United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1997
Merchant Mariners Fairness Act of 1997 - Provides that certain qualified service of a member of the U.S. merchant marine, including a vessel crewmember of the U.S. Army or Naval Transport Service, during World War II constituted active military service for purposes of eligibility for various veterans' benefits under the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977. Requires the Secretary of Defense to issue an honorable discharge under such Act to each merchant marine member whose qualified service warrants such a discharge. Prohibits the payment of any retroactive benefits under this Act. Mandates a processing fee for any benefit application of a member possessing such qualified service.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Research on Lupus Title II: Delivery of Services Regarding Lupus Lupus Research and Care Amendments of 1997 - Title I: Research on Lupus - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to expand and intensify research and related activities of the Institute with respect to lupus. Requires the Director to: (1) coordinate such activities with similar activities conducted by other national research institutes and agencies of the National Institutes of Health; and (2) conduct or support research to expand the understanding of the causes of, and to find a cure for, lupus, including research to determine the reasons underlying the elevated prevalence of the disease among African-American and other women. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Delivery of Services Regarding Lupus - Mandates grants for the establishment, operation, and coordination of effective and cost-efficient systems for the delivery of essential services to individuals with lupus and their families. Regulates fees imposed by grantees on service recipients. Authorizes technical assistance. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1997
Amends the Webb-Kenyon Act and the Liquor Law Repeal and Enforcement Act to allow any State, the District of Columbia, or a U.S. territory or possession to bring an action in U.S. district court to enjoin the shipment or transportation of liquor in violation of such Act, or to enforce their laws with respect to such transportation.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1997
Common Cents Stock Pricing Act of 1997 - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to instruct the Securities and Exchange Commission to require quotations in dollars and cents (decimals) for equity securities transactions and prescribe an implementation schedule.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1997
Credit Cost Reduction Act of 1997 - Amends the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to exempt from its coverage communications involving: (1) actions taken pursuant to either Federal or State Rules of Civil Procedure; or (2) a nonjudicial foreclosure. Permits collection activities and communications to continue during the 30-day period following the initial notice of debt by the debt collector to the debtor. Modifies civil liability guidelines with respect to: (1) class action awards; (2) attorney's fees to enforce civil liability; (3) plaintiff's attorney's fees; (4) disallowance of certain fees accruing after refusal of settlement offer; and (5) factors for court consideration in determining the amount of debt collector liability for noncompliance with such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1997
Requires the Capitol Police Board to: (1) designate or establish a flag pole upon which the U.S. flag shall be flown at half-staff for one day whenever a Federal, State, local, or territorial law enforcement officer is slain in the line of duty; (2) post, in close proximity to the flag, public notice of the name, tenure of service, and jurisdiction of the officer being honored; and (3) present such flag to the officer's family.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1997
Constitutional Amendment - Requires that a bill to increase the internal revenue shall laws shall require for final adoption in each House the concurrence of two-thirds of the whole of the number of that House, unless the bill does not increase the internal revenue by more than a de minimis amount. Permits the waiver of such requirement, for up to two years, if there is a declaration of war or if the United States is engaged in a military conflict which causes an imminent and serious threat to national security and is so declared by a joint resolution which becomes law.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1997
Amends the Railway Labor Act to apply its provisions regarding railway labor practices to U.S. air carrier flight operations (excluding ground operations performed by non-flight crew members) conducted in whole or in part outside of the United States and their flight crew members who perform their duties in whole or in part outside of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1997
NAFTA Accountability Act - Requires assessment of the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), renegotiation of certain NAFTA provisions, and withdrawal from NAFTA unless specified conditions are met and certified to. Sets forth conditions for continuing U.S. participation in NAFTA, which must be met before the end of 1998. Requires certifications by certain U.S. officials with respect to NAFTA, relating to: (1) overall trade balance between each NAFTA Party (United States, Canada, and Mexico) (by the Secretary of Commerce); (2) currency values (by the Secretary of the Treasury); (3) gains in U.S. jobs and living standards (by the Secretary of Labor); (4) health and environmental standards, with respect to food imports and to U.S.