The world's political record
Person
![Official portrait of Rep. Hatcher, Charles [D-GA-2]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/0861e564205e8cf32b17f8c206d3bc61_200.jpg)
United States · Official source
1,550 records where Rep. Hatcher, Charles [D-GA-2] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1992
Amends the Railroad Retirement Solvency Act of 1983 to make permanent the transfer to the Railroad Retirement Account of income tax revenues attributable to the taxation of tier II railroad retirement benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture to jointly report to the President and the Congress on the differences in program rules under the food stamp program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children program (part A of title IV of the Social Security Act), and Medicaid program (title XIX of the Social Security Act) and how such rules could be made uniform. Requires coordination of such report with the report of the Advisory Committee on Welfare Simplification and Coordination.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Designates the week beginning September 13, 1992, as National Fragrance Week.
United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991
Designates 1993 as the Year of American Craft: A Celebration of the Creative Work of the Hand.
United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1991
Federal-State Pesticide Regulation Partnership Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to remove the authority of political subdivisions to inspect records of persons selling or delivering pesticides for purposes of enforcing such Act. Prohibits local governments from imposing or continuing any requirement regarding pesticides or devices.
United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1991
Reforestation Tax Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide taxpayers a partial inflation adjustment for the deduction from gross income for qualified timber gain. Allows such deduction in computing adjusted gross income. Provides for applying passive loss limitations to timber activities. Increases the amount allowable as a deduction for amortization of reforestation expenditures and provides an inflation adjustment after calendar year 1992. Applies such inflation adjustment to the reforestation credit.
United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1991
Calls upon the President, as part of the Uruguay Round General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks, to initiate negotiations to make GATT compatible with the Marine Mammal Protection Act and other U.S. health, safety, labor, and environmental laws, including laws to protect the environment outside of the United States. Declares that the Congress will not approve legislation to implement any trade agreement (including the Uruguay Round of the GATT and the U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement) that jeopardizes such laws, including the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Clean Air Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 1991
Calls upon the President not to proceed toward the normalization of diplomatic and economic relations with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam until the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs has reported its findings on the accounting of missing American servicemen in Southeast Asia.
United States · United States Congress · 29 October 1991
1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games Commemorative Coin Act - Provides for the minting and sale of commemorative gold and silver coins to support the 1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games and the programs of the United States Olympic Committee.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 1991
Authorizes the Air Force Association to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia or its environs to honor the men and women who have served in the U.S. Air Force.
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 1991
Designates October 30, 1991, as National Stay in School Awareness Day.
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 1991
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the United States Trade Representative should take action under the Trade Act of 1974 to compensate for any trade losses caused by the European Community's (EC) failure to adopt by October 31, 1991, a new oilseeds regime that conforms with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) panel oilseed ruling; and (2) such actions should remain in effect until the EC's oilseed regime conforms with its GATT obligations.
United States · United States Congress · 22 October 1991
Designates 1992 as the Year of Reconciliation Between American Indians and Non-Indians.
United States · United States Congress · 22 October 1991
Designates December 1991 as Bicentennial of the District of Columbia Month.
United States · United States Congress · 21 October 1991
Medicaid Moratorium Amendments of 1991 - Amends the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenues Act of 1988 to: (1) delay until September 30, 1992, the issuance of regulations changing the treatment under the Medicaid program (title XIX of the Social Security Act) of voluntary contributions and provider-specific taxes; and (2) maintain current regulations that allow intergovernmental transfers as a source of a State's expenditures for which Federal matching funds are available under the Medicaid program. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to submit to specified congressional committees a report on: (1) regulations to limit the use of voluntary contributions and provider-specific taxes to obtain Federal financial participation; (2) specific types of voluntary contributions and provider-specific taxes that may be used as sources of State expenditures for which Federal financial participation is available; and (3) any legislation that the Secretary believes is appropriate. Sets forth budget compliance provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 17 October 1991
Designates January 4 through 10, 1992, as Braille Literacy Week.
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 1991
Declares that Members of Congress are no longer exempted from Federal laws, including the: (1) Americans with Disabilities Act; (2) title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; (3) Equal Opportunity Act; (4) Occupational Safety and Health Act; (5) Fair Labor Standards Act; and (6) Freedom of Information Act. Makes it illegal to furnish any Member of the Congress, at the expenses of the Federal Government, free or at reduced costs: (1) medicine; (2) hospital care; (3) ambulance services; (4) meals; (5) flowers or plants; (6) pictures or picture frames; (7) haircuts; or (8) other items, services, or privileges, except official office expenses such as supplies and stationery.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 1991
Support for Emerging Democracies Act of 1991 - Amends the Food for Progress Act of 1985 with regard to the food for progress program to: (1) exempt FY 1992 from current commodity and Commodity Credit Corporation fund limits; and (2) require that the agreement not to resell commodities include assurances of commodity and funds accountability and conditions of how program policies will be carried out by the recipient country. Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 with regard to the program of sharing U.S. agricultural expertise with emerging democracies to: (1) establish an Emerging Democracies Fellowship Program; (2) provide subsistence and transportation assistance to U.S. farmers and other private persons in the agricultural field to participate in such program abroad; (3) provide for program information dissemination in the agricultural sector; and (4) increase the annual assistance cap. Amends the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 with regard to the export credit guarantee program to permit the granting of FY 1992 agricultural guarantees to the Soviet Union (or successor entity) without regard to its debt service ability.
