United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2003
Authorizes the Pyramid of Remembrance Foundation to establish a memorial on Federal land in part of the District of Columbia or its environs to honor members of the Armed Forces who lost their lives during peacekeeping operations, humanitarian efforts, training, terrorist attacks, or covert operations. Prohibits use of Federal funds for such memorial, except as provided by the Commemorative Works Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2003
Faith-Based Lending Protection Act - Amends the Federal Credit Union Act to exclude loans made to nonprofit religious organizations from the maximum amount of member business loans outstanding at a Federal credit union at any one time.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2003
Authorizes and requests the President to award the Medal of Honor posthumously to Gary Lee McKiddy of Miamisburg, Ohio, for acts of valor while serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, notwithstanding otherwise application time limitations.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2003 - Permits retired members of the armed forces with service-connected disabilities to be paid both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation. Repeals provisions providing for special compensation for certain severely disabled military retirees and certain combat-related disabled uniformed services retirees.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Access to Hospitals Act of 2003 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to repeal specified reductions after FY 2000 and thereby extend certain modifications to disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments provided under the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000. Increases the Medicaid DSH allotment for the District of Columbia.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Act - Requires the Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to expand activities addressing inflammatory bowel disease, emphasizing genetic, animal model, and clinical research. Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish a national program of prevention and epidemiology concerning such disease, addressing its prevalence and public and professional awareness. Directs the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science to study public and private insurance standards for coverage of inflammatory bowel therapies. Directs the General Accounting Office to study problems inflammatory bowel disease patients have applying for disability insurance benefits under the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Declares that the collective bargaining agreement between the Association of Commuter Rail Employees and the Metro-North Railroad (in New York) shall be extinguished upon the merger of the Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road. Deems employees of the entity resulting from such merger to be covered under the appropriate collective bargaining agreement of the Long Island Rail Road in compliance with the Railway Labor Act. Subjects all disputes arising from the application of this Act to the jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Housing Bond and Credit Modernization and Fairness Act of 2003 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) repeal the required use of certain principal repayments on mortgage subsidy bond financings to redeem bonds; (2) modify the purchase price limitation under mortgage subsidy bond rules based on median family income; and (3) define the term "area median gross income" for low-income housing credit projects.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Farm Disaster Emergency Assistance Act of 2003 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to provide: (1) emergency financial assistance to agricultural producers who have incurred qualifying 2001 or 2002 crop losses due to weather or related conditions; and (2) payments to livestock producers who have incurred 2001 and 2002 losses in an emergency-designated county, with discretionary set-asides for the American Indian livestock program. Permits producers with qualifying losses in both years to elect to receive payments in either, but not both, of such years. Makes producers ineligible for crop disaster assistance if they did not: (1) get Federal crop insurance for insurable commodities; and (2) file required paperwork and pay related fees for noninsurable commodities. Sets forth waiver provisions. Directs the Secretary to transfer specified Commodity Credit Corporation amounts to a certain account established to encourage domestic consumption and foreign exportation of agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
National Aviation Heritage Area Act - Establishes within the States of Ohio and Indiana the National Aviation Heritage Area. Directs the Area's management entity, the Aviation Heritage Foundation, Incorporated (AHFI), to develop and submit to the Secretary of the Interior a Management Plan for the Area and to assist government and nonprofits in developing the Area in specified ways. Requires the Plan to provide for the protection, enhancement, and interpretation of the natural, cultural, historic, scenic, and recreational resources of the Area. Directs the Secretary to approve or disapprove the proposed Plan and to make recommendations. Prohibits appropriated funds from being expended to implement any changes made by a substantial amendment to the Plan without the Secretary's approval. Authorizes the Secretary to provide financial or technical assistance to the Area to develop and implement the Plan upon request by the AHFI. Requires any Federal agency involved in activities affecting the Area to consult with the AHFI and the Secretary and to act in ways the AHFI determines will not have an adverse affect on the Area. Requires the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the appropriate Secretary coordinate decisions affecting the Area. Specifies the sunset of grants and assistance from the Secretary for the Area 15 years after enactment of this Act. Requires the Secretary to conduct an updated special resource study detailing alternatives for incorporating the Wright Company factory as a unit of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Designates the Federal building and U.S. courthouse located at 200 West 2nd Street, in Dayton, Ohio, as the Tony Hall Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Treatment of Children's Deformities Act of 2003 - Amends the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and the Internal Revenue Code to set standards requiring that group and individual health insurance and group health plans provide coverage for treatment of a minor child's congenital or developmental deformity or disorder due to trauma, infection, tumor, or disease.
