United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2000
Ryan White CARE Act Amendments of 2000 - Title I: Emergency Relief for Areas with Substantial Need for Services - Subtitle A: HIV Health Services Planning Councils - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require that an HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) planning council reflect the demographics of the population of individuals with HIV disease (currently, the demographics of the epidemic) in the eligible area involved. Modifies requirements regarding council composition, including requiring representatives of former prisoners. Requires that at least 33 percent of the council be people who: (1) are receiving HIV-related services pursuant to a grant under provisions relating to emergency relief for areas with a substantial need for services (substantial need grant); and (2) are not officers, employees, consultants, or representatives of any entity that receives substantial need grant amounts. (Sec. 102) Modifies council duties, including regarding: (1) determining the size, demographics, and needs of the HIV disease population; (2) council establishment of fund allocation priorities; and (3) coordination with Federal grantees that provide HIV-related services in the area. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop epidemiologic measures for establishing the number of individuals with HIV disease who are not receiving HIV-related health services and for carrying out council duties; and (2) provide to the chief elected official receiving a substantial need grant guidelines and materials for training council members regarding council duties. (Sec. 103) Requires that council meetings and records be open to the public, subject to exception. Subtitle B: Type and Distribution of Grants - Makes permanent provisions requiring expedited disbursement of certain substantial need grant amounts. Requires, after fiscal year 2004, that the substantial need grant amount formula use the number of cases of HIV disease in the most recent year rather than the number of cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the most recent ten years, but until FY 2007 conditions that change on the Secretary's determination that there is sufficiently accurate and reliable data on HIV disease cases from all eligible areas, requiring the Secretary to consider: (1) the findings of a study mandated by title V of this Act; (2) the fiscal impact of using or of not using that data; and (3) the impact of the use of that data on the organization and delivery of HIV-related services. Modifies requirements regarding increases in the amount of a substantial need grant under expedited disbursement provisions. (Sec. 112) Requires that the amount of supplemental substantial need grants be determined by the Secretary based on a weighting of specified factors, with severe need counting one-third. Includes the current HIV disease prevalence, an increasing need for services, and unmet need for services as factors the Secretary must consider in determining severe need. Directs the Secretary, in determining the required factors, to develop a mechanism to use national, quantitative incidence data by 18 months after enactment of this Act (currently, by May 20, 1998). Requires mechanism modification based on the findings of a study mandated by title V of this Act. Removes provisions basing the amount of substantial need grants on substantial need grant applications. Subtitle C: Other Provisions - Requires that substantial need grant funds be used, among other purposes, for: (1) outreach to identify individuals with HIV disease who are not receiving HIV-related services; and (2) early intervention services. Requires that substantial need grants be used to provide health and support services to infants, children, youth, and women (currently, infants, children, and women) with HIV disease in the same ratio as those groups with HIV disease bear to those groups in the general population. Requires that the chief elected official of a substantial need grant-receiving area establish a quality management program to assess whether HIV health services under the substantial need grant are consistent with the most recent Public Health Service guidelines. (Sec. 123) Requires that official to ensure that the area's planning council: (1) reviews existing, available data on expenditures by substantial need grant recipient entities from their overall budget for administrative costs; and (2) makes a determination whether the financial compensation of any of those entity's officers or employees exceeds that of the official. Title II: Care Grant Program - Subtitle A: General Grant Provisions - Requires that grants to States to improve the quality, availability and organization of health care and support services for individuals with HIV disease (care grants) be used to provide health and support services to infants, children, youth, and women (currently, infants, children, and women) with HIV disease in the same ratio as those groups with HIV disease bear to those groups in the general population. (Sec. 202) Allows care grants to be used for support services, outreach activities, early intervention, and quality management. (Sec. 203) Modifies requirements regarding grants to establish HIV care consortia. (Sec. 204) Allows a State to meet a requirement to use a portion of its care grant to provide therapeutics to treat HIV disease or prevent related health deterioration (including prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections) by paying for health insurance or plans whose coverage includes a full range of such therapeutics and primary care. (Sec. 205) Requires care grant applications to contain determinations of the size, demographics, and needs of the population of individuals with HIV disease in the State. Modifies requirements regarding the comprehensive plan. Requires the public health agency that administers care grants for a State to engage in a public advisory planning process. (Sec. 206) Doubles, subject to appropriations, the minimum care grant allotment to each State and U.S. territory. Requires, after fiscal year 2004, that the care grant amount formula use the number of cases of HIV disease in the most recent year rather than the number of cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the most recent ten years, but until FY 2007 conditions that change on the Secretary's determination that there is sufficiently accurate and reliable data on HIV disease cases. Provides for increases in the formula amount. Requires, if an appropriations Act provides an amount exclusively for treatment drug grants, that two percent of that exclusive amount be reserved for supplemental grants to States whose HIV population's need is greater than the quantities available under treatment drug grants from the remaining unreserved 98 percent. Adds the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau to the list of U.S. territories. Adds the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to the list of territories for minimum allotment provisions but keeps it in the list of States for other care grant provisions. (Sec. 207) Replaces provisions mandating coordination by specified Federal agencies of Federal HIV programs with provisions directing the Secretary to make grants to States to supplement care grants for comprehensive services for communities that have a severe need for supplemental financial assistance to combat the HIV epidemic. Provides for funding for the supplemental grants. Subtitle B: Provisions Concerning Pregnancy and Perinatal Transmission of HIV - Removes provisions prohibiting (after testing of pregnant women and newborns has become a routine practice in U.S. health care) care grants to a State unless the State meets certain requirements regarding such testing. (Sec. 212) Adds HIV disease treatment services to the uses for which the Secretary may make a grant to a State that is following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding HIV counseling and voluntary testing for pregnant women. Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits using care grant appropriations for grants under this section. (Sec. 213) Directs the Secretary to provide for a study and report to appropriate congressional committees regarding: (1) the number of newborns with HIV born in the United States in the most recent year for which the information is available; (2) barriers that prevent or discourage an obstetrician from routinely offering pregnant women an HIV test and routinely testing newborns when the mother's HIV status is unknown; and (3) recommendations for each State for reducing perinatal HIV transmission. Requires States to make reasonable progress toward meeting the recommendations. Subtitle C: Certain Partner Notification Programs - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for partner counseling and referral services, provided the State meets certain requirements regarding: (1) partner notification and (for the partner and the infected individual) testing, counseling, and referral; (2) health entity reporting of positive test results to the State; (3) reporting to the CDC regarding partner notification; and (4) State cooperation with the CDC national partner notification. Prohibits grants to a State after fiscal year 2003 unless the State's reporting system for HIV cases produces sufficiently accurate and reliable data. