United States · United States Congress · 13 April 1989
Local Government Infrastructure Financing Improvement Act of 1989 - Amends the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Commerce to provide local governments technical assistance with respect to financing construction, repair, and expansion of public works facilities, including provision of information necessary to familiarize local governments about the use and availability of tax-exempt public works facility bonds for such financing. Requires the Secretary to report biennially to specified congressional committees on local government public works financing practices. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) raise to $25,000,000 the threshold amount of tax-exempt bonds that a small governmental unit may issue and still remain within the exception from arbitrage rebate requirements; and (2) increase from ten percent to 25 percent the amount of tax-exempt government bond proceeds that may be used by a nongovernmental entity for private purposes without triggering treatment of the bond issue as a taxable private activity bond. Limits the latter provision to governmental issuers whose reasonably anticipated amount of tax-exempt obligations to be issued during the calendar year is $25,000,000 or less. Caps at $25,000,000 the amount of bonds to which the issuer may apply the 25 percent private use test in any year.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 1989
Panama Canal Commission Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1990 - Authorizes expenditures for FY 1990 for the Panama Canal Commission (Commission) to operate, maintain, and improve the Panama Canal. Limits the amount of funds which may be used for official reception and representation expenses. Authorizes the use of funds for the purchase of passenger motor vehicles for the use of Commission personnel without regard to certain price limitations. Requires the Commission to provide written advance notice to the Congress regarding: (1) any proposed change in rates of tolls for use of the Panama Canal; (2) any payment estimated to be due Panama under provisions of the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977; and (3) the initiation of any capital acquisition or construction project exceeding a certain amount, which is not specified in the budget estimates submitted to the Congress for the fiscal year in which the project will commence. Authorizes the use of funds for pay increases for Commission employees which are not in excess of statutory increases granted for the same period in corresponding rates of compensation of other U.S. Government employees in comparable positions.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 1989
Missing Service Personnel Act of 1989 - Requires the responsible uniformed service commander, after receiving notice that a person under his command is missing, to conduct an informal investigation to determine such person's whereabouts and, if appropriate, to place such person in a missing status. Requires the commander, if a person has been placed in such status, to notify the officer holding general court-martial authority over such person (or, in the case of a missing civilian, the Secretary concerned), who shall convene a board of initial inquiry within 45 days. Requires such board to: (1) investigate evidence relating to the disappearance of such person; (2) recommend whether to continue such person in a missing status or make a finding that such person has deserted, is absent without leave, or is dead; and (3) report its recommendations and findings. Provides for the convening of a board of further inquiry, if a board of initial inquiry recommends that such person be continued in a missing status, within one year of such recommendation. Requires such board to analyze any information which has become available since the board of initial inquiry issued its report, to determine whether such person should be continued in a missing status or declared dead, and to report its findings. Directs the Secretary concerned, upon the written request of a member of the immediate family of a missing person who, before the date of the enactment of this Act, was determined by the Secretary to be dead, to: (1) convene a board of further inquiry to determine whether such finding of death should be upheld or such person should be placed in a missing status; and (2) report its findings. Requires the Secretary, within three years after a board of further inquiry recommends a missing status for any person, to reconvene such board to review such status. Specifies the composition of such boards. Directs the Secretary to invite each member of the immediate family of the missing person to the meetings of a board of initial inquiry unless attendance would place such member in danger. Requires the Secretary to: (1) invite family members of missing persons to meetings of boards of further inquiry; (2) schedule such meetings at convenient locations and times; (3) provide such family members with reasonable notice of such meetings; and (4) open such meetings to the general public. Authorizes each board to hold meetings, take testimony, receive evidence, and secure directly from any U.S. department or agency any information necessary to carry out its duties. Provides for the appointment of counsel by the officer or Secretary concerned to represent the missing person. Requires that, if a board determines that a missing person is dead, it shall include in its report a detailed description of the location and date of death, whether the body has been recovered, and whether a licensed practitioner of forensic medicine determined that the body recovered is that of the missing person. Prohibits any such board from declaring a missing person dead unless: (1) evidence other than the passage of a period of less than 50 years suggests that such person is dead; (2) no evidence which reasonably suggests that such person is alive is in the possession of the Government; (3) representatives of the Government have made a complete search of the area where such person was last seen (unless the United States is not granted access to such area); and (4) Government representatives have checked the records of the government or entity having control over the area where such person was last seen (unless the Government is not granted access to such records). Provides for judicial review of determinations of death upon the filing of a written petition by any member of the missing person's immediate family. Directs the Secretary of the uniformed service in which a missing person serves to make certain that such person's personnel file contains all information in the possession of Federal departments and agencies pertaining to the disappearance or whereabouts of such person. Requires the Secretary to make certain that, if classified information is withheld, such file contains: (1) a notice that the information exists; and (2) a notice of the date of the most recent review of the classification status of the information. Sets forth penalties for knowingly withholding information pertaining to the disappearance or whereabouts of a missing person from that person's personnel file. Requires the Secretary concerned to make the contents of such file available to a member of the immediate family of such person upon written request.