United States · United States Congress · 8 January 2003
Fairness, Simplification and Competitiveness for American Business Act of 2003 - Revises Internal Revenue Code rules relating to U.S. businesses operating abroad. Revises provisions concerning treatment of controlled foreign corporations, including: (1) expanding the de minimis rule; (2) excluding from the definition of "foreign base company oil related income" the pipeline transportation of oil or gas within such foreign country; (3) repealing rules applicable to foreign personal holding companies and foreign investment companies; (4) amending the definition of foreign personal holding company income to include income from certain personal services contracts and sale of such contracts; (5) repealing controlled foreign corporation rules on foreign base company sales and service income; (6) reducing foreign tax credit baskets; and (7) not treating interest, dividends, rents, and royalties from a related controlled foreign corporation as foreign personal holding company income. Sets forth provisions concerning foreign tax credit, including: (1) extending the period in which excess foreign taxes may be carried; (2) defining overall domestic loss and setting forth provisions for determining taxable income for any taxpayer sustaining such a loss; (3) issuing special rules relating to financial services income; (4) dictating rules for the treatment of dividends from certain corporations and extending the look-through treatment for such corporations; (5) extending the carryforward period for foreign tax credits; (6) repealing the limitation of such credits under the alternative minimum tax; and (7) eliminating limitation on such credits with regard to oil or gas extraction taxes. Exempts certain foreign corporations from uniform capitalization rules. Sets forth provisions concerning airline mileage awards to certain foreign persons. Repeals the special capital gains tax on certain nonresident aliens. Exempts dividends paid by a foreign corporation to a nonresident alien from 30 percent taxation. Permits, for interest allocation rule purposes, treating each electing worldwide affiliated group as an affiliated group, subject to exceptions. Makes permanent the subpart F exception for active income financing (presently, the exception expires for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2006).
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize qualified law enforcement officers (including certain qualified retired officers) carrying the photographic identification issued by their governmental agency, notwithstanding State or local laws, to carry a concealed firearm. Provides that such authorization shall not supersede State laws that: (1) permit private entities to prohibit the possession of concealed firearms on their property; or (2) prohibit the possession of firearms on State or local government property. Excludes from the definition of "firearm" any machine gun, firearm silencer, or destructive device.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Blind Empowerment Act of 2003 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to increase, by specified increments over five years, the level of earnings demonstrating the ability of a blind person to engage in substantial gainful activity for purposes of determining disability insurance benefit payments.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Small Business Expensing Act of 2003 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the annual amount of depreciable business assets (section 179 property) which may be expensed to $75,000.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Biofuels Energy Independence Act of 2003 - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make and guarantee loans for biofuel production, distribution, development, and storage. Sets forth loan eligibility provisions. Directs the Secretary to establish a related revolving fund. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to administer a Biofuels Feedstocks Energy Reserve to: (1) provide feedstocks in furtherance of biofuel-based energy production; and (2) support the biofuels energy industry when production is at risk due to feedstock reductions or commodity price increases. Sets forth related provisions respecting commercial commodity purchases, release of commodity stocks, and storage payments.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 - Amends the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) and the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA, which is subchapter B of MLSA) to extend authorizations of appropriations and revise programs under such Acts. Prohibits projects which are determined to be obscene from receiving funds under MLSA. 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. Entitles subchapter C of MLSA as the Museum Services Act. 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 · 7 January 2003
Keep Our Promise to America's Military Retirees Act - Includes as an employee, for purposes of Federal provisions authorizing enrollment under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program: (1) a member of the armed forces who began service before June 7, 1956, and retired after a minimum of 20 years of such service or by reason of a service-connected disability; and (2) the surviving widow or widower of such member. Directs the Secretary of Defense to enter into an agreement with the Office of Personnel Management to provide FEHB coverage to the following eligible beneficiaries: (1) a member or former member entitled to military retired or retainer pay; (2) an unremarried former spouse who was married to a member for at least 20 years, during which such member performed at least 20 years of retirement-creditable military service; (3) a dependent of a deceased qualifying member or former member; (4) a dependent of a living member or former member; and (5) a family member.