United States · United States Congress · 8 October 1991
Telecommunications Act of 1991 - Title I: Infrastructure Development - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for the establishment of a Federal-State Joint Board to impose and enforce network quality standards upon common carriers (CC) to ensure the continued maintenance and evolution of CC facilities and services. Directs the Board to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to establish standards, to be enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the State commissions as to matters within their respective jurisdictions, for measuring CC network quality. Requires each CC to submit to the Board a quarterly data report regarding compliance with the prescribed standards. Authorizes the Board to require periodic independent audits of CC compliance with such standards. Directs the FCC to establish enforcement penalties and procedures, including expedited customer complaint mechanisms, to ensure CC compliance with such standards. Requires each local exchange carrier (LEC) to provide interconnection, on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis, to CCs and other providers of telecommunications and information services who request it, and to provide the interconnecting party with physical colocation, unless it demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that physical colocation is not technically practicable, in which case virtual colocation is required. Specifies that a rural exchange carrier (REC) shall not be required to provide interconnection to another LEC. Directs the FCC to: (1) adopt and make effective rules to enforce the obligations imposed by such Act; and (2) initiate a rulemaking to require that the interconnection offered by an LEC pursuant to such Act provide for the portability of telephone numbers. Requires the FCC to revise its order entitled "Filing and Review of Open Network Architecture Plans" to require that: (1) the plans for compliance with such order offer unbundled features and functions; (2) such features and functions are made available on a reasonably uniform basis by all of the CCs subject to such order, and are accessible throughout the service territory of each such carrier; (3) such plans include a schedule for timely offering of new features and functions; and (4) CCs subject to such order not unreasonably discriminate between affiliated and unaffiliated providers of information services in offering tariffed and non-tariffed features, functions, and capabilities. Directs the FCC, at least once every three years, to: (1) conduct a proceeding in which interested parties shall have an opportunity to comment on whether the order, as further revised, and the plans filed pursuant to it, have opened the networks of the carriers subject to such order to reasonable and non-discriminatory access by providers of telecommunications and information services; and (2) revise such order as necessary or appropriate and require the CCs subject to the order to file new plans consistent with such revisions, which shall also be subject to public comment and FCC review prior to their becoming effective. Restricts the release of personally identifiable customer information obtained or collected by an LEC in the course of providing telephone exchange information. Requires: (1) an LEC to prepare and file tariffs in accordance with such Act with respect to the interconnection and network access services required under such Act; (2) the costs that an LEC incurs in providing such services to be borne solely by the users of the features and functions comprising such services; and (3) the FCC to review such tariffs to ensure that the charges for such services are cost-based and the terms and conditions contained in such tariffs do not bundle together any separable elements, features, or functions. Requires: (1) an LEC to submit supporting information with its tariffs for interconnection and network access services that is sufficient to enable the FCC and the public to determine the relationship between the proposed changes and the costs of providing such services; and (2) the submission of such information to be pursuant to rules adopted by the FCC to ensure that similarly situated carriers provide such information in a uniform fashion. Authorizes an LEC to include in its tariffs for interconnection services an element intended to recover the amount necessary to preclude any substantial increases in the rates for telephone exchange service (service) that would otherwise result from the offering of interconnection services, subject to specified requirements. Directs the FCC to adopt and make effective rules governing the calculating of such element. Specifies that any amounts recovered by the LEC through the imposition of this additional element shall be used to defray the costs of providing service. Specifies that the resale of service in conjunction with the furnishing of an interstate telecommunications or any information service shall not be prohibited or subject to unreasonable conditions by the FCC, any State, or any LEC. Requires the FCC to: (1) adopt and make effective rules for the conduct of coordinated network planning by CCs; and (2) initiate an inquiry to examine the effects of competition in the provision of telephone exchange access and service on the availability and rates for service furnished by RECs. Directs the FCC to provide for expedited: (1) review of complaints alleging violations of service, quality, network access, and interconnection rules; and (2) licensing of new technologies or services related to the furnishing of telecommunications or information services determined to be in the public interest. Title II: Provisions Affecting Divested Operating Companies - Authorizes a divested operating company or affiliate (DOC) to provide information services, subject to specified requirements. Bars a DOC from offering electronic publishing services in any State in which it provides service until the FCC, after notice and opportunity for public comment, determines that: (1) at least 50 percent of all businesses and residences within the areas in each State in which such DOC provides service have access to transmission and switching facilities (other than those owned or controlled by a DOC) that are comparable to those offered by the DOC for the delivery of electronic publishing services; (2) at least ten percent of all businesses and residences within the areas in each State in which such DOC provides service subscribe to services delivered over such alternative facilities; and (3) the DOC seeking to provide such services has demonstrated that there is no substantial possibility that the DOC could use its position as an LEC to impede competition in the provision of electronic publishing services or impose additional costs upon service subscribers. Permits a DOC to petition the FCC for a waiver of restrictions on electronic publishing imposed under such Act. Requires such petition to be granted if the DOC can demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that: (1) electronic publishing service would not exist unless offered by such DOC; and (2) the provision of such DOC would not impose additional costs upon service subscribers. Sets forth additional requirements. Permits a DOC to provide information services after October 1, 1991, only through a subsidiary that is separated from the service operations of the divested company, with exceptions. Provides for a minimum number of outside directors. Specifies that any transaction between a DOC and any other affiliate of such DOC (including the subsidiary): (1) shall not be based upon any preference or discrimination arising out of the affiliation, or have the effect of permitting any violation of the requirements of such Act; and (2) shall be carried out in the same manner as such company or affiliate conducts such business with unaffiliated persons, shall be pursuant to contract or tariff reported to the FCC and made available for public inspection, and shall be fully auditable and reflect all costs associated with the conduct of such business. Bars such subsidiary from: (1) entering into any joint venture or partnership with the DOC; (2) having employees or a financial structure in common with the DOC, except as provided in such Act; (3) owning any property in common with a DOC; or (4) establishing any other subsidiary or affiliate except after notice to the FCC in such form and containing such information as the FCC may require. Requires such subsidiary to: (1) carry out directly its own marketing, sales, accounting, hiring and training of personnel, purchasing, and maintenance; and (2) maintain books, records, and accounts, prepare its own financial statements, and prepare and file with the FCC the annual and periodic reports required of publicly traded companies by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sets forth additional provisions with respect to: (1) advertising; (2) securities information; (3) outside ownership; (4) transmission capacity; (5) preservation of separate subsidiary requirements for grandfathered functions; (6) provision of services and information to others on the same terms and conditions as provided to the subsidiary; and (7) a cost allocation system requirement to prohibit any cost of providing information services from being subsidized by revenue from service or access services. Requires the FCC to establish cost assignment and allocation regulations, under which joint and common costs shall be allocated to unregulated services under a formula that ensures that the rates for service are no greater than they would have been in the absence of such investment, or based upon the highest forecast unregulated usage of the investment over the life of the investment, whichever method results in the lesser allocation of such costs to service. Directs the FCC, by regulation, to ensure that the economic risks associated with the provision of information services by DOCs are not borne by service customers in the event of a business loss or failure. Prohibits: (1) investments or other expenditures assigned to information services from being reassigned to service or access service; and (2) any DOC affiliate which is providing information services and is required to be, or is, structurally separate from an affiliate engaged in the provision of service from obtaining credit under any arrangement that would permit a creditor, upon default, to have recourse to the assets of the DOC, or would induce a creditor to rely on the tangible or intangible assets of the DOC in extending credit. Requires the FCC to prescribe regulations governing the accounting for the transfer of assets between a DOC and its affiliates which protect the interests of service ratepayers and meet specified requirements. Establishes an annual auditing requirement for each DOC that engages in, or has a financial or management interest in an entity that provides, information services. Sets forth provisions with respect to the conduct of the audit, submission and certification of audit results, and access to documents. Requires the FCC and a State commission, within their respective jurisdictions, to require a DOC to assess any affiliate providing information services a charge for the reasonable value of any intangible assets used in the provision of such services and to credit the amount of such charge to the provision of service. Bars a DOC from providing electronic publishing services, other than those it provided on or before October 1, 1991, in any State in which such DOC provides service, unless and until all entry barriers to the competitive provision of telecommunications services imposed by each State or State commission in which such DOC service have been removed with respect to such DOC. Requires any DOC that offers a gateway service to make such service available concurrently to all of its subscribers at the same rates, terms, and conditions. Sets forth enforcement provisions with respect to persons injured by a violation of requirements under such Act. Directs the FCC to take such actions as necessary to: (1) prevent anticompetitive practices between a DOC and any affiliate of the DOC; (2) protect ratepayers of DOCs from subsidizing the provision of information services by such DOCs; and (3) prevent any DOC from imposing any unjust or unreasonable rates or charges for any CC services provided in connection with the provision of information services. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes a State to regulate the rates, terms, or conditions for the offering of information services, subject to specified requirements. Bars a State from imposing regulations upon an LEC with respect to the intrastate provision of information services by such carrier or affiliate if such regulations: (1) are necessary and appropriate to separate the provision of information services from the provision of service by such carrier or affiliate; (2) are intended to protect the privacy rights of service customers; (3) do not affect the rates, terms, or conditions for the provision of such information services or the types of such services offered by such carrier or affiliate; and (4) are not inconsistent with the purposes, or do not significantly impede the enforcement, of this Act or any regulation or order prescribed by the FCC pursuant to this Act. Specifies that: (1) nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit State authority to take actions, consistent with this Act, to ensure the availability of service at reasonable rates in areas served by RECs, to relieve a DOC of any obligations, limitations, or responsibilities imposed by any other provision of such Act, or to create any antitrust immunity to any civil or criminal action under Federal or State antitrust law, or alter or restrict the applicability of any Federal or State law to the actions of a DOC; and (2) a DOC shall remain fully subject to the order entered on August 24, 1982, in United States v. Western Electric Company .
