United States · United States Congress · 6 April 1978
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual who has attained the age of 62 before the close of the taxable year to exclude up to $3,000 of interest which would otherwise be includible in gross income. Reduces the amount of interest which may be excluded by one-half of the excess of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income over $5,500.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1978
Declares that it is the policy of the Congress in the interest of public health to phase out Federal assistance which promotes the production of tobacco and the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products for human consumption. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to study and report to the President and to the appropriate Congressional committees his findings and recommendations regarding the probable economic effects (particularly on family farmers) of the phasing out of specified Federal tobacco assistance programs.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1978
Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965: (1) to redefine the requirements by which a unit of local government is designated as a planning and service agency in terms of age and population; and (2) to require an area agency on aging to transfer funds, on a proportionate basis, directly to any unit of general purpose local government which contains 20 percent or more of the population aged 60 or over of the planning and service area.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1978
Expresses the condemnation by the Congress of the March 11, 1978, attack on Israel by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the expressed intention of the PLO to continue such attacks and to disrupt the peace efforts between Israel and Egypt. Requests the President to make the disapproval of the Congress known to governments approving the PLO attack. Expresses Congressional approval of the peace efforts between Israel and Egypt. Urges other Middle East countries to join such efforts. Declares negotiation to be the best way to bring peace to the Middle East.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1978
Small Business Capital, Investment, and Business Opportunity Act - Title I: Amendments of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 - States that the interest rate on loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to small business investment companies shall be three percent per annum. Authorizes the Small Business Administration to guarantee up to 75 percent of the funds advanced by small business investment companies to start small business concerns. Limits such guarantees to not more than 20 percent of the private paid-in capital of the small business investment company. Makes the Associate Administrator for Investment of the SBA responsible for the administration of the small business investment program and removes any other duties. Title II: Amendments to the Securities Act of 1933 - Amends the Securities Act of 1933 to permit the sale of restricted securities without registration under specified circumstances. Requires issuers to report only material information with respect to transactions not involving any public offering. Title III: Amendment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to provide that the prudence requirement under such Act is not violated solely by an investment in a small business, provided investments of this nature do not exceed in value five percent of the market value of all assets in a defined benefit plan fund. Title IV: Tax Provisions - Increases the surtax exemption from tax on the income of a corporation for any taxable year to $100,000. States that the gain from the sale of an interest in a small concern qualifies as a non-taxable exchange provided such gain is reinvested within 18 months of the sale in another eligible small concern. Repeals the amendments pertaining to qualified stock options under section 442 of the Code as enacted by the Tax Reform Act of 1976 and reinstates the former law. Changes the allowable deduction for any taxable year with respect to the issuance of small business stock. Makes small business investment companies eligible to be shareholders of subchapter S corporations. Provides for reserves for losses on equity investments of small business investment companies.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1978
Automatic Telephone Call Prohibition Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the making of any unsolicited call to any telephone if such call is made entirely by automatic equipment and has or may have a duration of more than one minute. Establishes penalties consisting of fines or imprisonment or both for the violation of the prohibition established by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1978
Congressional Budget Act Amendments - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to prohibit the authorization of new budget or spending authority or new tax expenditures for more than five fiscal years. Requires the Congressional Budget Office to prepare a statement to accompany each public bill or resolution reported out of a congressional committee estimating the costs such legislation would impose on State or local governments during the five-year life of such law. Prohibits the enactment of such bill or resolution without also authorizing budget authority for payment by the United States to such State and local governments for costs so imposed. Requires the Comptroller General to prepare for all reported legislation a statement identifying State or local programs designed to accomplish the same purposes as such reported legislation and recommending ways to avoid the duplication of such programs. Requires Federal agencies to publish a similar five-year State and local cost statement in the Federal Register for program-implementing regulations promulgated by such agencies. Requires such agencies to submit to Congress an annual review of each such program.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1978
Elephant Protection Act - Prohibits the import, export, possession, transport, or sale of any elephant product. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to administer this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to issue permits for acts herein prohibited for scientific purposes. Establishes civil and criminal penalties for violation of this Act. Establishes rewards for persons providing information regarding violations of this Act. Requires the Secretaries of the Interior, Treasury, and the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to enforce this Act, and to promulgate regulations for such enforcement. Permits citizens suits to enforce this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1978