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 1989
Authorizes the President to present a gold medal, on behalf of the Congress, to each of the following individuals in recognition of their contributions to this Nation's cultural heritage: (1) Frank Capra; (2) James Stewart; and (3) Fred Zinnemann. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to design a different gold medal for each such individual. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to strike and sell bronze duplicates of such medals at a price sufficient to cover the costs of such duplicates and the gold medals. Requires the appropriations to be reimbursed out of the sales proceeds. Designates all such medals as National Medals.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Amends title VII (Administration) of the Social Security Act to place the Office of Rural Health Policy under the direction of a Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Health responsible for reporting directly to the Secretary and Deputy Under Secretary of Health and Human Services. Makes such Office independent of other offices, services, and components of the Department of Health and Human Services. Elaborates upon the duties of the Office of Rural Health Policy.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study into the adequacy and appropriateness of Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) payments for ambulance services and report the results of such study to the Congress within one year of this Act's enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Rural Emergency Medical Services Improvement Act of 1989 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to create a new title on emergency medical services for rural areas. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make an allotment for each State each fiscal year for improving the availability and quality, in rural areas, of emergency medical services and emergency medical services systems provided to victims of emergencies prior to the arrival of the victims at medical facilities. Requires, after FY 1990, non-Federal matching contributions in a specified ratio. Allows a State to expend payments received for: (1) recruitment, training, and retention of personnel; (2) purchase, upgrading, and maintenance of equipment; (3) planning, coordination, and support of local emergency medical services and systems; and (4) public education. Requires that the State plan for emergency services provide for adequate services in rural areas. Sets forth a formula for determination of the amount of allotments. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for research into and demonstration projects concerning ways to improve the availability and quality of prehospital emergency medical services in rural areas by using communications technologies, making continuing education more accessible, improving curricula, undertaking outcome studies, and developing innovative financing mechanisms. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for pilot projects to develop community-based centers to coordinate and deliver comprehensive occupational health and safety services to rural communities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992 for improving rural prehospital emergency services and for centers for rural occupational health and safety services.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Rural Hospital Recovery Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to draft and submit to the Congress and the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission, within one year of this Act's enactment, legislation eliminating the differences in average standardized Medicare payments (under title XVIII of the Social Security Act) to large urban, other urban, and rural hospitals while recognizing certain cost differences among hospitals and within diagnosis related groups. Amends the Medicare program to require the Secretary to pay additional amounts to Medicare-dependent, small, rural hospitals before October 1, 1994, and to critical access facilities thereafter to ensure that their reasonable operating costs for inpatient hospital services are covered. Establishes an application process for rural hospitals which choose to be treated as urban hospitals by reason of their proximity to urban areas. Requires the recomputation of Medicare sole community hospital payment rates using the most recent information on hospital-specific costs per case and, if greater, national rather than regional prospective payment rates. Treats hospitals which are located 30 miles or more from other like hospitals, or hospitals which provide inpatient hospital services to at least 60 percent of the residents or part A (Hospital Insurance) Medicare beneficiaries within a 30-mile radius of the hospital as sole community hospitals. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress by October 1, 1990, on the process by which sole community hospitals may appeal the Secretary's decision not to make a volume adjustment to its Medicare payment. Establishes the Medicare Geographical Classification/Critical Access Facility Review Board which shall: (1) designate certain hospitals as critical access facilities; (2) hear appeals from rural hospitals which the Secretary determines do not qualify for treatment as being located in an adjacent urban area; and (3) conduct hearings with respect to the Secretary's refusal to consider a hospital to be a sole community hospital. Defines a "critical access facility" as a small, rural hospital which due to its location, prolonged severe weather conditions, or the availability of other hospitals to serve part A Medicare beneficiaries residing in the area must receive additional payments in order to continue to deliver critical health care services. Extends the regional referral center classification of hospitals so classified as of September 30, 1989, and the Medicare payment rates applicable to such hospitals until the implementation of unified average standardized Medicare payments for large urban, other urban, and rural hospitals. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to alter the Rural Health Care Transition Grant Program by: (1) extending from two to three years the limit on the provision of grants to small, rural hospitals for modification of their services; (2) permitting the Secretary to waive the hospital grant limit; and (3) increasing and extending the authorization of appropriations for such program through FY 1992. Requires the Secretary to submit a report to the Congress by April 1, 1990, identifying laws, rules, and regulations which prevent rural hospitals from providing innovative patient services. Directs the Secretary to conduct a five-year demonstration program in five rural hospitals treating the costs of nursing services obtained pursuant to an existing agreement with a nursing school as the costs of approved educational activities for Medicare payment purposes. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to expand, from four to ten hospitals, a Medicare demonstration program covering additional costs incurred by teaching hospitals in sending their residents to small rural hospitals for training. Extends the permissible duration of such training from three months to two years. Favors projects which provide small rural hospitals with resident physicians for longer periods of time and give physicians from the small rural hospital the opportunity to work or study at the sponsoring hospital. Makes consortiums of small rural hospitals eligible to accept the services of such a resident physician.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for education loan interest accrued by a physician, nurse, or allied health professional while serving in a medically underserved area.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the disparity between rural and urban physician fees under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act must be reconciled.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1989
Anti-Terrorism Sanctions Act of 1989 - Requires the President to revoke the most-favored-nation trade status of certain foreign countries that repeatedly support international terrorism. Prohibits duty-free treatment for the products of such countries under the Trade Act of 1974 or the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. Prohibits the Secretary of Commerce from consulting with the governments of such countries regarding international travel and tourism. Allows the President to waive any sanction under this Act with respect to any foreign country if such waiver would be in the best interests of the United States. Requires the President to give 30 days' notice to the Congress concerning any waiver.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1989
Requires the cost-of-living adjustments in FY 1990 for persons receiving military retired pay or an annuity under a veterans' survivors' benefits program to take effect. Prohibits any reduction or suspension of such adjustments under any presidential order or any other provision of law, except applicable Federal armed forces provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1989
Oil Pollution Liability and Compensation Act of 1989 - Title I: Oil Pollution Liability and Compensation - Imposes joint, several, and strict liability for specified removal costs and damages upon the party responsible for a vessel or facility from which oil is either discharged into certain waters, or which poses a substantial threat of such a discharge. Exempts from such liability certain discharges permitted under Federal, State, and local law. Defines conditions under which a mobile offshore drilling unit will be treated as either a tanker or as a facility for purposes of determining responsibility or excess liability. Sets forth defenses to liability under this Act. Sets forth limits to liability under this Act, with specified exceptions. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to establish by regulation a maximum liability limit. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress from time to time regarding liability adjustments. Declares that the responsible party or his guarantor shall be liable to the claimant for interest on the amount paid in satisfaction of a claim for a specified period. Defines circumstances under which liability for injury to natural resources shall be to either: (1) the United States; (2) the affected State; or (3) a foreign government. Sets forth recovery and indemnification procedures. Sets forth the uses of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (the Fund) including: (1) payment of removal costs and administrative expenses; and (2) contributions to the International Fund. Sets forth defenses to liability for such Fund and a specified maximum amount which may be paid from the Fund. Confers rights of subrogation upon the United States for payment of any claim by the Fund. Sets forth a claims procedure for removal costs or damages. Requires the Secretary to designate the source of a discharge and to immediately notify the responsible party or guarantor of such designation. Grants subrogation rights to any person (including the Fund) who pays compensation under this Act to any claimant for costs or damages. Requires the party responsible for certain vessels over 300 gross tons to establish and maintain evidence of financial responsibility to meet maximum liability limits. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to withhold or revoke the clearance of any vessel which fails to certify such financial responsibility. Sets forth circumstances under which such vessels may be denied entry into U.S. ports or waters or have their oil cargo seized. Imposes a civil penalty for failure to comply with the financial responsibility requirement. Restricts judicial review of any regulation promulgated under this Act to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Grants the district courts original jurisdiction over all actions arising under this Act. Sets forth a limitation period for actions for removal costs, damages, or contribution. Title II: Conforming Amendments - Sets forth conforming amendments to certain related statutes. Title III: Implementation of International Conventions - States that during any period in which the Civil Liability Convention and the Fund Convention are in force with respect to the United States, owner liability for pollution damage arising from a ship-related incident shall be determined according to such Conventions. Grants recognition to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund as a legal person under Federal law, and deems the Director of such Fund to have irrevocably appointed the Secretary of State as the Fund's agent for service of process for legal proceedings involving the Fund within the United States. Exempts such Fund and its assets from all direct taxation in the United States. Provides that certain required contributions with respect to oil received in the United States shall be paid to the International Fund from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Grants recognition to any final judgment of a court of any country which is a party to either the Civil Liability Convention or the Fund Convention. Sets forth the financial responsibility requirements of shipowners whose vessels are subject to the Civil Liability Convention. Imposes specified sanctions and civil penalties upon persons violating the financial responsibility requirements. Waives all U.S. defenses based upon sovereign immunity with respect to any controversy arising under the Civil Liability Convention or the Fund Convention relating to any ship owned by the United States and used for commercial purposes. Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe regulations to implement this Act and all Federal obligations under the specified Oil Pollution Conventions.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1989
Eliminates post-1968 service in the National Guard as a prerequisite to civil service retirement credit for former National Guard technicians. Amends the National Guard Technicians Act of 1968 to eliminate post-1968 service as a prerequisite for National Guard technicians for receipt of credit in the determination of length of Federal civil service for purposes of leave, Federal employees' death and disability compensation, group life and health insurance, severance pay, tenure, and status. Sets forth rules for applying provisions of this Act to affected individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1989
Regional Presidential Primaries and Caucuses Act of 1989 - Prohibits any State from conducting a presidential primary election except in accordance with the provisions of this Act. Establishes seven regional primaries to be held in each presidential election year. Sets the dates for such primaries. Requires the Federal Election Commission to determine the order by lot. Provides that the first region to hold a primary may not be first in the next primary. Authorizes the Attorney General to bring a civil suit in U.S. district court when there is reason to believe that a State is holding a primary in violation of this Act. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1989
Veterans' Compensation Amendments of 1989 - Increases the rates of compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, and the clothing allowance payable to veterans with service-connected disabilities and their survivors. Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to adjust administratively the rates of disability compensation payable to persons who are not in receipt of compensation for service-connected disability or death.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1989
Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish three Centers for Metal Casting Competitiveness Research as part of the Department of Energy's energy conservation programs.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Provides for all Federal civilian and military retirees to receive the full cost-of-living adjustment in annuities payable under Federal retirement systems for FY 1990. (Includes benefits payable under the Civil Service Retirement and Disability System, military retirement and survivor benefit programs, the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability System, the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and railroad retirement programs.)