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 1991
Designates the week of October 19 through 27, 1991, as National Red Ribbon Week for a Drug Free America.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1991
Fair Competition in Broadcasting Act of 1991 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit, one year after the enactment of the Local Broadcast Service Protection Act of 1991, any cable system (system) or other multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) from retransmitting the signal of a commercial broadcasting station, or any part thereof, without the express authority of the originating station, with exceptions. Makes such prohibition inapplicable to the retransmission of the signal of a broadcasting station to a home satellite antenna by a cable operator (operator) or other MVPD of the signal of a superstation if the originating station was a superstation on May 1, 1991, and the system or other MVPD does not obtain the signal directly from the originating station. Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish regulations to govern the exercise by television (TV) stations of the right to grant retransmission authority and the right to signal carriage under such Act. Specifies that: (1) such regulations shall require that TV stations make an election between such rights; (2) if an originating TV station elects to exercise its right to grant retransmission authority, such Act shall not require the carriage of the signal of such station by such system; (3) such election shall not interfere with or supersede the rights of any station electing to assert the right of signal carriage; and (4) such provisions shall not be construed as affecting program licensing agreements between broadcasters and program suppliers. Requires each system operator with: (1) 12 or fewer usable activated channels to carry the signals of at least three local commercial TV stations, with exceptions where there are 300 or fewer subscribers; and (2) more than 12 such channels to carry the signals of local commercial TV stations up to one third of the aggregate number of usable activated channels of such system. Grants the operator discretion in selecting which signals to carry on its system whenever the number of local commercial TV stations exceeds the maximum number of signals a system is required to carry under such provision, with exceptions. Requires an operator to carry: (1) in its entirety, on the system of that operator, the primary video and accompanying audio transmission of each of the local commercial TV stations carried on the system and, to the extent technically feasible, program-related material carried in the vertical blanking interval or on subcarriers; and (2) the entirety of the program schedule of any TV station carried on the system unless carriage of specific programming is prohibited, and other programming authorized to be substituted, under Federal regulations. Requires that: (1) the signals of local commercial TV stations that an operator carriers be carried without material degradation; (2) the FCC adopt carriage standards to ensure that, to the extent technically feasible, the quality of signal processing and carriage provided by a system for the carriage of local commercial TV stations will be no less than that provided for carriage of any other type of signal; and (3) the FCC, at such time as it prescribes modifications of the standards for TV broadcast signals, initiate a proceeding to establish any changes in the signal carriage requirements of cable TV systems necessary to ensure cable carriage of such broadcast signals of local commercial TV stations which have been changed to conform with such modified standards. Specifies that an operator shall not be required to carry the signal of any local commercial TV station that substantially duplicates the signal of another local commercial TV station which is carried on its system, or to carry the signals of more than one local commercial TV station affiliated with a particular broadcast network. Sets forth provisions with respect to: (1) channel positioning; (2) signal availability; (3) identification of signals carried; and (4) notification of a local commercial TV station prior to deleting carriage or repositioning the station. Bars an operator from accepting or requesting compensation for carriage of local commercial TV stations or for channel positioning rights, with exceptions. Establishes procedures for complaints by broadcast stations against operators. Directs the FCC to: (1) afford the operator an opportunity to respond to the allegations; and (2) make a determination and take appropriate action with respect to the complaint. States that no operator shall be required to provide or make available, or provide information to subscribers about, any input selector switch or comparable device. Directs the FCC to issue regulations implementing the requirements established by this Act. Specifies that nothing in this Act shall require (or prohibit) an operator to (or from) carrying on any tier the signal of any commercial TV station or video programming service that is predominantly utilized for the transmission of sales presentations or program length commercials. Requires an operator with: (1) 12 or fewer usable activated channels to carry the signal of at least one qualified local noncommercial educational TV station; and (2) 13 to 36 such channels to carry the signal of at least one such station (but does not require carriage of the signals of more than three such stations). Sets forth additional requirements where a system operates beyond the presence of any qualified local noncommercial educational TV station. Requires all operators to continue to provide carriage to all qualified local noncommercial educational TV stations whose signals were carried on their systems as of March 29, 1990, subject to waiver under specified circumstances. Specifies that: (1) an operator required to add the signals of qualified local noncommercial educational TV stations to a system may do so by placing such additional stations on public, educational, or governmental channels not in use for their designated purposes; (2) an operator of a system with a capacity of more than 36 usable activated channels which is required to carry the signals of three qualified local noncommercial educational TV stations shall not be required to carry the signals of additional such stations the programming of which substantially duplicates the programming broadcast by another qualified local noncommercial educational TV station requesting carriage; and (3) a qualified local noncommercial educational TV station whose signal is carried by an operator shall not assert any network nonduplication rights it may have under specified Federal regulations to require the deletion of programs aired on other qualified local noncommercial educational TV stations whose signals