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United States · Official source
5,018 records where Rep. LaFalce, John J. [D-NY-36] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 13 November 2002
Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Sunnyside, Queens, New York, as the Thomas P. Noonan, Jr., Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic.
United States · United States Congress · 15 October 2002
Recognizes and congratulates former President Jimmy Carter for his receipt of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, and commends him for his tireless work for and dedication to peace.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 2002
Federal Credit Union Services Expansion Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal Credit Union Act (FCUA) to exempt from the numerical limitation on credit union membership: (1) a Federal credit union merger approved by the National Credit Union Administration Board as of August 7, 1998; and (2) student groups, if certain financial education materials are furnished. Instructs the Board to prescribe criteria for continued membership of certain member groups in community charter conversions. Includes electronic fund transfers among the services available to persons in the field of membership (but not members). Raises the ceiling on member business loans. Amends the Small Business Act (SBA) to allow credit union participation in SBA guaranteed loan programs. Amends the FCUA to declare that if a credit union provides debt management and counseling services it may expand its membership in underserved communities that show both: (1) significant unmet needs for affordable short-term credit from depository institutions; and (2) a high concentration of noninsured commercial credit facilities offering high-cost credit and money transfer services. Amends the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994, with respect to business loans to credit union members, to extend the meaning of insured credit union to include a nonprofit organization owned collectively by insured credit unions. Amends the FCUA to prescribe guidelines governing: (1) investments for the credit union's own account; (2) conversion of insured credit unions to mutual savings banks; (3) member participation in credit union decisions to terminate share insurance; and (4) membership and activities of insured state-chartered credit unions.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 2002
Truth in Lending Inflation Adjustment Act - Amends the Consumer Credit Protection Act to increase from $25,000 to $75,000 the maximum amount of a non-mortgage credit or consumer lease transaction to which consumer credit cost information and disclosure requirements apply.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 2002
Recognizes the accomplishments of Ignacy Jan Paderewski as a musician, composer, statesman, and philanthropist, and acknowledges his efforts in forging close Polish-American ties, on the tenth anniversary of the return of his remains to Poland.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 2002
Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation Act of 2002 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to include pancreases procured by an organ procurement organization and used for islet cell transplantation or research to be counted toward organ procurement organization certification. Establishes the Interagency Committee on Islet Cell Transplantation within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Requires the Committee to study related issues, including Federal research funding, the effect of specified policies on transplantation, and data collection. Instructs the Secretary of HHS to request the Institute of Medicine to provide a study of the impact of islet cell transplantation on juvenile diabetes patients, including their health and the treatment's cost-effectiveness.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 2002
Recognizes September 11 as both a day to remember those taken from their families and a day for Americans to recommit to the Nation, to their freedom, and to each other. Extends deepest sympathies to the countless innocent victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, their families, friends, and loved ones. Honors the heroic actions of first responders, law enforcement personnel, State and local officials, volunteers, and others who aided the innocent victims. Expresses thanks and gratitude to the foreign leaders and citizens of all nations who have assisted and continue to stand in solidarity with the United States against terrorism. Remains resolved to pursue all those responsible for the terrorist attacks and their sponsors until they are discovered and punished.
United States · United States Congress · 5 September 2002
Designates the U.S. Postal Service facility located at 380 Main Street in Farmingdale, New York, as the Peter J. Ganci, Jr. Post Office Building.