United States · United States Congress · 11 February 2003
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions concerning the special allowance for certain property acquired after September 10, 2001, and before September 11, 2004 to increase the 30 percent allowance to 100 percent.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 2003
Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2003 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to revise provisions relating to access and choice for small business employers with respect to medical care for their employees. Establishes rules governing association health plans (group health plans whose sponsors are trade, industry, professional, chamber of commerce, or similar business associations), including requirements relating to certification, sponsors and boards of trustees, participation, coverage, plan documents, contribution rates, benefit options, applications for certification, notice for voluntary termination, corrective actions, and mandatory termination. Requires association health plans which provide health benefits in addition to health insurance coverage to maintain certain reserves and comply with other solvency provisions. Directs the Secretary of Labor to apply for appointment, and carry out specified duties, as trustee of any such insolvent association health plans which provide health benefits in addition to health insurance coverage. Allows a State to impose a contribution tax on any association health plan commencing operations in such State after the enactment of this Act. Requires association health plans to include in their summary plan descriptions, in connection with each benefit option, a description of the form of any solvency or guarantee fund protection secured under ERISA or applicable State law. Revises provisions relating to treatment of: (1) single employer arrangements; and (2) certain collectively bargained arrangements. Provides for association health plans with respect to: (1) enforcement; (2) cooperation between Federal and State authorities; and (3) treatment of certain existing health benefit programs.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 2003
Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2003 - Deems certain service performed before July 1, 1946, in the organized military forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Scouts as active military service for purposes of eligibility for veterans' benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Repeals certain provisions discounting such service as qualifying service.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 2003
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to repeal provisions which make persons convicted of drug offenses ineligible to receive student financial assistance for a certain period.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 2003
Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow corporations to claim a charitable deduction for the donation of services, calculated at not more than $65 an hour, related to computer design or to computer technology or equipment (as defined by this Act).
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2003
Commercial Airline Missile Defense Act - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations that require all turbojet aircraft of air carriers be equipped with a missile defense system. Requires the Secretary to purchase such defense systems and make them available to all air carriers. Sets forth certain interim security measures to be taken before the deployment of such defense systems.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2003
Social Security Fairness Act of 2003 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to repeal: (1) pension offset provisions applicable to husband's and wife's insurance benefits, widow's and widower's insurance benefits, and mother's and father's insurance benefits with respect to Old-Age and Survivors insurance benefit payments; and (2) windfall elimination provisions with respect to computation of the primary insurance amount of an individual.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2003
Military Survivor Benefits Improvement Act of 2003 - Adjusts the basic Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity amount for surviving spouses, age 62 and older, of former military personnel to: (1) 35 percent of the retired pay of the decedent (current law), for months before October 2004; (2) 40 percent for months during FY 2005; (3) 45 percent for months during FY 2006; (4) 50 percent for months during FY 2007; and (5) 55 percent for months after FY 2007. Adjusts similarly percentage amounts with respect to survivors of reserve personnel and survivors of persons who die while on active duty. Provides a corresponding phased elimination of the SBP supplemental annuity authorized to be provided to such surviving spouses. Requires periodic recomputation of: (1) annuity amounts beginning in October 2004; and (2) retired pay reductions for supplemental survivor annuities. Provides a one-year open enrollment period for SBP participation, commencing October 1, 2004, for those currently not participating, those electing to increase current coverage, and those wishing to participate in the supplemental SBP. Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to require appropriate premiums for SBP participation.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2003
Increases the biweekly contribution payable by the Government for a Federal employee or annuitant enrolled in a Federal employee health insurance plan.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2003
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins emblematic of the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2003
Aeronautics Research and Development Revitalization Act of 2003 - Establishes an Office of Aeronautics responsible for planning, budgeting, and managing all aeronautics research, development, and demonstration activities undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Directs the NASA Administrator to establish certain initiatives to develop technologies that would: (1) significantly reduce aircraft noise, harmful emissions, and fuel consumption; (2) make certain performance improvements to existing rotorcraft; and (3) enable overland flight of supersonic civil transport aircraft with certain performance characteristics. Directs the NASA Administrator to provide specified congressional committees a plan for the implementation of such initiatives. Directs the NASA Administrator to: (1) award grants to establish university-based Centers for Research on Aviation Training; and (2) establish NASA aeronautics scholarships for U.S. citizens enrolled in accredited Masters degree programs in aeronautical engineering at institutions of higher education. Authorizes appropriations for certain Federal Aviation Administration research and development projects and activities. Requires certain aviation-related studies and assessments.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2003