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Early Intervention Services - Subtitle A: Formula Grants for States - Repeals provisions mandating formula grants to States for outpatient early intervention services regarding HIV disease. Subtitle B: Categorical Grants - Requires giving preference to rural or underserved areas in making currently-authorized categorical grants for outpatient early intervention services. Allows planning grants to be used, subject to limitation, to assist the recipients to expand their capacity to provide services, including early intervention services, in low income communities and affected subpopulations that are underserved. Subtitle C: General Provisions - Requires that the counseling that categorical grant recipients are required to provide to HIV-infected individuals emphasize that it is the duty of infected individuals to disclose their status to their sexual and needle-sharing partners, provide advice on how to make the disclosures and emphasize that it is the infected individual's continuing duty to avoid behaviors that expose others to HIV. (Sec. 322) Increases the percentage limit on administrative expenses. Requires recipients to establish a quality management program to assess the extent to which medical services are consistent with Public Health Service guidelines for treatment of HIV disease and related opportunistic infections. Title IV: Other Programs and Activities - Subtitle A: Certain Programs for Research, Demonstrations, or Training - Replaces a requirement that, with regard to grants for providing opportunities for women, infants, children, and youth to participate in HIV research and for providing to those groups outpatient health care and additional services, that a significant number of individuals in those groups be participating in research with a requirement that the grant applicant demonstrate linkages to research and how access to research is being offered to patients. Directs the Secretary to examine the distribution and availability of research regarding grantees to enhance and expand HIV-related research, especially in underrepresented communities. Requires grantees to implement a quality management program. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 402) Includes, as a use of currently-authorized grants and contracts for training health personnel: (1) training in prenatal and other gynecological care for women with HIV disease; and (2) developing protocols for the medical care of such women. Directs the Secretary to implement a strategy for the dissemination of HIV treatment information to care providers and patients. Adds accredited dental hygiene programs as possible recipients of currently-authorized grants with respect to oral health care to (sic) patients with HIV disease. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes grants to dental schools, post-doctoral dental education programs, and accredited dental hygiene programs that partner with community-based dentists to provide care to HIV patients in underserved areas. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes appropriations for grants and contracts to assist public and nonprofit private entities and schools and academic health science centers to train health personnel, train faculty, and develop and disseminate curricula and resource materials regarding the care of HIV patients and prevention of HIV infection among at risk individuals. Subtitle B: General Provisions in Title XXVI - Extends the authorization of appropriations for grants and contracts to evaluate programs carried out under title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act (HIV Health Care Services Program). (Sec. 412) Authorizes appropriations for collecting and providing data for program planning and evaluation under title XXVI. (Sec. 413) Adds the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Care Financing Administration to the list of agencies (currently, the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) charged with coordinating the planning, funding, and implementation (currently, coordinating the planning of the funding) of Federal HIV programs to enhance continuity of care and prevention services (currently, continuity of care). Requires that State, local, or private entities receiving title XXVI funds enhance continuity of care and prevention services (currently, continuity of care). (Sec. 414) Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to Congress a plan for the medical case management of and the provision of support services to individuals who had HIV disease on their date of release from the Federal or State penal system. (Sec. 415) Authorizes the Secretary to reduce title XXVI grants to a State or political subdivision if the State or subdivision fails to prepare audits. (Sec. 416) Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop and submit to Congress a plan for coordinating the disbursement of appropriations for substantial need grants with the disbursement for care grants; (2) within two years after enactment of this Act, implement the disbursement plan, notwithstanding any title XXVI provision inconsistent with the plan; (3) determine whether administration of those grants by the Secretary and grantee compliance efficiency would be improved by requiring biennial rather than annual applications; (4) develop and submit to Congress a plan for simplifying the application process for those grants; and (5) within two years after enactment of this Act, implement the simplified application plan, notwithstanding any title XXVI provision inconsistent with the plan. (Sec. 417) Removes provisions directing the Secretary to develop and implement a method for adjusting the percentages allocated to substantial need grants and care grants to account for substantial need grants to new areas and other relevant factors. Authorizes appropriations for substantial need and care grants. Title V: General Provisions - Directs the Secretary to provide for studies, and report to the appropriate congressional committees, on: (1) whether the surveillance system of each State provides for the reporting of HIV infection cases in a way that provides information on the number and demographic characteristics of the cases that is sufficiently accurate for the formula grants under substantial need and care grant provisions and, if not, recommendations for improvements; and (2) the appropriate epidemiological measures and their relationship to the financing and delivery of primary care and health related support services for low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals with HIV disease. (Sec. 502) Requires the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand, intensify, and coordinate research and other NIH activities regarding development of reliable and affordable HIV tests that can be rapidly administered and whose results can be rapidly obtained (rapid HIV tests). Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary: (1) to report to appropriate congressional committees on the progress made toward, and barriers to, the premarket review and commercial distribution of rapid HIV tests; and (2) promptly after rapid HIV test commercial distribution begins, to establish or update guidelines for States, hospitals, and other entities regarding the availability of those tests for administration to pregnant women in labor or late stage pregnancy and whose HIV status is unknown. (Sec. 503) Directs the Secretary, of the amounts available to the Secretary for program management at the Health Resources and Services Administration, to spend amounts necessary to ensure at least a 20 percent increase in fiscal year 2001 over fiscal year 2000 of full- time-equivalent staff of the Bureau of HIV/AIDS who administer programs under title XXVI. Title VI: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective dates for this Act and its amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2000
21st Century Veterans Employment and Training Act - Entitles the following persons to priority under any Federal employment and training program if the person otherwise meets eligibility requirements for program participation: (1) a veteran who has a service-connected disability, or who served on active duty during a war or campaign for which a campaign badge has been authorized; (2) the spouse of any person who died of a service-connected disability; (3) the spouse of any member serving on active duty who is listed as missing in action, captured in the line of duty by a hostile force, or forcibly detained or interned in the line of duty by a foreign government or power; and (4) the spouse of any veteran who has a permanent total disability resulting from a service-connected disability, or who died while a disability so evaluated was in existence. Requires State and local entities that administer such programs to provide program information and referral assistance to such covered persons. Directs the Secretary of Labor to report annually to the congressional veterans' committees as to whether covered persons are receiving a priority under such programs. Requires any contract of $25,000 or more entered into by a Federal department or agency for the procurement of personal property and nonpersonal services to contain a provision requiring the party contracting with the United States to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified covered veterans. Includes as qualified covered veterans disabled veterans, veterans who served on active duty during a war or campaign for which a campaign badge has been authorized, and veterans who, while serving on active duty, participated in a military operation for which a service medal was awarded. Directs the Secretary to provide assistance to any person or entity with respect to veterans' employment emphasis under Federal contracts and federally-funded work force programs. Provides complaint procedures, through the Secretary, the Attorney General, or privately, for individuals who believe that an entity has failed to comply with such requirements. Outlines remedies and related provisions. Authorizes the Secretary to allocate an additional ten full-time equivalent positions from the Employment and Training Administration to the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (Service) to provide such assistance. (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary, during