United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1991
Nuclear Powerplant Standardization and Licensing Reform Act of 1991 - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to grant: (1) design certifications for standardized production or utilization facilities or discrete subsystems of such facilities; and (2) early site permits for site approval for production or utilization facilities. Directs the Commission to issue a combined construction and operating license for a production or utilization facility if certain conditions are met. Requires the Commission to specify in any such license the emergency preparedness requirements that shall apply and the standards for meeting such requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1991
Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility and Home Health Benefit Act of 1991 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) eliminate the requirement that extended care services be provided within a certain period following hospitalization in order to be covered under the Hospital Insurance Program; and (2) cover nursing care and home health aide services provided or needed on an intermittent basis.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1991
Acclaims the President for his decisive leadership, unerring judgment, and sound decisions with respect to the Persian Gulf crisis. Commends and expresses appreciation to the members of the U.S. armed forces and other members of the international coalition who participated in Operation Desert Storm. Conveys sympathy and condolences to the families and friends of coalition and U.S. forces who were injured or killed during such operation. Expresses compassion for the families of noncombatants who suffered hardship and personal losses during the Persian Gulf War. Supports continued efforts to promote peace and stability in the Persian Gulf.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) Saddam Hussein and his subordinates should be held legally and financially accountable for the invasion of Kuwait, the brutal treatment of Kuwait, the Kuwaiti people, and allied and U.S. prisoners of war, launching unprovoked SCUD attacks against Israel and Israeli civilians, dumping oil into the ocean, and the destruction of oil fields; and (2) the United Nations should take steps to try such individuals for war crimes following and including the invasion of Kuwait.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1991
Directs the heads of Federal departments or agencies which hold or receive records and information which have or could possibly have been correlated to U.S. personnel listed as prisoners of war or missing in action after 1940, including from World War II and the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, to publicly disclose such records and information, except where such disclosure would compromise national security. Requires the Department of Defense to publicly disclose a complete list of such personnel including those killed in action (body not returned) with each service member's current classification as well as any changes in such classification occurring during or after such hostilities.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1991
Safe and Competitive Trucking Act of 1991 - Amends Federal law to prohibit States from regulating any of the following: (1) intrastate rates, routes, or services of any interstate motor carrier, interstate motor private carrier, or interstate broker which provides intrastate transportation of property, including express packages; or (2) the leasing, rental, or other sourcing of commercial drivers and motor vehicles by interstate motor carriers of property operating in intrastate commerce. Prohibits States from requiring interstate motor carriers, interstate motor private carriers, or interstate brokers of property to prove the lawfulness of interstate transportation activities performed under this Act or regulations issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Prohibits States from requiring such carrier or broker to: (1) file and maintain any certificate or permit issued by the Commission; (2) register motor vehicles operated under a certificate or permit issued by such Commission; (3) display on any vehicle a decal, stamp, cab card, or other identification evidencing the lawfulness of such transportation activity; or (4) pay a fee or tax with respect to such activities. Authorizes States to assess a tax or fee on motor carriers operating vehicles registered in another State only if: (1) the tax or fee is apportioned based on miles driven in the State or on some other equitable measure of such carrier's or vehicle's contact with such State; (2) the tax or fee does not discriminate against interstate commerce; (3) the tax or fee is related to the services provided to the carrier or vehicle; and (4) the activity with respect to which the tax or fee is being assessed has a substantial nexus with the State. Authorizes a State to require an interstate motor carrier to register vehicles the carrier intends to operate within the State and collect a registration tax or fee. Authorizes States to require interstate motor carriers to report the fuel used by its vehicles within such State and to pay a related tax or fee. Prohibits any State from requiring registration or fuel use reports or imposing related taxes or fees on or after September 30, 1994 and 1995, respectively, unless it is a member of the International Registration Plan or the International Fuel Tax Agreement. Prohibits a State or local government from assessing a tax or fee after September 30, 1994, on a motor carrier if the carrier's only business activity within the State is: (1) the delivery or pickup of property; (2) the use of streets or roads; (3) the solicitation, sale, or advertising of transportation services by a motor carrier not domiciled in such State; or (4) to transport fully or partially loaded or empty vehicles through the State. Prohibits a State, under specified conditions, from imposing a net worth tax on property used in interstate commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1991
Environmental Tax Credit Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for a three-year credit period for a percentage of the investment in acid rain control property installed to comply with sulfur dioxide emission limitations under the Clean Air Act. Allows the use of tax-exempt facility bonds to finance acid rain control property. Allows a business credit for a percentage of the expenditures incurred for coal cleaning minerals used to remove or reduce the sulfur content of coal. Excludes from gross income the value of clean air allowances allocated to the taxpayer under the Clean Air Act. Allows a 60-month amortization of acid rain control property.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permanently extend the period during which qualified mortgage bonds and mortgage credit certificates may be issued.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits Federal expenditures from exceeding revenues for any fiscal year and from exceeding 19 percent of the gross national product for the last calendar year ending before the beginning of such fiscal year. Provides for a suspension of such prohibitions for any fiscal year for which three-fifths of the House of the Congress provides, by rollcall vote, for a specific excess of outlays over estimated revenues.