Firefighting Research and Coordination Act - Amends the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to direct the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration (Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)) to: (1) develop new, and utilize existing, measurement techniques and testing methodologies for evaluating new firefighting technologies; (2) evaluate the compatibility of new equipment and technology with existing technology; and (3) support the development of new standards through national voluntary consensus standards organizations for new firefighting technologies based on specified techniques and methodologies. Directs the Administrator to: (1) provide technical assistance and training to State and local fire service officials to establish nationwide and State mutual aid systems for dealing with national emergencies; and (2) develop and make model mutual aid plans for both intrastate and interstate assistance available to State and local fire service officials. Requires the Director of FEMA to revise FEMA's Federal Response Plan to incorporate plans for responding to terrorist attacks, particularly in urban areas. Authorizes the Superintendent of the National Academy for Fire Prevention and Control to train fire service personnel in: (1) strategies for building collapse rescue; (2) the use of technology in response to fires; (3) response, tactics, and strategies for dealing with terrorist-caused national catastrophes; (4) use of and familiarity with the national plan; (5) leadership and strategic skills, including integrated management systems operations and integrated response; (6) strategies and tactics for fighting forest fires; (7) integration of terrorism response agencies into the national terrorism incident response system; and (8) response tactics and strategies for fighting fires at U.S. ports, including fires on the water and aboard vessels.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2003
Calls for: (1) recognition of private organizations and health care providers for promoting awareness of and research on scleroderma; (2) greater awareness of the symptoms of scleroderma and contributions to the fight against it; (3) the Government to promote awareness, to adequately fund scleroderma research projects, and to continue to consider ways to improve the quality of health care services for scleroderma patients; (4) the National Institutes of Health to continue to play a leadership role in the fight against scleroderma; and (5) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to give priority to establishing a national epidemiological study to better track and gather information about scleroderma.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 2003
Fallen Heroes Flag Act of 2003 - Allows the Representative (Member of Congress, including Delegate or Resident Commissioner to Congress) of the immediate family of a deceased fire fighter, law enforcement officer, emergency technician, or other rescue worker who died in the line of duty to provide the family, at their request, with a Capitol-flown flag, together with a certificate, signed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Representative providing the flag, which contains an expression of sympathy for the family.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 2003
Authorizes the President to award a gold medal to each of the seven crew members who perished aboard the space shuttle Columbia: Rick D. Husband; Michael P. Anderson; Laurel Clark; David M. Brown; William C. McCool; Kapana Chawla; and Ilan Ramon.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 2003
Amends the Federal Law Enforcement Pay Reform Act of 1990 to revise the special pay adjustments for (percentage differentials payable to) Federal law enforcement officers in specified consolidated metropolitan statistical areas. Includes Capitol Police as law enforcement officers under such Act. Eliminates the limitation on the aggregate of basic pay and premium pay with respect to availability pay for Federal criminal investigators.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 2003
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the United States Postal Service should issue a commemorative postage stamp in remembrance of the victims of the 1983 Beirut peacekeeping mission; and (2) the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2003
Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the inclusion of any social security or tier I railroad retirement benefits in gross income. Appropriates non-appropriated Treasury amounts for the social security and railroad retirement funds to equal the amounts not transferred as a result of such repeal. Expresses the sense of Congress that tax increases will not be used to provide such revenue.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2003
Social Security Benefits Tax Relief Act of 2003 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the 85 percent (second tier) taxation of Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits. Appropriates, from the general fund, to the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund amounts equal to the reduction in revenue lost because of the repeal. Requires an annual report concerning the funds transferred from the general fund to the Trust Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2003
National AMBER Alert Network Act of 2003 - Requires the Attorney General to assign an AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice to act as the national Coordinator of the AMBER Alert communications network regarding abducted children. Requires the coordinator to: (1) seek to eliminate gaps in the network; (2) work with States to encourage the development of additional network elements and to ensure regional coordination; and (3) act as the nationwide point of contact for network development and for regional coordination of alerts on abducted children through the network. Directs the Coordinator to: (1) notify and consult with the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning each child abduction for which an AMBER Alert is issued; and (2) establish minimum standards for the issuance of alerts and for the extent of their dissemination (limited to the geographic areas most likely to facilitate the recovery of the abducted child). Requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide grants to States for the development or enhancement of notification or communications systems along highways for alerts and other information for the recovery of abducted children. Includes among permissible activities the development or enhancement of electronic message boards, and the placement of additional signage, along highways. Directs the Attorney General to provide grants to States for the development or enhancement of programs and activities for the support of AMBER Alert communications plans.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2003
