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United States · Official source
3,894 records where Rep. Leach, James A. [R-IA-2] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
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
Directs the Secretary of the Navy to provide for the award of the Navy Combat Ribbon with respect to participation in ground or surface combat during any period after July 4, 1943, and before March 1, 1961.
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
Authorizes appropriations for the payment of arrearages in assessed U.S. contributions to the United Nations, including contributions for international peacekeeping activities, for specified past fiscal years. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should: (1) maintain its leadership role within a more effective and less costly United Nations; (2) continue efforts to persuade other U.N. members to support a broad agenda for reform, budgetary discipline, and equitable financial burden sharing; and (3) promptly negotiate a reduction in its assessed contribution for any U.N. peacekeeping operation to no more than 25 percent of all assessed contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: House of Representatives Election Spending Limits and Benefits Title II: Reduction of Special Interest Influence Subtitle A: Limitations on Political Action Committees and Large Contributions of Individuals Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Soft Money of Political Parties Subtitle C: Soft Money of Persons Other than Political Parties Subtitle D: Contributions Subtitle E: Additional Prohibitions on Contributions Subtitle F: Coordinated and Independent Expenditures Title III: Enforcement and Disclosure Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 1997 - Title I: House of Representatives Election Spending Limits and Benefits - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) to make candidates for election to the House of Representatives eligible to receive benefits under this Act if they declare that they will not exceed expenditure or contribution limits. Sets forth expenditure limits of $600,000 by a candidate and authorized committees, allowing additional expenditures for: (1) runoffs and contested primaries; and (2) complying candidates running against noncomplying candidates. Entitles eligible candidates to receive certain broadcast media rates and reduced postage rates. Directs the Federal Election Commission (Commission) to certify a candidate who has met the requirements of this title as eligible for benefits under such title. Requires repayment of benefits by a candidate whose certification has been revoked. Sets forth laddered civil penalties for excess expenditures. (Sec. 102) Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to: (1) provide for preemption only in situations beyond a station's control; and (2) extend the license revocation provision for failure to provide cable access. (Sec. 104) Amends FECA to set contribution limits for eligible House candidates. (Sec. 105) Sets forth expenditure reporting requirements. Title II: Reduction of Special Interest Influence - Subtitle A: Limitations on Political Action Committees and Large Contributions of Individuals - Amends FECA to modify political action committee contribution limits. Prohibits leadership committees. (Sec. 202) Limits the aggregate amount of large contributions to congressional campaigns. Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Soft Money of Political Parties - Amends FECA with respect to "soft money" to: (1) prohibit a national committee of a political party (including specified related entities) from soliciting or receiving contributions or making expenditures not subject to such Act; (2) require a State, district, or local committee of a political party to make Federal election year expenditures (with exceptions) from funds subject to such Act; (3) prohibit a national, State, district, or local committee from soliciting or donating funds to a nonprofit organization; and (4) prohibit an incumbent or candidate for Federal office from soliciting or receiving funds not subject to such Act, or solicit or receive funds for a non-Federal election in excess of certain limits or from prohibited sources (with exceptions for State or local candidates in compliance with State law). (Sec. 212) Increases limits on individual contributions to national political parties. (Sec. 213) Imposes or modifies political committee reporting requirements. (Sec. 214) Removes the exclusion of office facility construction or purchase contributions from the definition of "contribution." Subtitle C: Soft Money of Persons Other Than Political Parties - Imposes reporting requirements regarding disbursements over $2,000 by a person other than a political party committee or a candidate. Subtitle D: Contributions - Revises requirements regarding contributions made through an intermediary or conduit. Subtitle E: Additional Prohibitions on Contributions - Prohibits: (1) a person not eligible to register to vote in a Federal election from contributing or promising to contribute in such an election; and (2) a person from accepting or soliciting such a contribution. Subtitle F: Coordination and Independent Expenditures - Revises the definition of "independent expenditure." (Sec. 252) Treats: (1) payments coordinated with a candidate, agent, or committee, as contributions; and (2) certain payments and communications containing express advocacy as expenditures. (Sec. 254) Sets forth related reporting requirements. Title III: Enforcement and Disclosure - Amends FECA to provide for: (1) random compliance audits; (2) certain reporting on an election cycle rather than a calendar year basis; (3) consulting service disclosure; (4) injunction and litigation authority for the Commission; (5) Commission member term limits; (6) expedited Commission procedures and increased penalties for violations of such Act; and (7) mandatory (with exceptions) electronic filing of Commission reports. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends FECA to restrict the use of campaign funds for personal purposes. (Sec. 402) Sets forth political advertising provisions for print and broadcast or cablecast communications. (Sec. 406) Restricts political committee insolvency actions to Commission proceedings. (Sec. 407) Directs the Commission to promulgate regulations concerning the use of non-Federal money. (Sec. 408) Prohibits franked mass mailings by a Member in his or her election year. (Sec. 411) Provides for expedited and mandatory Supreme Court review of any appeal of any interlocutory order or final court action on the constitutionality of any provision of this Act.
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
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make the alternative minimum tax inapplicable to specified farm property installment sales.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act of 1997 - Waives the English language naturalization requirement for certain aliens (or their spouses or widows) who served with special guerilla units in Laos. Provides for naturalization under the Immigration and Nationality Act through such service.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to place the burden of proof on the taxpayer in the case of any administrative proceeding and on the Secretary of the Treasury in the case of any court proceeding. Requires a 30-day notice before seizure. Prohibits the Secretary from collecting any tax (or other sum) by levy without judicial consent. Excludes from gross income damages awarded for unauthorized IRS collection activities. Requires a study of the revenue losses (if any) resulting from this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Authorizes the President to present, on behalf of the Congress, a congressional gold medal to Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to strike and sell bronze duplicates.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Permits certain veterans with service-connected disabilities who are retired members of the uniformed services to receive compensation concurrently with retired pay, without deduction from either.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Bank Securities Activities and Affiliations with Securities Firms and Other Financial Companies Subtitle A: Securities Activities Subtitle B: Investment Bank Holding Companies Subtitle C: Financial Activities Subtitle D: Interagency Banking and Financial Services Advisory Committee Subtitle E: Application and Registration Fees Title II: Functional Regulations Subtitle A: Brokers and Dealers Subtitle B: Bank Investment Company Activities Title III: Bank Insurance Activities Title IV: Thrift Charter Conversion Subtitle A: Status of Banks and Savings Associations Subtitle B: Transfer of Functions, Personnel, and Property Subtitle C: Merger of Deposit Insurance Funds Title V: Technical Corrections Financial Services Competitiveness Act of 1997 - Title I: Bank Securities Activities and Affiliations with Securities Firms and Other Financial Companies - Subtitle A: Securities Activities - Amends the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall Act) to repeal the proscription against affiliation of any member bank of the Federal Reserve System with an entity engaged principally in securities activities (securities affiliate). (Sec. 102) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHCA) to authorize financial services holding companies (FSHCs) to own shares of a securities affiliate. (Sec. 103) Delineates activities permissible for securities affiliates. Instructs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) to consider the need for securities firms affiliated with banks to be innovative and competitive when it makes determinations of "permissible activities." Cites circumstances under which the Board may permit an FSHC to: (1) acquire more than five percent of, or all or substantially all of, the voting shares or assets of a securities affiliate; (2) make additional investments that are considered capital for purposes of statutory capital requirements in a securities affiliate under its control; and (3) permit its securities affiliate to underwrite or deal in any security for a maximum aggregate period of two years. Prohibits any FSHC acquisition of any securities affiliate or any additional investment in such an affiliate unless the Board has received full payment of the application fee. Excludes a securities affiliate's assets and liabilities (except those related to nonsecurities activities) from the determination of whether an FSHC is adequately capitalized. States that such exclusion shall not apply, however, to an investment bank holding company predominantly engaged in securities activities on a consolidated basis. Prohibits an FSHC that acquires control of a securities affiliate from permitting any depository institution or its subsidiary (except for a special operating subsidiary and certain Edge Act and agreement corporations), from engaging in underwriting securities backed by or representing interests in obligations (or pools of obligations) originated or purchased by the institution or its affiliates. Requires the Board to deny any notice or application by an FSHC to engage in, or acquire shares of a company engaged in, underwriting or dealing in securities in the United States, unless such activity is permissible for a national bank. Treats certain participants in a bankers' bank holding company as subsidiaries. Cites circumstances under which an FSHC may acquire shares and ownership interests in connection with underwriting and investment banking activities without prior Board approval. Requires an FSHC to pay an annual registration fee with respect to each securities affiliate or other entity it controls which has acquired shares, assets, or ownership interests as part of a bona fide underwriting or investment banking activity. (Sec. 104) Delineates conditions under which: (1) a well capitalized insured depository institution may extend credit tacker or sell securities, or enhance the marketability of securities underwritten by a securities affiliate. Prohibits a depository institution with a securities affiliate from directly or indirectly extending credit to an issuer of securities underwritten by the securities affiliate for the purpose of paying the principal of those securities or interest or dividends on them (except bank eligible securities). Directs the Board to promulgate regulations under which directors and senior executive officers of a securities affiliate may serve simultaneously in the same capacity at an affiliated depository institution (management interlocks). Sets forth disclosure requirements for securities affiliates and insured depository institutions. Prescribes guidelines under which each appropriate Federal banking agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shall establish information sharing and compliance programs and coordinate their activities to enforce this Act. Identifies conditions under which the uninsured wholesale operations of foreign banks are exempt from