United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Farm and Woodland Owners Tax Simplification Act of 1989 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to consider a taxpayer as materially participating in a farming activity for tax accounting purposes if he or she, on a regular and continuing basis, makes substantially all significant decisions and performs substantially all the work required to conduct the activity.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Congressional Scholarships for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Act - Instructs the Director of the National Science Foundation to establish and implement a merit-based competitive program for awarding a four-year Congressional Scholarship for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering to one female and one male from each U.S. congressional district. Requires the Director: (1) annually to notify secondary schools and colleges of the program; and (2) to establish nominating committees for each congressional district. Limits each scholarship to $5,000 per year, to be used solely for tuition, fees, and room and board expenses. Requires the NSF Director to ensure that both students and nominating committees are selected on a nondiscriminatory basis. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1993.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Family Planning Reauthorization Act of 1989 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations for FY 1990 through 1993 for projects, training, and information and materials related to family planning.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Postal Reorganization Act Amendments of 1989 - Declares that the receipts and disbursements of the Postal Service Fund: (1) shall not be included in the totals of the Federal budget or the congressional budget; (2) shall be exempt from Federal budget limitations on expenditures and net lending; and (3) shall be exempt from any sequestration order under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) and shall not be counted for purposes of calculating the Federal deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
National Center for Adult Literacy Act - Establishes the National Center for Adult Literacy as a nonprofit corporation which will not be an agency or establishment of the Federal Government. Requires the Center to collect, increase, and disseminate knowledge regarding literacy and basic skills of adults in the United States, including processes, programs, and techniques for literacy and basic skills development. Requires the Center to conduct research, technical assistance and training for government, business, labor, and volunteer groups, policy analysis, and other activities consistent with its purpose, including promotion of literacy initiatives through publicity and other use of the media. Directs the Center's Board of Directors to report annually to the President and the Congress. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
National Rural Health Care Act of 1989 - Title I: Medicare Provisions - Directs the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission to conduct studies and report to the Congress by January 1, 1991, on: (1) the relationship between costs for rural inpatient hospital services and Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) payments for such services; and (2) the Medicare program's role in paying for rural inpatient hospital services provided as a charity to persons who are not covered under the Medicare program. Provides funding for the development of medical care access facilities. Defines a "medical care access facility" as a facility which: (1) provides ambulatory, primary, emergency, urgent, and surgical care; (2) provides inpatient care for from one-to-ten inpatient beds for stays not exceeding 48 hours; and (3) is located in a medically underserved area or a county with a population of less than 20,000, or serves a frontier service area. Provides Medicare coverage of facility services. Authorizes such facilities to provide dietician, pharmacist, laboratory technician, medical technologist, and radiological services on a part-time, off-site basis, and remain open for less time than Medicare hospitals. Establishes physician, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner productivity standards to be used in determining Medicare payments for rural health clinic services. Requires rural health clinics to participate in the Medicaid program (title XIX of the Social Security Act) if their State provides Medicaid coverage for clinic services. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Medicare rural health clinic demonstration program: (1) testing new payment methods; (2) covering early detection procedures, health education, and health risk reduction services; (3) not requiring clinics to have more than 40 percent of clinic time covered by physician assistants and nurse practitioners; and (4) reducing physician, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner productivity standards for low population density areas. Requires the Secretary to instruct Medicare carriers to make payment rates for professional medical services furnished in rural areas under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of the Medicare program reflect the particular costs of furnishing services in rural areas. Authorizes rural skilled nursing facilities to be paid on a prospective basis for all routine services costs of Medicare extended care services provided in a cost reporting period. Authorizes rural home health agencies to be paid on the basis of a prospectively established fee schedule for Medicare home health services provided in a cost reporting period. Requires the Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to establish additional research and demonstration projects into how the Medicare and Medicaid programs could better cover care for rural beneficiaries. Provides direct Medicare reimbursement for nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist services, whether or not the practitioner or specialist is under the supervision of, or associated with, another health care provider, if such services would otherwise be covered if furnished by a physician or as an incident to a physician's service. Provides payments for nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, and certified nurse midwife services under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of the Medicare program on the basis of a fee schedule to be established by the Secretary. Requires the Administrator of the HCFA to establish a toll-free, telephone hotline for nursing payment inquiries under the Medicare program and, to the extent feasible, under the Medicaid program. Amends part B (Peer Review) of title XI of the Act to require peer review of nursing services. Directs the Secretary to: (1) contract for studies evaluating nursing costs, and gathering and disseminating data on obstacles nurses face in