Koby Mandell Act of 2003 - Directs the President to establish within the Department of Justice an office which shall assume responsibility for administration of the Rewards for Justice program and its website to ensure that rewards are offered to capture all terrorists involved in harming American citizens overseas, regardless of the terrorists' country of origin or residence. Directs the office to take specified steps, including: (1) establishing a program which will update American victims of overseas terrorism or their families on the status of efforts to capture the terrorists; (2) undertaking a comprehensive assessment to determine the reasons for the absence of indictments of terrorists residing in some regions; (3) monitoring public actions pertaining to terrorists by governments and regimes overseas, such as naming schools, streets, or other public institutions or sites after terrorists who have harmed American citizens; (4) initiating negotiations to secure financial compensation for American citizens (or their families) who were harmed by terrorist acts overseas by an organization that subsequently became part of a governing regime with which the U.S. Government maintains diplomatic or official contacts; and (5) coordinating with other Government agencies to seek the transfer to the United States of terrorists released from incarceration abroad who are eligible for further prosecution in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2003
Provides that, when the legislatures of an additional three States ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, the House of Representatives shall take any legislative action necessary to verify the ratification of such Amendment as a part of the Constitution.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2003
National Naval Force Structure Policy Act - States that it is U.S. policy to rebuild as soon as possible the size of the U.S. Navy fleet to no fewer than 375 vessels in active service, including 15 aircraft carrier battle groups and 15 amphibious ready groups.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2003
Medicare+Choice Equity and Access Act of 2003 - Amends part C (Medicare+Choice) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) with respect to calculation of annual Medicare+Choice capitation rates to: (1) give Medicare+Choice organizations the option to receive payment based on the annual area-specific Medicare+Choice capitation rate for the Medicare+Choice payment area involved; (2) permanently remove application of the budget neutrality adjustment factor in the calculation of the blended capitation rate; and (3) revise the formula used to calculate the national standardized annual Medicare+Choice capitation rate to reflect Medicare+Choice enrollment.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2003
Robin Danielson Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health to provide for the conduct or support of research on the extent to which additives in feminine hygiene products pose any risks to the health of women or to the children of women who use those products during or before the pregnancies involved. Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: (1) to establish a program to collect, analyze, and make available data on toxic shock syndrome, including data on the causes of such syndrome; and (2) in carrying out such program, to determine the national incidence and prevalence of such syndrome.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2003 - Permits retired members of the armed forces with service-connected disabilities to be paid both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation. Repeals provisions providing for special compensation for certain severely disabled military retirees and certain combat-related disabled uniformed services retirees.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Act - Requires the Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to expand activities addressing inflammatory bowel disease, emphasizing genetic, animal model, and clinical research. Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish a national program of prevention and epidemiology concerning such disease, addressing its prevalence and public and professional awareness. Directs the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science to study public and private insurance standards for coverage of inflammatory bowel therapies. Directs the General Accounting Office to study problems inflammatory bowel disease patients have applying for disability insurance benefits under the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Housing Bond and Credit Modernization and Fairness Act of 2003 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) repeal the required use of certain principal repayments on mortgage subsidy bond financings to redeem bonds; (2) modify the purchase price limitation under mortgage subsidy bond rules based on median family income; and (3) define the term "area median gross income" for low-income housing credit projects.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Treatment of Children's Deformities Act of 2003 - Amends the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and the Internal Revenue Code to set standards requiring that group and individual health insurance and group health plans provide coverage for treatment of a minor child's congenital or developmental deformity or disorder due to trauma, infection, tumor, or disease.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Student Bill of Rights - Directs the Secretary of Education to make annual determinations as to whether each State's public school system provides all its students with educational resources to succeed academically and in life. Requires such education to enable students to: (1) acquire knowledge and skills necessary for responsible citizenship; (2) meet challenging academic achievement standards; and (3) compete and succeed in a global economy. Requires each system to do so through: (1) providing specified fundamentals of educational opportunity to students at each public elementary and secondary school; (2) providing educational services in school districts that receive funds for disadvantaged students that are, taken as a whole, at least comparable to educational services provided in school districts not receiving such funds; and (3) complying with any final Federal or State court order in any matter concerning the adequacy or equitableness of the system. Requires withholding of specified portions of its Federal funding for administrative expenses if a system: (1) fails to meet a yearly interim goal; (2) does not remedy, after two school years, a failure to provide comparable educational services to schools that receive funds for disadvantaged children; or (3) does not comply with a court order. Allows students or parents aggrieved by violations of this Act to bring civil actions for enforcement in Federal district courts. Directs the Commissioner of Education Statistics to study the effects of educational disparities on economic growth and on national defense.