the restrictions relating to securities affiliates (foreign bank firewalls). Amends the Federal Reserve Act to extend the period during which a member bank is prohibited from acquiring a security if a principal underwriter in the selling syndicate is a bank affiliate. Amends the Federal Power Act to exempt from its prohibition against interlocking directorates certain persons currently serving or proposing to serve as directors or officers of a public utility and a banking firm permitted to underwrite or participate in the marketing of public utility securities, if that banking firm does not underwrite or participate in the marketing of securities of the same public utility. Amends the Right to Financial Privacy Act to permit the supervisory agencies of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and the SEC to exchange examination reports. Amends the BHCA of 1956 to authorize the Board to promulgate regulations for the protection of depository institutions and for the separation of banking and commerce. (Sec. 105) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act to set forth circumstances under which securities companies that become FSHCs may retain ownership of financial and nonfinancial companies. Restricts joint marketing of products or services between an insured depository institution and an affiliate owned by an FSHC. Permits an FSHC to acquire shares, assets or ownership interests held as an investment in the ordinary course of business by an insurance affiliate predominantly engaged in specified lines of insurance. Declares that this permission shall not be construed as authorizing an FSHC or its subsidiary to underwrite or deal in any security. (Sec. 106) Identifies circumstances under which qualified limited purpose banks are exempt from: (1) new activities' restrictions; (2) cross-marketing restrictions; and (3) divestiture requirements. Prescribes guidelines for the conversion of certain nonbank holding companies to FSHC status. (Sec. 107) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to set forth parameters within which certain insured depository institutions may be affiliates of a securities underwriter or dealer, a securities affiliate, or a special operating subsidiary. Requires the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to: (1) study and report to the Congress on the risks posed to the deposit insurance funds by the affiliation of insured depository institutions with securities affiliates; and (2) factor into semiannual assessments any increased risk to the funds that it finds are caused by such affiliations. (Sec. 108) Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 to authorize the Board to set a termination date for any grandfathered authority conferred upon a foreign bank or company following Board approval of its application under this Act to control a securities affiliate. (Sec. 109) Amends the BHCA of 1956 to preempt any State law to the extent it restricts: (1) an insurer or its affiliate from becoming an FSHC, or acquiring control of an insured depository institution; (2) the amount of an insurer's assets that may be invested in the voting securities of an insured depository institution; or (3) the actions of an insurance regulatory authority regarding an insurer's plan to reorganize from mutual to stock form. (Sec. 110) Amends the Revised Statutes to permit a national bank to acquire or establish a special operating subsidiary which may, with the approval of the Comptroller of the Currency, engage in activities that are part of or incidental to the business of banking, or permissible for national banks, including securities transactions and investment advice. Conditions such approval upon specified firewalls, including separate capitalization requirements. (Sec. 111) Amends the FDIA to direct the appropriate Federal banking agencies to jointly prescribe standards applicable to certain insured depository institutions that conduct transactions in securities issued by an investment company or annuities. Requires such standards to be comparable to the standards applicable to brokers and dealers registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 unless the appropriate Federal banking agencies jointly determine that implementation of comparable standards is not necessary or appropriate for the maintenance of: (1) fair and orderly markets; (2) the protection of investors; or (3) is not in the public interest. Subtitle B: Investment Bank Holding Companies - Amends the BHCA of 1956 to: (1) establish a new category known as "investment bank holding company" (IBHC); and (2) delineate permissible affiliations for investment bank holding companies. Prohibits the use of Federal deposit insurance funds for a wholesale financial institution (certain uninsured State member banks), or an IBHC. (Sec. 116) Prescribes guidelines: (1) under which foreign banks may be treated as IBHCs; and (2) for reciprocal national treatment and coordination with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). (Sec. 117) Amends the Federal Reserve Act to prescribe procedural guidelines for membership as a wholesale financial institution in the Federal Reserve System. Amends the FDIA to prescribe a procedure by which an insured State-chartered bank or a national bank may voluntarily terminate its status as an insured depository institution. Requires any such terminated bank to become a wholesale financial institution in order to accept any deposits. Subtitle C: Financial Activities - Amends the BHCA of 1956 to exempt from its proscription against interests in nonbanking organizations any activity that the Board determines to be financial in nature or incidental to financial activities. (Sec. 121) Repeals the mandate that the Board consider, when determining whether a particular activity is a proper incident to banking, if its performance by a bank holding company affiliate is such that the public interest benefit outweighs any possible adverse effects (such as undue concentration of resources, decreased or unfair competition, conflicts of interests, or unsound banking practices). Permits Board regulations to differentiate between activities commenced by affiliates of different classes of banks. (Sec. 123) Revises FSHC examination and reporting requirements. (Sec. 124) Sets forth a statutory scheme for reduced supervision of FSHCs controlling principally nondepository institutions. Requires the Board, in determining whether to establish and the extent of capital requirements for an FSHC, to give due consideration to the activities of the FSHC and its subsidiaries and any comparable capital requirements imposed on the FSHC by other State or Federal regulatory authority. (Sec. 125) Sets forth a procedure for the conversion of unitary savings and loan holding companies to FSHC status without prior Board approval. (Sec. 128) Renames the BHCA of 1956 as the Financial Services Holding Company Act of 1995. (Sec. 130) States that corporate credit cards are not commercial loans (thus permitting credit card banks to issue corporate credit cards, a practice currently proscribed). Subtitle D: Interagency Banking and Financial Services Advisory Committee - Establishes the Interagency Banking and Financial Services Advisory Committee to improve the supervision, efficiency, and competitiveness of the financial services industry and make related recommendations to Federal agencies and the Congress. Subtitle E: Application and Registration Fees - Amends the BHCA of 1956 to authorize the Board to impose administrative fees upon FSHCs. Title II: Functional Regulation - Subtitle A: Brokers and Dealers - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to define specified banks as "brokers" and "dealers" (current law excludes banks from such definition). (Sec. 203) Authorizes the SEC to exempt any person from the definition of "broker" or "dealer" if it finds such exemption is consistent with the purposes of this Act. Subtitle B: Bank Investment Company Activities - Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to permit: (1) custody of investment company assets by an affiliated bank; and (2) a unit investment trust to designate an affiliated bank as trustee (currently a prohibited practice). (Sec. 211) Permits the SEC to bring a civil action against a custodian for a registered investment company for breach of fiduciary duty involving personal misconduct. (Sec. 212) States that an affiliate of an investment company for a bank must comply with SEC rules when lending money to an investment company. (Sec. 213) Modifies the definition of "interested person" to identify transactions, services, and loans taking place during the preceding six months which would make a person an affiliated person of a broker or dealer. Prohibits a registered investment company from having a majority of its board of directors consisting of personnel or senior officers of the subsidiaries of any one bank, or of any single FSHC, its affiliates and subsidiaries. (Sec. 214) Modifies guidelines pertaining to unlawful misrepresentation of guarantees and the deceptive use of names. (Sec. 215) Modifies the definition of "broker" to state that it does not include any person solely by reason of the fact that such person is an underwriter for one or more investment companies. (Sec. 216) Modifies the definition of "dealer" to exclude an insurance or an investment company. (Sec. 217) Amends the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to modify the definitions of investment adviser to remove the exclusion from such definition of an investment adviser for banks that advise investment companies. Revises the definitions of broker and dealer. (Sec. 220) Mandates interagency consultation between the appropriate Federal banking agency and the SEC regarding examination results and other information pertaining to the investment advisory activities of a registered FSHC and its separately identifiable departments or divisions. (Sec. 221) Amends the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to revise the exclusion from their purview of certain bank common trust funds to specify the exclusion of any interest or participation in any common trust fund or similar fund that is excluded from the definition of "investment company" under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to revise such exclusion guidelines for certain bank common trust funds. (Sec. 222) Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to prescribe circumstances under which an investment adviser holding shares of an investment company in a fiduciary capacity must transfer the power to vote such shares to the beneficial owners or to another fiduciary who is not an affiliate of such adviser. Title III: Bank Insurance Activities - Amends the Revised Statutes (National Bank Act) to declare that nothing in specified Federal banking regulatory law may be construed as limiting State authority to regulate the manner in which a national bank provides insurance or annuity contracts pursuant to Federal law within its borders. Prohibits the States from imposing discriminatory insurance regulatory and licensing requirements upon national banks. Identifies the parameters within which a national bank may operate as principal, agent or broker in the course of conducting insurance or annuities transactions. (Sec. 301) Amends certain Federal banking law governing interests in nonbanking organizations to shield an FSHC from any State law or regulation restricting a bank from having an affiliate, agent, or employee in that State licensed to provide insurance as principal, agent, or broker. Instructs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to promulgate regulations that provide equivalent treatment for all stock and mutual insurance companies that control or are affiliated with a bank, and that fully accommodate and are consistent with State law. (Sec. 302) Authorizes the Comptroller of the Currency to approve the application of a national bank with a main office or full-service bank in an empowerment zone to act as agent or broker from such office or branch for an insurance company if: (1) the bank provides sufficient evidence that competitively priced insurance in its empowerment zone is inadequate; and (2) the insurance is sold only in such empowerment zone. Authorizes the Comptroller to: (1) prescribe regulations governing sales of insurance by national banks; and (2) enforce State law with respect to a national bank. (Sec. 303) Sets forth parameters within which a mutual life insurer may transfer its domicile from one State to a transferee domicile (in another State) as a step in a reorganization in which the mutual life insurer becomes a stock life insurer, whether as a direct or indirect subsidiary of a mutual holding company or otherwise ("redomestication"). Preempts State laws restricting redomestication. Title IV: Thrift Charter Conversion - Subtitle A: Status of Banks and Savings Associations - Thrift Charter Conversion Act of 1997 - Prescribes procedural guidelines for the termination of Federal savings association charters and their conversion into national bank charters or State depository institution charters. Prohibits the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision from granting any charter for a Federal savings association. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to treat State Savings Associations as banks for purposes of Federal banking law. Includes as State banks any cooperative bank or other unincorporated bank whose deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on the day before enactment of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, but excludes from State bank treatment any such banks whose deposits were not FDIC-insured on such date. (Sec. 401) Requires the FDIC to review State supervision of depository institutions in order to ensure that State savings associations are regulated as rigorously as State banks. (Sec. 402) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHCA) to permit continuation of grandfathered bank holding company activities and affiliations. (Sec. 403) Sets forth transition provisions for: (1) activities of savings associations and mutual savings associations which have converted into or become treated as banks; and (2) registration of bank holding companies resulting from conversions of savings associations to banks, or treatment of savings associations as banks. (Sec. 405) Amends the National Bank Act to prescribe procedural guidelines under which the Comptroller of the Currency is authorized to charter national mutual or State mutual banks. Amends the BHCA to prescribe procedural guidelines under which a national mutual bank may reorganize to become a holding company. Cites permissible activities. Authorizes conversion of mutual savings associations to mutual national banks by operation of law. Transfers regulatory jurisdiction over a mutual holding company to the Board. Subjects a Federal mutual holding company in existence on the date of enactment of this Act to certain BHCA provisions. (Sec. 408) Repeals the Home Owners' Loan Act. Subtitle B: Transfer of Functions, Personnel, and Property - Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to merge the Office of Thrift Supervision with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. (Sec. 423) Requires that any cost of funds index based upon certain characteristics of Federal home loan banks be calculated using data only from insured depository institutions which were bank members and whose data was previously included in such index. Subtitle C: Merger of Deposit Insurance Funds - Amends the Omnibus Consolidation Appropriations Act, 1997 to declare January 1, 1999, the effective date for the merger of the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF) and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF) if the FDIC determines that: (1) such merger is in the public interest; (2) the reserve ratios of both funds are equal to or greater than their designated reserve ratios; and (3) a significant number of savings associations have converted to State or national bank charters. Title V: Technical Corrections - Amends the Revised Statutes to authorize the Comptroller of the Currency to waive the citizenship requirement for a minority of the total number of directors in the case of an association which is a foreign bank subsidiary or affiliate. (Sec. 502) Amends the FDIA to provide that: (1) a branch of an out-of-State bank shall be subject to the laws of the host State to the same extent as the branch of an out-of- State national bank; and (2) the branch of an insured State bank may conduct any activity in the host State that is permissible within its home State if such activity is permissible either for a bank chartered by the host State, or for a branch of an out-of-State national bank in the host State.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Small Business Regulatory Assistance Act of 1997 - Amends the Small Business Act to require each participating Federal agency (the Environmental Protection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Labor), the Office of Small Business Development Centers (Office) of the Small Business Administration, and representatives of an association representing a majority of small business development centers (SBDCs) to agree to a small business regulatory compliance assistance plan. Requires each participating agency to ensure the nonduplication of compliance assistance efforts. Requires the Office, with the agreement of the association, to develop and publish guidelines for the establishment by SBDCs or by consortia of SBDCs of a system of small business voluntary regulatory compliance (system), with specified guideline requirements. Outlines the assistance to be provided to participating small businesses. Requires annual reports from the Office to the President and the congressional small business committees concerning the assistance provided under this Act, the level of outreach to small businesses achieved by SBDCs and consortia, and recommendations for improvements in the regulation of small businesses participating in the system. Requires the Office to provide for an independent third-party evaluation of the system, to be submitted to the President and the small business committees. Provides funding to assist the Office and participating agencies in fostering, promoting, developing, and carrying out the system, including funds for the implementation and administration of worker safety and health compliance assistance plans and regulatory compliance assistance plans for fiscal years 1999 through 2003. Provides funds to each participating SBDC under a population-based funding formula. Exempts such funds from matching requirements. Prohibits the Office from providing any funds to an SBDC or consortia after September 30, 2000, unless such SBDC or consortia has been approved for funding under a certification requirement.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Capital Gains Tax Reduction Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the maximum capital gains tax rates for both individuals and corporations. Provides for the indexing of assets for determining gain or loss.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Truth in Budgeting Act - Prohibits (subject to the Line Item Veto Act of 1996) the receipts and disbursements of the Highway Trust Fund, the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund from being counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of the Federal budget as submitted by the President, the congressional budget, or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Exempts such trust funds from any general statutory budget outlays limitation. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to limit the amount of interest that may be credited to such trust funds. Amends Federal transportation law to require the Secretary of Transportation to estimate annually: (1) what, but for this Act, would be at the close of the next fiscal year the amount of unfunded aviation authorizations; and (2) the net aviation receipts at the close of such year.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Employee Educational Assistance Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) permanently extend the exclusion from gross income of employer-provided educational assistance; and (2) restore the exclusion for such assistance on the graduate level.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Self-Employed Health Affordability Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the deduction allowed for health insurance costs for self-employed individuals from 30 to 100 percent.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Constitutional Amendment - Makes any person who has been elected for a full term: (1) two times to the Senate ineligible for election or appointment to the Senate; or (2) six times to the House ineligible for election to the House. Bars any person who has served as a: (1) Senator for more than three years of a term to which some other person was elected from being subsequently eligible for election to the Senate more than once; and (2) Representative for more than one year from being subsequently eligible for election to the House more than five times. Excludes election or service occurring before this article becomes operative when determining eligibility.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits outlays for a fiscal year (except those for repayment of debt principal) from exceeding total receipts (except those derived from borrowing) for that fiscal year unless the Congress, by a three-fifths roll call vote of each House, authorizes a specific excess of outlays over receipts. Requires a three-fifths roll call vote of each House to increase the public debt. Directs the President to submit a balanced budget to the Congress. Requires the approval of a majority of each House by roll call vote before any bill to increase revenue may become law. Authorizes the Congress to waive these provisions when: (1) a declaration of war is in effect; or (2) the United States is engaged in a military conflict which poses a threat to national security as declared by a joint resolution adopted by a majority of each House. Makes this article effective beginning with FY 2002 or with the second fiscal year beginning after its ratification, whichever is later.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1996
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the format of the 1996 Presidential debates should be modified so that Ross Perot can have an equal opportunity to participate.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose Title II: Binding Budget Law Title III: Enforcement of Budget Discipline Subtitle A: Supermajority Required to Break Budget Law Subtitle B: Line Item Reduction Subtitle C: "Blank Check" Appropriations Prohibited Subtitle D: "Pay-as-You-Go" Requirement for New Spending Subtitle E: "Lock-Box" for Savings From Spending Reductions Title IV: Sustaining Mechanism Title V: Protection of Social Security Title VI: Technical Amendments to Federal Law to Carry Out This Act Title VII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation Budget Process Reform Act - Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose - Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Federal budget process should focus the attention of policymakers and the public on the aggregate impact of Federal spending on the economy, and on the tradeoffs that must be made among priorities in order to control overall levels of spending. Declares that the budget process should contain safeguards against delay and inaction, so that temporary shut-downs of the Government may be avoided. Title II: Binding Budget Law - Requires the Congress to enact a binding budget law, in the form of a joint resolution, by April 15 of the calendar year before that in which the fiscal period commences. (Sec. 202) Makes it out of order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any spending bill affecting spending in a major functional category unless and until a joint resolution on the budget is enacted. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) to require a two-thirds majority vote in the House and the Senate to consider any spending bill prior to the enactment of the budget law. Repeals authority for consideration of spending bills prior to adoption of the budget resolution. (Sec. 203) Prohibits baseline budgeting. Requires objective year- to-year comparisons under budget law, with the starting point for both Presidential and congressional budgets the levels of budget outlays for the current fiscal year. (Sec. 204) Amends the CBA to establish a rainy day fund for natural disasters. Requires budget law to include a major functional category for natural disasters, under specified conditions. (Sec. 205) Amends Federal law relating to the contents of the President's annual budget submission to the Congress to require the President to submit: (1) a budget of the U.S. Government for the following fiscal period on a single page, which sets forth specific budget ceilings in each major functional category, by the first Monday in February of each year before that in which a fiscal period commences; and (2) a detailed budget for that fiscal period, on or before the 15th day after a joint resolution on the budget for the following budget period is enacted. Title III: Enforcement of Budget Discipline - Subtitle A: Supermajority Required to Break Budget Law - Amends CBA to require the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to provide to the Congress an estimate of the costs in each major functional category of each spending bill before being voted on by the Senate or the House. (Sec. 301) Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to consider over-budget spending bills. (Sec. 302) Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive any provision of this Act. Subtitle B: Limited Enhanced Rescission Authority - Amends the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to authorize the President to exercise line-item reduction authority if the Congress exceeds the budget ceilings in the binding budget law or an automatic continuing resolution for a fiscal period. Declares that such authority shall permit the reduction of over-budget spending in a major functional category to the level established in the binding budget law or automatic continuing resolution. Sets forth procedures for congressional introductions of line-item bills after the President transmits a special message to rescind an item of budget authority. Prohibits amendments to such bills. Subtitle C: "Blank Check" Appropriations Prohibited - Declares the intent of the Congress to end open-ended, "blank check" appropriations which typically authorize spending "such sums as may be necessary." (Sec. 306) Amends CBA to require fixed-dollar appropriations for every account except Social Security and interest on the debt. Prohibits open-ended appropriations. (Sec. 307) Requires Executive agencies to adjust expenditures, including program eligibility requirements and benefit levels, to ensure that appropriations for entitlement programs are not exceeded. (Sec. 308) Restricts budget authority and entitlement authority to one fiscal period. Subtitle D: "Pay As You Go" Requirement for New Spending - Amends CBA to prohibit the Congress from considering any legislation which exceeds the budget ceiling unless it offsets such increased spending with an equal amount of reductions. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House or in the Senate to waive such prohibition. Sets forth special rules in the case of legislation that exceeds a budget ceiling for the natural disaster functional category. Repeals a CBA provision for an exemption in the House from pay-as- you-go rules. Subtitle E: "Lock-Box" for Savings From Spending Reductions - Amends CBA to: (1) establish "lock-box" procedures to ensure budget savings from House and Senate amendments to appropriations bills result in actual spending cuts; (2) require Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports on such procedures; and (3) mandate reduction of spending allocations to House and Senate committees and subcommittees to meet "lock-box" levels. Title IV: Sustaining Mechanism - Makes appropriations to provide for an automatic continuing resolution if for any account an appropriation for a fiscal period does not become law before the beginning of such period. (Sec. 402) Provides for contingency regulations for automatic continuing resolutions. Grants each State the option of receiving an aggregate amount for the fiscal period for social safety net programs equal to the allocation to the State for such programs in the preceding fiscal period. (Sec. 403) Restricts consideration of legislation providing budget or spending authority to only that reported by the Committees on Appropriations. Makes such restriction inapplicable in the case of Social Security benefits. Title V: Protection of Social Security - Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to require or permit reductions in otherwise payable Social Security benefits. (Sec. 502) Provides that no reduction in benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) shall be made as a consequence of this Act. Title VI: Technical Amendments to Federal Law to Carry Out This Act - Makes various technical and conforming amendments, including changing references to a concurrent resolution on the budget to references to a joint resolution on the budget. Title VII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation - Sets forth definitions for specified terms. Changes the definition of budget authority to exclude offsetting receipts.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 1996
Recognizes that payment by the United States of its assessment for the regular budget and the peacekeeping operations of the United Nations (UN) is a solemn treaty obligation, voluntarily undertaken through U.S. ratification of the UN Charter. Believes that resolution of financing and reform issues in the UN can lead to its capability to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Concludes that U.S. leadership in meeting financial obligations to, and working with other countries to achieve reform in, the UN is indispensable to its future viability. Commits to continuing U.S. leadership in the UN by honoring U.S. past and current legal financial obligations to it. Resolves to meet the financial obligations of the United States to the UN in a full and timely manner consistent with international law and the U.S. role as a founder and responsible UN Member.
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 1996
Farm Transportation Regulatory Relief Act - Declares that Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations relating to the transportation of agricultural production material as a hazardous material (pesticides, fertilizers, and fuels) shall not prohibit a State from providing an exception from such regulations for farmers and retailers providing not-for-hire intrastate transportation of agricultural production materials from a source of supply to a farm, from a farm to another farm, from a field to another field on a farm, or from the farm back to the source of supply.
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Reductions in Government Overregulation Subtitle A: The Home Mortgage Process Subtitle B: Consumer Banking Reforms Subtitle C: Equal Credit Opportunity Act Amendments Subtitle D: Consumer Leasing Act Amendments Title II: Streamlining Government Regulations Subtitle A: Regulatory Approval Issues Subtitle B: Streamlining of Government Regulations; Miscellaneous Provisions Title III: Lender Liability Title IV: Annual Study and Report on Impact on Lending to Small Business Title V: Financial Service Reform Subtitle A: Reform of Holding Company Procedures Subtitle B: Interagency Banking and Financial Services Task Force Title VI: Drought Relief Title VII: Financial Activities Title VIII: Deposit Insurance Funds Financial Institutions Regulatory Relief Act of 1996 - Title I: Reductions in Government Overregulation - Subtitle A: The Home Mortgage Process - Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (RESPA) regarding the proscription against kickbacks and unearned fees to permit an employer's payment to the employer's own bona fide employees for any referral activities. (Sec. 101) Restricts criminal sanctions to willful violation of law (current law penalizes unwillful and unintentional violations as well). Redesignates "a controlled business arrangement" as "an affiliated business arrangement". Revises the disclosure prescriptions governing affiliated business arrangements where referrals are made by: (1) electronic media; and (2) by a lender. Permits an affiliated business arrangement if a written disclosure of its existence and estimated attendant charges is made within three business days after a referral by telephone or electronic media. Modifies the statute of limitations for bringing actions arising from violations of requirements for servicing mortgages and administering escrow accounts. (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to take action under RESPA and the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) to simplify and provide a single format for credit transaction disclosures. (Sec. 103) Exempts from TILA disclosure requirements any transactions that the Board determines: (1) are not necessary to effectuate the Act's purposes; or (2) do not provide a measurable benefit in the form of useful information or consumer protection. (Sec. 104) Amends RESPA to repeal requirements that for certain federally related mortgage loans the lender disclose: (1) that it has previously assigned, sold, or transferred the servicing of such loans, or, during the most recent three-year period, a specified percentage of them; and (2), in the case of a lender who does not service federally related loans, a present intent to assign, sell or transfer them. Repeals the mandate for model disclosure statements. Excises from the definition of "federally related mortgage loan" any loan secured by a subordinate lien on residential real property (thereby removing second mortgages from RESPA requirements). Directs the Board to ensure that regulations pertaining to the business credit exemption from RESPA jurisdiction include all business credit exempted from TILA. (Sec. 105) Revises TILA disclosure requirements to permit alternative disclosures for adjustable rate home mortgages which state that a monthly payment may increase or decrease significantly due to annual percentage rate increases. (Current law requires illustrations how a rate increase or decrease affects monthly payments). Revises disclosure requirements for any consumer credit transaction (other than under an open end credit plan) to require Board regulations to allow a creditor the option of providing certain substitute information in lieu of an historical example that illustrates the effects of interest rate changes implemented in accordance with the terms of the transaction. Mandates: (1) additional disclosures pertaining to note rates and points for residential mortgage transactions; (2) a statement that the terms are subject to change; and (3) that any charges or premiums for voluntary insurance or noninsurance product providing protection against the debtor's liability for amounts in excess of the value of the collateral securing the obligation must be included in the finance charges, unless a specified statement in writing is furnished to the consumer. (Sec. 108) Revises certain TILA provisions for recovery of fees. (Sec. 109) Amends the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to repeal the mandate for homeownership debt counseling availability notification. (Sec. 110) Amends the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 to increase the maximum asset-size of institutions exempt from its purview from $10 million to $50 million. Declares that a depository institution shall be deemed to have satisfied the public availability notification requirements for its mortgage loan transactions if its branch offices provide notice of the availability of the information from the home office upon request. Subtitle B: Consumer Banking Reforms - Amends the Truth In Savings Act (TISA) to repeal: (1) civil liability for depository institution non-compliance with disclosure requirements; and (2) the requirement that on-premises displays in depository institutions be designed for viewing only from the interior of the premises. (Sec. 141) Redefines depository institution to exclude certain nonautomated credit unions that were not required to comply with TISA requirements. Limits account schedule distribution requirements for certain time deposits renewable at maturity without notice from the depositor to deposits with maturities of more than 30 days. (Sec. 142) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to allow depository institutions (including affiliates and subsidiaries) to exchange information without limitation if such information sharing is disclosed and the consumer has opportunity beforehand to direct that the information not be communicated. (Sec. 143) Amends TILA to permit full creditor restitution payments of adjusted finance charges to a person over an extended period if the enforcing agency determines that this is necessary to avoid causing the creditor to become undercapitalized. (Sec. 144) Instructs the Board to study and report to the Congress on the applicability of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to payment transactions using value-added electronic devices. Subtitle C: Equal Credit Opportunity Act Amendments - Equal Credit Opportunity Act Amendments of 1996 - States that the purpose of this Act is to combine the adverse action notification requirements of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) with respect to consumer credit applications, and to make the information which must be furnished more understandable. (Sec. 153) Revises ECOA notification requirements regarding adverse actions against credit applicants. Shields from liability for non-compliance persons who show by a preponderance of the evidence that they maintained reasonable procedures to ensure compliance at the time of the alleged violation. (Sec. 154) Revises specified FCRA disclosure requirements for users of consumer reports to repeal such requirements for credit denials and adverse actions based on reports of persons other than consumer reporting agencies. (Sec. 155) Amends ECOA and the Fair Housing Act (the Acts) to add incentives for creditor self-testing and voluntary corrective action by prohibiting review, examination, or acquisition by an applicant in any legal proceeding of a creditor or other person's self-procured test or review of its lending activities, including residential real estate lending, if the self-test has identified discriminatory practices and the creditor or other person has taken or is taking appropriate corrective action to address the discrimination. Specifies circumstances in which an applicant or Government department or agency may obtain and use the results of a self-test in a proceeding or civil action. (Sec. 156) Requires the Attorney General to consult with the appropriate agency before bringing a civil action