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Community Choice in Real Estate Act - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, and the Revised Statutes of the United States, to prohibit the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Secretary of the Treasury, respectively, from determining that real estate brokerage activity or real estate management activity is financial in nature, is incidental to any financial activity, or is complementary to a financial activity. (In effect, prohibits financial holding companies and national banks from engaging, directly or indirectly, in real estate brokerage or real estate management activities.) Exempts from such prohibition: (1) activities of a bank holding company (or any affiliate) that directly relate to managing any real property owned by national banks or their affiliates; and (2) the right, power, or ability of any financial holding company to engage in any activity, or acquire or retain the shares of any company engaged in an activity authorized for financial holding companies on December 6, 2001 ("grandfather clause").
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Rural America Digital Accessibility Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to make grants or guarantee loans in order to facilitate the deployment by the private sector of broadband telecommunications networks and capabilities (including wireless and satellite services) to underserved rural areas. Limits to $100 million the total amount of such grants and loan guarantees. Requires the Director of the National Science Foundation to research the enhancement or facilitation of broadband telecommunications services in rural and other remote areas, as well as Internet access through such services. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax credit to holders of qualified technology bonds (bonds representing an investment in projects to expand such telecommunications services). Sets a national technology bond limitation of $100 million for each of FY 2003 through 2007, and zero thereafter (with an exception) to be allocated by the Secretary among the qualified projects designated each year. Directs the Secretary to provide financial assistance for the establishment and support of regional centers for the commercial use of advanced technologies by small and medium-sized businesses.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Rural Equity Payment Index Reform Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to establish a minimum geographic cost-of-practice index value for physicians' services furnished under the Medicare program.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Medicare Physician Protection Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to specify the conversion factor (update) for payments under the Medicare physician fee schedule for 2003.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Designates the Federal building and U.S. courthouse located at 10 East Commerce Street in Youngstown, Ohio, as the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Reservists Pay Security Act of 2003 - Entitles a person who is absent from his or her position of Federal employment to perform service in the uniformed services or the National Guard to receive from his or her agency an amount that, when added to the pay and allowances for such service, equals the basic pay which would have been payable to such employee for such period of service for which such employee is not otherwise compensated.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Death Tax Permanency Act of 2003 - Amends title IX (Compliance with Congressional Budget Act) of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-16) to repeal the sunset provisions applicable to title V (Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfer Taxes) of such Act. (Makes estate tax repeal permanent.) States that such amendments shall take effect as if included in section 901 of such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Provides that the remarriage of the surviving spouse of a veteran after age 55 shall not bar the payment of veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation to which such spouse was previously entitled.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Disapproves the rule submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, relating to revisions to payment policies under the Medicare physician fee schedule for calendar year 2003, and the inclusion of registered nurses in the personnel provision of the critical access hospital emergency services requirement for frontier areas and remote locations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Clean Water Infrastructure Financing Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to remove certain requirements for States with respect to construction of treatment works under capitalization grant agreements. Requires architectural and engineering contracts to be awarded consistent with procedures under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 or an equivalent State qualifications-based requirement. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to assist States in establishing simplified procedures for small water systems to obtain assistance under the Act. Requires revolving funds to be used only for providing assistance for activities which have as a principal benefit the improvement or protection of water quality of navigable waters. Makes revisions concerning uses of funds for: (1) innovative technologies; (2) administrative expenses; (3) small system technical, planning, and management assistance; and (4) financially distressed communities. Revises requirements related to consistency with plans and eligibility of treatment works not considered publicly owned. Requires States to make grants to financially distressed communities in any fiscal year in which the Administrator has more than $1.4 billion available for obligation and allows a State to give priority to such communities in making loans. Directs the Administrator to provide technical and financial assistance to owners and operators of publicly-owned treatment works for: (1) inventorying critical treatment works assets; (2) evaluating the performance and condition of these assets; and (3) developing a plan for maintaining and replacing treatment works. Reauthorizes appropriations for FY 2004 through 2008 for the revolving fund program.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 2002