-Mexico border areas (by the Secretary of Agriculture, the Administrator of the Food and Drug Administration, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency); (5) flow of illegal drugs from Mexico and Canada (by the Attorney General); (6) NAFTA Party democracy and human freedoms (by the President); (7) U.S. agriculture (by the Secretary of Agriculture); and (8) compliance with U.S. transportation safety standards by Mexican commercial trucks or buses coming into the United States (by the Secretary of Transportation). Requires the President to renegotiate, in specified ways, the terms of NAFTA to: (1) correct trade deficits, currency distortions, loss of U.S. jobs, and agricultural tariff and quota provisions; and (2) ensure the safety of the public health and the environment, provide effective drug interdiction, and ensure compliance with certain U.S. transportation standards. Directs the President to consult regularly with the Congress regarding such renegotiations and certifications. Directs the U.S. Trade Representative to consult with appropriate congressional committees in developing technical and conforming amendments that may be required to carry out this Act. Expresses the sense of the Congress that until the conditions set by this Act are met: (1) the President should not engage in negotiations to expand NAFTA to include other countries; and (2) fast-track authority should not be renewed with respect to the approval of any such NAFTA expansion.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the credit for increasing research activities. Removes a restriction on electing the alternative incremental credit.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1997
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit performing a partial birth abortion in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, unless it is necessary to save the life of the mother and no other medical procedure would suffice. Defines "partial-birth abortion" as an abortion in which the person performing the procedure partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the infant and completing the delivery. Prescribes penalties. Authorizes the father and, if the mother is under 18 years of age, the maternal grandparents of the fetus to obtain specified relief in a civil action, even if the mother consented to the abortion, unless the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented to the abortion. Prohibits the prosecution of a woman upon whom a partial-birth abortion is performed for conspiracy to violate this Act or under provisions regarding punishment as a principal or an accessory or for concealment of a felony.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1997
Revises specified provisions regarding minimum allocations of Federal aid highway funds and provisions of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) to direct the Secretary of Transportation, in FY 1998 and thereafter, to ensure that each State's percentage of the total apportionments in each such fiscal year and allocations for the prior fiscal year from funds made available out of the Highway Trust Fund is not less than the percentage of estimated tax payments to the Fund by highway users in the State in the latest fiscal year for which data are available. Repeals ISTEA provisions specifying the percentage of total apportioned and allocated funds to be allocated to each State for the surface transportation program.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1997
Disapproves the President's determination contained in the foreign assistance certification submitted to the Congress on February 28, 1997, that Mexico has cooperated fully with the United States to achieve full compliance with the goals and objectives established by the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Continues existing average fuel economy standards for passenger and non-passenger automobiles until such standards are specifically amended or changed by law.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Social Security Preservation Act of 1997 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to require the Managing Trustee of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund (trust funds) to ensure that the annual surplus of the trust funds is invested in: (1) marketable interest-bearing obligations of the United States or obligations guaranteed by the United States; or (2) certificates of deposit in insured depository institutions. Outlines provisions for determining the annual surplus of the trust funds. Prohibits disinvestment of trust fund amounts from public debt obligations, any refraining from making such investments, or any delay in making normal deposits in such trust funds for public debt limit-related purposes. Authorizes the sale of trust fund public debt obligations for the payment of cash benefits and administrative expenses, with conditions, including notification to each House of Congress and the Comptroller General at least three days in advance of such sale.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Commemorative Coins Title II: Circulating Coins Marian Anderson Centennial Commemorative Coin Act - Title I: Commemorative Coins - Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) mint and issue one-dollar and half-dollar coins in commemoration of the centennial of the birth of Marian Anderson; and (2) allocate sales surcharges to the Smithsonian Institution, the Public Broadcasting Fund, and the National Museum of American History for the support of the National Numismatic Collection. Title II: Circulating Coins - Amends Federal currency law to provide that at the Secretary's discretion, half-dollar coins minted after specified dates may bear the same design as the commemorative coins minted under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1997