receiving direct reimbursement for their services; and (2) report the results of such studies to the Congress in January of 1992, 1993, and 1994. Title II: Medicaid Provisions - Amends the Medicaid program to extend coverage to all individuals whose income does not exceed the Federal poverty level and whose resources do not exceed twice the resource eligibility limit for Medicaid benefits. Requires that State Medicaid payments for rural medical practices reflect the particular costs of furnishing services in rural areas. Directs the Secretary, jointly with the States, to develop an appropriate system to reduce the payment differential between urban and rural professional health personnel. Permits rural nursing facilities to elect to receive Medicaid payments on the basis of a daily rate schedule to be established by the Secretary. Permits rural home health agencies to elect to receive payments on the basis of a per visit rate to be established by the Secretary. Provides Medicaid coverage of medical care access facility services. Requires such facilities to participate in the program. Requires direct Medicaid reimbursement for certified nurse midwife, certified registered nurse anesthetist, nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist services, whether or not such nurse is under the supervision of, or associated with, another health care provider, if such services would otherwise be covered if furnished by a physician or as an incident to a physician's services. Requires that such payments be equal to payments for such services under the Medicare program and not vary on the basis of the type of nurse involved. Title III: Private Health Insurance Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax deduction for the entire health insurance costs of the self-employed. Makes such deduction permanent. Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to the Congress a proposal for creating a self-financing insurance pool for individuals, small businesses, and farms which have difficulty finding affordable private insurance. Title IV: Health Care System Development Provisions - Amends title VII (Administration) of the Act to place the Office of Rural Health Care in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary to make grants to States which have submitted fiscal year plans for comprehensive State rural health access planning to assist States in such planning. Authorizes appropriations for such grant program through FY 1992. Requires each State to submit a comprehensive rural emergency medical services plan to the Secretary for each fiscal year, beginning with FY 1990. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1992 for payments to States, which vary among States on the basis of the proportion of the nation's rural population which reside in each State, to cover the costs of planning, implementing, and monitoring the operation of trauma care systems in rural areas. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to public and nonprofit entities for planning, constructing, equipping, supplying, and operating a rural health clinic and training the personnel at such clinic. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to solo and small group medical practices which provide primary health services to medically underserved rural populations to assist such practices in purchasing equipment and supplies and training personnel. Sets forth grant conditions, including the requirement that such clinics and practices accept as patients Medicare and Medicaid recipients residing in their service area, and provide 24-hour-a-day emergency medical services. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1992. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1991 for grants to migrant health centers and community health centers. Sets aside five percent of amounts appropriated to the National Center for Health Services Research and Health Care Technology Assessment for research on improving rural health care delivery systems. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study on improvements which can be made in the collection and analysis of data used in designating rural areas as medically underserved areas. Title V: Health Care Personnel Development Provisions - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations through FY 1992 under the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program and Loan Repayment Program. Requires the Secretary to establish a program of scholarships and loan repayments to assure an adequate supply of trained health care personnel at medical facilities which serve medically underserved populations. Requires that no less than 40 percent of the persons receiving such assistance be targeted for placement with medically underserved rural populations. Authorizes appropriations for such program through FY 1992. Requires that persons receiving Federal financial assistance under the Public Health Service Act to operate health care personnel training programs: (1) take into account the special health care conditions of rural areas; and (2) improve efforts to recruit, as students, individuals who are likely to practice in medically underserved rural areas. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to public or private nonprofit health or educational entities for training programs to increase the number of health care personnel and multi-competent health care technicians serving medically underserved rural populations. Authorizes appropriations for such grant programs through FY 1992. Requires the Secretary, in entering into contracts with schools of medicine and osteopathy for area health education centers, to give priority to health education projects targeted toward health professions having an inadequate number of practitioners, either by specialty or geographic location. Makes administrative changes affecting area health education centers. Authorizes appropriations for such centers through FY 1992. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to and enter into contracts with public and nonprofit private entities to cover the costs of providing continuing education for nurses in rural areas through the use of satellite transmissions. Title VI: Mental Health Care Provisions - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require that a State's application for an Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Services Block Grant include an examination of the mental health care needs of rural residents and specify the effort that has and will be made to satisfy such needs. Directs the Secretary to conduct research on improving rural mental health delivery systems. Authorizes appropriations for such research through FY 1992.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Truth in Social Security Accounting Act of 1989 - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to exclude, beginning with FY 1991, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund receipts and outlays in Federal deficit determinations for purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Authorizes the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity to establish a monument on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Excepts such monument from the prohibition on the construction of works commemorating individuals who have died within 25 years. Provides that U.S. funds may not be used to establish the monument.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Volunteer Protection Act of 1989 - 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 to and conditions on the granting of such immunity that a State may impose. 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 · 7 February 1989