Center for International Human Rights Act of 2002 - Declares that Congress finds that a private, nonprofit corporation known as the Center for International Human Rights has been established in the District of Columbia to: (1) establish programs to promote, monitor, and analyze the status of human rights throughout the world; (2) investigate allegations of human rights violations in conjunction with private and governmental organizations; (3) sponsor fellows to study international human rights issues at the Center; (4) carry out a conference series to bring together international human rights experts to discuss and disseminate information; and (5) make grants to and cooperative agreements with non-governmental organizations to promote human rights, giving priority to indigenous human rights organizations in countries the governments of which violate such rights. Authorizes the Secretary of State to make an annual grant to the Center.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 2002
Reform of Energy Workers Compensation Act - Amends the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA) to provide for worker compensation benefit payments to contractor employees of the Department of Energy (DOE) who were exposed to toxic substances at DOE facilities. (This new subtitle D replaces the current provisions for DOE assistance to such employees in State workers compensation proceedings.) Requires DOE to review claims and determine causation within specified time limits (with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) continuing to appoint members of physician review panels for diagnosing such occupational illnesses). Directs the Secretary of Labor to pay such benefits from the EEOICPA fund for claimants approved by DOE. Requires the Secretaries of Energy and Labor to ensure that such claims are resolved in a nonadversarial manner. Revises EEOIPA subtitle B program administration provisions to add as covered illnesses: (1) chronic renal disease, for uranium workers; and (2) lung cancer, among beryllium-related diseases. Revises provisions relating to: (1) a special exposure cohort expansion procedure; (2) the radioepidemiologic model for determining compensation; and (3) additional specified cancers. Provides administrative assistance for claimants under either subtitle B or D, including administrative relief and proof where medical records are not available, resource centers, and outreach programs. Establishes within the Office of the Secretary of Labor the Office of the Ombudsman for Occupational Illness Compensation, which is to coordinate activities of the Secretaries of Labor, Energy, and HHS under EEOICPA.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 2002
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that each State should examine its existing statutes, practices, and procedures governing special elections so that, in the event of a catastrophe, vacancies in the House of Representatives may be filled in a timely fashion.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 2002
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the Secretary of Transportation should issue regulations to prevent the introduction and spread of aquatic nuisance species within the Great Lakes; (2) the Great Lakes States should develop and implement a mechanism that provides a common conservation standard for making decisions concerning the withdrawal and use of water from the Great Lakes Basin; and (3) the Secretary of State should work with the Canadian Government to encourage and support the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec in the development and implementation of a consistent mechanism and standard. Calls for the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) make grants to States, Indian tribes, regional agencies, and local governments to carry out projects in areas of concern to monitor or evaluate contaminated sediment, to remediate such sediment, and to prevent further or renewed contamination; and (2) conduct research on innovative approaches, technologies, and techniques to remediate sediment. Calls for the extension of appropriations for sewer overflow control grants through FY 2004 in accordance with the Water Quality Investment Act of 2002. Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that appropriations for the national sea grant college program in FY 2003 be funded at the level authorized in the National Sea Grant College Program Reauthorization Act of 1998.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 2002
Designates the U.S. Postal Service facility located at 111 West Washington Street in Bowling Green, Ohio, as the Delbert L. Latta Post Office Building.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 2002
Declares the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should complete action in the 107th Congress on the Pension Security Act of 2002 and present it to the President for his signature before adjournment.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 2002
Declares the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should complete action in the 107th Congress on the Community Solutions Act of 2001 and present it to the President for his signature before adjournment.
