United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1983
Amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to remove from the list of prohibited acts the possession of or commerce in mollusks, crustaceans, or arthropods (shellfish) in violation of foreign law.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1983
Commemorates the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the State of Georgia. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to strike and furnish national medals to the Semiquincentenary Commission of the State of Georgia.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the reporting of tips by large food or beverage establishments in lieu of allocation requirements if reported tips do not equal eight percent of gross receipts. Allows for a reduction of such percentage under certain circumstances.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an additional ten percent investment tax credit for new irrigation equipment. Terminates such additional percentage after December 31, 1989. Requires a reduction in the amount of such credit where such equipment is financed by nontaxable grants. Limits the amount of such credit to 25 percent of the taxpayer's gross income derived from farming.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1983
Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee Act of 1983 - Amends the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act to require that the number of local agricultural stabilization and conservation (ASC) committees in a county shall not be less than existed as of December 31, 1980. Requires with regard to such committees that: (1) all members, as of January 1, 1984, be elected to three-year terms; and (2) they meet at least four times a year. Sets forth committee duties and makes them effective as of January 1, 1984. Expands the Secretary of Agriculture's authority to use local and county committees. Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to require the Secretary to pay: (1) travel expenses for members of State, county, and local ASC cmmittees; and (2) hourly compensation for work actually performed to county members (at GS- 11 rate) and to local members (at GS-9 rate).
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 1983
Cement, Cement Clinker, and Concrete Block and Brick Fair Trade Act of 1983 - Amends the Tariff Schedules of the United States to impose a duty on foreign subsidized hydraulic cement, cement clinker, and concrete block and brick. Provides procedures for the imposition of such duty.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a cost of living adjustment, after 1985, in the maximum deduction for retirement savings, using the cost of living adjustment applicable to the maximum annual limits for employer retirement plans.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow the income tax deduction for retirement savings to be computed for a married individual on the basis of the lesser of $2,000 or the sum of such individual's compensation and so much of the compensation of the spouse of such individual as exceeds the individual retirement account deduction of such spouse.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1983
Establishes the Kamehameha National Monument in Hawaii. Requires the Secretary of the Interior to provide facilities to commemorate the historical significance of the monument. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1983
Authorizes the President to present, on behalf of Congress, a gold medal to Margaret Truman Daniel, daughter of Harry S. Truman, in recognition of the lifetime of outstanding public service he gave to the United States. Commemorates his one hundredth birthday which will be celebrated on May 8, 1984. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1983
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide that nursing care and home health aid services may be provided on a daily basis as home health services for up to 90 days with monthly physician certification of the need for such services, and after the 90 day period, on a physician certification of exceptional circumstances. Limits to 20 the number of home health service visits covered under Medicare in the case of individuals who were furnished certain home health services but continue to need nursing care or the services of a home health aide.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 1983
Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to announce 1984 feed grain acreage limitations or set-asides by September 16, 1983.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that one-half of the cost of insurance paid by a self-employed taxpayer for medical care during the taxable year will be allowed as a business deduction.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 1983
National Economic Cooperation Act of 1983 - Amends the Employment Act of 1946 to add a new title on national economic cooperation. Establishes a National Economic Cooperation Council. Sets forth the purposes of the Council, including the requirement that the Council report annually to the President and the Congress on the state of the national economy. Requires that the general policies and administrative direction of the Council shall be controlled by a Board composed of nine members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Sets forth the qualifications of members of the Board. Requires the principal administrative officer of the Council to be an Executive Director appointed by the Board. Requires the Council to promote the growth and vitality of the U.S. economy by: (1) collecting and analyzing relevant data concerning economic trends and market opportunities; (2) evaluating existing and alternative government and business policies in terms of their impact on the capacity of American enterprises to take advantage of those trends and opportunities; (3) recommending government and business strategies and practices which will improve that capacity; (4) developing such concensus