are carried by such operator. Requires an operator to: (1) retransmit in its entirety the primary video and accompanying audio transmission of each qualified local noncommercial educational TV station whose signal is carried on the system and, to the extent technically feasible, program-related material carried in the vertical blanking interval, or on subcarriers, that may be necessary for receipt of programming by handicapped persons or for educational or language purposes; and (2) provide each qualified local noncommercial educational TV station whose signal is carried with bank-width and technical capacity equivalent to that provided to commercial TV broadcast stations carried on the system, and carry the signal of each qualified local noncommercial educational TV station without material degradation. Sets forth additional provisions with respect to: (1) notification of changes in carriage; (2) signal quality; (3) channel positioning; (4) availability of signals; (5) payment for carriage (which is generally prohibited); (6) complaint procedures and remedies; and (7) signal identification.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 1991
Designates 1992 as the Year of the Gulf of Mexico. Directs all Federal and State agencies which have responsibility for matters affecting the Gulf to work to increase public awareness regarding the immeasurable value of this resource and current conditions which threaten its aesthetic and economic value.
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1991
Designates the week of September 22 through 28, 1991, and September 20 through 26, 1992, as Religious Freedom Week.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1991
Disaster Victim Assistance Act of 1991 - Amends the Small Business Act to make disaster loan repayment collections credited to a liquidating account available to assist disaster victims beyond October 1, 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1991
Area Health Education Centers Reauthorization Act of 1991 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to specify a term of six years for agreements establishing area health education centers (AHECs). Modifies the purposes of AHECs, including serving high-impact areas and States as well as border areas close to Mexico. Mandates, if available in the area, participation of a school of public health. Authorizes agreements for the planning, development, and operation of State-supported AHECs. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Intermodal Carriers Competitiveness Act of 1991 - Prohibits a State, political subdivision, or interstate agency of two or more States from adopting or enforcing any law, rule, regulation, or standard relating to interstate or intrastate rates, routes, services, or terms of service of any national intermodal carrier with respect to the provision of surface transportation of property in the State.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Chattahooche Forest Protection Act of 1991 - Designates certain lands in the Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia, as wilderness and therefore as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Designates such lands, as follows: (1) the Blood Mountain Wilderness; (2) the Mark Trail Wilderness (from lands depicted as the Chattahoochee Headwaters Wilderness); and (3) an additional part of the Brasstown Wilderness as designated by the Georgia Wilderness Act of 1986. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) to administer each such wilderness area designated by this Act in accordance with the Wilderness Act. Designates certain lands in such Forest as: (1) the Coosa Bald Scenic Area; and (2) the Springer Mountain National Recreation Area. Directs the Secretary to administer such areas in a specified manner. Provides that completion of existing timber sales under contract shall not be prevented by such designations. Withdraws such areas from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral leasing. Directs the Secretary to file a map and legal description of each area designated by this Act with specified congressional committees. Exempts any privately held lands within these designated areas from the purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Food Quality Protection Act of 1991 - Title I: Cancellation and Suspension - Amends provisions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) relating to cancellation and changes in classification or other terms or conditions of registration with respect to the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Requires that a rulemaking under such provisions be based on a validated test or other significant evidence raising prudent concerns of unreasonable adverse effects to man or to the environment. Sets forth procedural requirements for such a rulemaking. Provides for amendment of a rule and for judicial review. Allows the Administrator, in the case of a suspension, to waive certain requirements. Allows the Administrator to elect to proceed with a special review proceeding or a public interim administrative review proceeding, if published before a specified date, under the law in effect before enactment of this Act. Requires the Administrator to reassess each tolerance and exemption from the requirement for a tolerance at certain times in connection with reregistration of pesticides. Establishes the Science Review Board to assist the Scientific Advisory Panel in reviews conducted by the Panel. Revises procedures applicable after denial of an application for registration. Allows the Administrator to deny an application for registration because it does not comply with the requirements of a rule issued under provisions of this Act. Repeals provisions regulating the authority of the Administrator to initiate a public interim administrative review process. Declares a decision made after a hearing in certain circumstances during phase three of reregistration to be final. Amends provisions regulating: (1) review by district courts of suspension of registrations; and (2) public hearings. Title II: Data Collection - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to collect pesticide use data of Statewide or regional significance for all the major crops and crops of dietary significance. Mandates research, development, and dissemination of integrated pest management techniques and other pest control methods that enable producers to reduce or eliminate application of pesticides which pose a greater than negligible dietary risk to humans. Title III: Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to define, subject to exception, "pesticide chemical" as it is defined in the FIFRA. Adds to the list of prohibited acts under the FDCA violation of provisions relating to confidentiality of data, as amended by this Act. Deems a food adulterated if it bears or contains: (1) a pesticide chemical residue that is unsafe; or (2) a new