Patent Term Restoration Act of 1997 - Amends provisions of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act that revise Federal patent law to provide that a patent term shall be the later of 17 years from the date the patent is granted or 20 years from the date the application was filed in the United States. Provides that if the application contains a reference to the earlier application, the term shall be 20 years from the date the earliest application was filed. Requires the term of a patent that is in force or results from an application filed within six months after the Uruguay Round Agreements Act enactment date to be the term provided in this Act. Revises Federal patent law requirements for confidentiality of patent applications to set out: (1) the special circumstances under which such applications can be made public; or (2) in the case of a patent application for an invention for which the applicant intends to file or has filed for a patent in a foreign country, the limited data which the Commissioner of Patents may disclose. Authorizes an applicant to petition the Commissioner of the Patent and Trademark Office to review a determination to publish a patent application. Prohibits the Commissioner from publishing an application prior to the completion of the review.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual to designate a specified portion (but not less than $1) of any income tax overpayment and any cash contributions to be used for the benefit of units of the National Park System. Establishes a National Parks Trust Fund into which appropriated or credited amounts are received. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to pay, not less often than quarterly, specified expenditures from the Trust Fund to the Director of the National Park Service. Requires that expenditures from such Fund be used only for operations, maintenance, and construction within the units of the National Park System. Prohibits the use of such expenditures for the purposes of land acquisition.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Fairness in Musical Licensing Act of 1997 - Revises Federal copyright law to provide that communication by electronic device of a transmission embodying a performance or display of a nondramatic musical work by the reception of a broadcast, cable, satellite, or other transmission shall not be a copyright infringement unless: (1) an admission fee is charged to see or hear the transmission at a particular time or on a particular date or dates; or (2) the transmission is not properly licensed. Applies the infringement exemption for the performance of a nondramatic musical work at an annual agricultural or horticultural fair or exhibition to such performance at agricultural or horticultural fairs, exhibitions, conventions, meetings, and events. Excludes as a copyright infringement the performance of a nondramatic musical work: (1) by a commercial establishment at no charge when a purpose of the performance is to promote audio, video, or other devices utilized in such performance; and (2) at an organized children's camp if the children in attendance sing, dance, or participate in all or a portion of such work, or when the performance is of an instructional nature. (Sec. 3) Specifies that if a general music user and a performing rights society are unable to agree on the appropriate fee to be paid for the user's past or future performance of musical works in the society's repertoire, the user shall be entitled to binding arbitration of such disagreement pursuant to the rules of the American Arbitration Association in lieu of any other dispute-resolution mechanism established by any judgment or decree governing the operation of such society. Requires the arbitrator to determine a fair and reasonable fee for the user's past and future performance of works in such society's repertoire and to impose a penalty for infringement if the user's past performance infringed the copyright of such works. Makes an arbitrator's determination binding on both parties. Sets forth provisions regarding civil actions for infringement that may be submitted to arbitration if the license fee for a performance is contested. (Sec. 4) Requires a performing rights society, at the request of any radio broadcaster, to offer the broadcaster a per programming period license to perform nondramatic musical works in its repertoire. Directs that such license be offered on terms and conditions that provide an economically and administratively viable alternative to the society's blanket license for all such broadcasters. Sets forth provisions regarding prices of such licenses. Authorizes radio broadcasters entitled to a per programming period license to bring actions to require compliance with such requirements. (Sec. 5) Directs each performing rights society to make available free online computer access to copyright and licensing information for each work in its repertoire as well as a semiannual printed directory of each title in its repertoire. Requires such society, upon request, to provide to any person who may perform musical works in its repertoire copies of documentation establishing the society's right to license the public performance of such works. Bars a society from instituting or being a party to any action alleging infringement in, or charging a fee under any per programming period license for, any work in the repertoire that is not identified or documented as described above, with exceptions. (Sec. 6) Requires the Attorney General to report annually to the Congress on the activities of the Department of Justice relating to the continuing supervision and enforcement of specified consent decrees of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers and Broadcast Music, Inc. (Sec. 7) Sets forth conditions under which landlords, organizers of conventions, or others making space available to another party are exempt from liability under any theory of vicarious or contributory infringement with respect to an infringing public performance of a copyrighted work by a tenant, lessee, or other user of such space.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Truth in Employment Act of 1997 - Amends the National Labor Relations Act to provide that nothing in specified prohibitions against unfair labor practices shall be construed as requiring an employer to employ any person who seeks or has sought employment with the employer in furtherance of other employment or agency status.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to assign up to 10,000 Department of Defense personnel at any one time to assist: (1) the Immigration and Naturalization Service in preventing the entry into the United States of terrorists, drug traffickers, and illegal aliens; and (2) the U.S. Customs Service in the inspection of cargo, vehicles, and aircraft at points of entry into the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1997