Directs the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to develop a master plan for the expansion of the National Air and Space Museum at an airport while allowing such airport to continue its normal operations. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 and 1991 for the development of such plan. Directs the Board, using funds obtained from private sources, to design and construct any new facilities which are needed under such master plan.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Agricultural Product Outdoor Advertising Act - Amends Federal law to limit to 60 square feet the size of agricultural product outdoor advertising signs and devices at locations where consumers may harvest or purchase products from producers.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Designates July 27, 1989, as National Korean War Veterans Recognition Day and expresses the gratitude of the Congress and the Nation for the contributions made by the Korean War veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1989
American Heritage Trust Act of 1989 - Title I: American Heritage Trust - Establishes the American Heritage Trust, comprised of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Historic Preservation Fund, to provide funding for the preservation of America's natural, historical, cultural, and outdoor recreational areas. Title II: Land and Water Conservation Fund - Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act to require the Secretary of the Treasury to invest a portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund in public debt securities. Requires that the interest from such investments be used for the preservation of the Nation's recreational areas. Requires any excess interest to be credited to the Treasury. Sets forth a formula for the allocation of such interest income to the Federal Government and the States. Sets forth specified requirements with respect to the apportionment of such income to local and State governments, Indian tribes, and Alaska Native Village Corporations. Title III: Historic Preservation Fund - Amends the National Historic Preservation Act to extend the Historic Preservation Fund through 2015. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to invest a portion of such Fund in public debt securities. Requires that the interest from such investments be used for the preservation of historic sites. Provides for allocation of a percentage of annual appropriations for State historic preservation trust funds. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Requires the owner of any site that benefits from moneys derived from the American Heritage Trust to install a sign indicating that fact. Requires the Secretary of the Interior, within 18 months after enactment of this Act, to provide for a contest for elementary or secondary school children for the design of a symbol to represent such Trust and for use in such signs.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Establishes the Medicare Geographical Classification Review Board to decide on a rural hospital's application for classification as an urban hospital for Medicare payment purposes. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to alter the Rural Health Care Transition Grant Program to extend and increase authorized appropriations for such program through FY 1992, and permit the Secretary to waive the hospital grant limit. Expands, from four to ten hospitals, a Medicare demonstration program covering additional costs incurred by teaching hospitals in sending their residents to rural hospitals for training. Requires the Secretary to establish five-year Medicare demonstration programs covering costs incurred by five hospitals in providing clinical training to undergraduate nurses. Extends the regional referral center classification of hospitals so classified as of September 30, 1989, and the payment rates applicable to such hospitals under the Medicare program, through FY 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Homeownership Assistance Act of 1989 - Amends the National Housing Act to create a special mortgage insurance program for first-time homebuyers. Defines "first-time homebuyer" as an individual who or whose spouse has not owned a principal residence during the 18 months prior to a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured home purchase. Authorizes downpayment reductions. Authorizes an FHA demonstration program to insure 100 percent of a home's value for a first-time homebuyer. Authorizes FHA to insure adjustable rate mortgages with annual interest rate increases of up to two percent (currently one percent). Repeals the aggregate annual limit. Amends the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act to provide for secondary market purchases of such downpayment mortgage loans. Amends the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 to exempt such loans from specified offset debt collection provisions. Requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to submit annual program reports to the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Calls for: (1) continued support for the Cooperative Extension System; and (2) commemoration on May 8, 1989, of the 75th anniversary of the enactment of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Amends the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act of 1980 to provide for the establishment of a one-year period during which certain Federal employees who retired on an immediate annuity or became entitled to receive compensation for work injury before December 9, 1980, shall be allowed to resume coverage under the Federal employees' group life insurance program, including coverage under the optional insurance programs.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest on any 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 · 31 January 1989
Protect Medicare 90 Concurrent Resolution - Expresses the sense of the Congress that Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) hospital payments for FY 1990 should not be reduced below levels set by current law for such fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that Federal law governing the taxation of State and local government bonds should not be changed in order to increase Federal revenues.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