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Tobacco Smuggling Eradication Act of 2002 - Amends chapter 52 (Tobacco Products and Cigarette Papers and Tubes) of the Internal Revenue Code to require all packages of tobacco products to carry a unique legibly printed serial number by which the Secretary of the Treasury can identify the manufacturer or importer and the location and date of manufacture or importation. Requires tobacco products sold on Indian reservations to be labeled as such. Requires a tobacco wholesaler to have a permit and to maintain certain records. Requires export warehouse proprietors to file certain reports with the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into certain tobacco related information agreements with foreign countries. Establishes new offenses relating to the distribution of tobacco. Raises the $1,000 civil penalty under chapter 52 to $10,000. Amends the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act to: (1) expand the applicability of such Act from cigarettes only to "tobacco product" (cigars, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and pipe tobacco); (2) define "contraband tobacco product" as a quantity of tobacco product that is equivalent to or more than 30,000 cigarettes (currently, 60,000) which bear no evidence of the payment of applicable State tobacco taxes; (3) establish new unlawful acts; and (4) require additional recordkeeping. Repeals Federal law provisions concerning reports required to State tobacco tax administrators by individuals engaged in interstate cigarette commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Commuter Students From Border Nations Act of 2002 - Treats part-time commuter students from Canada and Mexico as temporary visitors for U.S. entry purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Social Security Preservation Act of 2002 - Repudiates the statements of: (1) the Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neill, that the social security program (title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act) is a "pyramid game" and that the social security trust funds (Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund) have "no assets;" and (2) the statements of congressional leaders that the social security trust funds are "empty," a "total fraud," "a mere accounting device", and consist of "worthless IOUs." Prohibits the use by the Treasury of amounts borrowed from the social security trust funds to pay for other Government expenditures in a fiscal year, unless, during the nine month period immediately preceding the year, the Congress has enacted legislation explicitly affirming that the Treasury will repay these funds. Amends Federal law to require the President to include in each budget: (1) the total amount the Treasury has borrowed from the social security trust funds; and (2) explanations of repayment plans and the impact any legislation enacted in the preceding year will have on them. Requires the Secretary to affirm annually that the Treasury will honor the securities in such trust funds. Allows any individual credited with wages or self-employment income under Medicare to bring an action in an appropriate Federal district court to enjoin any act or practice: (1) by which the Secretary contests an obligation issued for purchase by either social security trust fund; or (2) which constitutes a failure to provide for redemption of the obligation in accordance with its terms or to otherwise honor the full faith and credit of the United States supporting such obligation.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2002
Business, Investors', and Employees' Bill of Rights Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal criminal code, the judicial code, the bankruptcy code, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and other related Federal law to: (1) establish criminal penalties for securities fraud and designated corporate practices; and (2) declare that debts incurred in violation of securities fraud laws are nondischargeable in bankruptcy. Establishes the Retirement Security Fraud Bureau in the Department of Justice. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) treat the acquiring corporation in a corporate expatriation transaction as a domestic corporation; and (2) treat as ordinary income the unrealized built-in gain on options to acquire stock by a corporate insider of an expatriate corporation. Provides for executive accountability, including application of the "golden parachute" excise tax to deferred compensation paid by a corporation following a major decline in its stock value, or if it declares bankruptcy. Mandates that: (1) national securities exchanges and associations prohibit insider loans; and (2) the Securities and Exchange Commission require disgorgement of proceeds resulting from misconduct by an issuer of securities or its executive staff, and executive officer accountability. Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) corporate governance and accuracy of investor information; (2) auditor independence; (3) industry oversight; and (4) model rules for attorneys of issuers. Exempts registered investment companies from requirements and prohibitions of this Act regarding: (1) real-time disclosure of financial information; (2) transparency of corporate disclosures; (3) reporting on insider transactions and relationships; (4) independent directors and other corporate governance requirements; and (5) auditor oversight. Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to establish the Office of Pension Participant Advocacy, and to prescribe procedural guidelines for: (1) pension benefits disclosures; (2) diversification requirements; (3) employee representation; (4) executive parity; (5) insurance to protect pension participants and beneficiaries; and (6) independent investment advice for participants.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2002
Senior Nutrition Act of 2002 - Amends the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to make a person who is at least 60 years old eligible for the commodity supplemental food program (program) if such person: (1) is eligible for the food stamp program; or (2) has a household income that is not more than 185 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines. Authorizes permanent program appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2002
Sets forth the rule (closed) for the consideration of H.R. 3818 (comprehensive investor protection).