in connection with creditor self-testing under the Acts. Subtitle D: Consumer Leasing Act Amendments - Consumer Leasing Act Amendments of 1996 - Amends the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) to direct the Board to: (1) write regulations or staff commentary to update and clarify requirements and definitions for lease disclosures, contracts, and other issues related to consumer leasing which would carry out the purposes of the Consumer Leasing Act; and (2) publish model disclosure forms and clauses to facilitate compliance with such requirements and aid the consumer in understanding the transaction. (Sec. 164) Revises CCPA provisions relating to consumer lease advertising, repealing special requirements for radio advertisements. (Sec. 165) Limits creditor liability for statutory penalties for failure to provide specified consumer lease disclosures. Title II: Streamlining Government Regulations - Subtitle A: Regulatory Approval Issues - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act (BHCA) to cite the statutory criteria for: (1) approval of a well-capitalized and well-managed financial services holding company proposal to engage in any (non-banking) activity or acquire or retain the shares or assets of any company (including acquisition of savings associations); and (2) deemed approval of the acquisition of shares by a registered bank holding company, or a merger or consolidation between registered bank holding companies. (Current law requires prior Board approval). (Sec. 203) Amends the FDIA and the National Bank Consolidation and Merger Act to cite conditions under which prior approval is not required for any merger, consolidation, asset acquisition, or liabilities assumption involving only insured depository institution subsidiaries of the same depository institution holding company. (Sec. 204) Permits any insured depository institution to participate in optional conversion transactions between members of the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF) and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF) (Oakar transactions) without the prior written approval of the responsible agency. Repeals guidelines for agency approval of such transactions (but retains the proscription against transactions which result in the transfer of any insured depository institution's Federal deposit insurance from one Federal deposit insurance fund to the other). (Sec. 205) Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act (HOLA) to remove from its regulatory purview a bank holding company subject to the BHCA, and exclude it from the definition of "savings and loan holding company." Amends the BHCA of 1956 to mandate cooperation between the Board and the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision regarding supervision and enforcement over bank holding companies that control savings associations. Amends HOLA to provide that any savings association which meets specified Internal Revenue Code requirements shall be deemed to be a qualified thrift lender. (Sec. 206) Amends the BHCA to repeal the provision that shares transferred by a bank holding company to a transferee under its control are deemed to be under such holding company's control unless the Board determines otherwise and approves the divestiture. (Sec. 207) Amends the Revised Statutes, the Federal Reserve Act (FRA), and the FDIA to delineate conditions under which prior approval is not required for well-capitalized and well-managed banks to establish and operate a branch or seasonal agency. (Sec. 208) Amends the Revised Statutes and the FDIA to exclude from the definition of "branch" an automated teller machine or remote service unit (thus exempting those entities from approval requirements of such Acts). (Sec. 209) Amends the FRA to exempt well-capitalized and well-managed banks from the approval requirement for investments in bank premises. (Sec. 210) Amends the FDIA to authorize the appropriate Federal banking agency to waive, on a case-by-case basis, prior notice requirements pertaining to new officer or director appointments of certain undercapitalized or troubled institutions. (Sec. 211) Repeals the requirement for a hearing in the determination of new nonbanking activities. (Sec. 212) Authorizes the Board to extend from five years to ten years the period during which a bank holding company may retain shares acquired in a loan foreclosure. (Sec. 213) Amends the Federal Credit Union Act to increase from $10,000 to $50,000 the aggregate amount of loans to Credit Union officials that may be made without approval of the board of directors. Subtitle B: Streamlining of Government Regulations; Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the Revised Statutes to repeal the aggregate minimum per-branch capital requirements imposed upon a national banking association and its branches. (Sec. 222) Amends the FDIA to exclude automated teller machines and bank branches in specified merger or relocation situations from the definition of "bank branch" (thus exempting them from Federal bank closure notification requirements). Makes such exemption retroactive to the enactment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991. (Sec. 223) Amends the Depository Institutions Management Interlocks Act to exempt management officials of depository institutions or holding companies with small (under 20 percent) market shares from prohibitions against dual service with unaffiliated institutions or companies in the same geographic banking market. Raises from $1 billion to $2.5 billion the asset-size ceiling beneath which a depository institution or depository holding company may retain directors and management officials performing dual service for nonaffiliated institutions whose total assets do not exceed $1.5 billion (currently $500 million). Authorizes Federal regulatory agencies to adjust such ceiling annually for cost-of-living increases. Extends a specified grandfather exemption which allows certain management officials to continue dual service despite interlocks prohibitions (thus permitting them to continue their dual service permanently). (Sec. 224) Directs the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Financial Institutions Examination Council to accelerate repayment of specified funds to the Treasury. (Sec. 225) Amends the FRA to permit loans to executive officers, directors, or principal shareholders (insider lending) made pursuant to a benefit or compensation program widely available to employees of the member bank, and that does not give preference to any officer, director or principal shareholder of the member bank over other bank employees. Expands the Board's authority to exempt specified executive officers and directors from the proscription against preferential lending terms. Repeals the requirement that an executive officer indebted to a bank over a certain lawful amount submit a written report of such debt to the board of directors. Amends the FRA to permit a member bank to make available to its executive officers: (1) home equity lines of credit of up to $100,000; and (2) loans secured by readily marketable assets. (Sec. 226) Amends the FDIA to allow the appropriate Federal banking agency to increase from $175 million to $250 million the asset-size ceiling on certain small depository institutions whose mandatory periodic on-site examinations make take place every 18 months instead of annually. Requires the Federal banking agencies to report semiannually to the Congress regarding implementation of a coordinated Federal bank examination system until it is in place and provides full coordination of examinations of State depository institutions with State bank supervisors. (Sec. 227) Amends the Right to Financial Privacy Act to require a Government authority to reimburse a financial institution for assembling or providing the financial records of corporate customers. (Sec. 228) Amends specified Federal monetary law to repeal the requirement that depository institutions identify domestic nonbank financial institution customers (retaining the requirement for foreign nonbank financial institution customers). (Sec. 229) Requires each appropriate Federal banking agency and the National Credit Union Administration to conduct a paperwork reduction review, and eliminate any requirements for unnecessary internal written policies. (Sec. 230) Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to revise the daily confirmation requirement under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 concerning hold-in custody repurchase agreements to permit the counterparty to the agreement to waive such confirmation upon receipt of certain disclosures. (Sec. 231) Requires the Financial Institutions Examination Council and each Federal banking agency represented on it to review and identify unnecessary regulations every ten years and report thereon to the Congress. (Sec. 232) Amends the International Lending Supervision Act to change from mandatory to discretionary the duty of each appropriate Federal banking agency to: (1) require a banking institution to maintain a special reserve whenever the quality of its assets has been impaired by protracted inability of debtors in a foreign country to make payments; (2) analyze the results of foreign loan rescheduling negotiations and attendant loan risks; and (3) ensure that bank capital and reserve positions are adequate to accommodate potential losses on foreign loans. (Sec. 233) Amends FDIA financial management accountability guidelines to: (1) repeal the mandate that an independent public accountant detect and report non-compliance with laws and regulations; (2) permit Federal agencies to designate certain required reports of financial condition as privileged and confidential and not available to the public; (3) exempt well-capitalized and well-managed insured depository institutions from mandatory financial management status reports (although not from the requirement of independent financial audits); (4) restructure audit committee membership from one entirely made up of outside directors independent of management, to one at least one-half of whose membership is composed of outside directors independent of management; and (5) exclude outside directors from the primary definition of an "institution-affiliated party" but include them in such definition as independent contractors if an appropriate Federal banking agency determines for purposes of insurance termination that it is appropriate under the circumstances, after taking into consideration that an outside director may have a different level of knowledge of the management and operation of an insured depository institution than one who is not an outside director. (Sec. 235) Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 to: (1) prescribe guidelines under which the Board may approve a foreign bank application to establish a U.S. presence even though it is not subject to comprehensive supervision on a consolidated basis in its home country; and (2) authorize termination of a foreign bank office if the appropriate authorities in its home country are not making progress in establishing arrangements for such supervision. (Sec. 236) Directs the Board to avoid unnecessary duplication of foreign bank examinations. Subjects foreign banks to the same on-site examination schedule and examination fee collections as apply to domestic banks. (Sec. 237) Instructs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve Board) to ascertain and report to the Congress whether the national market for certain mortgages secured by a consumer's principal dwelling has been impacted by the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 (including its impact upon lenders, consumers, and the secondary mortgage market for refinanced loans and home equity loans). Amends TILA disclosure guidelines to waive: (1) new disclosure requirements for any change in regular payment amounts of two percent or less from the initially disclosed regular payment amount, and in specified third party fees or disbursements; and (2) the three business days disclosure requirement in the case of certain consumer credit transactions secured by a consumer's principal dwelling. Includes certain consumer credit transactions secured by a consumer's principal dwelling within the purview of TILA disclosure regulations. (Sec. 238) Revises FDIA guidelines to approve new activities of a State bank and its subsidiaries if the FDIC has not disapproved the bank's prior 60-day written notice of intent to engage in such activities. (Sec. 239) Amends the Revised Statutes to repeal the requirement that three bank directors, in addition to the officer making the declaration, attest in writing the correctness of reports of condition. (Sec. 240) Retitles the Bank Service Corporation Act the "Bank Service Company Act" and amends it to authorize banks under the Act to own limited liability companies). (Sec. 241) Amends the FRA to increase from ten percent to 25 percent the amount of capital and surplus that a national bank may invest in the stock of Edge Act subsidiaries and certain financial service corporations held by a member bank's