United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1983
Expresses the sense of Congress that the Railroad Retirement Board and representatives of railroad employees and carriers should jointly or independently study methods of financing the railroad retirement program, including a ton-mile tax. Requires a report to Congress by March 30, 1983, on the alternatives studied.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1983
Residential Mortgage Pension Investment Act of 1983 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from specified prohibited transaction provisions any qualified mortgage transaction engaged in by an employee benefit plan, provided such transaction is at "arm's length" (i.e. if the terms of the transaction are at least as favorable to the plan as those of similar transactions involving unrelated parties).
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1983
Emergency Agricultural Credit Act of 1983 - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to raise the limits on aggregate operating loans to an individual: (1) from $1,000 to $200,000 for non-guaranteed loans; and (2) from $200,000 to $400,000 for guaranteed loans. Extends the maximum payment period from seven to 15 years. Authorizes $1,660,000 for the aggregate amount of insured operating loans for FY 1983. Sets aside a specified portion for new borrowers. Requires that at least 20 percent of FY 1983 farm ownership and operating loans be for limited-resource farmers. Requires the Secretary to notify all farmers about such program. Requires deferred or rescheduled loan interest rates to be at the lower of either original or current rates. States that disaster emergency loan assistance eligibility based on production loss is to be based solely on criteria under such Act, and not on whether a county is designated for emergency loans. Authorizes four and three year extensions for specified categories of borrowers. Permits family farmers to request economic hardship loan repayment and foreclosure deferrals through FY 1984. Requires a showing of: (1) good management; (2) temporary inability to repay because of circumstances beyond one's control; and (3) a reasonable chance of repayment. Provides for loan consolidation and rescheduling at the end of such deferral period. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to provide notification to Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) borrowers regarding such deferral and rescheduling programs. Requires the Secretary to establish a Guaranteed Farm Loan Program Unit in each State Office of the FmHA to administer the various guaranteed farm loans. Amends the Emergency Agricultural Credit Adjustment Act of 1978 to: (1) require (presently only authorizes) the Secretary to carry out such program; (2) extend program authority through FY 1984; and (3) provide that specified authorizations shall be in addition to other guaranteed economic emergency loan authorizations under the Act of December 18, 1982 (P.L.97-370).
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1983
Expresses the sense of the Congress that funding for community service employment programs for senior citizens under title V of the Older Americans Act of 1965 for FY 1984 and subsequent fiscal years should be provided at levels sufficient to maintain or increase the number of employment positions provided under such programs.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1983
Upper White Oak Bayou Flood Control Act of 1983 - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to construct the project for flood control and recreation in the Upper White Oak Bayou area, Texas.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1983
Transfers methaqualone from Schedule II (abuse potential, but has accepted medical use) to Schedule I (abuse potential, with no accepted U.S. medical use) of the Controlled Substances Act. Makes this Act effective within six months of enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1983
Agricultural Produce Bailment Bankruptcy Amendments Act of 1983 - Amends the Bankruptcy Act to require bankruptcy courts to give priority to allowed unsecured claims of farmers arising from the sale or conversion of farm produce to or by a debtor who operates a farm produce storage facility. Specifies that such sale or conversion must have occurred within 180 days before the filing of the petition or before the cessation of the debtor's business, whichever occurs first. Limits the payment of any such claim to $2,000 per individual. Permits a bankruptcy court to expedite the procedures for determining interests in and the disposition of grain and proceeds held by debtors who own or operate grain storage facilities. Requires the court to expedite such procedures if requested by a trustee or a claimant. Sets forth factors for the court to consider before deciding whether to shorten the time periods for procedures. Lists the procedures which may be expedited. Specifies administrative details.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1983
Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should implement, within the United States, the objectives of the United Nations Decade for Disabled Persons (1983-1992).