Omnibus Anti-Terrorism Act - Title I: Aircraft Piracy - Authorizes civil penalties for carrying an accessible weapon aboard an aircraft and for imparting or conveying information known to be false regarding one of specified crimes aboard an aircraft. Specified criminal penalties for threatening to commit air piracy or any other of certain crimes aboard an aircraft. Title II: Findings and Purposes - States Congressional findings relative to the purpose of this Act and defines specified terms used therein. Title III: Reorganization of Executive Office of the President - Establishes a Council to Combat Terrorism in the Executive Office of the President. Includes among the council's functions: (1) assisting the President to implement this Act; (2) assisting in the preparation of lists of countries aiding terrorist enterprises and of dangerous foreign airports, and (3) coordinating Federal efforts to combat terrorism. Directs the President to: (1) report to Congress on each act of terrorism which involves or affects United States citizens; and (2) impose sanctions against countries on the list of countries aiding terrorists and against airports on the list of dangerous foreign airports. Title IV: Reorganization of the Department of State - Establishes a Bureau for Combating International Terrorism in the Department of State. Urges the President to seek international agreements which assure cooperation in combating terrorism. Lists provisions which should be given priority in negotiating such agreements. Requires the President to: (1) develop programs to insure full implementation of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation; (2) approve all defense article sales and credit made to any individual or group; and (3) include the names of all types of explosives on the United States Munitions List. Title V: Reorganization of the Department of Justice - Establishes an office for Combating Terrorism in the Department of Justice. Directs the President to extend existing safety and security requirements to supplemental means of air transportation. Requires all explosives to contain identification and detection taggants. Title VI: Aircraft Sabotage and Piracy - Amends provisions of title 18 of the U.S. Code that specify prohibited acts regarding the destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities to, among other revisions, set forth penalties for committing violence against a passenger which is likely to endanger an aircraft in service, and for communicating false information which result in endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight. Sets forth penalties for a person found in the United States who has committed against or aboard a foreign aircraft an offense in violation of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1978
National Credit Union Central Liquidity Facility Act - Establishes the National Credit Union Central Liquidity Facility to provide funds to meet the liquidity needs of credit unions. Vests management of the Facility in the National Credit Union Administration. Declares the initial capitalization of the Facility shall be by stock subscription consisting of shares having par value of $50 each. Entitles any member of the Facility to apply on a form prescribed by regulations for advances. Authorizes the Administration to deny or grant any application upon such terms as it may prescribe by regulations. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to lend the Facility up to $500,000,000 to enable it to meet the obligations arising under this Act. Directs the Administration to prepare and submit to the President and to the Congress annually a full report on the activities of the Facility for the previous year. Directs the Comptroller General to audit the Central Liquidity Facility.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1978
Directs that orders of a State court or a court of the District of Columbia relative to the custody of children of divorced or separated parents be given full faith and credit by every other State and the District of Columbia until such issuing court no longer has under the law of the State in which it is located, or declines to exercise, jurisdiction over modifications of such orders. Permits a court to refuse to recognize a custody order obtained by a parent or other person who removed the child from a State in order to conceal the child from the other parent or from a person acting as a parent.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1978
Amends Title XX (Grants to States for Services) of the Social Security Act to increase the ceiling imposed upon payments for services under such Title for the fiscal years 1979, 1980, 1981 and maintains the 1981 level for succeeding years.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1978
Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make assistance payments for the purpose of aiding any lower-income family in making rental payments with respect to real property on which is located a mobile home owned by such family and utilized by such family as its principal place of residence. Amends the Housing Authorization Act of 1976 to direct the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to disregard the value of housing assistance under any State program in determining the eligibility of, or the amount of benefits payable to, any person under Title XVI (Supplemental Security Income for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled) of the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1978
Social Security Refinancing Act - Amends Title II (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) and XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to finance the payment of disability insurance benefits and hospital insurance benefits through general tax revenues, rather than through employment and self-employment tax revenues. Reduces employment and self-employment tax rates below the rates established by the Social Security Financing Amendments of 1977.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1978
Denies payment to a local government by the Secretary of the Interior based on the amount of public lands within the boundaries of such locality when such lands were acquired by a State or local unit of government solely for the purpose of conveyance to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1978
Amends the Administrative Procedure Act to require Federal agencies to prepare and publish in the Federal Register an economic impact analysis of all proposed and final rules subject to the provisions of the Act.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 1978
Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to direct the Commissioner on Aging to establish a special grant program to enable States to establish community long-term care initiatives designed to assess the needs of chronically ill or disabled older persons for services and to assist in the efficient operation of a comprehensive and coordinated system for the delivery of services to older persons. Authorizes the Commissioner to permit certain agencies to apply for, and if qualified, reserve grants to develop such community long-term care initiatives. Authorizes grants made under this Act to cover up to 90 percent of the cost of a program established pursuant to this Act. Permits adversely affected grant applicants to obtain judicial review. Establishes guidelines for each agency to follow in establishing programs. Requires each administering agency to submit an annual report to the Commissioner.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 1978
Condemns the recent poisoning of Israeli oranges. Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that the President direct the United States delegations to the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament and the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament to urge that the poisoning incident be placed high on the agenda of these organizations. Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that the President direct the United States delegation to the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament to recommit itself to efforts to negotiate an effective prohibition of chemical weapons.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 1978
States the sense of the House of Representatives that the Internal Revenue Service should include on the estate tax return a statement setting forth the limitations on penalties for good faith errors in such returns.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 1978