United States · United States Congress · 20 February 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow penalty-free withdrawals from an individual retirement plan if distributed to an Operation Desert Storm reservist within 180 days after the termination of active duty.
United States · United States Congress · 19 February 1991
Economic Growth and Jobs Creation Act of 1991 - Title I: Reducing the Cost of Labor by Reducing Social Security Taxes - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) tax on employees and employers, and on self-employment income. Amends the Social Security Act to remove the required increase in appropriations to the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund beginning after 1999. Requires the Board of Trustees of the Social Security trust funds (the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund) to include in its annual report to the Congress the expected operation and status of such trust funds during the next ten fiscal years (currently, the next five fiscal years). Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 and the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to modify procedures in the House of Representatives and the Senate relating to changing OASDI taxes and benefits during the ten-year period. Amends the Social Security Act to provide that if any annual report of the Board of Trustees projects that the trust funds will not be in the close actuarial balance on average for the succeeding ten fiscal years, then Congress may not adjourn before enactment of legislation to restore such close actuarial balance. Requires the first Advisory Council on Social Security appointed after the date of enactment of this Act to: (1) evaluate the expected operation and status of the trust funds after FY 2015; and (2) conduct a review of alternative approaches to preserving a close actuarial balance of such trust funds. Title II: Reducing the Cost of Capital by Reducing Capital Gains Tax Rates, Indexing the Basis of Certain Assets, and Adjusting Depreciation Rates to Reflect Inflation - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the individual and corporate capital gains rate from 34 percent to 15 percent. Reduces such tax to 7.5 percent for low- and middle-income taxpayers. Provides for the phaseout of personal exemptions and the overall limitation on itemized deductions to take into account adjusted gross income which has been reduced by net capital gain. Requires indexing (based on the gross national product deflator) of the adjusted basis of certain assets (corporate stock and tangible property that is a capital asset of property used in a trade or business) that have been held for more than one year at the time of transfer, solely for the purpose of determining gain or loss. Provides for indexing the limitation on capital losses of noncorporate taxpayers. Provides a depreciation deduction adjustment for tangible property (other than residential rental property and nonresidential real property) placed in service after 1990. Allows phase-in deductions for such property placed in service after 1996. Title III: Increasing National Savings Through Individual Retirement Plus Accounts, Indexing for Inflation the Income Thresholds for Taxing Social Security Benefits, Inc. - Allows individuals to establish individual retirement plus accounts with tax treatment similar to that for individual retirement plans. Makes contributions to such accounts nondeductible. Provides for qualified distributions from such accounts, other than for general retirement purposes, including special purposes distributions made for the purchase of a first home and for medical or educational purposes. Prohibits special purpose distributions from being made during the first five years of the account. Provides an inflation adjustment after 1996 for income thresholds in determining the taxation of social security benefits. Excludes income from individual retirement plans when determining modified adjusted gross income. Provides an inflation adjustment after 1996 for the maximum amount allowable as a deduction for retirement savings.