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Fair and Equitable Cargo Allocation Act of 1989 - Amends the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 to repeal a provision which requires the Secretary of Transportation to preserve, during calendar years 1986 through 1989, the percentage share, or the metric tonnage of bagged, processed, or fortified commodities, whichever is lower, experienced in 1984, of waterborne cargoes exported from Great Lakes ports under the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1989
1991 Mount Rushmore Commemorative Coin Act - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a specified number of five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins in commemoration of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Provides that such coins shall be considered legal tender. Requires the Secretary to begin issuing such coins on January 1, 1991. Directs the Secretary to obtain silver for the minting of such coins from stockpiles established under the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act and to obtain gold pursuant to authority under existing law. Provides that the design of such coins shall be selected by the Secretary after consultation with the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Society of Black Hills. Specifies the sales price of such coins as the face value plus costs. Requires that all sales of such coins include a surcharge of $35 per coin for five-dollar coins, $7 per coin for one-dollar coins, and $1 for half-dollar coins. Requires that of the total surcharges received by the Secretary from the sale of such coins: (1) 50 percent shall be returned to the Treasury for purposes of reducing the national debt; and (2) 50 percent shall be paid to the Society to assist efforts to improve the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Authorizes the Comptroller General to audit such payments. Requires the Secretary to ensure that the minting and issuance of such coins shall not result in any net costs to the Government.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Postal Reorganization Act Amendments of 1989 - Declares that the receipts and disbursements of the Postal Service Fund: (1) shall not be included in the totals of the Federal budget or the congressional budget; (2) shall be exempt from Federal budget limitations on expenditures and net lending; and (3) shall be exempt from any sequestration order under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) and shall not be counted for purposes of calculating the Federal deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
National Rural Health Care Act of 1989 - Title I: Medicare Provisions - Directs the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission to conduct studies and report to the Congress by January 1, 1991, on: (1) the relationship between costs for rural inpatient hospital services and Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) payments for such services; and (2) the Medicare program's role in paying for rural inpatient hospital services provided as a charity to persons who are not covered under the Medicare program. Provides funding for the development of medical care access facilities. Defines a "medical care access facility" as a facility which: (1) provides ambulatory, primary, emergency, urgent, and surgical care; (2) provides inpatient care for from one-to-ten inpatient beds for stays not exceeding 48 hours; and (3) is located in a medically underserved area or a county with a population of less than 20,000, or serves a frontier service area. Provides Medicare coverage of facility services. Authorizes such facilities to provide dietician, pharmacist, laboratory technician, medical technologist, and radiological services on a part-time, off-site basis, and remain open for less time than Medicare hospitals. Establishes physician, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner productivity standards to be used in determining Medicare payments for rural health clinic services. Requires rural health clinics to participate in the Medicaid program (title XIX of the Social Security Act) if their State provides Medicaid coverage for clinic services. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Medicare rural health clinic demonstration program: (1) testing new payment methods; (2) covering early detection procedures, health education, and health risk reduction services; (3) not requiring clinics to have more than 40 percent of clinic time covered by physician assistants and nurse practitioners; and (4) reducing physician, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner productivity standards for low population density areas. Requires the Secretary to instruct Medicare carriers to make payment rates for professional medical services furnished in rural areas under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of the Medicare program reflect the particular costs of furnishing services in rural areas. Authorizes rural skilled nursing facilities to be paid on a prospective basis for all routine services costs of Medicare extended care services provided in a cost reporting period. Authorizes rural home health agencies to be paid on the basis of a prospectively established fee schedule for Medicare home health services provided in a cost reporting period. Requires the Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to establish additional research and demonstration projects into how the Medicare and Medicaid programs could better cover care for rural beneficiaries. Provides direct Medicare reimbursement for nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist services, whether or not the practitioner or specialist is under the supervision of, or associated with, another health care provider, if such services would otherwise be covered if furnished by a physician or as an incident to a physician's service. Provides payments for nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, and certified nurse midwife services under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of the Medicare program on the basis of a fee schedule to be established by the Secretary. Requires the Administrator of the HCFA to establish a toll-free, telephone hotline for nursing payment inquiries under the Medicare program and, to the extent feasible, under the Medicaid program. Amends part B (Peer Review) of title XI of the