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Women's Health and Cancer Rights Conforming Amendments of 2003 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require group health plans to provide coverage for post-mastectomy reconstructive surgery.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Commends: (1) members of the U.S. armed forces for their service to the Nation in combating terrorism and preserving peace and stability; and (2) the families of such individuals for helping to make such service possible. Makes a commitment to support service members as they carry out assigned missions.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize qualified law enforcement officers (including certain qualified retired officers) carrying the photographic identification issued by their governmental agency, notwithstanding State or local laws, to carry a concealed firearm. Provides that such authorization shall not supersede State laws that: (1) permit private entities to prohibit the possession of concealed firearms on their property; or (2) prohibit the possession of firearms on State or local government property. Excludes from the definition of "firearm" any machine gun, firearm silencer, or destructive device.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Senior Safety Protection Act of 2003 - Amends title XI of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require long term care providers under the Medicare and Medicaid programs to perform criminal background checks on skilled nursing facility and nursing facility employee applicants. Prohibits a provider from hiring workers who have any conviction for a relevant crime or with respect to whom a finding of patient or resident abuse has been made. Details Federal and State requirements to conduct the background checks needed for the provider screening. Amends SSA title XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) to provide for expansion of the State nurse aid registry under the Medicare and Medicaid programs to collect information about long-term care provider employees other than nurse aides. Amends SSA title XI to provide for inclusion of abusive workers in the database established as part of the national health care fraud and abuse data collection program. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a demonstration program to provide grants to develop information on best practices in patient abuse prevention training for managers and staff of long-term care facilities. Directs the Secretary and the Attorney General to establish a more efficient background check system that provides for a more immediate determination of criminal status. Authorizes the Secretary to provide an annual grant to any applicant State to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Blind Empowerment Act of 2003 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to increase, by specified increments over five years, the level of earnings demonstrating the ability of a blind person to engage in substantial gainful activity for purposes of determining disability insurance benefit payments.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Amends the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 to rename the Act as the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act and to revise provisions with respect to certain civil protections and rights afforded to servicemembers while on active-duty assignment. Authorizes any servicemember to waive any of such rights and protections, pursuant to written agreement. Provides certain protections of servicemembers against default judgments, including a minimum 90-day stay of proceedings, with respect to the payment of any tax, fine, penalty, insurance premium, or other civil obligation or liability. Prohibits an eviction or distress from being made against a servicemember or his or her dependents during a period of military service for a premise for which rent does not exceed $1,700 (currently $1,200), except by court order. Prohibits: (1) rescinding or terminating for breach of contract during a period of military service a contract for the purchase or lease of real or personal property entered into prior to such service; and (2) a person holding a lien on property or effects of a servicemember from foreclosing or otherwise enforcing such lien (with penalties and protection for materially affected dependents) during a period of service and 90 days thereafter. Increases the total amount of life insurance coverage protection provided under the Act to $250,000, or an amount equal to the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance maximum limit, whichever is greater. Allows findings of fact and conclusions of law made by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in administering the life insurance provisions of the Act to be reviewed by the Board of Veterans Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (not reviewable under current law).
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Keep Our Promise to America's Military Retirees Act - Includes as an employee, for purposes of Federal provisions authorizing enrollment under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program: (1) a member of the armed forces who began service before June 7, 1956, and retired after a minimum of 20 years of such service or by reason of a service-connected disability; and (2) the surviving widow or widower of such member. Directs the Secretary of Defense to enter into an agreement with the Office of Personnel Management to provide FEHB coverage to the following eligible beneficiaries: (1) a member or former member entitled to military retired or retainer pay; (2) an unremarried former spouse who was married to a member for at least 20 years, during which such member performed at least 20 years of retirement-creditable military service; (3) a dependent of a deceased qualifying member or former member; (4) a dependent of a living member or former member; and (5) a family member.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Community Choice in Real Estate Act - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, and the Revised Statutes of the United States, to prohibit the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Secretary of the Treasury, respectively, from determining that real estate brokerage activity or real estate management activity is financial in nature, is incidental to any financial activity, or is complementary to a financial activity. (In effect, prohibits financial holding companies and national banks from engaging, directly or indirectly, in real estate brokerage or real estate management activities.) Exempts from such prohibition: (1) activities of a bank holding company (or any affiliate) that directly relate to managing any real property owned by national banks or their affiliates; and (2) the right, power, or ability of any financial holding company to engage in any activity, or acquire or retain the shares of any company engaged in an activity authorized for financial holding companies on December 6, 2001 ("grandfather clause").