the five-year period beginning on October 1, 2002, to carry out a demonstration program for improving and modernizing veterans' employment, training, and placement services. Earmarks program funds, with a minimum funding requirement. Directs the Secretary to establish a panel within the Advisory Committee on Veterans' Employment and Training to advise the Secretary on the development and implementation of the program with respect to matters arising at local delivery points in the employment service delivery system. Directs the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training (established under this Act) to implement a comprehensive performance accountability system to measure the performance of veterans' employment and training staff and to determine compliance by State public employment service agencies with veterans' employment and training requirements. Directs the Secretary, under the program, to make grants to States to provide veterans' employment, training, and placement programs and services through employment service delivery systems in the State. Provides for the allocation of grant funds among States. Authorizes the Secretary to make incentive grants to States, political subdivisions, or qualified organizations or entities to enter into contracts with the Secretary to carry out veterans' employment, training, and placement services. Provides for the allocation of incentive grants among such entities and outlines application requirements, including a five-year plan for furnishing such services. Prohibits the Secretary from approving proposals submitted by more than ten States. Outlines grant terms and conditions. Repeals Federal law providing related programs. Establishes within the Department of Labor the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training to formulate and implement all departmental policies and procedures to carry out provisions of this Act and all other Department of Labor employment, unemployment, and training programs that affect veterans. Establishes a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training to assist the Assistant Secretary. Outlines Deputy Secretary qualifications. Directs the Secretary to assign to each State a representative of the Service to serve as the State Director for Veterans' Employment and Training, and to assign necessary support staff. Directs the Secretary to assign to each region for which the Secretary operates a regional office a Service representative to serve as the Regional Administrator of Veterans' Employment and Training. Directs the Secretary, in providing staff for such positions, to appoint qualified veterans as supervisory personnel. Authorizes a State to employ such disabled veterans' outreach program specialists and local veterans' employment representatives as necessary to carry out the requirements of this section. Directs the Secretary, within 18 months after enactment of this Act, to provide one-stop services and assistance to eligible veterans and other persons electronically through the Internet and other electronic means. Requires a report from the Secretary to Congress on recommendations for the best possible employment and training services to meet the needs of veterans in the 21st century. Includes as a duty of the Service to implement efforts to ease the transition of servicemembers to civilian careers that are consistent with, or an outgrowth of, the military experiences of such servicemembers. Requires the modernization of veterans' employment and training service delivery points to include technological innovations consistent with the provision of labor exchange services under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. Requires the inclusion within certain reports concerning services furnished to veterans those services furnished to servicemembers transitioning to civilian careers. Directs the Secretary to report to the veterans' committees on the performance of States, organizations, and entities in carrying out veterans' employment, training, and placement services. (Sec. 4) Establishes within the Department the President's National Hire Veterans Committee to: (1) furnish information to employers concerning the training and skills of veterans and disabled veterans, and the advantages afforded employers by hiring such veterans; and (2) facilitate employment of such veterans through participation in America's Career Kit national labor exchange and other means. Requires reports from the Secretary to Congress in each of the years 2001 through 2003 on Committee activities. Terminates the Committee 60 days after submission of its last report. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 5) Expresses the sense of Congress commending veterans service organizations for their assistance to veterans and calling on such organizations to make personal computers with access to electronic job placement services available to job-ready veterans. (Sec. 6) Directs the Secretary to contract with an appropriate organization or entity to study the economic benefit to the United States of long-term sustained employment of veterans. Requires a report from the organization or entity to the Secretary. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2000
Milton Friedman Congressional Gold Medal Act - Authorizes the President to present, on behalf of Congress, a gold medal to Milton Friedman in recognition of his contributions to individual freedom and opportunity in American society through his exhaustive research and teaching of economics and his extensive writings on economics and public policy.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2000
Recognizes that the Birmingham Pledge has made a significant contribution in fostering racial harmony and reconciliation in the United States and around the world. Commends the people involved with the Pledge's creation and signatories to it for the steps they are taking to make the Nation and the world a better place for all people. Expresses the sense of Congress that a National Birmingham Pledge Week should be established.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2000
Declares that Congress: (1) condemns the use of children as soldiers by governmental and nongovernmental armed forces worldwide; (2) welcomes the optional protocol on the use of child soldiers as a critical first step in ending such use; and (3) applauds the decision by the U.S. Government to support such protocol. Calls on: (1) President Clinton to sign such protocol and the Senate to ratify it as quickly as possible; (2) the President and Congress to work together to enact a law that establishes a fund for the rehabilitation and reintegration into society of child soldiers; and (3) the Departments of State and Defense to undertake all possible efforts to persuade and encourage other governments to ratify and endorse such protocol.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 2000
Agricultural Opportunities Act - Title I: Agricultural Worker Registries - Directs the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to establish a database system of U.S. worker and eligible alien agricultural worker registries to provide temporary and seasonal agricultural job opportunity and referral information. States that such registries may be established as part of the "America's Job Bank" and "America's Talent Bank" databases. Bases registry coverage on job opportunities in a single State, except for the New England States which may be represented by a single registry. Requires prospective employers of H-2C visa agricultural workers to first apply for registry workers before a petition to import H-2C workers may be approved. Sets forth individual registrant requirements. States that an agricultural worker may apply for registry inclusion in the State of his or her residency. Grants referral preference to U.S. workers. Directs the Attorney General to establish an employment eligibility verification system. Title II: H-2C Program - Sets forth registry application requirements for H-2C employers and employer associations, including assurances: (1) that the job opportunity is not the result of a labor dispute, and is temporary or seasonal; (2) respecting required wages and benefits, and compliance with labor laws; (3) respecting advertising in the registry and other labor market sources, and contact of former employees; and (4) respecting provision of workers compensation. Provides that: (1) the Secretary, upon application approval, shall complete a registry search and notify an employer of available registered workers within seven days of the beginning work date; (2) if insufficient workers are available, the Secretary shall so notify an employer, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State; (3) an employer shall pay a user fee for each admitted alien worker; (4) an employer may apply directly to the Secretary of State for alien worker admissions if such worker referral has not been received within the seven-day period; and (5) an employer may file a request for redetermination of need. (Sec. 204) Sets forth employment requirements with respect to: (1) wages; (2) housing; (3) transportation reimbursement; and (4) obligation to employ U.S. workers. (Sec. 205) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish an alternative agricultural temporary worker program (H-2C visa) for admission of aliens who are outside the United States. Sets forth program provisions. States that nothing in this title shall preclude the Secretary and the Attorney General from continuing to apply special procedures to alien employment in the range production of livestock. Directs the Attorney General to establish an H-2C departure verification program. . Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Directs the Secretary to establish a process to receive and enforce complaints against employers by aggrieved persons or third party organizations (including bargaining representatives). Sets forth related provisions respecting: (1) expedited investigation of housing, wage, and child labor violations; (2) written notice of findings and opportunity for appeal; (3) ability of alien workers to change employers; and (4) remedies. Establishes the Commission on Housing Migrant Agricultural Workers which shall study the problem of in-season housing for migrant agricultural workers. Directs the Secretaries of Labor, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services to conduct a study of migrant worker child care, including the relationship between such child care and child labor violations in agriculture. Directs the Secretaries of Labor and Agriculture to conduct a study of agricultural field sanitation conditions. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of persistent and serious agricultural labor standards violations. (Sec. 302) Authorizes and requests the Attorney General to establish bilateral commissions between the United States and each country having specified numbers of H-2C workers in the United States. (Sec. 304) Directs the Secretary to establish registry user and alien employment user fee schedules and related collection processes. (Sec. 305) States that additional funds for agricultural worker registry startup costs may be taken from amounts available to Federal or State entities under the Wagner-Peyser Act. (Sec. 308) Sets forth the termination date for the this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2000
Holocaust Education and Awareness Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary of Education to make matching grants to carry out education and awareness programs about the Holocaust. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2000
Amends Federal aviation transportation law to proscribe employment of certain convicted felons whom the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration determines indicate a propensity for placing contraband aboard an aircraft in return for money.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 2000
Excellence in Economic Education Act of 2000 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to establish a program for excellence in economic education under title X (Programs of National Significance). (Sec. 1) Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award a grant to the National Council on Economic Education (the grantee), a nonprofit educational organization. Requires the grantee to reserve certain amounts for States that do not have designated recipients. Requires the grantee to use one-quarter of the grant amount (after such reservation) to: (1) strengthen and expand the grantee's nationwide network on economic education; (2) support and promote training of teachers who teach a grade from kindergarten through grade 12 regarding economics; (3) support research on effective teaching practices and the development of assessment instruments to document student performance; (4) develop and disseminate appropriate materials to foster economic literacy; and (5) coordinate activities assisted under this Act with activities assisted under of ESEA title II (Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program). Requires the grantee to award grants to State economic education councils, or in the case of a State that does not have a State economic education council, a center for economic education (a recipient). Requires that such a grant pay for the Federal share of the cost of enabling the recipient to work in partnership with one or more specified educational entities for one or more of the following purposes: (1) collaboratively establishing and conducting teacher training programs that use effective and innovative approaches to the teaching of economics; (2) providing resources to school districts that want to incorporate economics into the curricula of their schools; (3) evaluating the impact of economic education on students; (4) conducting economic education research; (5) creating and conducting school-based student activities to promote consumer, economic, and personal finance education, such as saving, investing, and entrepreneurial education, and to encourage awareness and student achievement in economics; (6) establishing interstate and international student and teacher exchanges to promote economic literacy; and (7) encouraging replication of best practices to encourage economic literacy. Sets forth requirements for recipients in carrying out teacher training programs under this Act. Encourages the grantee and recipients, in carrying out assisted activities under this Act, to: (1) include interactions with the local business community to the fullest extent possible, to reinforce the connection between economic education and economic development; and (2) work with private businesses to obtain matching contributions for Federal funds and assist recipients in working toward self-sufficiency. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 2000
Amends Federal law to direct the Postal Service to establish a special (semipostal) postage rate for first-class mail in order to afford the public a convenient way to contribute to funding for the establishment of the World War II Memorial. Expresses the sense of Congress that nothing in this Act should: (1) directly or indirectly cause a net decrease in total funds received by the American Battle Monuments Commission below the level that would otherwise have been received but for the enactment of this section; or (2) affect regular first-class rates of postage or any other regular rates of postage.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 2000
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Adjustment Act - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to prescribe a formula for periodic adjustments to the maximum amount of deposit insurance coverage ($100,000), including an inflation adjustment.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 2000
Declares that Federal funding for diabetes research should be increased in accordance with the recommendations of the Diabetes Research Working Group so that a cure for juvenile diabetes can be found.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 2000
Energy Employees Occupational Illness and Compensation Act of 2000 - Finds that civilian men and women who performed duties in the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons production program over the last 50 years should have efficient, uniform, and adequate compensation for beryllium-related health conditions and radiation-related health conditions in order to assure fairness and equity. Title I: Energy Employees' Beryllium Compensation - Directs the Secretary of Energy to enter into an agreement with the Secretary of Labor to administer this title and for compensation by the Department of Energy for that administration from the Energy Employees Beryllium Compensation Fund (established by this title). Defines "covered employee" to be any employee of any entity that contracted or subcontracted with the Department of Energy to provide services relating to uranium conversion or manufacturing, a beryllium vendor's employee while the entity conducted activities related to beryllium produced or processed for the Department of Energy, who may have been exposed to beryllium, or a resident of Lorain County, Ohio (before 1950 in the area near the Brush Beryllium Company) who has been diagnosed with a covered illness. Provides compensation to such persons. Allows covered employees exposed to beryllium and diagnosed with beryllium-related pulmonary conditions to elect to receive alternative compensation of $200,000. Extends such option to the employee's survivors. Title II: Nuclear Employees' Radiation Compensation - Establishes a similar program and a Nuclear Employees' Radiation Compensation Fund to compensate covered employees for disability or death, medical services, and vocational rehabilitation for certain illnesses attributable to occupational exposure to radiation and other hazardous substances, including leukemia, cancer, and chronic renal disease. Provides for a similar alternative compensation of $200,000. Title III: Employees Exposed to Toxic Substances and Heavy Metals - Allows claims for compensation for illnesses, impairments, diseases, or death for which the claimant can establish that exposure to a hazardous substance occurred while a covered employee at a Department of Energy facility and that such exposure was a contributing factor to the illness, disease, or death. Provides for the establishment of physicians panels for claims evaluations. Title IV: Economic Development Assistance - Amends the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to make areas that contain a Department of Energy defense nuclear facility, as defined by specified provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993, eligible for assistance under existing provisions relating to: (1) grants for public works and economic development; and (2) grants for economic adjustment.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2000
Requires National Guard military technicians (dual status) who are: (1) eligible at the time dual status is lost to an unreduced retirement annuity to be separated no later than 30 days after such status is lost; and (2) not eligible to an unreduced annuity at such time to be offered the opportunity to either reapply for a dual status position or apply for a civil service position that is not a technician position. Provides mandatory retirement for such technicians who continue employment as a non-dual status technician. States that a technician shall be considered to lose dual status upon: (1) being separated from the Selected Reserve; or (2) ceasing to hold the military grade specified for the technician position held. Provides separation and retirement requirements identical to those above for non-dual status National Guard technicians.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2000