Accuracy in Campus Crime Reporting Act of 1997 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to revise campus security policy reporting and crime statistics disclosure requirements. Includes other campus officials (as well as campus security or law enforcement, or local law enforcement) among those officials that must report, for statistical disclosure purposes, if specified types of criminal offenses are reported to them. Specifies additions to the list of such offenses. Makes annual submission of campus crime statistics mandatory for all institutions participating in any student aid program under HEA title IV (participating institutions). (Currently such submissions are only required upon the request of the Secretary of Education). Directs the Secretary to report each set of such statistics, clearly identifying each institution and campus, not only to specified congressional committees but also to each participating institution and to the public via printed and electronic means. Requires each official charged with compiling such statistics to certify their accuracy. Repeals a disclaimer that nothing in certain provisions relating to institutional policy on prevention of sexual assaults and procedures after such an assault may be construed to confer a private right of action upon any person to enforce such provisions. Requires any participating institution which maintains a police or security department to keep a daily log of specified crime information open to public inspection. Requires any participating institution to develop and distribute a statement of its disciplinary practices and procedures with respect to crimes, including specified information and policies. Amends the General Education Provisions Act to exclude allegations of criminal activities from the education records subject to family access. Sets forth methods of enforcement of HEA campus security provisions. Directs the Secretary to terminate all assistance to an institution under an applicable program, or issue other specified orders the Secretary deems appropriate to achieve compliance, if any participating institution fails or refuses to comply with requirements for disclosure of campus security policy and campus crime statistics. Prohibits institutional retaliation against individuals for exercising rights or participating in proceedings under such campus security provisions. Requires, under student aid program agreements, that the campus security policies and crime statistics disclosed be comprehensive and accurate.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1997
Directs the Attorney General to revise Canadian boater landing permit (Form I-68) regulations (issued pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act) to provide that U.S. citizens (passengers, owners, or operators) on specified-size boats need only carry their passports.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1997
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the President to transmit to the Congress, before each fiscal year, a proposed statement of receipts and outlays for such fiscal year in which outlays (except those for repayment of debt principal) are not greater than receipts (except those derived from borrowing)(a proposed balanced budget). Requires the Congress to adopt, by law, a statement of receipts and outlays for such fiscal year in which outlays are not greater than receipts (a balanced budget). Authorizes the Congress to amend, by law, that balanced budget, provided revised outlays are not greater than revised receipts. Authorizes the Congress to provide in balanced budget for a specific excess of outlays over receipts by a vote directed solely to that subject in which two-thirds of the whole number of each House agree to such excess. Requires the Congress and the President to ensure that actual outlays do not exceed the outlays set forth in such balanced budget. Prohibits any increase in the limit on the debt of the United States, unless two-thirds roll call vote of each House provides by law for such an increase. Requires any bill that increases the internal revenue (except by a de minimis amount) to receive for final adoption the concurrence of two-thirds of each House. Permits the Congress to waive the requirements of this article 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 a joint resolution, adopted by a majority of each House, which becomes law. Makes any increase in the internal revenue enacted under such a waiver effective for only two years. Makes the internal revenue provisions of this Article effective upon ratification, and the remaining provisions effective on the later of FY 2002 or the second fiscal year beginning after ratification.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Commemorative Coins Title II: Circulating Coins Thomas Alva Edison Sesquicentennial Commemorative Coin Act - Title I: Commemorative Coins - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint one-dollar silver coins emblematic of the inventions of Thomas Alva Edison in commemoration of the sesquicentennial of his birth. Directs the Secretary to conduct an open design competition for the design of the obverse and reverse of the coins. Terminates the authority to mint such coins after December 31, 1997. Requires that certain surcharges received from coin sales be distributed to specified entities. Title II: Circulating Coins - Amends Federal law to declare that half-dollar coins minted between specified dates shall have the same design as the commemorative coins minted under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Amendments Act of 