United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1987
Uniform Product Safety Act of 1987 - States that this Act governs any civil action brought against a manufacturer or product seller for personal injury or damage caused by a product. Supersedes any inconsistent State law regarding recovery in such such actions. Lists specific laws not superseded, including: (1) defenses of sovereign immunity asserted by the United States or any State; (2) any Federal law (except the Federal Employees Compensation Act); (3) the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976; (4) State choice-of-law rules; and (5) the right of any court to transfer venue. Allows any State to develop and implement expedited product liability claims procedures. Establishes uniform national standards for product liability actions. Subjects a product manufacturer to liability if the claimant establishes that: (1) the manufacturer manufactured an unreasonably dangerous product; (2) the product failed to conform to an express warranty made by the manufacturer; (3) the manufacturer was negligent in designing the product; or (4) the manufacturer failed to provide appropriate warnings or instructions. Treats a product seller as a manufacturer where: (1) the manufacturer is not subject to a service of process in any State where the action might be brought; or (2) the court determines that the claimant would be unable to enforce a judgment against the manufacturer. Subjects a product seller to liability if the claimant establishes that: (1) the product failed to conform to an express warranty made by the product seller; (2) the product seller did not exercise reasonable care in assembling, inspecting, or maintaining such product; or (3) the product seller did not exercise reasonable care in passing on the manufacturer's warnings or instructions. Establishes defenses in such actions with respect to: (1) manufacturing practices in light of existing technology; and (2) compliance with Government standards and contract specifications; and (3) claimant's intoxication. Holds each defendant found responsible for the harm jointly and severally liable. Makes a product seller or manufacturer liable for punitive damages if such seller or manufacturer: (1) knowingly destroyed or failed to make available evidence whose production is required; or (2) manifested a conscious and flagrant indifference to consumer safety. Lists factors to be considered in setting the amount of punitive damages. Limits punitive damages to treble damages plus costs. Provides that punitive damages may not be awarded where: (1) a drug or medical device complied with certain Government standards; or (2) an aircraft was certified by the Secretary of Transportation under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. Establishes a 25-year statute of repose. Requires any damage award to be reduced by the amount of workers' compensation benefits paid. Establishes a Federal Product Liability Study Panel to study: (1) existing and proposed expedited product liability claims procedures; (2) Federal and State workers' compensation systems; and (3) nonjudicial methods for resolving product liability claims. Requires the Panel to report to specified congressional committees within two years of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1987
Arctic Coastal Plain Leasing Act of 1987 - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement a competitive oil and gas leasing program for the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. States that this Act shall be considered the primary land management authorization for all exploration and production activities on the Coastal Plain. Provides that no land management review shall be required except as specifically authorized by this Act. Mandates that all receipts from sales, rentals, bonuses, and royalties on leases under this Act be deposited into the Treasury. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations to ensure that oil and gas exploration and transportation activities are conducted to achieve the reasonable protection of animal and environmental resources (including subsistence uses of the Coastal Plain). States that the "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, Coastal Plain Resource Assessment," prepared by the Secretary, satisfies all legal requirements for the promulgation of such regulations, and that no further studies or assessments shall be required prior to Federal action. Directs the Secretary to provide impact aid and other assistance to communities on the North Slope and elsewhere in Alaska in order to ensure the public services needed to accommodate oil and gas production and transportation activities on the Coastal Plain.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax-exempt organization all of whose members primarily coach football as full-time employees of four-year colleges or universities to have a pension plan with a qualified cash or deferred arrangement, provided such organization was in existence on September 18, 1986. Requires such a plan to be treated as a multiemployer plan.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1987
H.U.D. Income Verification Act of 1987 - Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to require Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program applicants or participants to: (1) disclose their social security or employer identification numbers; and (2) consent to wage information verification. Amends the Social Security Act to provide HUD with access to State employment records. Requires Federal, State, local, or public housing administering agencies to independently verify such information before terminating or reducing any housing benefits. Establishes criminal and civil penalties for misuse of such information.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1987
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) seek to reconvene the Seventeenth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of American States in order to obtain a renewed commitment to the immediate replacement of the Nicaraguan regime, installation of a democratic government in Nicaragua, guarantee of human rights to all Nicaraguans, and the holding of free elections; (2) make unmistakable the U.S. commitment to help the Nicaraguan people achieve their democratic aspirations; and (3) recognize the Nicaraguan resistance as a legitimate force for the democratization of Nicaragua.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1987