Digital Divide Access to Technology Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that computers and Internet access provided by an employer to employees shall be treated as a "de minimis fringe" benefit (and thus excluded from gross income) provided specified requirements are met.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2000
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for student loan forgiveness for public defenders under the Federal Perkins Loan program. Requires a reduction in the amount of Federal capital contributions to Federal student loan funds to offset the amount expended under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2000
MTBE Elimination Act - Expresses the sense of Congress that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should provide technical assistance, information, and matching funds to help local communities test drinking water supplies and remediate drinking water contaminated with methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to prohibit, three years after the enactment of the MTBE Elimination Act, the use of MTBE as a fuel additive. Requires persons selling oxygenated gasoline containing MTBE at retail to be required under regulations promulgated by the Administrator to label the fuel dispensing system with a notice that specifies that the gasoline contains MTBE and provides other information concerning MTBE as determined appropriate by the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to establish a schedule that provides for an annual phased reduction in the quantity of MTBE that may be used as a fuel additive during the three-year period beginning on this Act's enactment date. Requires the Administrator to establish an MTBE research grants program within EPA. Authorizes grants to eligible grantees to pay the Federal cost share of research on: (1) the development of more cost-effective and accurate MTBE groundwater testing methods; (2) the development of more efficient and cost-effective remediation procedures for water sources contaminated with MTBE; or (3) the potential effects of MTBE on human health. Makes eligible for such grants Federal research agencies, national laboratories, colleges or universities, certain private research organizations, and State environmental research facilities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Administrator to promulgate rules requiring a .5 pounds per square inch Reid vapor pressure allowance for all reformulated gasoline containing 3.5 percent oxygen by weight. Provides that any additional volatile organic compound emissions resulting from the use of such gasoline should be deemed to be fully offset and not calculated in determining compliance with certain Clean Air Act provisions dealing with reasonable further progress plans or demonstrations.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2000
Veterans and Dependents Millennium Education Act - Increases as of October 1, 2002, the rates of veterans' basic educational assistance under the Montgomery GI Bill. (Sec. 3) Authorizes participants in the Veterans Educational Assistance Program who have continuously served on active duty since October 9, 1996, to enroll in the Montgomery GI Bill program. Provides a one- year enrollment period. Requires monthly pay reductions to cover program costs. (Sec. 4) Increases the rates of veterans' survivors and dependents educational assistance, as well as assistance for correspondence courses, special restorative training, and apprenticeship training. Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to annually increase such amounts by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index. (Sec. 5) Revises the effective date for the award of survivors and dependents educational assistance with respect to survivors or dependents of individuals receiving a veterans' disability rating who apply for such assistance within one year after the rating decision, even though such assistance is for a program of education for months preceding such rating. (Sec. 6) Authorizes the payment of basic educational assistance during periods between school terms where the period between such terms does not exceed eight weeks and both the terms preceding and following such period are not shorter than such period. (Sec. 7) Authorizes as of October 1, 2000, the use of basic educational assistance for payment of vocation or profession certification or licensing tests. (Sec. 8) Extends through: (1) December 31, 2008, the authority to guarantee the payment of principal and interest on certificates or other securities evidencing an interest in a pool of veterans' mortgage loans; (2) September 30, 2008, the authority to charge a home loan fee for Department of Veterans Affairs-guaranteed veterans' housing loans; (3) September 30, 2008, certain procedures applicable to foreclosure sales on defaulted home loans guaranteed by the Department; (4) September 30, 2008, the authority of the Secretary to utilize certain veterans' income verification procedures; and (5) September 30, 2008, a veterans' pension limitation for certain recipients of nursing home care covered under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act. (Sec. 9) Codifies provisions recurring in annual Department appropriations Acts relating to: (1) veterans' disability compensation and pensions; (2) veterans' medical care; (3) medical administration and miscellaneous operating expenses; (4) general operating expenses; (5) construction, major projects; and (6) construction, minor projects. (Sec. 10) Makes a provision of the Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 which terminates on December 31, 1999, all reporting requirements contained on a list prepared by the Clerk of the House of Representatives for the first session of the 103d Congress inapplicable to certain Departments reports. Terminates the requirement for certain budget reports, reports on equitable relief cases, and reports from advisory committees on former prisoners of war and women veterans. Requires that, whenever the Secretary submits to Congress or a congressional committee a report required by law or by joint explanatory statement of a conference committee, the Secretary shall include with such report a statement of the cost of preparing the report and the methodology used in preparing the cost statement.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2000
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States should continue to actively pursue a full accounting of all members of the armed forces (and others) who remain unaccounted for from past conflicts (particularly the Korean and Vietnam Wars); (2) as part of such efforts, the Secretary of Defense should continue at current levels activities to account for persons who are unaccounted for from such conflicts and who were at any time classified as a prisoner of war or missing in action or who were determined to have been killed in action although the body was not recovered, and the United States should continue to declassify Department of Defense documents and to release intelligence information held by agencies of the Government that relates to cases of such persons; and (3) the United States should continue to take steps necessary for pursuing, in the case of any future military conflict, a full accounting of all personnel who are classified at any time as a prisoner of war or missing in action.
United States · United States Congress · 12 April 2000
National Museum of the American Indian Commemorative Coin Act of 2000, or American Buffalo Coin Commemorative Coin Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue a maximum of 500,000 $1 dollar coins in commemoration of the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian of the Smithsonian Institution. Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States Mint Facility in Denver, Colorado, should strike such coins unless the Secretary determines that it would be technically or cost-prohibitive. Mandates that the proceeds from sales surcharges be paid promptly to the National Museum of the American Indian of the Smithsonian Institution to: (1) commemorate the opening of the Museum; and (2)supplement the Museum's endowment and educational outreach funds. Subjects the Museum to certain Federal audit requirements. Instructs the Secretary to take actions to ensure that coin minting and issuance will not result in any net cost to the Government.
United States · United States Congress · 12 April 2000
Farm Income Fairness Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from net earnings from self-employment: (1) certain farm rental income; and (2) payments under the environmental conservation acreage reserve program.
United States · United States Congress · 12 April 2000
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the presence of brain activity and spontaneous cardiac activity should be considered conclusive evidence for all legal purposes of the presence of human life, without regard to age, health, defects, or condition of dependency; (2) the absence of such activity, other than an irreversible cessation of these activities, should not be considered conclusive evidence for legal purposes that a human life is not present; and (3) the Constitution protects all human life in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2000
Teaching Hospital Preservation Act of 2000 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise a formula pertaining to additional payments to hospitals with indirect costs of medical education to maintain the value of a variable used in the indirect teaching adjustment factor at the FY 1999 level on or after October 1, 2000. (Current law requires a lesser value for such variable in FY 2001 and thereafter.)