1997- Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to distribute to States at least 85 percent of the funds appropriated to EPA from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund each fiscal year for the reasonable costs under cooperative agreements of: (1) State actions under the EPA program for petroleum release responses; (2) necessary administrative expenses directly related to corrective action and compensation programs under State financial responsibility requirements; (3) such programs in any instance, as determined by the State, in which an owner's or operator's financial resources (excluding resources provided by such programs) are inadequate to pay the costs of a corrective action without significantly impairing the ability to continue in business; (4) enforcement of an approved State or local underground storage tank (UST) program or similar provisions; and (5) State and local corrective actions pursuant to regulations regarding corrective action in response to UST releases. Prohibits use of such funds to provide financial assistance to an owner or operator in meeting regulatory requirements for upgrading of existing UST systems. Sets forth requirements for allocation of funds to States. Makes inapplicable to Trust Fund amounts provided to owners or operators under programs described in (2), above, provisions for recovery of petroleum release corrective or enforcement action costs.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise provisions concerning distributions from State tuition programs to: (1) provide for the exclusion from income of distributions used exclusively for qualified higher education expenses; and (2) include the expenses of room and board in the definition of qualified higher education expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the taxes excluded from a requirement to transfer taxes to the Highway Trust Fund. Increases the rate of transfer to the Mass Transit Account. Requires transfer to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund of aviation fuel taxes (currently, aviation fuel taxes to the extent attributable to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund financing rate).
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1997
Designates the U.S. courthouse to be constructed at the corner of Superior and Huron Roads, in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Carl B. Stokes United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Patient Right to Know Act - Prohibits any contract or agreement, or the operation of any contract or agreement, between an entity operating a health plan (including any partnership, association, or other organization that enters into or administers such a contract or agreement) and a health care provider (or group of health care providers) from prohibiting or restricting the provider from engaging in medical communications with his or her patient. Requires that each State shall enforce this Act with respect to health insurance issuers that sell, renew, or offer health plans in the State. Provides for enforcement of this Act by the Secretary of Health and Human Services if the Secretary, after consultation with the chief executive officer of a State and the insurance commissioner or chief insurance regulatory official of the State, determines that the State has failed to substantially enforce the requirements. Mandates a civil money penalty. Allows State requirements equal to or more protective of medical communications than the requirements of this Act. Defines "medical communication" as a communication between a provider and a patient (or the patient's guardian or legal representative) regarding the patient's health status, medical care, or treatment options.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Amends the Public Buildings Act of 1959 to require that any contract entered into by the Administrator of General Services under the Act to purchase, lease-purchase, or lease a public building approved by the Congress shall be treated in the same manner as if the contract were entered into immediately before FY 1991 for purposes of calculating public building transactions.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Bear Protection Act - Prohibits any person from: (1) importing bear viscera into, or exporting it from, the United States; or (2) selling bear viscera, bartering, offering it for sale or barter, purchasing, or possessing it with intent to sell or barter, transporting, acquiring, or receiving it in interstate or foreign commerce. Subjects persons who violate such prohibitions to specified penalties. Requires the Secretary of the Interior and the United States Trade Representative to discuss issues involving such trade with representatives of countries that are the leading importers, exporters, or consumers of such products. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the progress of efforts to end illegal trade in bear viscera.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Directs the Secretary of the Army to close the military education and training facility known as the United States Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. Repeals current statutory authority for the School.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Pet Safety and Protection Act of 1997 - Amends the Animal Welfare Act regarding permissible sources of research facility dogs and cats. Establishes monetary penalties for related violations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to restore the link ended by the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 1995 between the rules relating to substantial gainful activity for blind individuals and the rules relating to excess earnings under the social security earnings test for individuals who have attained retirement age (thus allowing blind individuals, once again, to earn up to the social security excess earnings threshold without being regarded as having demonstrated an ability to engage in substantial gainful activity and without losing entitlement to OASDI benefits).