Amends the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, l978 to repeal the provision of such Act which prohibits the payment of lodging expenses for individuals away from their post of duty on official business when adequate government quarters are available but are not occupied by such individual.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1978
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that State and local government retirement systems shall be tax exempt organizations. Exempts these systems from the reporting requirements pertaining to deferred compensation. Treats all such systems as qualified pension plans under the code.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1978
Federal Regulatory Expediting and Efficiency Act - Requires any Federal agency receiving a petition to issue, amend, or repeal any rule administered by the agency, to grant or deny such petition within 120 days. Permits any person to enforce this Act by civil suit in any United States court of appeals. Requires agencies to promulgate timetables for general classes of proceedings begun by petition which shall be subject to a one-house veto in Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1978
Amends Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to authorize payment under the supplementary medical insurance program for foot care involving the cutting and removal of corns, warts, and calluses and the trimming of club nails.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1978
Expresses the sense of the Congress that any right to, title to, or interest in the property of the United States Government agencies in the Panama Canal Zone or any real property and improvements thereon located in the zone should not be conveyed, relinquished, or otherwise disposed of to any foreign government without specific authorization of such conveyance, relinquishment, or other disposition by any Act of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1978
Legislative Oversight Act - Title I: Requirements for Authorization Bills - Requires all legislation considered by either House of Congress which authorizes new budget authority or increased tax expenditures to include a statement of objectives of the program to be authorized or established and a requirement that the agencies administering the program report annually to Congress to assist it in determining whether such program should be amended. Requires such agency reports to list the costs and accomplishments of each program. Title II: Requirements for Reports Accompanying Authorization Bills - Requires committee reports accompanying such legislation to identify expected economic and social costs and benefits of new programs authorized or established by such legislation, potentially duplicative programs, and previous efforts to accomplish the objectives of the program being considered. Requires reports to contain, if the legislation continues an existing program, authorization, or tax expenditure, an assessment of the degree to which such program or tax expenditure has met previously stated objectives. Requires the Comptroller General to publish and periodically update a descriptive catalog of interrelated Federal activities which compares program costs and accomplishments and describes program interrelationships, including the extent to which programs are duplicative. Title III: Presidential Budget Recommendations - Requires the President's budget to describe the relationship between the President's recommended program budgets and the program accomplishments reported by Federal agencies under this Act. Title IV: Authorization Time Limit; Certain Obligations not Impaired - Prohibits congressional consideration of any legislation which authorizes new budget authority or provides new or increased tax expenditures, or new spending authority for a period exceeding five years. Exempts from this prohibition national debt service and payments to individuals from Federal trust funds to which such individuals have contributed. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions; Effective Date - Recognizes the authority of either House to amend this Act. Sets the effective date of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1978
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a credit against income tax for specified percentages of social security taxes paid by an employee. Makes the earned income credit permanent.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1978
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction of up to $1,500 for household expenses to any taxpayer who maintains a household in which a dependent aged 65 or over resides.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1978
Excludes from the Federal law limiting and restricting the corporate powers of national banking associations to deal in and underwrite investment securities specified dealing in and underwriting of all other nongeneral obligations issued or guaranteed by or on behalf of a State or any political subdivision thereof or agency of a State or any political subdivision thereof (except special assessment obligations and industrial revenue bonds) which are at the time eligible for purchase by a national bank for its own account, subject to specified limitations. Requires the Secretary of Treasury to submit an annual report to the Congress showing the extent to which the business of underwriting and dealing in State and local obligations is being carried on by commercial banks as compared with other banking institutions with a view to determining the effect of the amendment made by the first section of this Act on the institutional distribution of such business.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1978
Expresses the insistence of the House of Representatives that the Government of the Republic of Korea cooperate with a certain investigation of the House of Representatives Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Declares that failure of the Government to cooperate with such investigation will have a negative impact on relations between the United States and the Republic of Korea, including assistance for the latter country.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1978
Establishes an 11-member Commission on the Humane Treatment of Animals to study the treatment of animals. Requires that the membership include zoologists, veterinarians, and representatives from humane societies. Requires the Commission to determine if animals are caused needless pain or suffering as a result of their treatment on farms and in laboratory experimentation. Requires Commission investigation into domestic pet growth rates and the effectiveness of existing laws regarding the treatment of animals. Excludes the study of the treatment of animals occurring in connection with the exercise of any religion. Directs the Commission to report its findings to the Congress and the Commission 60 days after it submits its final report. Authorizes appropriations of $750,000 per year to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 1977
Amends the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, l978 to repeal the provision of such Act which prohibits the payment of lodging expenses for individuals away from their post of duty on official business when adequate government quarters are available but are not occupied by such individual.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1977
International Emergency Food Reserve Act - Authorizes the President: (1) to enter into negotiations with other nations to develop an international system of food reserves for humanitarian food relief needs; and (2) to establish and maintain an International Emergency Food Reserve as a contribution of the United States toward the development of such a system. Requires for such Reserve minimum stocks of two million tons, allowing an increase up to six million tons pursuant to an international agreement.