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 2002
Aquatic Invasive Species Research Act - Requires the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop and conduct a marine and fresh-water research program to support efforts to detect, prevent, and eradicate invasive species in the Aquatic Ecosystem. Requires the program to: (1) develop standardized protocols for conducting ecological and pathway surveys of nonnative aquatic species; (2) create baseline ecological information of the aquatic ecosystem and pathways; (3) designate the number and location of survey sites required; (4) conduct laboratory and field-based marine and fresh-water research experiments on a range of taxonomic groups to identify the relationship between the introduction and establishment of nonnative aquatic species; and (5) analyze the data collected. Directs the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force to convene a workshop with appropriate researchers. Amends the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 to: (1) require that ecological and ballast water discharge surveys examine other potential modes of introducing nonnative aquatic species by ship into the Aquatic Ecosystem, including hull fouling; (2) rename the National Ballast Information Clearinghouse as the National Pathway and Ecological Surveys Database; (3) expand the purview of the database to include ballast water management, delivery practices of ships entering United States ports and their compliance with existing regulations; and (3) make the database widely available to the public. Requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establish marine and fresh-water research, development, and demonstration programs with respect to environmental soundness screening and dispersal barrier research. Reauthorizes the ship pathway technology demonstration program. Requires the Coast Guard and the EPA to develop a research program to support implementation of standards to prevent the introduction and spread of invasive species by ships into the Aquatic Ecosystem. Requires the National Science Foundation to establish a grant program for institutions of higher education to carry our research programs in systematics and taxonomy.
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 2002
National Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 2002 - Amends the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 to require the Invasive Species Council (Council) to coordinate with the Aquatic Invasive Species Task Force (Task Force) to combat aquatic invasive species. Requires the Task Force to recommend to appropriate Federal agencies additions to the list of aquatic invasive species. Requires the Task Force, the Council, and the Secretary of State to coordinate activities to ensure that international efforts to prevent and manage aquatic invasive species are coordinated with U.S. policies. Establishes minimum invasive species prevention requirements for all vessels entering U.S. ports. Requires the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to promulgate regulations for ballast water management standards and certification procedures. Directs the Task Force to publish a priority pathway management program. Prohibits the importation of live aquatic organisms not in trade without specified screening and approval. Requires the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, with the concurrence of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to construct and maintain a national dispersal barrier program to contain and control aquatic nuisances. Declares that a State with a rapid response contingency strategy shall be eligible to receive emergency funding to implement rapid response measures for aquatic invasive species under specified circumstances. Requires the Task Force, with concurrence of the Council, to encourage the development of regional rapid response contingency strategies and develop a State model for such. Requires the Council, in coordination with the Task Force and the heads of the appropriate Federal agencies, to establish a Federal rapid response team for the ten regions of the Standard Federal Regional Boundary System. Requires the Task Force to establish a national subcommittee on nutria. Provides for expansion of the Brown Tree Snake Control Program and Aquatic Nuisance Species Program information, education and outreach activities.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 2002
Declares the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should complete action on the Permanent Death Tax Repeal Act of 2002, and present it to the President before adjournment.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 2002
Declares the sense of the House of Representatives that the 107th Congress should complete action on and present to the President, before September 30, 2002, legislation extending and strengthening the 1996 welfare reforms.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2002
Emergency Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2002 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to provide: (1) emergency financial assistance to agricultural producers who have incurred qualifying 2001 or 2002 crop losses due to weather or related conditions; and (2) payments to livestock producers who have incurred 2001 and 2002 losses in an emergency-designated county, with set-asides for the American Indian livestock program.