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1983
Computer Contribution Act of 1983 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase for one year the maximum allowable charitable contribution income tax deduction for corporations which donate computers during 1984 to primary and secondary schools. Requires that contributions be nondiscriminatory as to geographic areas or economic status of the donees, and be used directly in the education of students.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1983
Designates the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, in Maryland, as the Gladys Noon Spellman Parkway. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to erect adjacent to such parkway an appropriate marker commemorating the contributions of Gladys Noon Spellman. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1983
High Plains States Groundwater Demonstration Program Act of 1982 - Amends the Reclamation Act of 1902 to include groundwater recharge as an authorized irrigation works purpose. Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau), to conduct, in two phases, an investigation of and to establish demonstration projects for groundwater recharge of aquifers in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming (the High Plains States) as well as in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington (the other Reclamation Act States). Directs the Bureau to consult with the U.S. Geological Survey, other appropriate Federal agencies and departments, the High Plains States, and the other Reclamation Act States to carry out this Act. Directs the Bureau, during phase I, to develop a detailed plan for not less than 12 demonstration projects in the High Plains States and for not more than 9 demonstration projects in the other Reclamation Act States. Requires such plan to determine whether various recharge technologies may be applied to diverse geologic and hydrologic conditions. Directs the Bureau to recommend the demonstration projects to be designed, constructed, and operated during phase II. Requires the Secretary, within 18 months of enactment of an appropriation Act to carry out phase I, to transmit a report to Congress containing recommendations for phase II and a detailed statement of findings and conclusions. Directs the Bureau during phase II to design, construct, and operate such demonstration projects as are recommended in the Secretary's report to Congress. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Bureau, to contract with the High Plains States and the other Reclamation Act States to conduct a study to: (1) identify and evaluate alternative means by which the costs of groundwater recharge projects could be allocated among the project beneficiaries; and (2) identify and evaluate the economic feasibility of and the legal authority for utilizing groundwater recharge in water resource development projects. Requires the Secretary to submit interim reports to Congress on the progress of provisions of this Act within 12 months after the initiation of phase II and a final report within five years. Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1983 for phase I, and such sums as may be necessary to carry out phase II. Authorizes the matching of Federal funds to meet the costs of phase II and authorizes the Secretary to enter into memoranda of agreement with the High Plains States and the other reclamation Act States to meet the costs of phase II.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1983
Sunset Review Act of 1983 - Requires the House Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration to jointly develop and maintain an inventory of all Federal programs and tax expenditures. Requires such inventory to classify all such programs and expenditures according to the jurisdiction of the various legislative committees of the two Houses. Requires the General Accounting Office (GAO), before the beginning of the 99th Congress, after consultation with the appropriate legislative committees and the Congressional Budget Office, to submit a draft inventory to the House Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Requires such Committees to notify each legislative committee of the programs and tax expenditures which are classified within its jurisdiction. Allows any legislative committee to propose revisions of such inventory within 30 days after notification. Requires that such inventory be published in a single document. Requires that an update be made of such inventory at the beginning of every Congress. Specifies information to be contained in such an inventory. Directs the GAO to publish a supplement to such inventory which includes certain budget information. Requires each legislative committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate, by a specified date in the first session of every Congress beginning with the 100th Congress, to report a resolution setting forth an agenda for the sunset review of selected Federal programs within its jurisdiction, or, in the case of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance, of selected tax expenditures. Directs the committees of each House to develop their sunset review agenda in consultation with any other committee which has concurrent jurisdiction over any programs or tax expenditures involved. Requires, where practicable, that related programs and expenditures be reviewed during the same Congress. Requires the