United States · United States Congress · 14 October 1977
Declares it the sense of the Congress that no Federal agency should consider the value of military exchange and commissary privileges in determining the entitlement of any retired or former member of the armed forces to any other Federal benefits or the amount of such benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 1977
Telephone Privacy Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit unsolicited commercial telephone calls to a telephone subscriber who has notified the telephone company that he does not wish to receive such calls. Directs the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe regulations specifying the manner in which a telephone subscriber shall notify the telephone company that he does not wish to receive unsolicited calls. Prescribes criminal penalties for violations of this Act. Excludes from the definition of "unsolicited commercial telephone calls" calls made in response to an express request of the individual called or made in connection with an overdue debt or contractual obligation.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 1977
Amends the Federal Reserve Act to require that detailed minutes of Federal Open Market Committee meetings be released to the general public three years after the date of the meeting to which they relate.
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 1977
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit the admission into the United States of an alien who is likely to become a public charge unless a United States citizen posts a $5,000 bond on behalf of such alien. Terminates the liability of the sponsor upon the death of the alien, or three years after such bond is given.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1977
Amends the Federal Reserve Act to require that detailed minutes of Federal Open Market Committee meetings be released to the general public three years after the date of the meeting to which they relate.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1977
Amends the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 to authorize the Secretary of Commerce to make grants to certain cities or townships for construction of local public works projects. Sets forth limitations on the amount of such grants. Authorizes the appropriation of $196,927,000 to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 1977
Bikeway Transportation Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make grants for 80 percent of the cost to States and municipalities of bikeway construction projects in urban areas or in places connecting such areas with national, State, or local parks, seashores or recreational areas. Requires such bikeway projects to be in accordance with a continuing comprehensive transportation planning process carried on cooperatively by States and local communities and in accordance with construction standards established by the Secretary.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 1977
Declares that the President should establish a Commission on Domestic and International Hunger and Malnutrition which should: (1) collect and generate information and resources on food, hunger, malnutrition and related concerns; (2) assess current programs affecting domestic and international hunger and malnutrition; (3) analyze and report its findings and recommendations to the President, the Congress, and the public; and (4) assist the President and the Congress in implementing its recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1977
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act to authorize the Administrator of General Services to assign surplus Federal real property to the Secretary of Commerce for disposal of such property at not less than 25 percent of the fair market value to States and local areas threatened by unemployment as a result of the closing of Federal facilities. Requires that such property be used by the transferees for economic development purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1977
Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Act - Directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, to establish a grant program designed to support projects which: (1) develop methods for the identification, prevention, and treatment of domestic violence; and (2) provide for family rehabilitation and support, and for emergency shelter and protection for individuals who are threatened by domestic violence. Directs the Director to establish a national information and resource clearinghouse to collect, analyze, prepare, and disseminate information relating to domestic violence. Requires the Director, in cooperation with the Administrator of Law Enforcement Assistance and the head of any other Federal agency involved with domestic violence, to study state laws, practices, and policies relating to domestic violence. Requires the Director to annually review the effectiveness of projects carried out under this Act and to report the findings to the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to transmit each such report to the President and to each House of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1977
Citizens' Postal Rate Relief Act - Sets the postal rate for personal mail of individuals sealed against inspection and mailed in the United States at 13 cents for the first ounce for each piece and 11 cents for each additional ounce for each piece. Permits the Postal Service to adjust such rate annually in the proportion to the increase in the Consumer Price Index since the previous rate adjustment but not to an amount exceeding the current rate for first class mail. (Adds 39 U.S.C. 3629; Amends 39 U.S.C. 2401)