8) any alien convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years from the date of entry and who is either sentenced or confined for a term of one year or longer; (9) any alien who at any time after entry is convicted of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude; (10) any alien who at any time after entry is convicted of a violation of certain drug laws; (11) any alien who is a drug abuser or addict; (12) any alien who at any time after entry is convicted under weapons-possession laws; (13) any alien who at any time is convicted on any of various specified loyalty laws (e.g. sabotage, treason and sedition, selective service, etc.); (14) any alien who fails to comply with alien registration laws or foreign agent registration laws; (15) any alien convicted of fraud or misuse of visas or other entry documents; (16) any alien engaging in activity which endangers the public safety or national security, including terrorist activity; (17) any alien who within five years after entry has become a public charge; (18) any alien who participated in Nazi persecutions; (19) any alien whose presence could endanger the lives or property of U.S. citizens living abroad; or (20) any alien whose presence could convey the impression of U.S. support for a government or group that the United States does not recognize or support, or whose presence could have a serious negative effect on U.S. diplomatic relations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1989
Designates April 16, 1989, the 87th birthday of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, as Education Day, U.S.A. Calls on heads of state of the world to join the President of the United States in this tribute by signing scrolls of honor commemorating the 40th anniversary of Schneerson's leadership of the Lubavitch movement. Welcomes the cooperation of the Department of State in extending the good office of the U.S. missions to the Lubavitcher emissaries.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1989
Requires the Architect of the Capitol to establish and implement a voluntary program for recycling paper disposed of in the operation of the House of Representatives.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1989
Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Expansion Act of 1989 - Amends the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (the Act) to repeal the termination date for duty-free treatment of beneficiary countries. Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to grant duty-free treatment to articles (not over $600 in value) acquired in a beneficiary country. Increases from $800 to $1200 the personal exemption from customs duties of articles acquired in the U.S. insular possessions and from other countries. Amends the Act to require the United States Trade Representative (USTR), upon request of a beneficiary country, to enter into a bilateral agreement with that country establishing guaranteed access levels for textile products assembled in such country from qualifying fabrics (fabrics formed and cut in the United States and certain fabrics of foreign manufacture which are cut in the United States). Makes such products eligible for duty-free treatment. Provides that textile products that are assembled in a beneficiary country from qualifying fabric and incorporate findings and trimmings of foreign origin are eligible for guaranteed access and duty-free treatment if such findings and trimmings do not exceed 25 percent of the cost of the components of the assembled product. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish an advisory committee to provide to the Secretary descriptions of those fabrics that the committee recommends to be included on the list of fabrics likely to be utilized in the manufacture of textile products in beneficiary countries which: (1) are not formed in the United States; or (2) are formed in the United States but are in critical shortage. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the USTR, when negotiating bilateral textile agreements, should seek to obtain greater fairness, transparency, and stability in the administration by foreign countries of their obligations under such agreements, especially in the allocation of export certifications between U.S. and foreign firms. Sets forth provisions concerning "general duty-free quotas" and "national duty-free quotas" with respect to specified articles imported from beneficiary countries. Provides that duty-free treatment provided under the Act shall not apply to: (1) textile and apparel articles; (2) certain leather articles; (3) canned tuna; (4) petroleum and petroleum products; and (5) watches and watch parts. Requires the President to submit a specified report to the Congress every three years. Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States with respect to the allocation of quotas on sugars imported from beneficiary countries. Prohibits the USTR, in allocating any limitation on such imports, from: (1) reducing the percentage allocation made to the Philippines; (2) making an allocation to the Republic of South Africa; and (3) allowing the aggregate of the amounts of the base quota allocations to Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) countries for any quota year beginning after December 31, 1988, to be less than 371,449 metric tons, raw value. Requires any allocation for any quota of imported sugar from specified foreign countries for any year to be reallocated on a pro-rata basis among the CBI countries receiving allocations for that year if such allocation is suspended or terminated due to a threat to