among the branches of government, labor, and business as is necessary to implement such strategies and practices; and (5) evaluating State and local policies and practices in terms of their impact on the economy. Sets forth methods for the Council to follow in carrying out such functions. Authorizes the Council to make special reports as necessary, in addition to its annual report. Sets forth the authority of the Council to conduct hearings. Establishes within the Council a Bureau of Economic Information and a Bureau of Economic Analysis and Policy. Sets forth the duties of such Bureaus. Directs the President to designate a Special Adviser for Economic Coordination who: (1) shall be the principal official responsible for the coordination of executive branch trade and economic functions and activities; and (2) shall serve as the principal liaison official between executive branch departments and agencies and the Council. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1984 through 1989. Sets forth general administrative provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to grant tax-exempt status to foreign pension trusts which invest in the United States. Requires that such pension trusts: (1) be maintained primarily to provide retirement benefits to employees who are primarily nonresident alien individuals; (2) have assets which are segregated from the assets of the employer maintaining the trust pursuant to the laws of the foreign country in which the trust is maintained; and (3) be maintained in a foreign country which grants preferential tax treatment to such pension trusts. Provides that such exemption shall not apply to any income or gain derived by such trusts for any interest in land used in farming. Authorizes the President to withdraw such tax-exempt status from such trusts if the country in which the trust is maintained in a country which does not grant preferential tax treatment to U.S. pension trusts investing in that country.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 1983
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to solicit bids (without specifying any bid limitations) from cotton producers in order to acquire sufficient cotton for 1983 payment-in-kind stocks. States that until sufficient stocks are acquired or a reasonable bidding time has been made available by the Secretary (not less than two weeks), no bids shall be rejected unless they exceed similar feed grain bids. Permits producers to modify previous bids as provided for by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 1983
Establishes the Commission on Capital Markets to evaluate the regulation of financial intermediaries by the Federal and State governments and the functioning of such intermediaries in the accumulation and allocation of capital within the United States economy. Sets forth the information to be included in such evaluation. Requires the Commission, within nine months after the initial meeting, to submit to Congress a report on the results of its evaluation. Terminates the Commission ninety days after the submission of its final report. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 1983
Telecommunications Regulation Reform Act of 1983 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revise, reduce, or eliminate telecommunication regulatory requirements with respect to: (1) any communication service or facility as competition develops and the need for regulation diminishes; or (2) any carrier that does not have the ability to affect any market price significantly. Directs the Commission to consider the extent to which a facility faces competition from alternative facilities that provide comparable service at comparable cost and that have sufficient capacity to ensure competitive pricing in the absence of regulation when establishing the appropriate level of regulation. Prohibits the FCC or any State commission from: (1) considering the revenues derived from any unregulated products or services offered by any common carrier in determining the revenue requirements of any service of such carrier, unless such carrier has filed a tariff with the FCC or such State commission that includes any cost of providing such unregulated products or services; (2) restricting the resale or shared use of any interexchange or enhanced service other than an international communication; or (3) regulating the manufacture, sale, or supply of any enhanced service, product, terminal equipment, or inside wiring, except that the FCC or a State commission shall have authority over the conduct of business between the regulated operations of common carriers and exchange common carriers and the unregulated operations of such carriers to ensure that the users of such service do not bear any costs associated with entry into such enhanced service market and to prevent any anticompetitive practice by carriers between offerings of enhanced services and offerings of common carrier or exchange services. Requires every exchange common carrier by the later of January 1, 1986, 30 days after receiving any written request, or the date specified by the FCC, to offer to all interexchange customers an element-by-element tariff for exchange access which is equal to access provided by such exchange common carrier to the interchange services that it or any other carrier offers. Directs the FCC to postpone the application of such requirements to any carrier which lacks appropriate electronic switching equipment or to any rural exchange if such postponement will avoid undue burdens on the carrier or its customers. Declares that no such postponement shall relieve any carrier from the terms of any judgment under Federal antitrust laws. Requires every exchange carrier to allow customers to interconnect to transmission services or facilities which it offers any terminal equipment, inside wiring, or transmission services or facilities. Prohibits any exchange common carrier from discriminating between affiliated and unaffiliated persons or among unaffiliated persons in providing communication services used in connection with terminal equipment, enhanced services, information publication services, or any other service. Requires any carrier to allow interconnection between any communication service it offers and any terminal equipment, inside wiring, or communication service or facility upon reasonable request. Directs any person which controls and offers inside wiring to promptly allow persons making reasonable requests to interconnect such wiring with any terminal equipment, inside wiring, or communication service or facility that meets FCC technical standards.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 1983