non-U.S. branches. (Sec. 242) Requires each appropriate Federal banking agency to report to certain congressional committees on its actions to reconcile Regulatory Accounting Principles and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, thereby eliminating inconsistent or duplicative accounting and reporting requirements applicable to mandatory reports filed by insured depository institutions. (Sec. 243) Permits the Comptroller of the Currency to waive the residency requirement for national bank directors. (Sec. 244) Amends FDIA to: (1) direct each Federal banking agency to ensure that its banking examiners consult on examination activities and resolve any inconsistent recommendations given to a depository institution; and (2) revise the mandate for establishment of a joint banking agency system to include State bank examiners as well as Federal agencies among the options for determining which shall be the lead agency responsible for managing a unified examination of each insured depository institution. (Sec. 245) Amends HOLA to authorize the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision to grant exceptions to the statutory prohibition against tying arrangements by a savings association. Title III: Lender Liability - Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) a person holding indicia of ownership primarily to protect a security interest in a vessel or facility should not, except in certain circumstances, be considered to have "participated in management" as that term is used in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA); (2) the term "security interest" as used in CERCLA should include rights accruing to a person to secure repayment of specified obligations, including those under various security instruments; and (3) the Congress should address the potential liability of lenders and fiduciaries under Superfund (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Title IV: Annual Study and Report on Impact on Lending to Small Business - Directs the following agencies to submit a joint annual report to the Congress on the extent to which the regulatory reductions under this Act have resulted in increased lending to small businesses: (1) the Federal Reserve Board; (2) the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision; (3) the Comptroller of the Currency; and (4) the FDIC Board of Directors. Title V: Financial Serv ice Reform - Subtitle A: Reform of Holding Company Procedures - Amends BHCA to revise examination and reporting requirements for Financial Services Holding Companies (FSHC). (Sec. 502) Sets forth a statutory scheme for reduced supervision of FSHCs controlling principally nondepository institutions. (Sec. 503) Sets forth a procedure for the conversion of unitary savings and loan holding companies to FSHC status, during the 18 months after the enactment of this Act, without prior Board approval. Sets forth a statutory scheme under which a FSHC may retain ownership or control of specified nonconforming financial companies. (Sec. 505) Renames the BHCA of 1956 as the Financial Services Holding Company Act of 1996. (Sec. 507) Specifies that "bank" does not include an institution: (1) which engages only in the provision of credit card accounts for business purposes; or (2) which does not engage in the business of making commercial loans (other than the provision of credit card accounts for business purposes in connection with such credit card operations). (Sec. 508) Amends the Federal Credit Union Act to prohibit an insured credit union from being sponsored by, or accepting financial support from, any Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) whose customers are in the field of the credit union's membership. Excepts from this prohibition the forms of financial assistance generally provided by a GSE in its ordinary course of business. Amends FDIA to prohibit a depository institution from being an affiliate of, sponsored by, or accepting financial support from any GSE. Exempts from such proscription: (1) members of a depository institution in a Federal Home Loan Bank; and (2) financial assistance authorized by statute. (Sec. 509) Identifies circumstances under which qualified limited purpose banks are exempt from: (1) asset growth restrictions; (2) new activities' restrictions; (3) cross-marketing restrictions; and (4) divestiture requirements. Prescribes guidelines for the conversion of certain nonbank holding companies to FSHC status. (Sec. 510) Amends the BHCA of 1956 to authorize the Federal Reserve Board to waive, or adjust at its discretion, the procedural requirements governing applications to acquire bank shares or assets (including the attendant filing and information requirements). Amends the Federal Reserve Act regarding loans by member banks on stock or bond collateral, to: (1) abolish the minimum six-member affirmative vote required for the Board to adjust the percentage of individual bank capital and surplus which may be represented by loans secured by stock or bond collateral; and (2) repeal the 15 percent of unimpaired capital and surplus ceiling on the amount of loans a bank may make to any person. (Sec. 511) Amends the BHCA of 1956 to define a qualified family partnership and to exclude it from the definition of "company". Subtitle B: Interagency Banking and Financial Services Task Force - Establishes the Banking and Financial Services Task Force to make recommendations: (1) to the Board and the Comptroller of the Currency; and (2) for legislative or administrative action regarding the supervision, efficiency, and competitiveness of the financial services industry. (Sec. 522) Establishes the Financial Services Advisory Committee to advise the Task Force and submit an annual status report to certain congressional committees. Title VI: Drought Relief - Expresses the sense of the Congress that financial institutions and Federal bank regulators should work cooperatively with farmers and ranchers in drought-affected communities to allow financial obligations to be met without imposing undue burdens. Title VII: Financial Activities - Amends the BHCA of 1956 to exempt from its prohibition against interests in nonbanking organizations any activity the Federal Reserve Board determines is either financial in nature, or incidental to financial activities. Declares that, for purposes of interpreting "financial activity," transactions in which an FSHC acting as principal, agent, or broker provides either insurance, or an annuity contract whose income is tax- deferred, shall not be deemed to be: (1) closely related to banking, or managing or controlling banks; (2) financial in nature; or (3) incidental to a financial activity (thereby retaining those transactions within the ambit of proscribed activities). Repeals the mandate that the Board consider, when determining whether a particular activity is a proper incident to banking, if its performance by a bank holding company affiliate is such that the public interest benefit outweighs any possible adverse effects (such as undue concentration of resources, decreased or unfair competition, conflicts of interests, or unsound banking practices). States that for purposes of determining insurance activities exempt from the proscription against interests in nonbanking organizations, the term "insurance agency activity" includes providing any annuity contract as agent or broker. (Sec. 702) Amends FDIA to include within the definition of deposit any liability of an insured depository institution arising under an annuity contract whose income is tax-deferred (retirement certificates of deposit). (Sec. 703) Requires the Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on whether State insurance regulation of the insurance activities of national banks is adequate or comparable to that of nonbank activities. (Sec. 704) Amends the Revised Statutes to require national banks to comply with non-discriminatory State licensing requirements governing individuals selling insurance as agents. Title VIII: Deposit Insurance Funds - Deposit Insurance Funds Act of 1996 - Directs the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to impose a special assessment on the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF)-assessable deposits of each insured depository institution at a rate that the Board, in its sole discretion, determines will cause the SAIF to achieve the designated reserve ratio on the first business day of the first month beginning after the date of enactment of this Act. Allows the Board to exempt weak institutions from such assessment, but requires exemption for certain newly chartered and other defined institutions, which shall pay semiannual assessments at certain former rates during calendar years 1996 through 1998. (Sec. 801) Authorizes certain institutions facing hardship as a result of the special assessment to elect to pay it in two assessments, plus a third supplemental special assessment, determined according to specified formulae. Prescribes adjustments of the special assessment for Bank Insurance Fund (BIF) member banks and certain savings associations. Amends FDIA to require the deposit into the SAIF of exit fees resulting from a conversion transaction. Authorizes the FDIC Board of Directors to exempt insured depository institutions that have paid the exit and entrance fees from paying the special assessment intended to capitalize the SAIF. (Sec. 803) Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (FHLBA) and FDIA to revise the assessment authority of the Financing Corporation (FICO), extending FICO assessments to all FDIC-insured depository institutions (rather than SAIF members only). Repeals specified limits on the amount that may be assessed. Declares that assessments imposed upon insured depository institutions with respect to any BIF-assessable deposit shall be assessed at 1\5 of the rate of the assessments imposed on insured depository institutions with respect to any SAIF-assessable deposit. (Sec. 804) Declares that the SAIF and the BIF shall be merged into the Deposit Insurance Fund, which shall have a Special Reserve for any excess of the SAIF reserve ratio over the designated reserve ratio. (Sec. 805) Amends FDIA to establish a SAIF Special Reserve if the SAIF reserve exceeds the designated reserve ratio on January 1, 1999. (Sec. 806) Prescribes procedural guidelines for the refund of assessed payments in a deposit insurance fund in excess of the designated reserve amount. (Sec. 807) States that the assessment rate for a SAIF member may not be less than the assessment rate for a BIF member posing a comparable risk to the deposit insurance fund. (Sec. 808) Prohibits the FDIC Board of Directors from setting semi-annual assessments in excess of the amount needed to maintain or achieve the designated reserve ratio of a deposit insurance fund. (Sec. 809) Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to study and report to the Congress on all issues relevant to the development of a common charter for all insured depository institutions and the abolition of separate and distinct charters between banks and savings associations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1996
Medigap Amendments of 1996 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to certification of Medicare supplemental health insurance policies, particularly coverage for pre-existing conditions, providing for additional consumer protections for certain individuals whose enrollment with an eligible organization ceases for one or more specified reasons. Prohibits a Medicare supplemental policy issuer from denying or conditioning a policy to such an individual, from imposing preexisting condition exclusions, and from discriminating in pricing because of the individual's health, claims experience, or disability in the case of such an individual who has had continuous coverage (with no break longer than 63 days), if the policy in which the individual wishes to enroll has a comparable or less generous benefits package. Revises the prohibition against an insurer's excluding benefits based on a pre-existing condition during the initial six-month enrollment period after an individual first becomes eligible for Medicare. Extends the six-month initial enrollment period to non-elderly Medicare beneficiaries. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide grants to private, independent, nonprofit consumer organizations and State agencies applying to conduct programs to prepare and make available to Medicare beneficiaries comprehensive and understandable information on enrollment in health plans with a Medicare managed care contract and in Medicare supplemental policies in which they are eligible to enroll. Requires any eligible organization with a Medicare managed care contract or any issuer of a Medicare supplemental policy to: (1) conduct a consumer satisfaction survey of the enrollees under such contract or such policy; and (2) make the survey results available to the Secretary and the State Insurance Commissioner of the State in which the enrollees are so enrolled. Requires each organization which provides a Medicare managed care contract or issues a Medicare supplemental policy to pay to the Secretary its pro rata share of the estimated costs to be incurred by the Secretary in providing the grants. Makes necessary appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1996