animal drug, or conversion product thereof, that is unsafe. Sets forth requirements relating to tolerances and exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance for pesticide chemical residues in food, including residues of degradation products. Prohibits establishment of a tolerance higher than a level the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency determines is adequate to protect the public health. Sets forth the factors the Administrator must consider. Allows a greater than negligible dietary risk if: (1) use protects from greater adverse health effects to humans or the environment; (2) use avoids greater risks from another pesticide; or (3) the unavailability of the pesticide would reduce the availability of an adequate, wholesome, and economical domestic supply of the food, and the adverse effects from the reduction would outweigh the risk posed by the residue. Allows the Administrator to issue an exemption from the requirement for a tolerance only if the Administrator determines that a tolerance is not needed to protect the public health, in view of the levels of dietary exposure that could reasonably be expected to occur. Sets forth the factors the Administrator must consider. Sets forth procedures and requirements in connection with: (1) petitions for tolerances or exemptions; (2) certain actions authorized on the Administrator's own initiative; (3) the required submission of additional data to support the continuation of a tolerance or exemption; and (4) confidentiality of data submitted to the Administrator. Provides for continuation of previously issued regulations. Sets forth transitional provisions. Prohibits a final rule that revokes, modifies, or suspends a tolerance or exemption until the Administrator has taken any necessary action under the FIFRA with respect to the registration of the pesticide involved. Requires the Administrator, if the Administrator takes certain actions with respect to the registration of a pesticide, to revoke any tolerance or exemption that allows the presence of the chemical or chemical residue. Requires the suspension of any tolerance or exemption upon the suspension of the use of an associated registered pesticide. Provides for: (1) tolerances for unavoidable residues in the case of a residue of a canceled or suspended pesticide chemical that will unavoidably persist in the environment and thereby be present in or on a food; and (2) residues resulting from an application which was lawful at the time of the application. Directs the Administrator to require the payment of fees sufficient for the Administrator's functions under these provisions. Prohibits, subject to exception, a State from establishing or enforcing any limit on a qualifying pesticide chemical residue in or on any food which is not identical to Federal requirements. Prohibits a State from enforcing a residue limit which was lawful at the time of application. Authorizes appropriations for increased monitoring by the Secretary of Health and Human Services of pesticide residues in imported and domestic food.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Designates October 1991 as Ending Hunger Month.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1991
Securities Investors Legal Rights Act of 1991 - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to set forth a statute of limitations on any private right of action arising from violations of the Act. Permits the refiling of specified private civil actions which: (1) were dismissed as time barred subsequent to June 19, 1991; and (2) would have been timely filed under the laws of the applicable jurisdiction and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1991
Veterans Dignity in Health Care Act of 1991 - Grants veterans who are patients or residents in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, nursing homes, and domiciliaries the right to purchase and use tobacco products. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that: (1) each VA facility that maintains a commissary or canteen makes tobacco products available through, and provides patients or residents access to, the commissary or canteen; and (2) each VA facility maintains and provides patients or residents access to an indoor patient smoking area.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1991
Establishes a Joint Committee on the Organization of the Congress to: (1) make a full and complete study of the organization and operation of the Congress; and (2) recommend improvements in such organization and operation with a view toward strengthening its effectiveness, simplifying its operations, improving its relationships with other branches of the Government, and improving the orderly consideration of legislation. Requires a report to the Senate and the House of Representatives not later than the adjournment sine die of the 102d Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that an employer's treatment of employees, or employees in substantially similar positions, as being employees for certain periods and not being employees for other periods shall not be treated as indicative of any intentional disregard of the requirement to deduct and withhold employment taxes. Sets forth the circumstances under which employment tax liability is terminated for periods before December 31, 1994. Declares that an employer shall be treated as having a reasonable basis for not treating an employee as an employee for a period if such treatment was based on: (1) judicial precedent, published rulings, technical advice, or a letter ruling; (2) longstanding recognized practice of a significant segment of the industry; or (3) some other demonstrable manner. Prohibits a refund or credit of any overpayment of an employment tax resulting from the application of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1991
Access to Obstetrical Care Act of 1991 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide for demonstration projects to reduce infant mortality by improving access in underserved areas to obstetric services for eligible pregnant women under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act. Amends the Public Health Service Act to: (1) deem any officer, employee, or contractor of an entity receiving Federal funds, under provisions relating to migrant and community health centers and health services for the homeless, and who is a licensed health care practitioner to be an employee of the Public Health Service; and (2) subrogate to the United States any medical malpractice claim of such employee. Requires such entities to take certain actions regarding malpractice. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop and make available to the public each year a compendium of State initiatives to address the obstetric access crisis; and (2) provide funding for a study, and report to the Congress on, obstetrical malpractice claims payment by Medicaid and private insurance companies.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 1991