Excellence in Minority Health Education and Care Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to empower the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to: (1) Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee; (2) Xavier University College of Pharmacy, New Orleans, Louisiana; (3) Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine, Tuskegee, Alabama; and (4) Meharry College of Dentistry, Nashville, Tennessee. Requires each institution to use such grants to establish, in the pertinent health care discipline, a Center of Excellence, which shall: (1) improve the recruitment of minority students and high calibre minority faculty to the institution; (2) develop effective techniques for training minorities who will serve minority populations; and (3) establish scholarship programs to attract promising individuals to the Center's programs. Sets forth additional uses for the grants to the institutions, to include: (1) maintenance of a communications network to disseminate information concerning health promotion among minorities; (2) development of patient educational materials tailored to the needs of minority populations; (3) establishment of a research program focusing on the needs of minority women and teenagers; (4) study of alternative models for health care delivery systems; and (5) consultation and assistance by the recipient institutions to other medical schools to aid the latter in effecting more productive education and service programs for minority populations. Enumerates specific grant projects appropriate to the subject matter expertise of each of the four institutions eligible to receive the grants. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1987
Requires that the rate of pay for Members of Congress and Federal officials under the Executive Schedule be determined as if the recommendations of the President on January 5, 1987, relating to such pay rates had been disapproved. (Exempts Federal judicial salaries from this disapproval.)
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1987
Health Care Savings Account Act of 1987 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit individuals (employees or self-employed individuals) and employers to contribute to health care savings accounts. Limits the amount which may be contributed to a health care savings account each year to no greater than the combined amount of employee and employer hospital insurance (Medicare) payroll tax paid during that year. Provides that the employee or self-employed individual and the employer will each receive a 60 percent tax credit for their respective portion of their hospital insurance payroll tax paid. Provides that a health care savings account shall be exempt from income taxes, except for the tax on certain unrelated business income, and except where such account: (1) engages in prohibited transactions; or (2) is used to pledge as security for a loan. Excludes from gross income of the distributee amounts distributed from a health care savings account provided that these funds are used for eligible medical expenses while the individual is eligible for Medicare. Permits the tax-free rollover of contributions from one health care savings account to another for the benefit of the distributee. Imposes a penalty of ten percent of the amount of any early distributions from a health care savings account. Provides that no amount distributed out of a health care savings account may be taken as a medical expense deduction. Imposes a tax on any excess contributions to such accounts. Imposes a penalty tax on prohibited transactions involving a health care savings account. Imposes a five percent tax on distributions from a health care savings account in the taxable year which reduces the level of all such accounts with respect to the distributee below the total value of health care savings account tax credits for the distributee. Provides exceptions for certain distributions. Imposes a 100 percent tax on such distributions if the distributions are not corrected within the taxable period. Imposes a 50 percent excise tax on the difference between the value of a decedent's health care savings account at the time of death and the amount contributed into the spouse's health care savings account at the time of, and on account of, such death. Establishes certain penalties for failure to file required reports with respect to health care savings accounts. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide that in the case of an individual who has established a health care savings account, the total amount of any Medicare benefits which will be paid with respect to the individual will be reduced by a health care savings account-related deductible for the year. Provides that this deductible amount will be equal to 60 percent of the amount of medical-related expenditures that could be reasonably underwritten (by an insurance company) for the average Medicare beneficiary assuming that the annual premium will equal the health care savings account annuity. Provides special rules for individuals who cannot obtain insurance to cover their added deductible at the standard premium rates. Provides that these high cost insurance beneficiaries' added deductible is reduced by a proportion reflecting 80 percent of the excess premium required above the standard rate, except that the deductible may not drop below 120 percent of the individual's health care savings account annuity amount. Provides that the health care savings account-related deductible and the annuity amount shall be recalculated upon the qualification of a younger spouse for Medicare. Establishes catastrophic health care expense protection for certain individuals qualifying for Medicare protection. Requires such individuals to have contributed at least one-third of the maximum amount possible over the course of their careers into a health care savings account and at least $100 (indexed for inflation) or 50 percent of the maximum contribution per year, whichever is greater, in ten individual years. Treats surviving spouses without a separate health care savings account as eligible for the catastrophic coverage if the deceased spouse was formerly eligible for catastrophic coverage and the surviving spouse rolls 100 percent of the health care savings account of the deceased spouse into a health care savings account.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1987
Volunteer Protection Act of 1987 - Prescribes circumstances under which volunteers working for nonprofit organizations or government entities shall be immune from personal civil liability. Requires each State to certify to the Secretary of Health and Human Services before the beginning of each fiscal year (commencing with FY 1989) that it has enacted or has in effect a State law which provides such immunity. Requires the Secretary to reduce by one percent the fiscal year allotment which would otherwise be made to such State to carry out the Social Services Block Grant Program under title XX of the Social Security Act if such law is not in effect.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1987
Poverty Point National Monument Act - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire specified lands to become Poverty Point National Monument, Louisiana.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1987
Disapproves the proposed rescission (R87-70) of budget authority for Veterans Administration medical care. Requires the amount of such budget authority proposed for rescission to instead be made available for obligation no later than the date of enactment of this joint resolution.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1987