report accompanying any agenda reported in the 105th Congress and every fifth Congress thereafter to summarize the programs and expenditures reviewed and not reviewed during the five previous Congresses. Prohibits either the House or the Senate from considering a primary expense resolution for any legislative committee in any Congress until that committee has developed and submitted its sunset review agenda. Requires the House Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration to incorporate such agendas into a consolidated sunset review agenda and to report such consolidated agenda to its House in the form of a concurrent resolution, within seven legislative days after all committee sunset review agendas have been submitted. Requires the consolidated sunset review agenda to be adopted in the House and in the Senate no later than March 30 in the first session of each Congress. Sets forth the procedures for the consideration and adoption of such agenda. Requires each committee of the House or the Senate, not later than May 15 in the second session of each Congress, to report a bill or bills modifying, continuing, or terminating each program or tax expenditure which it has been directed to review under the consolidated sunset review agenda adopted during the first session. Requires such bill to be accompanied by a report. Requires each department, agency, and instrumentality in the executive branch of the Government which is responsible for the administration of a Federal program or tax expenditure selected for sunset review to provide the appropriate congressional committees with its views, information, and assistance. Directs the Comptroller General to supply specified information on audits. Directs the Comptroller General, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, the Director of the Office of Technology Assessment, and the Director of the Congressional Research Service to furnish congressional committees such information as requested to assist in conducting sunset review of programs or tax expenditures under this Act. Exempts foreign intelligence or counterintelligence programs designated by the President as requiring protection from unauthorized disclosure. Directs the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate to review such programs pursuant to the spirit of this Act. Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to accord with this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1983
Establishes in the House of Representatives the Select Committee on Hunger to conduct a continuing comprehensive study of the problems of hunger and malnutrition.
United States · United States Congress · 9 December 1982
Amends the Small Business Act to define "small agricultural cooperative", for purposes of eligibility for disaster loans under such Act, as an association: (1) acting pursuant to the Agriculture Marketing Act; (2) whose receipts do not exceed the size standard established for other agricultural small business concerns; and (3) whose board members or governing members each qualify as a small business concern.
United States · United States Congress · 11 August 1982
Balanced Monetary Policy Act of 1982 - Amends the Federal Reserve Act to require the Board of Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve System to establish yearly targets for long-term interest rates, and for money and credit aggregates. Requires the Board and the Federal Open Market Committee to take necessary actions to assure that such targets are achieved, on average, on an annual basis. Requires a written report to specified Congressional committees if such targets cannot or should not be achieved because of unfavorable economic conditions. Requires the Board of Governors to transmit specified information to Congress biannually. Requires the Board to announce publicly changes in objectives and plans at the time those changes are determined. Requires the President to state for the System's record the administration's position on each vote on monetary policy taken by the Board and by the Federal Open Market Committee.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1982
Firearms Ownership Rights Act of 1982 - Title I: Findings and Purposes of this Act - Sets forth findings regarding the legislative history of the Gun Control Act of 1968 and Federal preemption of State and local firearms laws. Title II: Amendments to the Gun Control Act of 1968 - Amends the Gun Control Act of 1968 to declare that no provision shall be construed to preempt a State law on the same subject matter, unless there is a direct and positive conflict between the laws which cannot be reconciled. Declares that Congress does intend to preempt any local government law which prohibits or regulates the ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition, unless the local law is created by Federal or State law. Makes any local government which enacts a law conflicting with this Act ineligible to receive Federal funds for law enforcement.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1982