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Requires the House of Representatives to participate in State and local government transit programs to encourage House employees to use public transportation. Directs the Committee on House Oversight to issue appropriate regulations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permanently extend the special rule for charitable contributions of stock for which market quotations are readily available.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Expresses the sense of the Congress that cost-of-living adjustments for Federal retirees should be paid beginning in January of each year, as current law prescribes, and should not be delayed, whether as part of a budget agreement or otherwise.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1997
Freedom of Passport Information Act of 1997 - Directs the Secretary of State to provide to the public free of charge a U.S. passport information telephone inquiry service.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Marine Resources Revitalization Act of 1997 - Amends the National Sea Grant College Program Act to add or modify various definitions. Modifies the duties of the Program's Director. Sets forth the duties of sea grant institutions (defined as sea grant colleges, sea grant regional consortia, and certain types of entities conducting a sea grant program with amounts under the Act), including merit-reviewing grant and contract applications. Repeals provisions relating to the sea grant international program. Revises requirements for designating sea grant colleges and consortia. Repeals provisions mandating postdoctoral fellowships. Authorizes appropriations for grants, contracts, and fellowships. Removes the separate authorization of appropriations for administration, limiting administration expenditures to a percentage of funds appropriated for grants, contracts, and fellowships. Repeals provisions authorizing appropriations for priority oyster disease research. Modifies the maximum pay for the Program's Director and for voting members of the sea grant review panel.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Amends the Federal criminal code to make firearms prohibitions applicable by reason of a domestic violence misdemeanor conviction inapplicable to Government entities. Makes such provision retroactive.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Subsidy Termination for Overdue Payments Act of 1997 - Prohibits a Federal agency or instrumentality from providing financial assistance, with specified exceptions, without certification that the applicant is: (1) not more than 60 days delinquent in the payment of a child support payment order; or (2) in compliance, if so delinquent, with an agreement regarding support collection with the person to whom payment is to be made or a State providing collection services to that person.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Retirement Savings Incentives Subtitle A: Restoration of IRA Deduction Subtitle B: Nondeductible Tax-Free IRAs Title II: Penalty-Free Distributions Savings and Investment Incentive Act of 1997 - Title I: Retirement Savings Incentives - Subtitle A: Restoration of IRA Deduction - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the deduction for individual retirement accounts (IRAs), to increase the income limits applicable to active participants. Removes limitations on a spouse's participation. (Sec. 102) Provides an inflation adjustment for the deductible amount. (Sec. 103) Revises provisions concerning the allowance of certain coins and bullion as IRA investments. Subtitle B: Nondeductible Tax-Free IRAs - Permits individuals to establish IRA Plus accounts which shall be treated similarly to an IRA plan. Prohibits deductions for contributions to such accounts. Sets forth distribution rules (including the exclusion of qualified distributions from gross income). Title II: Penalty-Free Distributions - Permits distributions without penalty for qualified: (1) first home purchases; (2) higher education expenses; and (3) unemployed individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Educational Quality Index Act of 1997 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to substitute evaluations of educational quality for cohort default rates in eligibility determinations for proprietary institutions of higher education under the Federal student loan insurance program of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (guaranteed student loans). Establishes as the eligibility criteria requiring a program integrity review for a proprietary institution an educational quality index score that does not equal or exceed a minimum established by the Secretary of Education.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Community Protection Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal criminal code to exempt qualified current and former law enforcement officers carrying appropriate written identification of such status from State and local laws prohibiting the carrying of a concealed handgun.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Reconstructive Breast Surgery Benefits Act of 1997 - Amends the Public Health Service Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require group health plans and insurers offering group health coverage, if they cover a mastectomy, to also cover reconstructive breast surgery resulting from the mastectomy, including surgery on a nondiseased breast to establish symmetry. Prohibits related: (1) denial of coverage or monetary incentives to women; and (2) penalties or incentives to providers. Amends the Public Health Service Act to apply the above requirements to individual health insurance coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Aircraft Repair Station Safety Act of 1997 - Terminates the effectiveness of certain November 22, 1988, amendments to the foreign repair station rules of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Declares that certain standards issued by the FAA for domestic repair stations shall apply in the same manner to foreign repair stations. Amends Federal aviation safety law to require the FAA Administrator to issue an order revoking a repair station certificate if the Administrator finds that the station knowingly used an uncertified or substandard airframe, engine, propeller, appliance, or any other part in the repair or overhaul of an aircraft.
![Official portrait of Rep. LaTourette, Steven C. [R-OH-14]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/l000553_200.jpg)