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 2000
Constitutional Amendment - Requires any legislative measure changing the internal revenue laws to require the concurrence of two-thirds of the Members of each House voting and present, unless the legislative measure is determined not to increase the internal revenue by more than a de minimis amount. States that for the purposes of determining any increase in the internal revenue, there shall be excluded any increase resulting from the lowering of an effective rate of any tax. Permits Congress to waive such requirements when: (1) a declaration of war is in effect; or (2) the United States is engaged in military conflict which causes an imminent and serious threat to national security and is so declared by an adopted joint resolution. Prohibits any increase in the internal revenue enacted under such a waiver from being effective for longer than two years.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2000
Innocence Protection Act of 2000 - Title I: Exonerating the Innocent through DNA Testing - Amends the Federal judicial code to authorize a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a court established by an Act of Congress, at any time after conviction, to apply to the court that entered the judgment for forensic DNA testing of any biological material that: (1) is related to the investigation or prosecution that resulted in the judgment; (2) is in the actual or constructive possession of the Government; and (3) was not previously subjected to DNA testing, or can be subjected to retesting with new DNA techniques that provide a reasonable likelihood of more accurate and probative results. Sets forth procedures regarding notice to the Government and preservation of remaining biological material. Directs the court to order DNA testing pursuant to such application upon a determination that testing may produce non-cumulative, exculpatory evidence relevant to an applicant's claim that the applicant was wrongfully convicted or sentenced. Specifies that the cost of DNA testing shall be borne by the Government or the applicant, as the court may order in the interests of justice, if it is shown that the applicant is not indigent and possesses the means to pay. Authorizes the court at any time to appoint counsel for an indigent applicant. Establishes post-testing procedures, including ordering a hearing and entering any order that serves the interests of justice, including an order setting aside the judgment or granting a new trial or re-sentencing if the results of the DNA testing are favorable to the applicant. Requires the Government to preserve any biological material secured in connection with a criminal case for such period as any person remains incarcerated in connection with that case, with exceptions. (Sec. 103) Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (Safe Streets Act) to include among the requirements for DNA identification grants, and for drug control and system improvement (Byrne) grants, that the State will: (1) preserve all biological material secured in connection with a State criminal case for not less than the period of time that biological material is required to be preserved under this Act in the case of a person incarcerated in connection with a Federal criminal case (biological material preservation requirements); and (2) make DNA testing available to any person convicted in State court to the same extent, and under the same conditions, that DNA testing is available under this Act to any person convicted in a court established by an Act of Congress. Makes DNA samples obtained by, and DNA analyses performed at, a forensic laboratory accessible for criminal defense purposes to a defendant, who shall have access to samples and analyses performed in connection with the case in which such defendant was charged or convicted. Requires applications for public safety and community policing grants, if any part of funds received from such a grant is to be used to develop or improve a DNA analysis capability in a forensic laboratory, or to obtain or analyze DNA samples for inclusion in the Combined DNA Index System, to make specified certifications including that: (1) DNA analyses performed at such laboratory will satisfy or exceed the current standards for a quality assurance program for DNA analysis issued by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the DNA Identification Act of 1994; (2) DNA samples and analyses obtained and performed by such laboratory will be accessible only consistent with specified requirements; (3) the laboratory and each analyst performing DNA analyses at the laboratory will undergo, at regular intervals not exceeding 180 days, external proficiency testing by a DNA proficiency testing program that meets certain standards; and (4) the State will meet biological material preservation requirements. (Sec. 104) Prohibits a State from denying a request, made by a person in custody resulting from a State court judgment, for DNA testing of biological material that: (1) is related to the investigation or prosecution that resulted in the conviction of the person or the sentence imposed on the person; (2) is in the actual or constructive possession of the State; and (3) was not previously subjected to DNA testing, or can be subjected to retesting with new DNA techniques that provide a reasonable likelihood of more accurate and probative results. Makes an exception upon a judicial determination that testing could not produce non-cumulative evidence establishing a reasonable probability that the person was wrongfully convicted or sentenced. Bars a State from relying upon a time limit or procedural default rule to deny a person an opportunity to present non-cumulative, exculpatory DNA results in court, or in an executive or administrative forum in which a decision is made in accordance with procedural due process. Authorizes a person to enforce this section in a civil action for declaratory or injunctive relief, filed either in a State court of general jurisdiction or in U.S. district court. Specifies that no State or State executive or judicial officer shall have immunity from such actions. Title II: Ensuring Competent Legal Services in Capital Cases - Amends the Safe Streets Act (regarding Byrne grant programs) to require that State applications include, if the State prescribes, authorizes, or permits the death penalty for any offense, a certification that the State has established and maintains an effective system for providing competent legal services to indigents at every phase of a State criminal prosecution in which a death sentence is sought or has been imposed, up to and including direct appellate review and post-conviction review in State court. Requires the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to promulgate regulations specifying the elements of an "effective system" including: (1) a centralized and independent appointing authority which shall have authority and responsibility to undertake specified activities, such as to recruit attorneys who are qualified to represent indigents in capital proceedings, draft and annually publish a roster of such attorneys, draft and annually publish qualifications and performance standards for such attorneys, and periodically review the roster, monitor attorney performance, provide a mechanism by which members of the Bar may comment on the performance of their peers, and delete the name of any attorney who fails to meet specified requirements; and (2) specified compensation and reimbursement requirements of private attorneys and public defender organizations. Requires applications for discretionary (justice system improvement) grants to include satisfying such certification requirement. Requires the Director of the National Institute of Justice to include in a report to Congress on such grants to each State a description and a comparative analysis of the systems established by each State in order to satisfy the certification requirement, including qualifications and performance standards, rates of compensation, and rates of reimbursement. (Sec. 202) Amends the judicial code to direct the court, in a proceeding instituted by an indigent applicant under sentence of death, to neither presume a finding of fact made by a State court to be correct nor decline to consider a claim on the ground that the applicant failed to raise such claim in State court at the time and in the manner prescribed by State law, unless: (1) the State provided the applicant with legal services at the stage of the State proceedings at which the State court made the finding of fact or the applicant failed to raise the claim; and (2) the legal services the State provided satisfied the regulations promulgated by the Director of the Administrative Office pursuant to the Safe Streets Act. (Sec. 203) Amends the Federal criminal code to require the Director of the Administrative Office to: (1) award grants to, or enter into contracts with, public or private nonprofit organizations for the purpose of providing defense services in capital cases; and (2) develop guidelines to ensure that defense services provided by recipients of such grants and contracts are consistent with applicable legal and ethical proscriptions governing the duties of counsel in capital cases. Title III: Compensating the Unjustly Condemned - Rewrites judicial code provisions regarding compensation for unjust imprisonment. Limits the amount of damages awarded to $50,000 for each 12-month period of incarceration, except that a plaintiff who was unjustly sentenced to death may be awarded not more than $100,000 for each 12-month period of incarceration. Directs the court, in assessing damages, to consider: (1) the circumstances surrounding the unjust conviction, including any misconduct by Federal officers or employees; (2) the length and conditions of the unjust incarceration; and (3) family circumstances, loss of wages, and pain and suffering of the plaintiff. (Sec. 302) Amends the Safe Streets Act to require applicants for criminal justice facility construction grants to provide reasonable assurance that the applicant, or the State in which it is located, does not prescribe, authorize, or permit the death penalty for any offense, or: (1) has established and maintains an effective procedure by which any person unjustly convicted of an offense against the State and sentenced to death may be awarded reasonable damages upon substantial proof that the person did not commit any of the acts with which the person was charged; and (2) the conviction of that person was reversed or set aside on the ground that the person was not guilty of the offense or offenses of which the person was convicted, the person was found not guilty of such offenses on new trial or rehearing, or the person was pardoned upon the stated ground of innocence and unjust conviction. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the criminal code to prohibit the Government from seeking the death penalty in any case initially brought before a U.S. district court that sits in a State that does not prescribe, authorize, or permit the imposition of such penalty for the alleged conduct, except upon written certification of the Attorney General (or designee) that: (1) the State does not have jurisdiction or refuses to assume jurisdiction over the defendant with respect to the alleged conduct; (2) the State has requested that the Government assume jurisdiction; or (3) the offense charged is one of certain listed offenses, including destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities, assassination, kidnapping, and assault of specified Government officials. (Sec. 402) Rewrites Controlled Substances Act provisions regarding continuing criminal enterprises to direct the court, upon a recommendation that the defendant should be sentenced to death or life imprisonment without possibility of release, to sentence the defendant accordingly (otherwise, the court shall impose any lesser sentence that is authorized by law). (Sec. 403) Rewrites provisions of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 regarding Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth-In-Sentencing Incentive Grants to require State applicants to provide assurances to the Attorney General that: (1) the State has implemented policies that provide for the recognition of the rights and needs of crime victims; and (2) in any capital case in which the jury has a role in determining the sentence imposed on the defendant, the court, at the defendant's request, shall inform the jury of all statutorily authorized sentencing options in the particular case, including applicable parole eligibility rules and terms. (Sec. 404) Requires the Attorney General, within two years and annually thereafter, to prepare and transmit to Congress a report concerning the administration of capital punishment laws by the Government and the States. Directs the Attorney General or the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, as appropriate, to ensure that the reports are: (1) distributed to national print and broadcast media; and (2) posted on an Internet website maintained by the Department of Justice. (Sec. 405) Amends the judicial code to provide that, regarding exhaustion of remedies available in State courts, if the highest court of a State has discretion to decline appellate review of a case or a claim, a petition asking that court to entertain a case or a claim is not an available State court procedure. (Sec. 406) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the death penalty is disproportionate and offends contemporary standards of decency when applied to a person who is mentally retarded or who had not attained age 18 at the time of the offense.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2000
Calls upon the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend and the Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp on the subject of autism awareness.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 2000
Child Passenger Protection Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to update and improve crash test standards and conditions for child restraints in motor vehicles. Sets forth certain child restraint testing requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a safety rating program for child restraints to provide practicable, understandable, and timely information to parents and caretakers for use in making informed purchases of child restraints.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to phase-in an increase in the unified credit against estate and gift taxes to an exclusion amount of $10 million for calendar year 2003 and following years. Provides for an inflation adjustment to such exclusion.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 2000
Amends the National Trails System Act to provide that whenever any right-of-way is subject to certain interim use provisions for railroad rights-of-way, no such right-of-way may be developed for public use as a trail unless compensation for such use has been tendered to the person to whom the right-of-way would revert upon abandonment for railroad purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 2000
Stamp Out Breast Cancer Reauthorization Act - Amends the Stamp Out Breast Cancer Act to extend until July 29, 2002, or the end of the two-year period beginning on this Act's enactment, whichever is later, the authority under which postal patrons may contribute to funding for breast cancer research through the voluntary purchase of certain specially issued U.S. postage stamps. Requires the Comptroller General to make a report to Congress on the operation of this Act, in addition to a previous mandated report.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from self-employment net income certain conservation reserve program payments. Amends the Social Security Act to exclude such payments from the definition of "net earnings from self-employment."
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2000
Congratulates: (1) the people of Taiwan for the successful conclusion of presidential elections on March 18, 2000; (2) President Lee Teng-hui for his significant contributions to freedom and democracy on Taiwan; (3) President-elect Chen Shui-bian and Vice-President-elect Annette Hsiu-lien Lu for their victory. Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the People's Republic of China should abandon its provocative threats against Taiwan and undertake steps that would lead to a substantive dialogue, including a renunciation of the use of force against Taiwan and progress toward democracy, the rule of law, and protection of human and religious rights in the People's Republic of China. Affirms the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act as the legal standard by which U.S. policy toward Taiwan shall be determined.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2000
Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000 - Amends the matching grant program for law enforcement armor vests under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to direct that the matching portion equal 50 percent if: (1) such grant is to a unit of local government with fewer than 100,000 residents; (2) the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance determines that the quantity of vests to be purchased with such grant is reasonable; and (3) such portion does not cause such grant to violate certain maximum amount requirements. Directs that: (1) funds available be awarded, without regard to specified "preferential consideration" provisions, to each qualifying unit of local government with fewer than 100,000 residents; and (2) any remaining funds available be awarded to other qualifying applicants. Provides that if an application is submitted in conjunction with a transaction for the purchase of armor vests, grant amounts may not be used to fund any portion of that purchase unless, before the application is submitted, the applicant: (1) receives clear and conspicuous notice that receipt of the grant amounts requested in the application is uncertain; and (2) expressly assumes the obligation to carry out the transaction regardless of whether such amounts are received. Redefines "armor vest" to include body armor which has been tested through a specified voluntary compliance testing program, and found to meet or exceed the requirements of NIJ Standard 0115.00, or any subsequent revision of such standard. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 2000
Clean Air and Water Preservation Act of 2000 - Amends the Clean Air Act to prohibit the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) as a fuel additive. Makes such prohibition effective three years after this Act's enactment date. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to require, during the period beginning on this Act's enactment and ending three years after such date, persons selling gasoline that contains MTBE at retail to label the fuel dispensing system with a notice that the gasoline contains MTBE. (Sec. 4) Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require the Administrator to amend certain guidelines to require State source water assessment programs to be revised to prioritize groundwater areas and aquifers that have been contaminated, or are most vulnerable to contamination, by MTBE. Directs the Administrator to develop a clear set of technical guidelines to assist States in the investigation and cleanup of MTBE in groundwater. (Sec. 5) Revises the oxygen content requirement for reformulated gasoline under the Clean Air Act to require the oxygen content to equal or exceed an average of two percent by weight (currently, equal or exceed two percent by weight). Invalidates Federal regulations that establish a per-gallon minimum oxygen content (percent, by weight). (Sec. 6) Requires the Administrator to revise regulations regarding reformulated gasoline to ensure that the ozone forming potential, taking into account all ozone precursors, of the aggregate emissions during the high ozone season from baseline vehicles when using reformulated gasoline does not exceed such potential of the emissions from such vehicles when using reformulated gasoline that complies with regulations that were in effect on January 1, 2000, and applicable to such gasoline sold in 2000 and thereafter. Limits the hydrocarbon content of reformulated gasoline to the average content of such gasoline sold in covered nonattainment areas during the year 2000. (Sec. 7) Requires the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator to report to the President and Congress on the potential for development of oxygenate alternatives to MTBE not identified in this Act and to evaluate what steps would be appropriate to foster development of such alternatives should they be found to be acceptable substitutes for MTBE. (Sec. 8) Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should promote renewable ethanol to replace MTBE and encourage oil refiners to make the transition from MTBE-blended fuel to ethanol-blended fuel as soon as possible.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 2000
Apples for Three Million Teachers Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) make the two percent floor on miscellaneous itemized deductions inapplicable to the qualified professional development expenses incurred by teachers; and (2) allow a credit to elementary and secondary school teachers who provide classroom materials.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2000
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to suspend, through December 31, 2004, the duty on nicosulfuron formulated product ("Accent").