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2002
Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 - Establishes the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to impose sanctions upon registered public accounting firms and their associated persons. Authorizes sanctions for failure to supervise. Grants the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversight of the Board, including general modification and rescission of Board authority. Amends the Securities Act of 1933 to authorize the SEC to recognize, as "generally accepted" for purposes of the securities laws, accounting principles established by a standard setting body. Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to prohibit a public accounting firm from performing certain non-audit services contemporaneously with a mandatory audit. Mandates audit partner rotation on a five-year basis. Prohibits a public accounting firm from performing statutorily mandated audit services if its senior executives were employed by the issuer and participated in the audit of such issuer during the one-year period preceding the audit date. Vests the audit committee of an issuer with oversight authority over any public accounting firm performing audit services. Requires a chief executive officer and chief financial officer to: (1) certify the veracity of mandatory financial statements; and (2) forfeit certain bonuses and compensation received following an accounting restatement owing to noncompliance with securities laws. Prohibits insider trades during pension fund blackout periods. Mandates enhanced disclosure of: (1) material off-balance sheet transactions and relationships; (2) pro forma financial information that is not misleading, and that is reconciled with generally accepted accounting principles; and (3) loans and loan guarantees made to senior executives. Reduces the mandatory period for disclosure of changes in ownership of securities or security-based swap agreements by certain principal stockholders. Mandates SEC rules governing analyst conflicts of interest.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Yellowstone Protection Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement the final rule to phase out snowplane use in Grand Teton National Park and snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park, the John. D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, and Grand Teton National Park. Prohibits the Secretary from modifying or superseding any provisions of that final rule.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2002
Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug Act of 2002 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to add a new part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) under which each individual who is entitled to benefits under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) or eligible to enroll under Medicare part B (Supplemental Medical Insurance) is entitled to obtain qualified prescription drug coverage. Outlines standard coverage benefit packages for FY 2005. Includes for the standard package a monthly premium of $25, an annual deductible of $100, a coinsurance of 20 percent and an annual out-of-pocket spending limit of $2,000. Directs the Secretary to negotiate fair prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers. Provides for accelerated generic drug competition. Amends SSA title XVIII part C (Medicare+Choice) with respect to: (1) inclusion of the costs of certain military services to Medicare-eligible beneficiaries in the calculation of Medicare+Choice payment rates; (2) specialized Medicare+Choice plans for special needs beneficiaries; and (3) continuous open enrollment and disenrollment at any time. Revises requirements for Medicare: (1) part A concerning rural health care, inpatient hospital services, skilled nursing facility services, and hospices; (2) part B concerning physicians services and other services; and (3) part A and B concerning home health services and direct graduate medical education. Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) with respect to certain Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotment adjustments and the Q-I1 program. Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to add requirements for interstate Internet sellers of prescription drugs. Establishes within the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health the Office of Rare Diseases. Amends the Public Health Services Act with respect to promotion of the pharmacist profession.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2002
Family Violence Prevention Act of 2002 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of Family Violence within the Department of Health and Human Services. Directs the Office to coordinate intra-departmental family violence programs and develop a Federal family violence prevention Internet website. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide for the establishment of five family violence research and education centers through grants or contracts with public and nonprofit private entities. Requires such centers to: (1) include both professional and public education; and (2) be linked to national, State, and local resources. Requires one center to be linked to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and another to the National Institute of Mental Health. Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory board to make recommendations concerning the centers' research agenda. Requires the Director to award grants to eligible entities, including healthcare delivery systems or training entities, to develop and disseminate family violence education and training curricula, programs, and strategies.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2002
Brownfield Site Redevelopment Assistance Act of 2002 - Amends the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Commerce to make grants for projects to alleviate or prevent conditions of excessive unemployment, underemployment, blight, and infrastructure deterioration associated with brownfield sites. Defines a "brownfield site," with exceptions, as real property the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance or pollutant. Allows inclusions of sites otherwise excluded from consideration if: (1) financial assistance will protect human health and the environment, promote economic development or enable the creation of parks, greenways, or other property used for nonprofit purposes, or promote eco-industrial development; (2) they were contaminated by a controlled substance; (3) they are certain low-risk petroleum-contaminated sites; or (4) they are mine-scarred. Defines eco-industrial development as development conducted in a manner in which businesses cooperate with each other and the local community to share resources efficiently (such as information, materials, water, energy infrastructure, and natural habitat) with the goals of economic gains, improved environmental quality, and equitable enhancement of human resources in businesses and local communities.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2002
Commends (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Special Agent Coleen Rowley for outstanding performance of her duties.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 2002
National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2002 - Identifies roadless areas within the National Forest System set forth in specified documents as National Forest Inventoried Roadless Areas, and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to manage such Areas to maintain their roadless character.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2002
Elderly Housing Quality Improvement Act of 2002 - Amends the Housing Act of 1959 to authorize appropriations for capital repair grants under the supportive housing for the elderly program. Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to authorize: (1) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make grants to public housing agencies to convert public housing units primarily occupied by elderly persons to assisted living or other supportive services facilities in order to enhance such persons' ability to maintain independent living; and (2) such grants to provide for service coordinators. Authorizes appropriations for elderly housing service coordinators and congregate services under specified federally-assisted and public housing programs. Directs the Secretary to carry out a pilot program (up to five housing projects) to determine the effectiveness of providing assistance under the supportive housing for the elderly program for projects that are used for both supportive housing for the elderly and for other types of housing, including market rate housing.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2002