U.S. national security or foreign policy. Authorizes the President to enter into trade agreements with foreign governments for the purpose of granting compensation if the United States takes specified action inconsistent with its international obligations (including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to require the International Trade Commission, when making determinations as to material injury with respect to antidumping and countervailing duty cases, to assess cumulatively the volume and effect of imports from a country designated as a beneficiary country under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act with respect to imports of like products from beneficiary countries. Directs the Commissioner of Customs to implement a pilot preclearance program during FY 1990 and 1991 to assess the extent to which the availability of preclearance operations can assist in the development of tourism in the Caribbean Basin. Prohibits the commencement of such operations unless the Commissioner of Customs and the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization make a specified joint certification. Requires the Commissioner to submit to the Congress a report regarding such program.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to revise the country of origin marking law requiring that imported manhole rings, frames, or covers be marked on the top surface.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Semiautomatic Assault Weapons Act of 1989 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit the transfer or possession of a semiautomatic assault weapon (SAW) or ammunition feeding device, unless such weapon or device was lawfully possessed before the date this Act takes effect. Defines "semiautomatic assault weapon" to include: (1) any Kalashnikov, Uzi, or Colt AR-15 type semiautomatic firearm; (2) any semiautomatic weapon fed by an ammunition belt or feed strip; (3) any semiautomatic shotgun with a magazine, cylinder, or drum capacity exceeding six rounds of ammunition; and (4) any weapon designated as such by the Secretary of the Treasury. Specifies weapons not falling within such definition. Defines "ammunition feeding device" to include a detachable device which has a capacity of, or can be converted to accept, more than ten rounds of ammunition and which meets certain specifications. Requires the Secretary: (1) to compile and publish a list of weapons designated by the Secretary as SAWs; and (2) to periodically modify such list. Establishes guidelines in determining whether to designate a weapon as a SAW. Provides: (1) that the Secretary shall not be required to authorize the importation of SAWs; and (2) for enhanced penalties for possession or use of a SAW during a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to apply firearms taxes and registration requirements to SAWs.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1989
Radio License Renewal and Improvements Act of 1989 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission, with respect to applications for radio license broadcast renewals, to grant a renewal if during the preceding term of the license the licensee: (1) has broadcast material responsive to issues of concern to the residents of its service area; and (2) has not committed violations of such Act or the rules or regulations of the Commission, which taken together would constitute a pattern of abuse. Authorizes the Commission to deny a renewal or grant limited renewal if an applicant has failed to meet such requirements. Prohibits the Commission, in evaluating a licensee's performance in broadcasting material responsive to matters of public concern, from establishing or applying any requirement with respect to the broadcast of any specific subject or quantity of material. Directs the Commission to accept the licensee's judgment if found to be reasonable and made in good faith. Prohibits the Commission, in determining whether to renew a license, from considering whether the public interest, convenience, and necessity might be served by granting a license to a competing applicant. Directs the Commission to conduct an inquiry and prescribe any necessary regulations concerning any additional information that licensees should be required to maintain and make available to the public regarding the licensee's responsibility to broadcast material responsive to matters of public concern. Makes it unlawful for a license applicant and any other person, while a license application is pending, to effectuate an agreement whereby the other person withdraws or withholds the filing of a competing application, an informal objection, or a petition to deny in exchange for the payment of anything of value by, or on behalf of, the applicant. Requires the Commission to establish a procedure for the review of informal complaints received by the Commission during the license term of a radio licensee. Authorizes the Commission to consider such complaints at the time of a license renewal if such complaints constitute a pattern of abuse for purposes of this Act or evidence of the licensee's effort to serve the public interest.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1989
Commends the Board of Immigration Appeals for its decision to allow Joseph Patrick Doherty to apply for U.S. asylum. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Attorney General should approve Joseph Patrick Doherty's asylum application and release him on bond pending the application's review.
![Official portrait of Rep. Green, S. William [R-NY-15]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/g000417_200.jpg)