Telecommunications Competition Act of 1983 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require that any telephone operating company shall retain any terminal equipment which it provided on the effective date of this Act and shall continue to make the equipment available to customers under tariffs in force as of such date until the equipment is fully depreciated except that: (1) State commissions shall permit increases in such tariffs to reflect any reasonable increases in the costs of providing such equipment; and (2) the customer may purchase such equipment for a price fixed by the State commission. Authorizes operating companies to offer other terminal equipment to the public at any time after January 1, 1984, if the equipment: (1) is manufactured by unaffiliated persons; and (2) is offered through a separate subsidiary which meets specified requirements. Permits an operating company to offer an enhanced service to the public only through a separate subsidiary which meets such requirements. Prohibits an operating company from discriminating between the products, services, and requirements of a dominant carrier and those of other persons in the: (1) procurement of facilities, products, and services; (2) establishment and dissemination of technical standards and specifications for procurement and interconnection; (3) interconnection and use of the facilities of the operating company or in the charges for each element of such use; and (4) provision of new services and planning for and implementation of the construction or modification of facilities used to provide exchange access. Sets forth a schedule according to which an operating company shall be required to purchase a specified percentage of its requirements in each product category from manufacturers who are unaffiliated with a dominant carrier. Directs the Federal Communications Commission, ten years after enactment of this Act, to review the effectiveness of this schedule in establishing and maintaining a policy of competitive procurement. Defines an operating company as a carrier owned or controlled by a dominant carrier on January 1, 1983.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 1983
Consumer Telecommunications Act of 1983 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission to establish a system of charges to: (1) compensate exchange carriers (carriers that provide telephone exchange service on a universal basis) for exchange access (the provision of services and facilities for interexchange communication); and (2) reform the system of jurisdictional separation of property and expenses. Declares the purposes of such system to be to: (1) achieve equal treatment among all interexchange carriers with regard to exchange access; (2) compensate exchange carriers for the costs of distributing interexchange transmissions; (3) continue the universal availability of basic communications service provided by exchange carriers at reasonable charges; (4) assure that exchange access costs are determined in a manner that ensures public accountability; (5) achieve flexibility in accommodating changes in technology and market conditions; and (6) establish incentives for investment and technological development and avoid uneconomic incentives that discourage reliance by interexchange carriers upon exchange carriers as distributors of interexchange transmissions. Directs the Commission to: (1) ascertain the costs incurred by exchange carriers to provide exchange access; and (2) apportion such costs between exchange (local) service and interexchange (long distance) service in a manner that ensures the universal availability of basic communications service at reasonable rates. Directs the Commission to ensure that the costs of non-traffic-sensitive facilities used to provide exchange access are allocated to interexchange services based on their relative use of such facilities; and (2) the costs allocated to interexchange service are recovered from interexchange carriers and customers of interexchange services. Establishes the Universal Service Fund to subsidize and thereby ensure basic communications service in rural or remote areas at reasonable charges. Directs the Commission to establish practices to determine amounts to be contributed to the Fund by interexchange carriers and customers. Entitles to Fund payments any exchange carrier whose statewide costs for exchange service per customer line, or for connecting lines to interexchange carriers, exceed 115 percent of the national average costs. Permits an eligible carrier to recover up to 60 percent of such excess costs from the Fund. Authorizes a State commission to require any exchange carrier to lease and maintain on request a single basic one-line telephone instrument to any subscriber in such State for a tariff that includes all costs of providing and maintaining such instrument. Entitles any person who makes a written request to: (1) receive a nonexclusive license to any patent held for a dominant carrier upon paying a reasonable royalty; and (2) use any patent held by a common carrier for purposes of interconnecting with such carrier's teminal equipment or transmission services. Requires the tariffs for such services to include a reasonable royalty for the use of such services. Requires that technical information relating to such patents be provided to such persons for a reasonable charge, except that such person may be required to agree not to use such technical information for products not manufactured in the United States. Requires any such royalties derived from any patent held for a dominant carrier to benefit common carriers, exchange common carriers, and their ratepayers to the extent that such entities bore the costs of developing or acquiring such patent. Authorizes the Commission and each State commission to: (1) ensure that the customers of regulated communications services do not bear any costs of entry into or participation in unregulated markets by common carriers or exchange carriers; and (2) prevent any anticompetitive practice by any carrier.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1983