Mortgage Loan Consumer Protection Act - Amends the Truth in Lending Act, with respect to credit extensions secured by a real property interest, to revise the category of excluded finance charge items. Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, with respect to the uniform settlement statement, to require: (1) separate lines for "closing costs, "prepaid items," and "all other costs paid at closing"; (2) at least two days' advance availability of the final settlement statement; and (3) disclosure of all lender fees. Provides, with respect to special information booklets, for: (1) harmonization of good faith estimates and settlement statements; and (2) inclusion of refinancing and upfront payment option information. Prohibits markups and unearned fees. Sets forth servicer escrow-related liabilities. Revises damage and cost, and jurisdiction and statute of limitations provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 2002
Recognizes and expresses support for efforts of the State of New York to develop the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New Windsor, New York. Encourages the people of the United States and Federal departments and agencies to participate in the development of such Hall.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 2002
Social Security Widow's Benefit Guarantee Act of 2002 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) provide for an increase in widow's and widower's insurance benefits; (2) repeal the seven year restriction on eligibility for widow's and widower's insurance benefits based on disability; (3) waive the two-year waiting period for a divorced spouse's benefits upon the other spouse's remarriage; and (4) disregard months ending after a deceased individual's death in applying early retirement rules with respect to the deceased individual for purposes of the limitation on widow's and widower's benefits. Amends SSA title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to provide that an eligible widow or widower who is entitled to a widow's or widower's insurance benefit for any month under OASDI, but is not eligible for benefits under SSI in that month, shall be deemed for purposes of SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to be an individual with respect to whom SSI benefits are paid in that month, if he or she: (1) has been continuously entitled to such widow's or widower's insurance benefits from the first month for which the increase in widow's or widower's insurance benefits resulting from this Act is reflected in such benefits through the month involved; and (2) would be eligible for benefits under SSI in the month involved if the amount of the increase in his or her widow's or widower's insurance benefits were disregarded.
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 2002
Expresses regret and sympathy to the families of the four Canadian soldiers who lost their lives and others who suffered injury on April 17, 2002, in a friendly-fire incident in southern Afghanistan and to the Government and people of Canada. Reaffirms appreciation for Canada's strong support and commitment to the war against terrorism.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2002
Steel Industry Legacy Relief Act of 2002 - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to establish a steel industry retiree benefits protection program administered by the Secretary of Commerce and the Board of Trustees of the Steel Industry Legacy Relief Trust Fund (created by this Act) to provide specified medical benefits to eligible steel retirees and beneficiaries. Prescribes qualifying events (acquisition, closing, election, or bankruptcy transfer) as a result of which the United States shall assume liability for the provision of steel retiree benefits for each eligible retiree and eligible beneficiary certified for participation in the retiree benefits program. Requires transfer to the Trust Fund by a qualified steel company and any applicable acquiring company of all assets which, under the terms of an applicable collective bargaining agreement, were required to be set aside under an employee benefit plan or otherwise for the provision of the steel retiree benefits. Requires contributions to the Trust Fund by such companies.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 2002
Amends provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act set forth in the Medicine Equity and Drug Safety Act of 2000 to: (1) direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations permitting pharmacists and wholesalers to import Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved prescription drugs from Canada (currently, from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, South Africa, the countries in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association, or other countries designated by the Secretary); and (2) exclude an infused or intravenously injected drug or a drug that is inhaled during surgery. Prohibits discrimination in the sale of prescription drugs by manufacturers to pharmacists or wholesalers, requiring: (1) terms as favorable as those provided to foreign purchasers; and (2) full access to drugs permitted to be imported. Continues the requirement that exported donated prescription drugs may only be reimported by the manufacturer. Permits the Secretary to waive the prohibition against importing a prescription drug or device on a case-by-case basis, particularly those from Canada that are FDA-approved and for limited personal use. Requires a study and report by the: (1) Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences on the regulatory compliance of importers of drugs; and (2) Comptroller General on how drug prices were affected.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 2002
Debt Relief Enhancement Act of 2002 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to commence efforts immediately within the Paris Club of Official Creditors, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other appropriate multilateral development institutions to modify the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative so that the amount of debt stock reduction approved for a country eligible for debt relief shall be sufficient to reduce, by a specified deadline, the net present value of the outstanding public and publicly guaranteed debt of the country, and the annual payments due, to levels determined according to certain formulae. Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on the options and costs associated with expanding debt relief under the Initiative to poor countries not eligible for inclusion in it. Authorizes the President to reduce amounts owed to the United States (or any Federal agency) by an eligible country as a result of: (1) certain guarantees issued under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; (2) credits extended or guarantees issued under the Arms Export Control Act; or (3) any obligation (or portion of it) to pay for purchases of U.S. agricultural commodities guaranteed by the Commodity Credit Corporation under specified export credit programs. Prescribes other specified conditions and prohibitions with respect to country eligibility. Requires any country otherwise eligible to receive debt cancellation under the modifications to the Initiative made by this Act, among other things, to agree to: (1) ensure that the financial benefits of debt cancellation are applied to programs to combat HIV/AIDS and poverty; and (2) implement transparent and participatory policymaking and budget procedures, good governance, and effective anticorruption measures. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (including the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative), the Arms Export Control Act, and the Export Administration Act of 1979 to modify specified prohibitions on assistance to countries to include countries that have failed to cooperate with the United States on efforts to combat international terrorism.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 2002
Protection of Policyholders Act - Amends the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to repeal its provisions governing redomestication of mutual insurers (the transfer of a mutual insurer's domicile as a step in a reorganization in which such insurer becomes a stock insurer subsidiary of a mutual holding company).