Preborn Children's Civil Rights Act of 1987 - Prohibits the use of Federal funds to perform, promote, or do research on any procedure to take the life of a preborn child (except for medical procedures required to prevent the death of either the pregnant women or her preborn child). Prohibits the Federal Government from entering into any contract for insurance which provides for payment or reimbursement for abortion services. States that no institution receiving Federal financial assistance shall: (1) discriminate against any employee, applicant, or student on the basis of that person's opposition to abortion; or (2) require any employee or student to participate, directly or indirectly, in abortion procedures, counseling, or an insurance program which includes abortion coverage. States that attorney's fees shall not be allowed in any civil action involving a law prohibiting or restricting abortions. Provides for Supreme Court review of lower court decisions which declare State and local anti-abortion statutes unconstitutional.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1987
Tax Exemption Equity Act of 1987 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny status as a tax-exempt organization to organizations which directly or indirectly perform or finance abortions. Denies the income, estate, and gift tax charitable contribution deductions for amounts contributed to such organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1987
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that the right to life is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person. Defines "person" to include the unborn for the purpose of the right to life guarantee. States that nothing in this article shall prohibit a law allowing medical procedures required to prevent the death of either the pregnant woman or the unborn offspring.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1987
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the use of ethanol blended fuels should be established to reduce air pollution and surplus grain stocks and that such use should be encouraged through information and technical assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1987
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) no Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) physician payment methodology should be implemented which is based on hospital discharge classifications or requires mandatory assignment; and (2) no drastic change in the Medicare physician payment methodology should be undertaken without the receipt of reports required by legislation enacted in the 99th Congress and a detailed analysis of the long-range impact of such change on the provision of health care.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1987
Authorizes any State to have a maximum speed limit up to 65 miles per hour on portions of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways if such portions are located in specified rural areas, and the State governor determines that: (1) such increased speed limit is unlikely to have a significant adverse effect upon highway safety; and (2) specified physical characteristics of such highway portions meet current Federal safety standards. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations establishing criteria for highway locations and highway safety with respect to the increased speed limit. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress within four years after enactment of this Act regarding its implementation. Terminates the increased speed limit program five years after the date of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1987
Amends the Federal criminal code to impose mandatory minimum sentences for committing violent felonies against individuals aged 65 or over. Prohibits suspended, probationary, and concurrent sentences. Prohibits parole and any plea bargaining agreements that would result in the defendant's serving less than the minimum sentence.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1987
Authorizes the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity to establish a monument on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Excepts such monument from the prohibition on the construction of works commemorating individuals who have died within 25 years. Provides that U.S. funds may not be used to establish the monument.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1987
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Congress should reject the President's recommendation in his 1988 budget proposal to repeal the partial excise tax exemption for alcohol fuels.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1987
Allows the display of the National League of Families POW/MIA flag in the Capitol Rotunda until the fullest possible accounting of all Vietnam POW/MIAs has taken place.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1987
Pay Raise Accountability Act of 1987 - Amends the Federal Salary Act of 1967 to make the President's recommendation for congressional salaries of an advisory nature only. Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to declare the annual rate of pay for Members of Congress to be the rate payable for such positions on December 31, 1986. Makes it out of order in the House or Senate to consider any bill or resolution which adjusts the pay of Members, unless the bill or resolution: (1) takes effect at the beginning of the subsequent Congress; and (2) deals with no subject matter other than congressional pay. Requires a recorded vote on such legislation.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 1987
Targeted Fiscal Assistance Act of 1987 - Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to repeal provisions that terminated the general revenue sharing program. Restores program provisions as they existed before enactment of such Act. Replaces the general revenue sharing program with the Targeted Fiscal Assistance (TFA) program. Authorizes appropriations for TFA for FY 1987 through 1989. Provides for special allocations of TFA funds for Indian tribes, Alaskan native villages, and the District of Columbia. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to allocate TFA funds to each State (for subsequent allocation to local governments) according to a specified formula based on the need factor, the general tax effort factor, and the relative fiscal gap factor, as defined in this Act, for each State. Entitles local governments to a portion of such State funds according to a specified formula based on the following factors, as defined in this Act, for each unit of local government relative to all units in such State: (1) the unit's population; (2) the unit's general tax effort factor; and (3) the unit's relative income factor. Eliminates provisions allowing State variation of local government allocations. Revises procedures for determining maximum and minimum limitations on local government entitlements.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow the use of distributions from individual retirement accounts and individual retirement annuities for the purchase, construction, or reconstruction of a principal residence by a first-time homebuyer. Reduces the basis of the dwelling by the amount of the distribution if the distribution is not includible in gross income.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest paid or incurred on a qualified educational loan. Defines "qualified educational loan" as any indebtedness incurred to pay the educational expenses of the taxpayer or the taxpayer's spouse or dependent. (Present law requires that such a loan be secured by an interest in real property.)