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) State regulatory commissions should carefully review requests for telephone rate increases; (2) the Federal Communications Commission should ascertain the impact on telephone rates of regulatory changes and judicial decisions and should furnish the House with an estimate of the number of people who would suffer an economic hardship or be forced to discontinue telephone service as a result of such changes and decisions; and (3) specified House committees should consider legislation that will assure affordable telephone service for all the people of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an amortization deduction, based on a period of 60 months, for bus operating authorities held by the taxpayer on November 19, 1982, or acquired under a binding contract in effect on that date. Limits the aggregate amount of such deduction to $5,000,000.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 1983
National Summit Conference on Education Act of 1983 - Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Education for conducting a National Summit Conference on Education. Sets forth provisions for appointment of participants to the Conference. Directs the Conference to develop recommendations in response to the findings of the National Commission on Excellence in Education and relating to specified areas of educational policy. Directs the Conference to transmit its recommendations to the President, the Congress, and State Governors by January 15, 1984.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 1983
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that hospice care is a necessary and humane alternative to traditional health care for the terminally ill.
United States · United States Congress · 2 June 1983
Historic Shipwreck Preservation Act - Provides that the United States relinquishes to the respective States all right, title, and interest of the United States with respect to historical shipwrecks and structures on the seabed or in the subsoil of lands beneath the navigable waters within the boundaries of such States. Provides that the U.S. maritime law of salvage shall not apply to such shipwrecks or structures.
United States · United States Congress · 2 June 1983
Fresh Vegetable and Potato Trade Act of 1983 - Provides for the establishment of a surtax on imported vegetables considered to be economically injurious or threatening to U.S. vegetable producers. Designates certain vegetables and potatoes listed in the Tariff Schedules as a "vegetable category." Allows the Secretary of Agriculture, upon petition, to designate, for the market season, any other vegetable in the Tariff Schedules as a "vegetable category" if the Secretary concludes that economic injury is being caused or threatened to U.S. producers of such vegetable. Requires the Secretary to monitor, weekly, the market prices paid for any vegetable in a "vegetable category." Provides that if the Secretary determines that the average market price paid for such a vegetable does not equal 90 percent of the average price paid for such a vegetable for such week in the immediately preceding three years, then the Secretary, within five working days, must publish notice in the Federal Register that such a vegetable is to be included in a "depressed" vegetable category. Directs the Secretary, with respect to such "depressed" vegetable category, to monitor on a daily basis the prices paid for such a vegetable and on a weekly basis the volume of imported vegetables in such category that are sold in terminal markets. Authorizes the Secretary to presume that an imported vegetable is causing or threatening economic injury to U.S. producers of a like vegetable if the Secretary makes a determination that: (1) the average market price of a vegetable included in the "depressed" vegetable category is below the benchmark price for such vegetable; and (2) the volume of such vegetable exceeds by five percent the volume of the same imported vegetable sold in a terminal market during an equivalent week in calendar year 1978. Establishes a surtax for such an imported vegetable. Provides that such surtax shall be in effect for 180 days and can be extended for another 90 days if the Secretary determines that the same conditions exist. Requires the Secretary to notify the exporting countries of the imposition of such surtax on such an imported vegetable. Provides for the calculation and administration of such surtax.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 1983