Medicare Physician Payment Reform Amendments of 1991 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise the transition rules for phasing in the resource-based relative value scale (RB RVS) method of payment for physician services to prohibit adjustments for asymmetry in the transition and for behavioral responses. Declares spending under this Act to be an emergency requirement under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) and exempt from sequestration.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1991
Tire Recycling and Recovery Act of 1991 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require States to submit scrap tire management plans to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Sets forth plan approval procedures. Requires the Administrator to: (1) convene a forum of Federal, State, and local authorities and experts in the field of scrap tire management to discuss the requirements of this Act; (2) distribute guidelines and a model plan to States; (3) review approved plans and audit plans periodically; and (4) promulgate plans for States that fail to do so. Sets forth plan requirements and declares that plans must: (1) address the reduction and elimination of existing scrap tire piles that contain more than 3,000 scrap tires; (2) address current and future disposal, recycling, recovery, and reuse of scrap tires; and (3) provide for the issuance of permits to owners or operators of scrap tire collection sites and others who handle scrap tires. Authorizes the Administrator to provide financial assistance to States for purposes of conducting surveys of scrap tire piles and for developing and implementing tire plans. Grants a preference for assistance to applicants who have shown progress in eliminating such piles. Sets forth assistance application procedures. Permits States to apply for assistance in conjunction with neighboring States. Prohibits: (1) the disposal of scrap tires in a landfill, monocell, or monofill; (2) the operation of collection sites, except in compliance with specified regulations; (3) the storage of more than 3,000 scrap tires for more than 60 days at collection sites, unless necessary for further reuse, recovery, or recycling; (4) the commingling of new scrap tires with existing scrap tire piles; (5) the transfer of control over scrap tires for transportation to a collection site to a transporter without a permit; and (6) the operation and maintenance of a pile or collection site, or the delivery or receipt of scrap tires for storage or disposal at a collection site, except in compliance with a permit. Exempts specified persons from such prohibitions if no threat of an adverse effect on human health or the environment will result from the exemption. Authorizes the Administrator to impose alternative requirements as a condition for an exemption. Authorizes civil penalties or civil actions for violations of this Act. Prescribes criminal penalties for knowing violations. Directs the Administrator to prepare guidelines for the Federal procurement of items that make use of rubber from scrap or used tires. Requires the Administrator, together with the heads of appropriate Federal agencies, to: (1) determine the extent of scrap tire piles on Federal property; and (2) implement a plan for, and report to the Congress on, the abatement of such piles. Repeals a provision concerning grants for discarded tire disposal.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1991
Establishes the Scrap Tire Trust Fund in the Treasury. Provides that the Fund shall consist of a Scrap Tire Reduction Account and a Scrap Tire Recycling Account. Appropriates amounts equivalent to fees collected under this Act to the Accounts. Makes amounts in the Accounts available for: (1) financial assistance to States for conducting surveys of scrap tire piles, developing State tire management plans, reducing and eliminating scrap tire piles, and carrying out parts of such plans relating to tire disposal; and (2) administration of such assistance. Imposes fees on new tires sold by manufacturers or importers from January 1, 1993, through December 31, 2004. Provides for the deposit of such fees into the General Fund of the Treasury.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1991
Designates November 1991 as National Red Ribbon Month.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 1991
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the people of the United States should recognize: (1) the tenth anniversary of "An Artistic Discovery" (the Congressional High School Art Competition); and (2) its success in encouraging the creative endeavors of our Nation's young artists and forging strong working relationships among the Congress, businesses, and the arts community towards the ultimate goal of providing opportunities for high school students to express their artistic talents.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1991
Petroleum Marketing Competition Enhancement Act - Amends the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act to prohibit a refiner from: (1) selling motor fuel to a customer for resale (customer) at a price higher than the refiner's adjusted retail price for the same or a similar grade or quality of motor fuel sold from a direct operated outlet in the same geographic area (sale of fuel at higher prices); and (2) entering into a scheme or agreement to set, change, or maintain maximum retail prices of motor fuel, except with respect to a refiner's retail sales at its direct operated outlets. Requires that: (1) in comparing a refiner's adjusted retail price to a refiner's price to other customers, adjustments be made to account for differences in freight, taxes, and inspection fees, whether or not the items are separately listed as part of the price; and (2) if a refiner includes consumer credit as part of its price, an adjustment for the cost of such credit be made in comparing the prices. Sets forth enforcement provisions, including: (1) proceedings by the Attorney General (establishes fines ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 for each violation, and authorizes civil actions and equitable relief); (2) private civil actions, including class actions, (and establishes a right to jury trial); and (3) proceedings by State attorneys general. Allows a person bringing an action to enforce provisions concerning the sale of fuel at higher prices to establish a prima facie case by showing that the refiner has sold motor fuel to a customer at a price that is higher than: (1) 94 percent of its consumer retail price per gallon (or, in the event of a sale to a branded wholesaler, 90 percent); or (2) the refiner's consumer retail price per gallon less the most recently available average retail operating expenses per gallon (and, in the event of a sale by a refiner