Restores Federal armed forces provisions relating to the status of missing persons as in effect before amendments made by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1996
Financial Regulator Independence Protection Act - Amends the Federal Credit Union Act and the Federal Deposit Insurance Act with respect to the terms of office of the National Credit Union Administration Board and the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), respectively, to provide that each member shall: (1) serve a six-year term of office unless removed for cause by the President; and (2) continue to serve after the term expiration date until a successor is appointed and has qualified.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1996
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase permitted contributions to a defined contribution retirement plan.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1996
Clinical Research Enhancement Act of 1996 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the President to establish the President's Clinical Research Panel, as part of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), to evaluate the status of the U.S. clinical research environment. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Advisory Committee to the Director (of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)) on Clinical Research to report to the Director and to the Panel and to implement recommendations as the Committee determines necessary to remedy NIH clinical research deficiencies. Terminates the Committee five years after enactment of this Act. Requires the OSTP to review the compositions, functions, and outcomes of study section activities at all Federal agencies as such activities relate to clinical research proposals for investigator-initiated support. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Director to: (1) support and expand NIH's clinical research involvement; (2) support and expand available resources; and (3) establish certain peer review mechanisms. Mandates grants for: (1) the establishment of general clinical research centers to provide the infrastructure for clinical research training and career enhancement; (2) clinical research career enhancement awards; and (3) innovative medical science awards to support individual clinical research projects. Authorizes appropriations. Increases the maximum aggregate number of contracts that may be made under existing provisions relating to: (1) undergraduate scholarships regarding professions needed by NIH; and (2) loan repayments regarding clinical researchers (currently, clinical researchers from disadvantaged backgrounds). Authorizes appropriations for the loan repayment program. Requires that at least 50 percent of such funds for a fiscal year be used for contracts with qualified health professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1996
Senior Citizens Homeownership Protection Act of 1996 - Amends the National Housing Act to convert the senior homeowner home equity conversion mortgage insurance authority from a demonstration to a permanent program. Revises related consumer education provisions. Obligates funds for counseling and consumer education.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 1996
Amends the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to exclude certain not-for-hire transportation of agricultural production materials (including pesticides, fertilizers, and fuels) from regulation under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1996
Precision Agriculture Research, Education, and Information Dissemination Act of 1996 - Amends the Competitive, Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act to emphasize competitive grants that promote precision agriculture (as defined by this Act) research projects and to promote dissemination of such projects' results. Provides for the establishment of multistate and national agriculture partnerships, including existing partnerships between national laboratories (Secretary of Energy) and the Department of Agriculture. Amends the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to include precision agriculture within the research categories of the Fund for Rural America.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1996
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to temporarily permit two-year averaging of farm income.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Overseas Private Investment Corporation Title II: Trade and Development Agency Title III: Export Promotion Programs within the International Trade Administration Title IV: Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee Exports, Jobs, and Growth Act of 1996 - Title I: Overseas Private Investment Corporation - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to increase the maximum per capita income levels of less developed countries eligible for Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) economic investment projects. Increases the ceilings on the maximum contingent liabilities outstanding at any one time for investment insurance and for the financing of investment guarantees issued by OPIC as well as of direct U.S. investment. Extends OPIC's authority to issue such insurance and guarantees through FY 2000. Revises the congressional purpose of OPIC to include increasing U.S. exports to less developed countries and countries in transition from nonmarket to market economies. Revises the composition of the OPIC Board of Directors. Title II: Trade and Development Agency - Authorizes appropriations for the Trade and Development Agency for FY 1997 and 1998. Title III: Export Promotion Programs Within the International Trade Administration - Amends the Export Administration Amendments Act of 1985 to authorize appropriations for the Department of Commerce export promotion programs for FY 1997 and 1998. Title IV: Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee - Amends the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 to require the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee to develop a Federal trade promotion plan that, among other things, identifies the means for providing more coordinated export promotion services to small and medium-sized businesses.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Equalization of Medicare Reimbursement Rates to Health Maintenance Organizations and Competitive Medical Plans Title II: Grants to Encourage Establishment of Community Rural Health Networks Title III: Medicare Rural Primary Care Hospitals and Rural Emergency Access Care Hospitals Subtitle A: Rural Primary Care Hospital Program Subtitle B: Rural Emergency Access Care Hospitals Title IV: Incentives for Health Professionals to Practice in Rural Areas Subtitle A: National Health Service Corps Subtitle B: Primary Care Services Furnished in Shortage Areas Title V: Classification of Rural Referral Centers Title VI: Promotion of Health Centers in Rural Regions Title VII: Medicare Payment Methodologies Title VIII: Antitrust Title IX: Financing Rural Health Improvement Act of 1996 - Expresses the sense of the Congress that this Act reflects the dedication of the late U.S. Representative Bill Emerson to ensuring health care access for all rural Americans. Title I: Equalization of Medicare Reimbursement Rates to Health Maintenance Organizations and Competitive Medical Plans - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to revise provisions for payments to health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and competitive medical plans (CMPs) for the stated purpose of equalizing Medicare reimbursement rates to HMOs and CMPs. Title II: Grants to Encourage Establishment of Community Rural Health Networks - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide grants over a three year period to eligible States for development of plans to increase access to health care services for residents of areas in the State that are designated as chronically underserved. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 202) Directs the HHS Secretary to make funds available to provide technical assistance and advice for certain entities seeking to establish or enhance a community rural health network in an underserved rural area. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 203) Directs the HHS Secretary to provide financial assistance (development grants) to eligible entities for the development and implementation of community rural health networks, giving priority to eligible entities in States with developed plans to increase the access of residents of chronically underserved areas to health care services. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 205) Ends Federal financing for the grant program for rural health transition under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 and a certain program for rural outreach grants. Title III: Medicare Rural Primary Care Hospitals and Rural Emergency Access Care Hospitals - Subtitle A: Rural Primary Care Hospital Program - Replaces the Essential Access Community Hospital Program (EACH) under Medicare with the Medicare Rural Primary Care Hospital Program, while continuing payment to designated EACHs. Bases payment for inpatient and outpatient rural primary care hospital services on the reasonable costs of the hospital in providing such services. Lengthens from 72 to 96 hours the maximum period of permitted inpatient stay at a rural primary care hospital. Subtitle B: Rural Emergency Access Care Hospitals - Provides for a new Medicare Rural Emergency Access Care Hospital program, detailing coverage and payment for services. Title IV: Incentives for Health Professionals to Practice in Rural Areas - Subtitle A: National Health Service Corps - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude qualified National Health Service Corps scholarship payments and loan repayments from gross income. (Sec. 402) Requires the HHS Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the allocation of Corps members among shortage areas. (Sec. 403) Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary to give special priority to applications by community rural health networks for the assignment of Corps personnel for providing health services in or to a health professional shortage area. Subtitle B: Primary Care Services Furnished in Shortage Areas - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for an increase in the amount of additional Medicare payments for primary care services (currently, physicians' services) furnished in rural shortage areas, and for services that are furnished by a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or nurse midwife that would be physicians' services if furnished by a physician. Extends such payment for former shortage areas. Requires carriers to report on services provided. Title V: Classification of Rural Referral Centers - Amends SSA title XVIII to prohibit denial of a rural referral center's request for reclassification on the basis of comparability of wages. Provides for the continuing treatment of previously designated rural referral centers. Title VI: Promotion of Health Centers in Rural Regions - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the HHS Secretary, in making grants in rural areas for new or expanded services for each fiscal year, to give priority to projects that would be located in a State, or county or region of a State, that is not already serviced by an existing community health center. Requires also the Secretary to give special consideration to projects which have entered into a collaborative agreement with a community hospital meeting certain requirements. Title VII: Medicare Payment Methodologies - Directs the HHS Secretary to establish a methodology for making payments under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) for telemedicine services furnished on an emergency basis to rural residents. Title VIII: Antitrust - Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the Federal Trade Commission, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, give special consideration to antitrust guidelines affecting physician and hospital networks located in rural areas during its ongoing review of such guidelines; and (2) the completion of the Commission's review be expedited to provide relief and clarification to physicians and hospitals working to develop alternative means of providing accessible, affordable, and quality health care services to all Americans, especially those living and working in rural areas. Title IX: Financing - Revises Medicare secondary payer requirements. Makes permanent the requirements for: (1) employer responses to fiscal intermediary or carrier inquiries about the coverage of an employee or employee's spouse under a group health plan of the employer; and (2) the prohibition against a large group health plan's taking into account that the employee or a dependent of the employee is entitled to Medicare or end stage renal disease benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1996