Supplemental Security Income Mental Disability Determinations Reform Act of 1983 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to revise the criteria under the category "Mental Disorders" in the "Listing of Impairments" in the Code of Federal Regulations, to the extent such criteria are applicable to individuals seeking or receiving benefits based on disability under the Supplemental Security Income program (title XVI of the Social Security Act). Directs the Secretary to also revise the methods of procedures used under such program for assessing the residual functional capacity of individuals having mental impairments. Requires the revised listings and residual functional capacity assessments to be designed to realistically evaluate the ability of a mentally impaired individual to engage in substantial gainful activity in a competitive workplace environment. Directs the Secretary to appoint a panel of outside experts to make recommendations with respect to such revisions. Prohibits continuing eligibility reviews with respect to mental impairment until the revisions are completed. Requires, under title XVI, that in any case in which an individual claims to be under a disability by reason of a mental impairment, the determination shall be made only after the Secretary has demonstrated that a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist has completed the medical portion of the sequential evaluation and residual functional capacity assessment. Prohibits the authorization of appropriations for SSI periodic eligibility reviews for individuals whose claims to disability benefits are based on mental impairment, except to the extent that such funds are specifically authorized for such reviews. Makes permanent provisions of title XVI which provide SSI benefits for individuals who perform substantial gainful activity despite a severe medical impairment. Makes permanent provisions which provide for the continued payment of SSI or disability benefits (title II of such Act) during appeal of a disability determination. Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide assistance to disabled individuals in complying with requirements and procedures under titles II and XVI; and (2) assure that disabled individuals eligible for or receiving benefits under title II are informed of available SSI benefits. Requires hearings and proceedings related to a disabled individual under the SSI program to be held at an accessible location.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow income tax deductions for contributions to private foundations on the same basis as contributions to public charities (deductible up to 50 percent of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income). Redefines "lineal descendants" to include only children and grandchildren, for purposes of private foundation penalty tax rules dealing with substantial contributors. Provides that private foundation gifts to public charities do not forfeit their tax deductibility due to the disqualification of the charity's tax exemption if: (1) the gift is made before the Secretary of the Treasury publishes a notice of disqualification or before the foundation receives actual notice of disqualification; (2) and the foundation was not responsible for or aware of the charity's change in status. Exempts a private foundation from expenditure responsibility requirements if such foundation and all related foundations contribute no more than $15,000 in grants during a taxable year. Permits the Secretary to abate first tier penalty taxes on private foundations if it is determined that a violation of private foundation rules was due to a good faith error or omission and was corrected within the statutory correction period.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1983
Rural Electrification and Telephone Revolving Fund Self-Sufficiency Act of 1983 - Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (REA) to eliminate the requirement for a State certificate of convenience and necessity before the Administrator may make loans to provide rural telephone service. Revises the liabilities and uses of the Rural Electrification and Telephone Revolving Fund established under the REA to provide that notes of the Administrator to the Secretary of the Treasury to obtain funds for loans shall be equity capital of the Fund. States that assets of the Fund shall be available only for: (1) payment of interest and principal on loans to the Administrator from the Secretary of the Treasury; and (2) for certificates of beneficial ownership issued to such Secretary or in the private market. Requires the Administrator to maintain two separate accounts within the fund: (1) the Electrification Account; and (2) the Telephone Account. Lists the items that shall be accounted for in each Account respectively, and restricts the purposes for which the assets of each Account shall be available. Authorizes the Administrator to repurchase specified certificates of beneficial ownership under certain conditions affecting their interest rates. Establishes guidelines for interest-bearing insured loans made by the Administrator to electric and telephone borrowers. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to request in each annual supplemental budget estimate the amount needed to replenish the Fund for anticipated and actual costs resulting from loans made at less than a specified rate during the preceding fiscal year. Directs the Administrator to guarantee loans to specified borrowers or to accommodate or subordinate liens or mortgages held in the Fund, according to prescribed rules and regulations. Directs the Administration to promulgate such rules and regulations within 90 days after the effective date of this Act. Prescribes guidelines under which certain lenders are authorized to adjust interest rates on loans guaranteed by the Administrator. Requires rural electrification borrowers to obtain concurrent supplemental financing according to prescribed guidelines in any fiscal year in which the minimum loan level for insured rural electrification loans is less than $1,000,000,000. Repeals the loan-making authority of the Governor of the Rural Telephone Bank which require approval by the Secretary of Agriculture of facilities or lines to be acquired with such loans. Eliminates loan restrictions placed upon potential borrowers whose net worth exceed their assets by twenty percent.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 1983
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits any bill for borrowing money on the credit of the United States from being presented to the President, except in time of war, unless three-fifths of the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed it.