Act to require peer review of nursing services. Directs the Secretary to: (1) contract for studies evaluating nursing costs, and gathering and disseminating data on obstacles nurses face in receiving direct reimbursement for their services; and (2) report the results of such studies to the Congress in January of 1992, 1993, and 1994. Title II: Medicaid Provisions - Amends the Medicaid program to extend coverage to all individuals whose income does not exceed the Federal poverty level and whose resources do not exceed twice the resource eligibility limit for Medicaid benefits. Requires that State Medicaid payments for rural medical practices reflect the particular costs of furnishing services in rural areas. Directs the Secretary, jointly with the States, to develop an appropriate system to reduce the payment differential between urban and rural professional health personnel. Permits rural nursing facilities to elect to receive Medicaid payments on the basis of a daily rate schedule to be established by the Secretary. Permits rural home health agencies to elect to receive payments on the basis of a per visit rate to be established by the Secretary. Provides Medicaid coverage of medical care access facility services. Requires such facilities to participate in the program. Requires direct Medicaid reimbursement for certified nurse midwife, certified registered nurse anesthetist, nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist services, whether or not such nurse is under the supervision of, or associated with, another health care provider, if such services would otherwise be covered if furnished by a physician or as an incident to a physician's services. Requires that such payments be equal to payments for such services under the Medicare program and not vary on the basis of the type of nurse involved. Title III: Private Health Insurance Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax deduction for the entire health insurance costs of the self-employed. Makes such deduction permanent. Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to the Congress a proposal for creating a self-financing insurance pool for individuals, small businesses, and farms which have difficulty finding affordable private insurance. Title IV: Health Care System Development Provisions - Amends title VII (Administration) of the Act to place the Office of Rural Health Care in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary to make grants to States which have submitted fiscal year plans for comprehensive State rural health access planning to assist States in such planning. Authorizes appropriations for such grant program through FY 1992. Requires each State to submit a comprehensive rural emergency medical services plan to the Secretary for each fiscal year, beginning with FY 1990. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1992 for payments to States, which vary among States on the basis of the proportion of the nation's rural population which reside in each State, to cover the costs of planning, implementing, and monitoring the operation of trauma care systems in rural areas. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to public and nonprofit entities for planning, constructing, equipping, supplying, and operating a rural health clinic and training the personnel at such clinic. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to solo and small group medical practices which provide primary health services to medically underserved rural populations to assist such practices in purchasing equipment and supplies and training personnel. Sets forth grant conditions, including the requirement that such clinics and practices accept as patients Medicare and Medicaid recipients residing in their service area, and provide 24-hour-a-day emergency medical services. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1992. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1991 for grants to migrant health centers and community health centers. Sets aside five percent of amounts appropriated to the National Center for Health Services Research and Health Care Technology Assessment for research on improving rural health care delivery systems. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study on improvements which can be made in the collection and analysis of data used in designating rural areas as medically underserved areas. Title V: Health Care Personnel Development Provisions - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations through FY 1992 under the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program and Loan Repayment Program. Requires the Secretary to establish a program of scholarships and loan repayments to assure an adequate supply of trained health care personnel at medical facilities which serve medically underserved populations. Requires that no less than 40 percent of the persons receiving such assistance be targeted for placement with medically underserved rural populations. Authorizes appropriations for such program through FY 1992. Requires that persons receiving Federal financial assistance under the Public Health Service Act to operate health care personnel training programs: (1) take into account the special health care conditions of rural areas; and (2) improve efforts to recruit, as students, individuals who are likely to practice in medically underserved rural areas. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to public or private nonprofit health or educational entities for training programs to increase the number of health care personnel and multi-competent health care technicians serving medically underserved rural populations. Authorizes appropriations for such grant programs through FY 1992. Requires the Secretary, in entering into contracts with schools of medicine and osteopathy for area health education centers, to give priority to health education projects targeted toward health professions having an inadequate number of practitioners, either by specialty or geographic location. Makes administrative changes affecting area health education centers. Authorizes appropriations for such centers through FY 1992. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to and enter into contracts with public and nonprofit private entities to cover the costs of providing continuing education for nurses in rural areas through the use of satellite transmissions. Title VI: Mental Health Care Provisions - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require that a State's application for an Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Services Block Grant include an examination of the mental health care needs of rural residents and specify the effort that has and will be made to satisfy such needs. Directs the Secretary to conduct research on improving rural mental health delivery systems. Authorizes appropriations for such research through FY 1992.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Establishes the Medicare Geographical Classification Review Board to decide on a rural hospital's application for classification as an urban hospital for Medicare payment purposes. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to alter the Rural Health Care Transition Grant Program to extend and increase authorized appropriations for such program through FY 1992, and permit the Secretary to waive the hospital grant limit. Expands, from four to ten hospitals, a Medicare demonstration program covering additional costs incurred by teaching hospitals in sending their residents to rural hospitals for training. Requires the Secretary to establish five-year Medicare demonstration programs covering costs incurred by five hospitals in providing clinical training to undergraduate nurses. Extends the regional referral center classification of hospitals so classified as of September 30, 1989, and the payment rates applicable to such hospitals under the Medicare program, through FY 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
National Observance Advisory Act - Establishes the President's Advisory Commission on National Observances to: (1) establish criteria for recommending to the President that a proposed national observance be approved or disapproved; (2) review proposals for national observances submitted in accordance with procedures published by the Commission; and (3) issue recommendations to the President concerning each proposal reviewed.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Protect Medicare 90 Concurrent Resolution - Expresses the sense of the Congress that Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) hospital payments for FY 1990 should not be reduced below levels set by current law for such fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that Federal law governing the taxation of State and local government bonds should not be changed in order to increase Federal revenues.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Merchant Mariner Memorial Act of 1989 - Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to convey the right, title, and interest of the United States in vessels of a specified minimum displacement tonnage in the National Defense Reserve Fleet to each group, not to exceed three such groups, of nonprofit organizations for use in funding merchant marine memorials, provided the vessels have no usefulness to the Government and are scheduled to be scrapped and the organizations agree to sell the vessels for scrap, divide the proceeds, and use them for the memorial. Requires organizations to have raised a minimum amount from non-Federal sources before enactment of this Act in order to participate in the sale. Limits an organization to one grant under this Act. Terminates this Act two years after enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Energy Security Incentive Act of 1989 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat certain geological and geophysical costs and surface casing costs as intangible drilling and development costs that a taxpayer may elect to capitalize or to deduct for income tax purposes. Exempts oil and gas wells from the application of the net income limitation on percentage depletion. Revises the percentage depletion allowance applicable to oil and gas wells, retaining a 15 percent minimum, but increasing the percentage incrementally (to a maximum of 30 percent) as the average annual removal price falls below $20. Permits a percentage depletion income tax deduction for proven oil and gas wells that have been transferred to a new owner. Repeals provisions that tax as ordinary income any gains from dispositions of oil, gas, or geothermal wells. Establishes a marginal production income tax credit for producers who maintain economically unproductive oil wells. Applies the credit to domestic crude that is: (1) from stripper well property; (2) heavy oil; or (3) oil recovered through a tertiary recovery method. Fixes the credit at ten percent of the qualified cost (determined in accordance with a formula set forth in this Act) of each barrel produced by the producer during the tax year. Establishes a crude oil and natural gas exploration and development tax credit. Allows a ten percent credit for qualified investments exceeding $1,000,000, 20 percent for those of $1,000,000 or less. Permits the credit as an offset against both minimum tax liability and regular liability. Repeals provisions that identify intangible drilling costs as a tax preference item for purposes of determining alternative minimum tax liability and corporate preference reductions. Increases from 65 to 100 percent the taxable income limitation on the percentage depletion deduction for oil and gas property. Permits a taxpayer to elect to carry forward to the next succeeding taxable year any portion of excess depletion allowances. Extends the income tax credit for producing fuel from a nonconventional source to qualified fuels from wells or facilities in service before January 1, 1996. (The change represents a five-year extension of the credit.) Affirms natural gas found in tight sands formations as a qualified fuel with respect to the credit.