Landmine Removal Assistance Act - Directs the President to carry out a humanitarian program (including technical and financial assistance to foreign governments, the United Nations, and specified kinds of humanitarian and international organizations) to improve awareness, detection, and clearance of antipersonnel landmines and explosive ordnance. Requires an annual joint report of the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development to the Congress with respect to such program. Prohibits the use of U.S. armed forces in: (1) the detection, lifting, or destruction of antipersonnel landmines or explosive ordnance (unless it is done to support a U.S. military operation); or (2) providing such assistance as part of a military operation that does not involve U.S. armed forces. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1996
Clinical Research Enhancement Act of 1996 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the President to establish the President's Clinical Research Panel, as part of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), to evaluate the status of the U.S. clinical research environment. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Advisory Committee to the Director (of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)) on Clinical Research to report to the Director and to the Panel and to implement recommendations as the Committee determines necessary to remedy NIH clinical research deficiencies. Terminates the Committee five years after enactment of this Act. Requires the OSTP to review the compositions, functions, and outcomes of study section activities at all Federal agencies as such activities relate to clinical research proposals for investigator-initiated support. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Director to undertake activities to: (1) support and expand NIH's clinical research involvement; (2) support and expand available resources; and (3) establish certain peer review mechanisms. Mandates grants for: (1) the establishment of general clinical research centers to provide the infrastructure for clinical research training and career enhancement; (2) clinical research career enhancement awards; and (3) innovative medical science awards to support individual clinical research projects. Authorizes appropriations. Increases the maximum aggregate number of contracts that may be made under existing provisions relating to: (1) undergraduate scholarships regarding professions needed by NIH; and (2) loan repayments regarding clinical researchers (currently, clinical researchers from disadvantaged backgrounds). Authorizes appropriations for the loan repayment program. Requires a health plan to cover the participation of individuals in investigational therapy in specified circumstances.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 1996
NATO Enlargement Facilitation Act of 1996 - Declares that it should be the policy of the United States to: (1) assist the transition to full membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe; and (2) work to construct a political and security relationship between an enlarged NATO and the Russian Federation. Expresses the sense of the Congress that in order to promote security in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Moldova, and Ukraine: (1) the United States should support the full and active participation of these countries in activities that will qualify them for NATO membership; (2) the U.S. Government should press the European Union to admit as soon as possible any country qualifying for membership; and (3) the United States and NATO should support military and peacekeeping initiatives between and among such countries, NATO countries, and Russia. Designates Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic as eligible to receive certain assistance for transition to full membership in NATO. Requires the President to designate as eligible for such assistance other emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe that meet specified criteria. Authorizes appropriations for NATO enlargement assistance. Declares that the transfer of excess defense articles to countries intending to participate in NATO (including countries of NATO's southern flank) shall be given priority, to the maximum extent feasible, over the delivery of such articles to other countries, except certain countries specified under the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1995. Declares that the Congress endorses U.S. efforts to modernize the defense capability of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and any other countries the President designates under the NATO Participation Act of 1994, by exploring options for the sale or lease to such countries of weapons systems compatible with those used by NATO members, including air defense systems, advanced fighter aircraft, and telecommunications infrastructure. Amends the NATO Participation Act of 1994 to establish a presidential and congressional procedure for termination of eligibility for assistance for Partnership for Peace countries which: (1) no longer meet certain eligibility criteria; (2) are hostile to the NATO alliance; or (3) pose a national security threat to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 1996
Congressional Pension Integrity Act of 1996 - Amends Federal law to deny annuity or retirement pay to an individual convicted on or after the enactment of this Act of a felony or a crime under State or Federal law that results from conduct directly related to the performance of the individual's official duties as a Member of Congress: (1) for which the individual is convicted on or after the date such individual first becomes a Member of Congress (including a Delegate to Congress), whether or not such individual is still such a Member on the date of conviction; and (2) which was committed after enactment of this Act. Denies annuity benefits to such an individual who willfully remains outside the United States or its territories and possessions for more than one year with knowledge of his or her indictment or charges. Provides for forfeiture of retirement contributions and deposits made by such individuals, including contributions into the Thrift Savings Plan.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1996
Regulator Term Limit Act of 1996 - Provides that an individual may not serve more than two terms as a member of any particular independent regulatory commission and permits continued service by an individual following the expiration of the individual's term. Sets forth a limitation on continued service.
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 1996
Commuter Rail Safety Act of 1996 - Amends Federal transportation law to revise hours of duty limitations for train employees to prohibit them, among other things, from remaining or going on duty: (1) after having completed a tour of duty, unless having had at least eight consecutive hours of undisturbed rest; and (2) unless such employee has received at least eight hours notice before the time for reporting for duty, except in the event of an emergency, in which case the employee may not work for more than eight hours after reporting for duty. Prohibits a railroad carrier from requiring or allowing a commuter rail train employee to operate a split shift unless it begins between 4 o'clock a.m. and 8 o'clock a.m. Prohibits a railroad carrier and a railroad carrier employer from discharging or in any way discriminating against an employee (whistleblower) who has furnished railroad accident or injury information to the railroad carrier, the Federal Railroad Administration, or other Federal or State agency. Sets forth both civil and criminal penalties for violations under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1996
Family Pet Protection Act of 1996 - Amends the Animal Welfare Act to set forth restrictions on sources and sales of dogs and cats for research or educational purposes. Sets forth additional requirements for pounds, including provisions regarding: (1) registration; (2) release forms; (3) certification; and (4) transfers.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1996
Congressional Travel Accountability Resolution - Amends the Rules of the House of Representatives to add rule LIII that requires: (1) each Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner in the House to submit to the Clerk biannually an itemized report detailing all covered Federal travel by the Member (as a Member) and the costs associated with such travel; and (2) the Clerk to submit the information for publication in the Congressional Record. Defines "covered Federal travel" as any travel paid from Federal funds, with the exception of travel by the Member: (1) between the Member's district and the Washington metropolitan area; (2) within the Member's district; or (3) within the Washington metropolitan area.
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 1996
Minimum Wage Increase Act of 1996 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the minimum wage rate under such Act from the current $4.25 per hour to: (1) $4.75 per hour for one year beginning 90 days after enactment of this Act; and (2) $5.25 per hour after that year.
United States · United States Congress · 16 April 1996
National Discovery Trails Act of 1996 - Amends the National Trails System Act (the Act) to provide that national discovery trails established under the Act shall be components of the National Trails System. Provides that such trails shall be extended, continuous interstate trails located so as to provide for outdoor recreation and travel and to connect representative examples of America's trails and communities. Designates the 6,000-mile American Discovery Trail (established by this Act) as a national discovery trail. Provides that the Trail shall extend from Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes National Seashore in California, traveling northern and southern routes from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Denver, Colorado. Exempts the Trail from comprehensive national scenic trail plan requirements under the Act, but requires the Secretary of the Interior to enter into arrangements with a nonprofit organization to submit to specified congressional committees, within three fiscal years after this Act's enactment, a comprehensive plan for the protection, management, development, and use of the Trail.
United States · United States Congress · 16 April 1996
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat the acquisition by a first-time farmer of land or personal property from a related person as not being an acquisition from a related person. Modifies the definition of "substantial farmland."
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1996
Congratulates the people of the Republic of Sierra Leone for holding their first democratic multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections in nearly 30 years. Encourages them to continue to negotiate an end to the civil war and to work together. Reaffirms the commitment of the United States to helping nations move toward freedom and democracy and to encouraging peace, democracy, and economic development on the African continent.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1996
Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act of 1996 - Requires health plans and employee health benefit plans that provide maternity (including childbirth) benefits to ensure that coverage is provided for: (1) specified minimum periods after delivery; and (2) certain post-delivery care.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1996
ERISA Clarification Act of 1995 - Directs the Secretary of Labor to issue guidance on the application of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to insurance company general accounts. Requires such guidance to: (1) be for purposes of determining, in cases where an insurer issues one or more policies to or for the benefit of an employee benefit plan, which assets of the insurer (other than plan assets held in its separate accounts) constitute assets of the plan for purposes of specified provisions of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code; and (2) provide that assets not treated as plan assets under certain provisions not be treated as plan assets under other provisions. Authorizes the Secretary to exclude any assets of the insurer with respect to its operations, products, or services from treatment as plan assets.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1996
Commission on Retirement Income Policy Act of 1996 - Establishes the Commission on Retirement Income Policy to study and report to the President and Congress on: (1) trends in retirement savings in the United States; (2) existing Federal incentives and programs to encourage and protect such savings; and (3) new Federal incentives and programs needed for such purpose. Requires the Commission to address specified issues and to include in its recommendation measures addressing specified needs of future retirees.