United States · United States Congress · 19 February 1991
Older Americans' Freedom to Work Act of 1991 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to remove the limitation on the amount of outside income which beneficiaries who have attained retirement age may earn without incurring a reduction in benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for contributions by individual taxpayers to the Drug Rehabilitation and Treatment Trust Fund with their income tax returns. Establishes the Drug Rehabilitation and Treatment Trust Fund to carry out the war on drugs.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
Volunteer Protection Act of 1991 - Prescribes circumstances under which volunteers working for nonprofit organizations or government entities shall be immune from personal financial liability for acts on behalf of the organization or entity. Sets forth exceptions and conditions that a State may impose on the granting of such immunity. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to increase by one percent the fiscal year allotment which would otherwise be made to a State to carry out the Social Services Block Grant Program under title XX of the Social Security Act if such State has, within two years, certified to the Secretary that it has enacted a State law which provides such immunity. Provides for the continuation of such increase based on an annual recertification.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
Comprehensive Recycling Act of 1991 - Establishes as national goals: (1) the recycling of municipal waste; and (2) the creation and strengthening of markets for recycled materials. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to provide technical assistance and guidance to States on recycling methods and opportunities. Directs States to develop and implement comprehensive multimaterial recycling programs. Requires such programs to be designed to provide at least 20 percent of a State's population with an opportunity to participate in such programs within two years of this Act's enactment. Provides that such programs must be available to an additional 20 percent of a State's population every two years, until the entire population is provided with such opportunity. Sets forth minimum program requirements. Deems a State or its municipalities to be in compliance with this Act if they have in place an alternative program that meets this Act's requirements. Requires States to include recycling programs in the regional solid waste plan required by the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Makes States with approved plans eligible for Federal assistance for recycling infrastructures. Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require the Administrator to make grants to States for the development of programs to promote the use of recycling techniques by businesses, local governments, or regional waste management authorities.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1991
Repeals the provision of the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1989 which requires the withholding of income tax from wages paid for agricultural labor. Requires the Internal Revenue Code to be applied as though such provision had not been enacted.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions governing the income tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to: (1) make the deduction permanent (under current law it will expire after tax year 1991); and (2) phase in an increase in the allowable deduction, reaching 100 percent for taxable years beginning in 1994 and thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Taxflation Protection Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the method of rounding used in adjusting tax rates and certain other amounts for inflation.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Leasing Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement a competitive oil and gas leasing program for the Coastal Plain Study Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. States that this Act shall be considered the primary land management authorization for all exploration and production activities on the Coastal Plain. Provides that no land management review shall be required except as specifically authorized by this Act. Mandates that all receipts from sales, rentals, bonuses, and royalties on leases under this Act be deposited into the Treasury. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations to ensure that oil and gas exploration and transportation activities are conducted to achieve the reasonable protection of animal and environmental resources (including subsistence uses of the Coastal Plain). States that the "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, Coastal Plain Resource Assessment," prepared by the Secretary, satisfies all legal requirements for such promulgation and that no further studies or assessments shall be required. Directs the Secretary to provide impact aid and other assistance to communities on the North Slope and elsewhere in Alaska in order to ensure the public services needed to accommodate oil and gas production and transportation activities on the Coastal Plain.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Recycling Information Clearinghouse Act of 1991 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a clearinghouse for information about the recycling of municipal solid waste, to be administered by the Office of Solid Waste. Requires that the information collected and disseminated to the public by such clearinghouse include: (1) an annual estimate of the volume and rate of recycling of materials from the municipal solid waste stream; (2) an annual estimate of the balance of trade in recycled materials and products; (3) economic data comparing the costs and benefits of recycling various materials from the municipal solid waste stream; (4) a catalog of State and local laws that encourage or require the recycling of materials from the municipal solid waste stream; (5) a list of all purchases of recycled materials or products by the Federal Government, organized by agency and the type of recycled materials or products purchased; (6) a register announcing all solicitations by Federal agencies for the purchase of recycled materials or products; (7) information about state-of-the-art recycling methods, programs, or technologies; and (8) a register of all potential purchasers of recycled materials. Requires that a toll-free telephone hotline be established and made available to those seeking information from the clearinghouse. Provides that, to the extent feasible, such information should be computerized to facilitate its analysis and retrieval. Makes a State ineligible for solid waste disposal assistance after December 31, 1992, unless the State maintains and publicizes a register of potential purchasers of recycled materials known to the State solid waste planning authorities. Requires such register to be periodically updated and submitted to the clearinghouse. Authorizes appropriations for such clearinghouse.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest on certain indebtedness incurred to pay the educational expenses of the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent. (Under current law, such a loan must be secured by an interest in real property.)