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 1987
Provides that no increase in pay relating to recommendations made by the Commission on Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Salaries may take effect in any fiscal year, unless the Federal budget is balanced.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that specified minimum tax and accounting rules applicable to installment obligations shall not apply to obligations arising from sales of property by nondealers.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1987
Provides for the continuation of the three-year income tax basis recovery rule with respect to annuities of Federal employee contributions to Federal retirement systems. Directs the Office of Personnel Management to report to specified congressional committees on the effects of a retroactive repeal of such rule on the Federal workforce.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1987
Foreign Agricultural Investment Reform (FAIR) Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive directors of specified international financial institutions to oppose aid by these institutions for the production or extraction of any commodity or mineral unless the Secretary: (1) determines that such commodity or mineral is not in surplus on world markets; (2) certifies that there is sufficient assistance for such project from other sources so that the project is economically viable; (3) determines that such assistance does not constitute a subsidy as defined by specified provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; and (4) submits to the Congress a report justifying such determinations. Requires that, if an international financial institution approves financial assistance for a project that the United States opposes pursuant to this Act, the Secretary shall not agree to any increase in the capital share of that institution, any replenishment of funding for that institution, or the issuance of any letter of credit by that institution either in the United States or denominated in U.S. currency, until the institution agrees that no future assistance will be proposed which would require U.S. opposition pursuant to this Act. Reduces U.S. contributions to an international financial institution in amounts that are proportionate with the assistance provided by such institution for projects which require U.S. opposition pursuant to this Act. Requires any funds withheld from such contributions to be used to reduce the public debt. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require the President to provide economic assistance for commodity import programs for a foreign country if the needs of such country and of the United States would be better met through such programs rather than through cash transfers. Requires each country receiving a cash transfer to use such transfer, whenever practicable, to pay for U.S. goods or for services performed by a U.S. national.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1987
Permits certain veterans with service-connected disabilities who are retired members of the uniformed services to receive compensation concurrently with retired pay, without deduction from either.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1987
Congressional Salary Act of 1987 - Amends the Federal Salary Act of 1967 to make any recommendations of the President relating to the salaries of Members of Congress, Delegates to the House of Representatives, and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico purely advisory. Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to require that the annual rate of pay for Members of Congress, Delegates to the House of Representatives, the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, and the Senate and House leadership be the rate payable for such positions on the date of enactment of this Act. Makes it out of order in the House to consider any bill or resolution which adjusts the pay of Members or modifies income tax credits or deductions for Members as a separate and distinct class, unless: (1) it takes effect at the beginning of the subsequent Congress; and (2) it is comprised solely of items adjusting the pay of Members. Requires a record vote on such legislation.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1987
National Observance Advisory Act - Establishes the President's Advisory Commission on National Observances to establish criteria for recommending to the President that a proposed national observance be approved or disapproved.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1987
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to provide that the adopted child of an individual shall be treated the same as a natural child of such individual for purposes of determining the child's eligibility for benefits based on the individual's wage record, regardless of the time the adoption occurred.
![Official portrait of Rep. Holloway, Clyde [R-LA-8]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/h000729_200.jpg)