Residential Mortgage Investment Act of 1982 - Permits employee benefit plans, as defined under this Act, to engage in any qualified mortgage transaction involving any qualified residential mortgage loan, provided transactions between all parties are at arm's length. Permits such plans to participate in any mortgage pool, provided such pool conforms to specified requirements with regard to permitted investments. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations to carry out this Act. Provides that this Act shall supersede any and all contrary provisions of State law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and the Internal Revenue Code. Prohibits the imposition of Federal excise tax on a plan or pool that engages in a transaction described under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1982
Expresses the support of the Congress for beginning strategic arms reductions talks. Urges the Soviet Union to join with the United States in concluding an equitable and verifiable agreement which freezes strategic nuclear forces at equal and substantially reduced levels. Reaffirms congressional support for the position that the United States should not enter into an arms agreement which provides for force levels inferior to those of the Soviet Union. Declares that the United States should propose practical measures to: (1) reduce the danger of accidental nuclear war; (2) prevent the use of nuclear weapons by third parties, including terrorists; and (3) halt the worldwide proliferation of nuclear weapons. Insists that any arms control agreement must be fully verifiable.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 1982
Violent Crime and Drug Enforcement Improvements Act of 1982 - Title I: Bail Reform - Bail Reform Act of 1982 - Repeals the Bail Reform Act of 1966 and sets forth new bail procedures. Retains execution of a money bond as a condition for pretrial release. Authorizes a judicial officer to consider the safety of any person or the community when making a pretrial release determination. Establishes as a mandatory release condition that the person not commit a Federal, State, or local crime during release. Expands the discretionary release conditions to include that the defendant: (1) maintain employment or an educational program; (2) avoid contact with an alleged victim or potential witness; (3) report to a law enforcement or pretrial service agency; (4) comply with a curfew; (5) refrain from possessing a firearm or using alcohol or narcotic drugs; (6) undergo medical treatment; (7) agree to forfeit designated property, including money, upon failure to appear; and (8) return to custody at specified hours. Prohibits a judicial officer from imposing financial conditions that result in the pretrial detention of a person. Authorizes a judicial officer to order the detention for up to ten days of a person who is presently on pretrial release for a felony under Federal, State, or local law or on probation or parole or release pending sentencing or appeal for any offense, upon a determination that such person may flee or pose a danger to any person or the community. Requires that a detention hearing be held in any case involving: (1) a crime of violence; (2) any offense punishable by life imprisonment or death; (3) a narcotics offense punishable by at least ten years imprisonment; (4) a serious risk of flight or obstruction of justice; or (5) any felony committed after the person has been convicted of two or more offenses for which a hearing is mandated. Authorizes a judicial officer, after such a hearing, to order the pretrial detention of a person upon finding that no condition will reasonably assure such person's appearance and the safety of any other person and the community. Creates certain rebuttable presumptions with regard to absence of such conditions. Enumerates additional factors to be considered by the judicial officer in making a release determination, including the defendant's past conduct, history of drug or alcohol abuse, criminal history, and the nature and seriousness of the danger to the community or any person. Requires the detention of a person who has appealed his conviction unless the judicial officer finds by clear and convincing evidence that: (1) such person is not likely to flee or pose a danger to another person or property; and (2) the appeal raises a substantial question of law or fact. Requires the detention of a person awaiting sentencing unless the officer finds by clear and convincing evidence that the person is not likely to flee or pose a danger to any other person or the community. Authorizes a U.S. attorney to appeal a release order. Makes a person guilty of an offense for failing to appear after having been released. Provides increased penalties for persons charged with more serious offenses. Makes it an affirmative defense to such crime that uncontrollable circumstances prevented the person from appearing. Establishes mandatory additional penalties for commission of an offense while on pretrial release. Subjects a person who has been conditionally released and who violates a condition of release to revocation of release and prosecution for contempt of court. Authorizes a surety to arrest a person charged with an offense who is released upon execution of an appearance bond with such surety. Requires such person to be delivered promptly to a judicial officer for a revocation determination. Grants new authority to law enforcement officers to arrest a person who violates pretrial release conditions. Title II: Witness-Victim Protection - Witness-Victim Protection Act of 1982 - Amends rule 32 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to require that presentence reports contain information assessing the impact upon and cost to any person who was the victim of the offense. Amends the Federal