to a branded wholesaler, also less the most recently available average wholesale operating expenses per gallon for the State in which the consumer retail price was charged). Specifies that: (1) in the event that the relevant State has not conducted an annual survey (pursuant to this Act) to determine the average retail or average wholesale operating expenses, the average operating expenses for the retail and wholesale petroleum industry, as determined by the Secretary of Energy, shall be used; and (2) such prima facie case may be overcome by a preponderance of evidence that the refiner's actual retail and average wholesale operating expenses, if applicable, are less than the evidence presented by the plaintiff to establish such prima facie case. Directs the Secretary to conduct an annual survey to determine the average retail and average wholesale operating expenses per gallon for the petroleum industry. Permits a State or State agency to authorize an annual State survey to reflect local conditions with respect to motor fuels sold to the public in that State. Directs that any such survey regarding: (1) retail operating expenses and actual wholesale operating expenses be based upon all direct and indirect expenses attributable to the sale of a gallon of motor fuel to the public by direct and nondirect operated outlets; and (2) wholesale operating expenses be based on all direct and indirect expenses attributable to the wholesale sale of a gallon of motor fuel by a refiner or a branded wholesaler to a branded dealer.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 1991
Rural Crime and Drug Control Act of 1991 - Title I: Fighting Drug Trafficking in Rural Areas - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize appropriations, and increase the base allocation, for rural drug enforcement assistance. Directs the Attorney General to establish a Rural Drug Enforcement Task Force in each of the Federal judicial districts which encompass significant rural lands. Specifies the membership of such task forces. Directs the Attorney General to cross-designate up to 100 Federal officers with jurisdiction to enforce Controlled Substances Act (CSA) provisions on non-Federal lands to the extent necessary to effect the purposes of this title. Requires the Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to develop a specialized course of instruction devoted to training law enforcement officers from rural agencies in the investigation of drug trafficking and related crimes. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Federal Law Enforcement Agencies - Authorizes appropriations for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to hire, equip, and train not less than 350 agents and necessary support personnel to expand DEA investigations and operations against drug trafficking organizations in rural areas. Title III: Increasing Penalties for Certain Drug Trafficking Offenses - Ice Enforcement Act of 1991 - Amends the CSA to increase penalties for specified offenses involving crystalline methamphetamine. Title IV: Rural Drug Treatment - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a program to provide grants to hospitals, community health centers, and other appropriate entities that serve nonmetropolitan areas to assist in developing and implementing projects that provide, or expand the availability of, substance abuse treatment services. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Rural Drug Prevention - Directs the Secretary to make grants to public and nonprofit private entities that serve nonmetropolitan areas to assist such entities in developing and implementing projects that provide, or expand the availability of, substance abuse prevention services. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the alcohol and drug abuse information clearinghouse required to be established under the PHSA to: (1) gather information pertaining to rural drug abuse treatment and education projects funded by the Administrator of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration and other such projects operating throughout the United States; and (2) disseminate information to rural hospitals, community health centers, community mental health centers, treatment facilities, community organizations. and other interested individuals. Title VI: Rural Land Recovery Act - Specifies that each of the Rural Drug Enforcement Task Forces shall include one Director of Rural Land Recovery. Directs State and Federal prosecutors, when bringing charges against the operators of such laboratories, to include, in addition to drug-related charges, counts involving infringements of applicable environmental protection laws, including illegal disposal of hazardous waste and knowing endangerment of the environment. Authorizes such prosecutors and private citizens to bring suit against the operators of such laboratories for environmental and health-related damages caused by the operators in their manufacture of illicit substances.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 1991
Designates August 29, 1991, as National Sarcoidosis Awareness Day.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1991
Designates October 1991 as Country Music Month.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 1991
Designates May 1992 as National Trauma Awareness Month.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 1991
Designates October 1991 as Crime Prevention Month.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 1991
Designates March 19, 1992, as National Women in Agriculture Day.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress and the President, prior to each fiscal year, to agree on an estimate of total receipts (except those derived from borrowing) for that fiscal year by enactment of a law devoted solely to that subject. Prohibits outlays for that year (except those for repayment of debt principal) from exceeding this amount unless the Congress, by a three-fifths roll call vote of each House, authorizes a specific excess of outlays over receipts. Requires a three-fifths roll call vote of each House to increase the public debt. Directs the President to submit a balanced budget to the Congress. Requires the approval of a majority of the total membership of each House by roll call vote before any bill to increase revenue may become law. Waives these provisions when a declaration of war is in effect. Makes this article effective beginning with FY 1995 or with the second fiscal year after its ratification, whichever is later.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
Designates the week of October 27 through November 2, 1991, and October 11 through 17, 1992, as National Job Skills Week.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1991
Designates the second week in April as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1991
Designates the week of November 10, 1991, as Hire a Veteran Week.