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 2002
Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal criminal code to set penalties for: (1) destroying, altering, or falsifying records in Federal investigations or in bankruptcy; (2) failure of an accountant who conducts an audit of an issuer of securities to maintain all documents sent, received, or created in connection with the audit for a five year period; and (3) executing a scheme to defraud in connection with a registered security, or to obtain by false pretenses money or property in connection with its purchase or sale. Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to review the Federal sentencing guidelines for obstruction of justice, and for fraud when the number of victims adversely involved is significantly greater than 50 or when it endangers the solvency or financial security of multiple victims. Amends: (1) Federal bankruptcy law to make certain debts incurred in violation of Federal or State securities laws, or common law fraud in connection with the purchase or sale of any security, non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, and to increase the amount of employees' wages protected under chapter 11 proceedings; and (2) the Federal judicial code to authorize a private right of action that involves a securities fraud-related claim to be brought by the earlier of five years after the date of the alleged violation or three years after its discovery. Authorizes a civil action to protect whistle-blowing employees against retaliation in fraud cases involving publicly traded companies. Amends the judicial code to direct the Attorney General to establish within the Department of Justice a Retirement Security Fraud Bureau.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 2002
Corporate Responsibility Act of 2002 - Instructs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require disgorgement of salaries, commissions, fees, bonuses, options, profits, and losses avoided through securities transactions obtained by an officer or director of an issuer during a reporting period when such officer or director engaged in misconduct resulting in the filing of a false or materially misleading financial statement. Requires the principal executive officer or officers and the principal financial officer or officers to certify in each annual or quarterly report filed or submitted that: (1) the signing officer has reviewed the report and that it does not contain untrue statements of a material fact or omit a material fact; (2) such report fairly presents the financial condition and results of operation in all material respects; (3) the signing officers have established and maintained effective internal controls and disclosed to the auditors and the audit committee of the board of directors any significant deficiencies in such controls which could adversely affect financial data and any fraud, whether or not material; and (4) there were or were not changes in internal controls or other factors that could significantly affect such controls subsequent to their evaluation. Amends the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to establish a standard of unfitness (as opposed to the current "substantial unfitness") for removal of corporate officers in a judicial, administrative, or cease-and-desist proceeding. Authorizes the SEC, in a cease-and-desist proceeding, to prohibit those who used manipulative and deceptive devices in the purchase, sale, or swap of securities from serving as officers as directors.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2002
Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2002 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Public Health Service Act to prohibit certain employee group health plans or related insurances providing both medical-surgical and mental health benefits from imposing mental health treatment limitations or financial requirements unless comparable limitations and requirements are imposed upon medical-surgical benefits. States that the foregoing shall not be construed as requiring a group health plan (or related insurances) to: (1) provide any mental health benefits; (2) prevent the medical management of mental health benefits; or (3) require the provision of specific mental health services, except to the extent that failure to provide such services would result in a disparity between the coverage of mental health and medical-surgical benefits. Exempts specified small employers from such requirements. Requires that, in the case of a group health plan that offers a participant or beneficiary two or more benefit package options, the coverage requirements shall be applied separately with respect to each such option. Provides that, in the case of a plan or insurance providing in-network mental health benefits, out-of-network mental health benefits need not be provided at parity to medical-surgical benefits, as long as in-network mental health benefits are provided at parity with medical-surgical benefits and the plan or insurance provides reasonable access to in-network providers and facilities. Requires a General Accounting Office study of such requirements' effects upon health insurance costs, access, and quality and a cost estimation of extending such requirements to the treatment of substance abuse and chemical dependency.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2002
Domestic Violence Screening and Treatment Act of 2002 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require that health benefits provided include coverage of domestic violence screening and treatment. Amends Federal civil service law to require the Office of Personal Management to require all contracted carriers of health coverage for Federal employees to include coverage for domestic violence screening and treatment services. Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to require States to set aside a reasonable portion of maternal and child health services block grant funds to provide for domestic violence screening and treatment services. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services, with respect to such funds retained for certain projects, to provide preference to State applicants who include training of providers in how to screen for, and treat, domestic violence. Requires the Secretary to allot funds to States to provide for a separate program for domestic violence screening and treatment.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2002