criminal code to establish as offenses "tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant" and "retaliating against a witness or an informant." Amends the Bail Reform Act of 1966 to require as a condition of pretrial release that the defendant not commit these offenses. Grants general authority to the Attorney General to relocate or protect Government witnesses. Authorizes the Attorney General to initiate civil proceedings to restrain tampering with a witness or victim. Grants exclusive jurisdiction to the Federal courts over civil claims against the United States for damages caused by dangerous offenders who are released or who escape from the lawful custody of a U.S. employee as a result of such employee's gross negligence. Directs the Attorney General to develop Federal guidelines for the fair treatment of crime victims to ensure that all victims of crime are justly compensated. Title III: Controlled Substances Penalties - Controlled Substances Penalties Amendments Act of 1982 - Increases the fine levels for drug trafficking. Increases the penalties for trafficking in large amounts of controlled substances. Title IV: Protection of Federal Officials - Amends the Federal criminal code to make it a Federal crime to kill, assault, or kidnap a cabinet officer, the second ranking official in each executive department, the Director or Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, a U.S. Supreme Court justice or nominee, or a senior presidential or vice presidential adviser. Includes as a Federal crime any attempt or conspiracy to commit such offenses. Title V: Sentencing Reform - Sentencing Reform Act of 1982 - Sets forth a new sentencing structure applicable to a defendant who is found guilty of an offense under any Federal statute. Permits an individual to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment or probation and a fine, and to receive additional sanctions, including: (1) forfeiture for certain racketeering crimes and drug-related offenses; (2) an order of notice to victims of crimes in cases involving fraud or deceptive practices; or (3) an order of restitution in cases involving bodily injury or property damage. Permits an organization to receive these penalties, with the exception of imprisonment. Creates the United States Sentencing Commission. Specifies factors to be considered by a sentencing court, including the guidelines and policy statements issued by the United States Sentencing Commission. Requires the court to impose a sentence within the range set forth by the Commission unless aggravating or mitigating circumstances exist that were not adequately considered by the Commission in formulating the guidelines. Requires the court to state in open court at the time of sentencing the reason for imposing a sentence at a point within the prescribed range, or the specific reason for imposing a sentence outside of such range. Authorizes the imposition of a term of probation, unless specifically prohibited, for all but the most serious class of felonies. Requires as a mandatory condition of probation that a defendant not commit another crime. Enumerates 20 discretionary conditions. Sets forth a fine schedule for the categories of offenses, generally at higher levels than current law. Includes higher maximums for organizational defendants. Directs the court to consider the defendant's financial status in determining the amount of a fine and the method of payment. Sets maximum terms of imprisonment for five classes of felonies (A to F), three classes of misdemeanors (A to C), and an infraction (five day maximum). Allows the court, in imposing a sentence of imprisonment for a felony or misdemeanor, to include a term of supervised release after imprisonment. Eliminates the special sentencing provisions under current law for dangerous special offenders, youth offenders, young adult offenders, and drug addicts, but provides for these categories of offenders under the proposed sentencing guidelines. Excludes capital punishment as an authorized penalty, but leaves unaffected the current death penalty and procedures for aircraft hijacking. Eliminates the parole system. Permits a defendant to petition for a sentence reduction upon a showing of extraordinary and compelling reasons. Limits this motion for defendants who are sentenced to six or more years of imprisonment. Allows the defendant or the government to file a notice of appeal in the district court for review of a final sentence. Title VI: Criminal Forfeiture - Comprehensive Criminal Forfeiture Act of 1982 - Amends the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to specify that property subject to forfeiture for racketeering activity includes: (1) all proceeds obtained directly or indirectly from racketeering activity; (2) real and tangible and intangible personal property; and (3) positions, offices, appointments, and benefits obtained through illegal activity. Makes property forfeitable to the United States upon the commission of the act giving rise to forfeiture. Permits the forfeiture of property which has been transferred to a third party, but includes a provision protecting innocent bona fide purchasers. Authorizes a court to order the forfeiture of substitute assets of the defendant where the original property cannot be located or traced. Authorizes a court to take appropriate action preserving the availability of property during the pre-indictment period effective for up to 90 