State Energy Conservation Programs Improvement Act of 1989 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to mandate that each State energy conservation plan which receives Federal assistance under the Act contain a specified reduction in energy consumption as one of its goals. Adds to Federal assistance eligibility prerequisites for proposed State energy conservation plans, including an emergency planning program for energy supply disruption. Cites optional State energy conservation programs. Repeals the mandate for supplemental State energy conservation plans. Authorizes appropriations for energy conservation programs for FY 1990 through 1992. Establishes within the Department of Energy a State Energy Advisory Board to report annually to the Congress regarding recommended energy efficiency objectives, the technology transfer aspect of Federal research and development with respect to energy efficiency and renewable resources, and recommended changes with respect to State and Federal energy policies. Authorizes the use of loan programs and performance contracting for the non-Federal share of energy conservation project costs under the grant program. Cites conditions under which the Secretary is authorized to approve a State application for a waiver of: (1) the requirement that at least 40 percent of Federal weatherization assistance for low-income persons be used for weatherization materials; and (2) the limitations placed upon expenditures per dwelling unit for weatherization measures. Terminates the Performance Fund used for State weatherization assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Fire Safe Cigarette Implementation Act of 1989 - Reestablishes the Interagency Committee on Cigarette and Little Cigar Fire Safety to oversee the work of the Implementation Task Force. Establishes an Implementation Task Force to continue the work specified by the Cigarette Safety Act of 1984, including: (1) development of a validated test method to determine the ignition propensity of cigarettes and little cigars when in contact with upholstered furniture or mattresses; (2) development of performance data for current cigarettes, using the validated test method, so as to compare future cigarette performance; (3) study and computer modeling of ignition physics relating to cigarettes, little cigars, soft furnishings, and fabrics; (4) collection of data regarding the characteristics of cigarettes and little cigars, products ignited, and smokers involved in smoking-related fires as well as changes in the composition of smoke from modified cigarettes and little cigars, and societal costs from smoking-related fire injuries; and (5) commercial feasibility and economic impact of cigarettes and little cigars having reduced ignition propensity. Protects the confidentiality of trade secrets and confidential information provided to the Interagency Committee or the Task Force. Sets forth reporting requirements. Terminates the Task Force within three years and three months of this Act's enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Agricultural Commodity-Based Plastics Development Act of 1989 - Directs the Administrator of the General Services Administration to encourage the development and use of degradable agricultural commodity-based plastic through a system of preferential Government procurement. Authorizes FY 1990 through 1992 appropriations to pay the difference in costs between conventional products and degradable plastic products. Directs the Administrator to establish an interagency working group to coordinate activities under this Act. Requires annual reports to the appropriate congressional committees.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
School Completion and Incentives Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to make matching grants to each State for planning and carrying out a program to increase the high school completion rate. Requires States to assure that, under such program, requirements for obtaining a high school diploma or its equivalent will not be lowered. Requires that at least 40 percent of a State's grant funds be used for grants to individual schools that have: (1) a dropout rate above the State average; (2) an aggregate achievement rate below the State average; or (3) a student enrollment of which 30 percent of the students come from families below the official poverty line. Directs the Secretary to publish an application notice for such grants by January 1, 1991. Requires grant recipient annual reports by local educational agencies and individual schools to the State, and by the States to the Secretary. Directs the Secretary, at least once every three years, to publish the high school completion rate for each State, with the first such publication to be made by January 1, 1995. Authorizes appropriations for: (1) making planning grants for such programs, for FY 1991 and 1992; and (2) carrying out such programs, for FY 1993 through 1999. Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to revise provisions relating to secondary school programs for basic skills improvement and dropout prevention and reentry. Requires each State educational agency and local educational agency that conducts a specified evaluation pursuant to such provisions to report the evaluation results to the National Diffusion Network. Doubles the amounts authorized to be appropriated for such programs for FY 1990 through 1993. Revises ESEA provisions for assistance to address school dropout problems. Extends through FY 1992 the authorization of appropriations for such assistance for FY 1990 through 1992.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Extends the regional referral center classification of hospitals so classified as of September 30, 1989, and the payment rates applicable to such hospitals under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act through FY 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions relating to the income tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to: (1) increase from 25 percent to 100 percent the allowable deduction; and (2) make the deduction permanent (under current law it will expire after tax year 1989).
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1989
Repeals provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that establish nondiscrimination requirements for coverage and benefits under certain statutory employee benefit plans. (The consequence is the repeal of section 89 of the Internal Revenue Code.)
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1989
Repeals a provision of the Internal Revenue Code that disallows the income tax deduction of 25 percent of the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals after tax year 1989 (thus extending the deduction indefinitely).
![Official portrait of Rep. Hatcher, Charles [D-GA-2]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/0861e564205e8cf32b17f8c206d3bc61_200.jpg)