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2000
Designates the U.S. Postal Service facility located at 4601 South Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, as the Henry W. McGee Post Office Building.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 2000
Organ Donation and Transplantation Improvements Act of 2000 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to modify: (1) the requirements organ procurement organizations must meet to be eligible for certain existing grants, including organization certification requirements; and (2) requirements and limitations regarding the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, including regarding organ allocation. Requires that the scientific registry of organ transplant recipients also include information respecting donors and patients in transplants involving living donors. Authorizes grants and contracts for travel and subsistence expenses of living donors. Mandates a public education program regarding organ donation (either directly by the Secretary of Health and Human Services or through grants or contracts). Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make grants for studies and demonstration projects regarding increasing donation rates; and (2) make grants to States for public education and programs to increase the number of donors. Provides for a bronze medal for donors (or, if the donor is deceased, the donor's family).
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2000
Postmasters Fairness and Rights Act - Amends Federal law to prescribe guidelines within which the Postal Service shall propose changes in pay policies, schedules, and fringe benefit programs affecting postmasters which are to be in effect during the period covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the Postal Service and certain recognized bargaining representatives. Grants certain qualified postmasters' organizations the right to participate in program planning and development pertaining to pay policies, schedules, and fringe benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the credit for expenditures to provide access to disabled individuals to include modifications enabling inter-city buses to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 2000
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to add certain inscription information to the markers on graves in the National Cemetery of the Pacific containing the remains of unknown casualties that died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 2000
Amends the Clean Air Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to amend certain regulations regarding motor vehicle fuels to prohibit the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) as a fuel additive. Directs the Administrator to prohibit any additive in gasoline registered under fuel regulation provisions unless it has been determined, through scientific testing and peer review, not to have adverse effects on the public. Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require underground storage tank (UST) owners or operators, whenever a release from a tank has been detected, to conduct monitoring for MTBE and report monitoring results annually to the Administrator for the longer of the period of ten years following the detection of the first release or three years after the date on which the last release was detected. Requires the Administrator, in enforcing requirements that USTs be upgraded, to focus enforcement on areas where MTBE is leaking into the groundwater or surface water. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) Leaking Underground Storage Tanks program funds should be prioritized to provide oversight, enforcement, and grants to States in which MTBE has been used as a fuel additive; (2) the Administrator should accelerate the testing for and reporting of MTBE in public drinking water supplies; and (3) all funds available in the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund should be appropriated annually. Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to authorize the Administrator, on the request of a Governor or head of a local government, to declare that a drinking water emergency exists in a county or municipality if the drinking water supplies for the county or municipality have been contaminated by MTBE. Provides for grants to local government agencies in such emergencies to provide access to uncontaminated water and remediate the water supply. Requires the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences to study the long-term health effects of MTBE contamination in drinking water. Authorizes appropriations. Reduces FY 2001 funds otherwise available for the Army School of the Americas.
United States · United States Congress · 29 February 2000
Waives provisions of rule XXII of the Rules of the House of Representatives (prohibiting introduction or consideration of bills or resolutions or amendments that establish or express commemorations) to authorize Representative Rod R. Blagojevich to introduce, and the House to consider, a bill to amend Federal law to establish Presidents' Day in honor of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt.
United States · United States Congress · 29 February 2000
Condemns the repressive anti-Baha'i policies and actions of the Government of Iran. Continues to hold such Government responsible for upholding the rights of all its nationals in a manner consistent with Iran's obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other international agreements guaranteeing the civil and political rights of its citizens. Expresses concern that individual Baha'is continue to suffer from severely repressive and discriminatory government actions, including executions and death sentences, solely on account of their religion. Urges the Government of Iran to: (1) permit Baha'i students to attend and Baha'i faculty to teach at Iranian universities, return property confiscated from the Baha'i Open University (OU), free imprisoned faculty members of OU, and permit OU to continue to function; (2) implement fully the conclusions and recommendations on the emancipation of the Iranian Baha'i community made by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Professor Abdelfattah Amor, in his March 1996 report to the UN Commission of Human Rights; and (3) extend to the Baha'i community the rights guaranteed by UDHR and the international covenants of human rights. Calls upon the President to continue to: (1) assert the U.S. Government's concern regarding Iran's violations of the rights of its citizens, including members of the Baha'i community, along with expressions of its concern regarding the Iranian Government's support for international terrorism and its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction; (2) emphasize that the United States regards the Iranian Government's human rights practices, particularly its treatment of such community and other religious minorities, as a significant factor in the development of the U.S. Government's relations with the Government of Iran; (3) emphasize the need for the UN Special Representative for Human Rights to be granted permission to enter Iran; (4) urge the Iranian Government to emancipate the Baha'i community by granting rights guaranteed by UDHR and the international covenants on human rights; and (5) encourage other governments to continue to appeal to the Iranian Government, and to cooperate with other governments and international organizations, including the UN, in efforts to protect the religious rights of the Baha'is and other minorities through joint appeals and other appropriate actions.
![Official portrait of Rep. LaHood, Ray [R-IL-18]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/l000552_200.jpg)