days. Specifies the circumstances under which a temporary restraining order may be issued without notice to the affected party. Authorizes the Attorney General to grant petitions for remission or mitigation of forfeiture. Directs the Attorney General to establish regulations governing the restitution and disposition of forfeited property. Amends the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 to establish general criminal forfeiture provisions for felony violations under titles II and III. Includes provisions similar to the RICO amendments of this Act, relating to property subject to forfeiture, third party transfers, asset substitution, pre-indictment orders, and remission. Authorizes a court to issue a warrant authorizing the seizure of property subject to forfeiture in the same manner provided for a search warrant, if other injunctive relief would not assure the availability of the property. Provides that a criminal forfeiture proceeding shall stay any civil forfeiture proceeding with respect to the same property. Authorizes the Drug Enforcement Administration to set aside 25 percent of the amounts realized from forfeitures under the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 for payment for information or assistance leading to forfeiture. Terminates this program on September 30, 1984. Title VII: Offenders With Mental Disease or Defect - Authorizes a special verdict of "not guilty only by reason of insanity" for any criminal defendant who raises the issue of insanity by notice as currently provided. Establishes a new civil commitment procedure for persons found not guilty only by reason of insanity. Title VIII: Surplus Federal Property Amendments - Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to authorize the Administrator of the General Services Administration to transfer to any State or local government surplus property determined by the Attorney General to be required for correctional facility use. Requires the Administrator to report annually to Congress on the acquisition cost of all donated personal property and real property disposed of during the preceding fiscal year. Title IX: - Miscellaneous Criminal Justice Improvements - Makes it a Federal offense to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. Increases penalties for violent crimes committed in aid of racketeering activities. Expands explosives offenses to cover arson. Permits administrative forfeiture procedures for property valued at less than $100,000. Extends kidnapping jurisdiction to protect certain Federal officials if the crime is committed while the victim is engaged in his or her official duties. Extends Federal jurisdiction over the robbery of a pharmacy. Increases the penalties for distributing controlled substances in, on, or within 1,000 feet of an elementary or secondary school. Revises the provisions relating to offenses against families of Federal officials, currency and foreign transactions, truck theft, felony-murder, the federal juvenile justice system, and emergency electronic surveillance. Urges the President to promote a declaration by the United Nations of an International Year Against Drug Abuse.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 1982
Requires that any application for rural housing assistance for an area which was determined by the Secretary of Agriculture not to be an eligible rural area as a result of the 1980 decennial census shall be processed as though the area was an eligible rural area if during the 120 days before the Secretary's determination the application was: (1) requested and not provided by the Secretary; or (2) submitted and discarded by the Secretary without written notice to the applicant.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 1982
Requires that the area served by the Farmers Home Administration office in Canyon, Texas, be considered to be a rural area for purposes of determining any person's eligibility for rural housing assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1982
Professional Sports Stabilization Act of 1982 - Declares that it shall not be unlawful under any antitrust law for a professional sports league and its member clubs to enforce rules: (1) requiring approval by the league membership for the relocation of a member club; or (2) providing for the division of league or member club revenues that promote comparable economic opportunities for member clubs. Prohibits State and local governments from imposing limitations on the collective conduct of sports leagues or member teams authorized by this Act. Specifies the applicability of this Act to actions commenced under the antitrust laws before its enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1982