Designates the U.S. courthouse located at 100 Federal Plaza in Central Islip, New York, as the Alfonse M. D'Amato United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2002
Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should condemn the practice of execution by stoning and should call upon the international community to recognize such practice as a gross violation of human rights. Calls for the President to: (1) formally communicate this sense of Congress to governments imposing such punishment; and (2) urge Nigerian President Obasanjo to suspend the sentence of death by stoning imposed on Safiya Hussaini and take steps to ensure that Nigeria acts in accordance with international human rights standards.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 2002
Amends the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 to repeal the provision establishing a Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) nine basis point mortgage guarantee fee. (Such fee would otherwise become effective as of October 1, 2004.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2002
Restoration of Fairness in Immigration Act of 2002 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act with respect to due process in immigration proceedings, including due process in expedited removal proceedings, judicial review in immigration proceedings, and detention proceedings and detention alternatives. Directs the Attorney General to make periodic reports with respect to persons detained after September 11, 2001. Directs the Secretary of State to establish a Board of Visa Appeals. Revises provisions with respect to: (1) removal proceedings; (2) five-year bars to admission and other grounds for exclusion; (3) family reunification-related visas and grounds of admissibility; (4) voluntary departure; (5) public charge determinations and affidavits of support; (6) asylum and refugee proceedings; (7) asset forfeiture; (8) parole authority; and (9) State personnel performing immigration functions. Directs the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to establish an Office of Border Patrol Recruitment and Retention.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2002
Health Care Antitrust Improvements Act of 2002 - Delineates the relationship between the antitrust laws and negotiations between groups of health care professionals and health plans and health care insurance issuers. Applies the rule of reason standard to negotiations between a health plan and two or more physicians. Awards attorneys' fees to a substantially prevailing plaintiff in certain actions only when the defendant's conduct was unreasonable or in bad faith. Authorizes health care cooperative ventures negotiating with a health plan to file notification with the Attorney General, thereby limiting any potential recovery from conduct within the scope of such notification to actual damages (not punitive or treble). Prohibits tying arrangements (linking the participation in one product line to participation in another) between a health plan and health care professional, except as specified. Directs the Attorney General to establish: (1) at least six demonstration projects where health care professionals in project site States may act together to jointly negotiate contracts and agreements with health plans to provide health care items and services for which benefits are provided under such health plans; and (2) an Advisory Committee on Health Plan Negotiations. Excludes from this Act any negotiations or agreements between health care professionals and health plans pertaining to the provision of benefits under Federal programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP (State children's health insurance program), uniformed services' or veterans' medical care, Federal employees' health benefits, and Indian health care.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 2002
Specifies goals for the U.S. Government to achieve in negotiations with the Governments of Mexico and Canada with regard to the North American Development Bank (NADB) and the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC), including: (1) maintaining NADB and BECC as separate entities; (2) devoting $150 to $200 million of NADB's paid-in capital to the low-interest financing facility to provide lower interest rates for border environmental infrastructure projects; (3) increasing the U.S. contribution to the Border Environmental Infrastructure Grant Fund; and (4) requiring a third party to conduct a comprehensive review of NADB and BECC to study where structural inefficiencies should be improved.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 2002
Comprehensive Investor Protection Act of 2002 - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to set forth auditor independence requirements, including a prohibition against: (1) nonaudit services for audit clients; and (2) improper influence exerted upon the conduct of audits. Establishes the Public Accounting Regulatory Board to: (1) establish audit quality standards; (2) review public accounting firms and individual audits; (3) conduct disciplinary and investigation proceedings; and (4) suspend or revoke registration for noncompliance. Permits State licensing boards to participate in such proceedings and impose sanctions. Authorizes the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to oversee the Board. Subjects to Board jurisdiction foreign accounting firms that already fall within SEC jurisdiction. Proscribes insider trades during pension fund blackout periods. Mandates an SEC rulemaking proceeding to attain increased financial disclosure of : (1) off-balance sheet transactions; (2) insider transactions; (3) relationships between SEC registrants and philanthropic organizations; (4) insider controlled affiliates; and (5) provision of services by related persons. Instructs the SEC to: (1) initiate additional rulemaking proceedings regarding plain language financial reports; (2) implement a current disclosure reporting system; and (3) conduct enhanced oversight of issuers' periodic financial statements. Mandates electronic disclosure of affiliate transactions. Amends the Securities Act of 1933, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, to establish liability for aiding and abetting securities violations. Mandates preservation of audit records for seven years. Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933 to require preservation of records during shareholder litigation. Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 establish a statute of limitations for an implied private right of action. Directs the SEC to study and report to specified congressional committees on credit rating agencies and analyst conflicts of interest.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 2002