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Energy and Science Research Investment Act of 2003 - Instructs the Secretary of Energy to: (1) conduct a comprehensive fundamental research program in designated sciences; and (2) upgrade and expand scientific user facilities maintained by the Office of Science in order to ensure that fundamental science programs aid the applied research and development programs of the Department of Energy (DOE). Authorizes appropriations for FY 2004 through 2007. Amends the Department of Energy Organization Act to establish within DOE: (1) an Under Secretary for Energy Research and Science, to serve as the Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary, and to exercise authority and responsibility over Assistant Secretaries implementing energy research and development, and energy technology functions; (2) an Assistant Secretary of Science to head the Office of Science (currently headed by a Director); (3) an additional position for Assistant Secretary; (4) the position of General Counsel; and (5) a Science Advisory Board composed of the chairs of the advisory panels for each of the programs.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Tobacco Livelihood and Economic Assistance for Our Farmers Act - Amends, and repeals, specified agricultural Acts to eliminate tobacco quota and price support programs, including no net cost provisions. Sets forth transition provisions, including provision of compensation to eligible quota holders. Continues Federal crop insurance for tobacco producers. Directs: (1) the Secretary of Agriculture to establish in the Department of Agriculture the Tobacco Quality Board; and (2) the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to assess fees on tobacco product manufacturers and importers that sell tobacco products in U.S. domestic commerce. Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to extend Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority to tobacco products, with exceptions for certain health-or disease treatment-related uses. Sets forth provisions respecting: (1) adulterated and misbranded tobacco products; (2) required health information; (3) registration and recordkeeping; (4) control of tobacco products; (5) performance standards; (6) remedies; (7) premarket review; (8) judicial review; (9) reduced risk tobacco products; (10) access and marketing restrictions; and (11) mandatory disclosures. Amends the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act and the Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986, respectively, to revise cigarette and smokeless tobacco labeling and advertising warning provisions. Amends the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act to direct the Secretary to determine whether cigarette labeling and advertising shall be required to provide tar, nicotine, and other smoke constituent information.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Geriatric Care Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) with respect to payments to hospitals, rural health clinics, or Federally qualified health centers for direct graduate medical education costs and the limitation on the number of full-time-equivalent residents in allopathic and osteopathic medicine. Provides for the disregard of up to three geriatric residents in applying such limitation. Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for Medicare coverage of care coordination and assessment services to an individual with a serious and disabling chronic condition.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Medicare Physician Protection Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to specify the conversion factor (update) for payments under the Medicare physician fee schedule for 2003.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2003 - Amends the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 (TEUCA, which is title II of the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002, PL107-147) to extend the TEUCA program through weeks of unemployment ending before July 1, 2003. Provides for a transition period of continuing payments to individuals with amounts remaining in their TEUC account after June 30, 2003, for weeks beginning before December 31, 2003. Entitles eligible individuals in all States to a total of 26 weeks of TEUCA compensation (13 weeks beyond the current 13 weeks). Provides an additional seven weeks of TEUCA benefits for workers in high unemployment States (entitling them to a total of 33, which is 20 weeks beyond the current 13). Applies a revised adjusted insured unemployment rate State trigger. Sets an additional TEUCA benefit period State trigger based on total unemployment rate.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Notch Fairness Act of 2003 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to revise the formula for the computation of minimum Old Age Insurance benefits for individuals who reached age 65 in or after 1979 and to whom applies the 15-year transition period for the changes in benefit computation rules enacted in the Social Security Amendments of 1977. Sets forth a schedule of additional benefit increases for such beneficiaries (and related beneficiaries), with percentages declining from 55 percent to five percent and keyed to the year an individual became eligible for such benefits between 1979 and 1988. Allows such beneficiaries, in the alternative, to receive lump sum payments over four years totaling $5,000.
![Official portrait of Rep. Israel, Steve [D-NY-3]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/i000057_200.jpg)