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 Federal building and U.S. courthouse located at 200 West 2nd Street, in Dayton, Ohio, as the Tony Hall Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 4 September 2002
National AMBER Alert Act of 2002 - Directs the Attorney General to establish an AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert Coordinator position to: (1) establish guidelines for implementing a statewide AMBER Alert plan; (2) provide technical assistance to the States, broadcasters, and law enforcement agencies in implementing such plans; (3) certify to the Secretary of Transportation any State that has established or agrees to establish such a plan and a reciprocal arrangement with other States; and (4) monitor compliance and revoke certification of any State that fails to establish such a plan. Directs the Secretary to make grants to certified States to develop, acquire, install, and construct facilities and equipment along highways to notify the public about missing children and their abductors.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Internet Radio Fairness Act - Declares that the July 8, 2002, determination by the Librarian of Congress of rates and terms for the digital performance of sound recordings and ephemeral recordings shall not apply to transmissions and ephemeral recordings by a small business, small organization, or small governmental jurisdiction (small entities). Declares further that the first determination of terms and rates of royalty payments made after enactment of this Act shall apply to transmissions made by small business concerns during the period between the enactment of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the date provided for in that determination. Requires the copyright arbitration royalty panel to establish rates and terms in accordance with specified objectives. Amends Federal copyright law to declare that, except in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, it is not a copyright infringement for a transmitting organization entitled to transmit to the public a performance or display of a work, under a license or transfer of the copyright, or for a broadcast radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission that makes a broadcast transmission of a sound recording in a digital format on a nonsubscription basis, to make one or more copies or phonorecords of that work, if each copy or phonorecord is: (1) retained and used solely by the transmitting organization that made it; and (2) used solely for the purpose of making the transmitting organization's own transmissions or for purposes of archival preservation or security.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act of 2002 - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) make available to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for programs, functions, and activities of the Veterans Health Administration for FY 2004 120 percent of the amount obligated during FY 2002; and (2) adjust the amount provided after FY 2004 based on the number of enrolled veterans and the number of others eligible for and provided care and the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index. Repeals, as of October 1, 2003, requirements for the prior congressional approval of funding for Department major medical facilities projects or leases.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Prescription Drug Affordability Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to revise provisions concerning the timing of generic drug availability. Requires applicants (pharmaceutical companies) to register their patents with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within 30 days of approval (or issuance for subsequently issued patents). Makes failure to timely register a bar to civil actions for patent infringement. Requires applications for new drugs (NDA) or abbreviated new drug applications (ANDA) which rely upon investigations not conducted by or for the applicant and which concern a patent that claims both the drug and a method of use or more than one method of use to include a certification on a claim-by-claim basis that the patent is invalid or will not be infringed (known as a Paragraph IV filing/certification) by the new drug's (generic) manufacture and a statement regarding the method(s) of use claim. Prohibits (for subsequently issued patents) an extension of the 30 month stay of FDA approval for any new drug where an ANDA or NDA contains a Paragraph IV filing/certification and the patent holder indicates an intention to bring a patent infringement suit against the new (generic) drug's manufacturer. Makes failure to timely file a civil action for infringement a bar to later action. Requires the first generic applicant with a Paragraph IV filing to forfeit the 180 day marketing exclusivity period to a subsequent generic applicant if the first generic applicant engages in certain behaviors (forfeiture events) which delay or prevent the marketing of the generic drug. Revises notice requirements for Paragraph IV filings to include and protect certain proposed formulation, composition, or method of use information. Excludes an applicants's ability to pay damages from a court's consideration of whether or not to provide injunctive relief before the expiration of the 30 month stay of approval period.
![Official portrait of Rep. LaTourette, Steven C. [R-OH-14]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/l000553_200.jpg)