Shareholder and Employee Rights Restoration Act of 2002 - Amends the Securities Act of 1933 governing private securities litigation to repeal: (1) certain limits on private class actions; (2) the safe harbor applied to forward-looking statements (corporate predictions); (3) proportionate liability of an outside director; and (4) limitations on class action remedies. Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to repeal guidelines governing: (1) the safe harbor applied to corporate predictions; (2) limitations on class actions remedies; (3) court-ordered security for payment of costs in class actions; (4) motions to dismiss and stay of discovery; (5) sanctions for abusive litigation; (6) written interrogatories as to defendant's state of mind; (7) limitation on damages; and (8) proportionate liability. Modifies guidelines for a securities fraud action to prohibit a complaint based upon information and belief from specifying the source of the facts upon which such belief is formed (thus granting whistle blower protection). Amends the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to establish liability for aiding and abetting securities violations. Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to modify guidelines governing aiding and abetting. Extends the statute of limitations for an implied private right of action to no later than three years after the date on which the alleged violation was discovered.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 2002
Museum and Library Services Act of 2002 - Amends the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) and the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) to extend authorizations of appropriations and revise programs under such Acts. Amends MLSA to establish the National Museum and Library Services Board, within the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). (Eliminates a National Museum Services Board.) Requires the IMLS Director to: (1) ensure coordination with certain activities under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110), and other Federal activities; and (2) conduct and publish analyses of museum and library services impact. Revises requirements for annual national awards to outstanding libraries and museums that have made significant contributions in service to their communities. Includes specified entities under the term museum, for MLSA purposes. Revises museum services activities. Amends LSTA to provide for: (1) an increased portion for administrative costs; (2) an increased alternative minimum allotment to States under certain conditions; (3) State plans once every five years, as determined by the IMLS Director; (4) additional uses of grants to States for library programs; and (5) recruitment of library and information science personnel under the program of national leadership grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. Repeals requirements under the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science Act relating to Commission responsibilities to: (1) advise the IMLS Director; and (2) meet with the National Museum Services Board, which is eliminated by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 2002
Designates the U.S. Postal Service facility located at 201 Main Street in Lake Placid, New York, as the John A. "Jack" Shea Post Office Building.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2002
Insurance Industry Modernization and Consumer Protection Act - Establishes the Office of National Insurers (Office), headed by a Director subject to the general oversight of the Secretary of the Treasury. Requires the Director to establish a Division of Consumer Affairs within the Office. Prescribes guidelines for the supervision of national insurers, including: (1) annual on-site financial examination and onsite market conduct examination of each national insurer; (2) Federal license revocation, suspension, or restriction; (3) insurance fraud investigation; and (4) cooperative efforts with State and international insurance authorities. Prohibits a national insurer from underwriting or selling any line of insurance for which it does not hold a Federal license. Prescribes guidelines for establishment, subject to the Director's regulatory oversight, of a "protected cell" mechanism (identified pool of assets and liabilities of a national insurer segregated and insulated from the remainder of the insurer's assets and liabilities). Requires the Director to establish standards for financial regulation of national insurers. Places the following within the Director's regulatory purview: (1) insurance policy products; (2) life insurance underwriting; (3) group, blanket and franchise insurance; (4) insurance market conduct; (5) minimum national insurance standards; and (6) acquisitions of control, mergers, bulk transfers, and domestication of insurance companies. Instructs the Director to submit recommendations to Congress whether national insurers should be authorized to underwrite health insurance. Exempts specified activities of insurers from U.S. antitrust law. Sets forth a regulatory scheme governing national insurers who are members of an insurance holding company system. Preempts State insurance laws with respect to regulation of national insurers. Sets forth a bankruptcy scheme for insolvent national insurers in receivership, including: (1) non-U.S. insurers; and (2) the business of life, property and casualty insurance.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 2002
Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Act - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for an enhanced Federal Medicaid medical assistance percentage for States that elect to continuously enroll infants during the first year of life without regard to the child's membership in the woman's household or the mother's eligibility status. Amends SSA title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance Program) (SCHIP) to permit a State child health plan, implemented under either SCHIP or Medicaid, to provide for coverage of pregnancy-related assistance for targeted low-income pregnant women under specified conditions. Provides for SCHIP and Medicaid coordination with SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services). Increases the SCHIP income eligibility level with respect to a low-income child. Amends: (1) SSA title XIX to provide for an enhanced Federal Medicaid medical assistance percentage for increased expenditures for medical assistance for children; (2) SSA title XXI to increase SCHIP appropriations; and (3) SSA titles XIX and XXI to permit a State to elect to provide Medicaid and SCHIP coverage of children age 20 or 21.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2002
Highway Funding Restoration Act - Amends the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to require that obligations for Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs for FY 2003: (1) meet a specified minimum level; and (2) be distributed in accordance with that Act.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2002
Improved Maternal and Children's Health Coverage Act of 2002 - Amends title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require a State child health plan, among other things, to provide for: (1) development and use of a uniform, simplified application form for establishing SCHIP- and Medicaid-eligibility under SSA title XIX (Medicaid); (2) an enrollment process coordinated with that under Medicaid so that a family need only interact with a single agency to determine whether a child is SCHIP- or Medicaid-eligible; (3) acceptance and timely response to inquiries received through the national toll-free system established by this Act; (4) methods to ensure that children within a family eligible for SCHIP assistance are allowed to be seen by the same pediatric provider or group of pediatric providers in a manner that permits coordinated receipt of care by children in the same family to the extent a State child health plan provides coverage other than through providing benefits under the State's Medicaid plan; and (5) responsibility of the State and its contractors for assuring compliance with limitations on cost-sharing. Amends SSA titles XIX and XXI to provide for automatic reassessment of eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP benefits for children losing Medicaid or SCHIP eligibility. Amends SSA title XXI to provide for optional coverage of low-income, uninsured pregnant women under a State child health plan. Amends SSA title XIX to grant States the option of: (1) using enhanced Federal medical assistance percentage for coverage of additional pregnant women under Medicaid; and (2) covering qualified alien children under Medicaid and SCHIP programs. Amends SSA titles XIX and XXI to provide for program coordination with the Maternal and Child Health program under SSA title V.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 2002
Employee Pension Freedom Act of 2002 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to set forth requirements for disclosure, diversification, account access, and accountability under defined contribution plans that are individual account plans (401(k) and similar plans). Requires pension plan administrators to provide certain benefit information to participants or beneficiaries periodically. Requires plan sponsors (employers) and plan administrators to provide all material investment information to participants and beneficiaries, in an accurate form, as required to be disclosed to investors under applicable securities laws, and treats misleading investment information as a violation. Requires individual account plans that permit participants or beneficiaries to exercise control over their account assets to grant them the right to allocate all their nonforfeitable accrued benefits which are readily tradable employer securities to any investment option provided under the plan. Reduces, from three years to one year, the maximum vesting period for individual account plans (so that an employee who has completed at least one year of service has a nonforfeitable right to all of the employee's accrued benefit derived from employer contributions). Requires individual account plan fiduciaries to give 30 days notice to plan participants and beneficiaries before a lockdown limiting their control over their account assets, and limits the maximum duration of any such lockdown to ten business days. Requires each fiduciary of an individual account plan to be bonded or insured in an amount sufficient to ensure coverage of financial losses due to failures to meet certain ERISA requirements. Requires joint boards of trustees, representing interests of employers and those of employee participants and beneficiaries, to hold in trust the assets of single-employer plans which are individual account plans with some or all assets derived from employee contributions. Makes liable anyone who participates in or conceals certain breaches of fiduciary duty. Provides that rights or claims under ERISA may not be waived, with specified exceptions. Establishes an Office of Pension Participant Advocacy in the Department of Labor. Directs the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to study and report to specified congressional committees on the feasibility of and options for developing an insurance system for individual account plans.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2002
Enron Employee Pension Recovery Act of 2002 - Sets forth a priority allocation scheme requiring the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to distribute to former Enron, subsidiary, or affiliate employees the proceeds from any administrative or judicial order brought for securities violations against the Enron Corporation or Arthur Andersen L.L.C., or any of their subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, or principal shareholders for an accounting or disgorgement of funds (including any civil penalty assessments). Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to authorize the transfer of Federal campaign contributions to such disgorgement fund. Authorizes the SEC to accept donations to the United States for such fund.