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Domestic Energy Security Act of 1989 - Title I: National Energy Security Tax Credits - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to establish a crude oil and natural gas exploration and development tax credit. Allows a 20 percent credit for qualified investments. Establishes a marginal production income tax credit for producers who maintain economically unproductive oil wells. Applies the credit to domestic crude that is: (1) from stripper well property; (2) heavy oil; (3) oil recovered through a tertiary recovery method; or (4) harsh environment oil (produced from Arctic areas or in submerged lands). Fixes the credit at 20 percent of the qualified cost (determined in accordance with a formula set forth in this Act) of each barrel produced by the producer during the taxable year. Title II: Additional Exploration and Production Incentives - Amends the IRC to treat certain geological and geophysical costs and surface casing costs as intangible drilling and development costs that a taxpayer may elect to capitalize or to deduct for income tax purposes. Permits a percentage depletion income tax deduction for proven oil and gas wells that have been transferred to a new owner. Exempts oil and gas wells from application of the net income limitation on percentage depletion. Increases from 65 percent to 100 percent the taxable income limitation on the percentage depletion deduction for oil and gas property. Extends the income tax credit for producing fuel from a nonconventional source to qualified fuels from wells or facilities in service before January 1, 1998. (The change represents a seven-year extension of the credit.) Affirms natural gas found in tight sands formations as a qualified fuel with respect to the credit, without exceptions. Title III: Amendments to the Alternative Minimum Tax - Repeals provisions that identify intangible drilling costs as a tax preference item for purposes of determining alternative minimum tax liability and corporate preference reductions. Title IV: Miscellaneous Tax and Administrative Amendments - Declares Revenue Ruling 77-176 (and other rulings that reach similar results) to be inapplicable with respect to the income tax treatment of mineral sharing arrangements. (The Revenue Ruling addresses situations in which a driller receives from a lessee an operating interest in oil and gas property as consideration for drilling a well on the leased tract.) Revises provisions governing the time when economic performance occurs for the purpose of income tax deductions or credits in connection with removal of offshore oil or gas production facilities. Specifies expressly the types of oil and gas exploration and development costs that are exempt from the required application of uniform cost capitalization rules.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions relating to the income tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to: (1) increase from 25 percent to 100 percent the allowable deduction; and (2) make the deduction permanent (under current law it will expire after tax year 1989).
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Energy Security Tax Act of 1989 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose an excise tax on the first sale within the United States of imports of: (1) crude oil; (2) refined petroleum products; and (3) petrochemical feedstocks or petrochemical derivatives. Sets the rate of the tax as the difference between $22 per barrel ($24.50 for petroleum and petrochemical products) and the most recently published average price of a barrel of internationally traded oil, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury in accordance with a specified formula.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) formulate and implement a national energy policy based on achieving a specified core energy supply; and (2) work with the Congress in formulating the specific measures to implement such policy.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1989
Repeals provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that establish nondiscrimination requirements for coverage and benefits under certain statutory employee benefit plans. (The consequence is the repeal of section 89 of the Internal Revenue Code.)
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1989
Forgotten Widows and Survivor Benefits Improvements Act of 1989 - Amends armed forces annuity payment provisions to provide that $165 a month shall be the minimum benefit payable to a surviving spouse eligible for such annuity. Provides that any amount in excess of $165 of an annuity payment shall be considered income. Provides the same monthly annuity to certain widows and widowers of persons who became entitled to retired or retainer pay before their death before a certain date, or who chose not to provide their spouse with an annuity and died before a certain date. Prohibits a monthly annuity from being reduced to less than $165 a month when such annuity is reduced because there is no longer a dependent child or because the widow or widower attains age 62.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude deductions for business expenses, interest on indebtedness, and taxes from calculations to determine the passive loss limitation in connection with rental real estate activity in which a noncorporate taxpayer actively or materially participates.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1989
United States Coast Guard Bicentennial Medal Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to design, strike, and sell a medal in commemoration of the bicentennial of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1990. Requires the design of the medal to be selected by the Secretary of the Treasury after consultation with the Secretary of Transportation and the Commission of Fine Arts.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1989
Amends Federal law to require the reverse side of the first coin redesigned to commemorate the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution for a two-year period. Provides that the design on the obverse side of U.S. coins shall contain the likenesses of those displayed on current coins and shall be considered for redesign. Requires any such obverse redesigns to conform to the inscription requirements of current law. Requires U.S. coins to be redesigned, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, over the next six years. Requires the Secretary, in selecting new designs, to consider specified constitutional concepts. Requires the designs to be selected by the Secretary upon consultation with the United States Commission of Fine Arts. Requires that any profits from the sale of uncirculated and proof sets of U.S. coins be deposited in the Treasury and used solely to reduce the national debt.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1989
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel should not be increased as a means of reducing the Federal deficit.
![Official portrait of Rep. Laughlin, Greg [D-TX-14]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/l000119_200.jpg)