Farm Crisis Act of 1982 - Title I: Land Diversion Payments for 1982 Crops of Wheat, Feed Grains, Cotton, and Rice - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to set 1982 land diversion levels at: (1) $2.00 per bushel for wheat; (2) $1.25 per bushel for corn; (3) $.20 per pound for upland cotton; and (4) $2.20 per hundredweight for rice. Permits 1982 participants to divert an additional five percent of their acreage. Extends the application period through the end of the certification period. Title II: Acreage Limitation and Cropland Conservation Programs for 1983 through 1985 Crops - Directs the Secretary to proclaim a national cropland conservation program for 1983 through 1985 crop years. Provides that: (1) such program shall be approved or disapproved by a producer referendum; (2) participants will set aside 15 percent of their acreage for conservation purposes; (3) noncompliance shall result in a three-year denial of specified farm benefits; and (4) loan rates shall increase by ten percent when such program is in effect. Requires the Secretary to establish a voluntary set-aside program (based on specified carry-over levels) for 1983 through 1985 wheat, feed grain, and upland cotton crops if cropland conservation programs are disapproved. Makes conforming amendments. Title III: Farm Storage Facility Loan Program - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to direct the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to guarantee up to $250,000,000 annually (not more than 90 percent of any one loan to be guaranteed) for grower-harvested grain storage facility loans. Title IV: Barter of Agricultural Commodities for Strategic and Critical Materials and Petroleum Products - Authorizes the CCC to exchange agricultural products for oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Requires the Secretary to report to Congress regarding CCC foreign products bartering. Title V: Emergency Agricultural Credit - Amends the Emergency Agricultural Credit Adjustment Act of 1978 to make the economic emergency loan program mandatory. Extends such program through FY 1983. Lowers the limit on individual loans: (1) under such Act; and (2) under such Act and the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act combined. Title VI: Agricultural Exports - Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) $1,000,000,000 should be made available to the Agricultural Export Credit Revolving Fund; and (2) the Secretary should conclude a grain agreement with the Soviet Union. Title VII: White House Conference on Agriculture - Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should convene a White House Conference on Agriculture within one year. Requires a Conference report to the President and Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1982
Permits the President to appoint successors to cadets at the U.S. Military, Naval, and Air Force Academies who have been discharged, graduated, or whose class has graduated without them.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1982
Great Plains States Groundwater Demonstration Program Act of 1982 - Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau), to conduct, in two phases, an investigation of and establish demonstration projects for groundwater recharge of aquifers in the following Great Plains States: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Directs the Bureau to consult with the United States Geological Survey, other appropriate Federal agencies and departments, and the Great Plains States to carry out this Act. Directs the Bureau, during phase I, to develop a detailed plan for not less than 12 demonstration projects to determine whether various recharge technologies may be applied to diverse geologic and hydrologic conditions represented in the Great Plains States. Directs the Bureau to recommend demonstration projects to be designed, constructed, and operated during phase II. Requires the Secretary, within 18 months of enactment of an appropriation Act to carry out phase I, to transmit a report to Congress containing recommendations for phase II and a detailed statement of findings and conclusions. Directs the Bureau during phase II to carry out the recommendations made in the Secretary's report to Congress. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Bureau, to contract with the Great Plains States to conduct a study to: (1) identify and evaluate alternative means by which the costs of groundwater recharge projects could be allocated among the project beneficiaries; and (2) identify and evaluate the economic feasibility of and the legal authority for utilizing groundwater recharge in water resource development projects. Requires the Secretary to submit interim reports to Congress on the progress of provisions of this Act within 12 months after the initiation of phase II and a final report within five years. Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1982, for phase I and such sums as may be necessary to carry out phase II. Authorizes the matching of Federal funds to meet the costs of phase II and authorizes the Secretary to enter into memoranda of agreement with the Great Plains States to meet the costs of phase II.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1982
Declares that the United States should propose to the Soviet Union: (1) a long-term, mutual, and verifiable nuclear forces freeze at equal and sharply reduced levels of forces; and (2) practical measures to reduce the danger of an accidental nuclear war and to prevent the use of nuclear weapons by third parties. States that the United States and the Soviet Union should channel their resources away from nuclear armaments and towards fighting poverty, hunger, and disease. Declares that the United States should continue to work for balanced arms reductions.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1982
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that changes to the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 proposed in the FY 1983 budget should not be implemented.
![Official portrait of Rep. Hightower, Jack E. [D-TX-13]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/h000582_200.jpg)