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Sole Source Aquifer Protection Act of 1991 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to prohibit construction of landfills or land treatment facilities within a critical aquifer protection area unless the State or local government having jurisdiction over such area has adopted a management plan for the area. Requires the plan to provide for: (1) the maintenance of groundwater quality to protect human health, the environment, and groundwater resources; and (2) public hearings for receiving comments on the plan. Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to declare that it is national policy that such a plan be promulgated before such facilities are constructed over a critical aquifer.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1991
Allows executive agency employees to take up to five days of leave each year without a reduction in pay or leave to which otherwise entitled in order to donate bone marrow.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1991
Judicial Taxation Prohibition Act - Amends the Federal judicial code to deny to inferior Federal courts jurisdiction to issue any remedy, order, writ, or other judicial decree requiring the Federal Government or any State or local government to impose any new tax or to increase any existing tax or tax rate.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1991
Emergency Baltic States Immigration Relief Act of 1991 - Amends the Immigration Act of 1990 to provide special temporary protected status for certain nationals of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1991
Subjects to execution persons who, within the District of Columbia: (1) commit first degree murder; (2) murder a law enforcement officer while such officer is engaged in official duties or because of the status of an individual as an officer; or (3) engage in conduct during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise and thereby knowingly cause an individual's death. Directs the Government to notify the defendant a reasonable amount of time before trial or the court's acceptance of a guilty plea of its intent to seek the death penalty. Requires that, once a guilty verdict is rendered, a separate sentencing hearing be held at which there must be a unanimous finding, that, in addition to murder, specified aggravating factors, such as a previous murder conviction, commission of the murder for money, or torture of the victim, exist which outweigh specified mitigating factors and justify execution. Requires that the jury be notified that regardless of its findings it is never required to impose the death sentence and that it may not consider the race, color, religious beliefs, national origin or sex of the defendant or victim in passing sentence. Prohibits the execution of minors, the mentally retarded, or certain mentally disabled individuals. Authorizes a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for a capital crime. Sets forth death sentence appeal rights. Affords indigent defendants charged with a capital crime the benefit of an experienced criminal attorney until the execution of judgment. Prohibits correctional employees from being forced to participate in an execution that is against their moral or religious convictions.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an employee the following qualified employer-provided transportation benefits: (1) the value of transportation in a commuter highway vehicle between the employee's residence and workplace; and (2) up to $60 per month of the value of any transit pass entitling the employee to transportation on mass transit facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that the Congress and the States shall have power to prohibit the act of physical desecration of the U.S. flag and to set criminal penalties for such act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Imposes upon the Soviet Union the trade and assistance restrictions described in this resolution unless and until the President certifies to the Congress that the Soviet Union has: (1) ceased all interference with freedom of the press in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia; (2) ceased the threat and use of force against the people of such states; (3) ceased its military occupation of all buildings and facilities in such states seized during the crackdown that commenced in March 1990; and (4) entered into meaningful negotiations with the democratically elected leaders of such states for the purposes of establishing the formal recognition of their independence. Specifies as such restrictions: (1) prohibiting the Export-Import Bank and the Commodity Credit Corporation from issuing or paying any insurance or credit guarantee with respect to financing exports to the Soviet Union; (2) making ineffective the U.S.-Soviet trade agreement concluded on June 1, 1990; (3) denying authority to the Secretary of the Treasury and the U.S. executive director of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support any grant of special association status; and (4) requiring the United States to oppose any waiver or modification of restrictions contained in the Charter of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development applicable to the provision of loans to the Soviet Union and to oppose loans by such bank to the Soviet Union.
United States · United States Congress · 10 January 1991
Employee Educational Assistance Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the income tax exclusion of amounts paid under employee educational assistance programs. (Under current law the exclusion expires for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1991.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1991
Hunger Emergency Assistance and Relief Trust Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individuals to designate on their income tax returns a contribution of all or part of their tax refund to the Hunger Emergency Assistance and Relief Trust. Establishes in the Treasury the Hunger Emergency Assistance and Relief Trust (trust fund) to distribute hunger relief funds to qualified nonprofit hunger relief services organizations. Describes standards and procedures for the distribution of trust fund monies. Specifies a number of restrictions with respect to the activities of recipient organizations, including limitations on administrative expenses. Requires the Hunger Commission to submit to specified congressional committees an annual report detailing trust fund expenditures. Establishes a Hunger Commission to administer the distribution of funds to qualified hunger relief services organizations on a matching grant basis. Permits a maximum award of $100,000 to any single qualified organization in any fiscal year. Requires that: (1) at least 50 percent of amounts received into the trust fund in any year be paid to qualified organizations; and (2) monies in the trust fund be distributed within 180 days of their receipt. Authorizes appropriations.
![Official portrait of Rep. Hastert, J. Dennis [R-IL-14]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/h000323_200.jpg)