United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1986
Farm Programs Adjustment Act of 1986 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set 1986 and 1987 farm program payment yields at not less than 1985 levels. Nonprogram Crop Amendments Act of 1986 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture (in addition to existing conservation use requirements) to permit specified nonprogram crops to be planted on underplanted acreage (under an acreage limitation program) for the 1986 through 1990 crops of wheat, feed grains, rice, and upland cotton only if such production: (1) is not likely to increase price support program costs and will not adversely affect existing producers of such nonprogram crops; and (2) is necessary to provide an adequate supply of the commodity, or to encourage domestic industrial use of a commodity not yet in use. Waives such provision if a producer shows that prior to February 16, 1986, he or she planted or contracted to plant nonprogram crops on such acreage. Subjects a producer who knowingly provides false waiver information to a penalty. Gives 1986 wheat producers the option of planting five or ten percent (currently only ten percent) of their acreage to conservation use prior to the Secretary's announcement of the terms of acreage limitation for that crop. Extends the milk production termination program (program) sign-up period through April 1, 1986. Provides that, for purposes of submitting bids under such program, a producer's marketing history shall be: (1) in the case of a producer who participated in the pre-Food Security Act of 1985 milk diversion program, and at his or her option, either the 1985 milk marketings or the marketing history used for such diversion program; and (2) in the case of a non-diversion producer, the smaller of milk marketings in 1985 or the 12-month period beginning July 1984. Makes such provision effective as of December 23, 1985. Directs the Secretary, for purposes of program dairy production base reductions, not to consider as dairy cattle beef-dairy cross-bred progeny not intended for dairy use. Directs the Secretary to make specified payment limitation determinations relating to a disapproved farm operating plan payment limitation review. Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize the Secretary to use unspecified (currently specified) amounts of Commodity Credit Corporation funds or commodities for FY 1986 through 1988 targeted export assistance. Reduces the minimum value of agricultural commodities to be used for FY 1986 through 1988 foreign market development.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1986
Makes various recommendations to States regarding the availability of medical care and the resolution of medical malpractice claims, including: (1) reforming State tort law to place caps on the recovery of noneconomic losses in medical malpractice suits and proportioning financial liability based on comparative fault; (2) strengthening State agencies which license, certify, and discipline health care professionals; (3) implementing risk management programs; (4) requiring hospitals to confirm the credentials and work history of physicians; (5) reforming State contract law to enforce agreements to forego malpractice litigation in favor of alternative dispute resolution procedures; and (6) strengthening State insurance regulations to protect consumers.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1986
Agricultural Loan Assistance Act of 1986 - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to require Federal banking agencies to permit an agricultural bank to: (1) amortize over ten years any loss on a qualified agricultural loan that the bank would otherwise be required to show on an annual financial statement for 1985 through 1989; and (2) reappraise the value of any real estate or other real or personal property that the bank acquired coincident to making a qualified agricultural loan and that it owned on January 1, 1985, and any additional property that it acquired before January 1, 1990, and to amortize over ten years any loss resulting from such reappraisal that it would otherwise be required to show on its annual financial statements. Allows such amortization only if there is no evidence that fraud or criminal abuse by the bank led to such losses.
United States · United States Congress · 19 February 1986
Authorizes and requests the President to present, on behalf of the Congress, gold medals to Anatoly and Avital Shcharansky in recognition of their supreme dedication and total commitment to human rights and freedoms. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to determine the design of the medals. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to sell bronze duplicates of the medals.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1986
Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 1986 - Amends the judicial code to increase the number of bankruptcy judges: (1) from two to three for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas; (2) from seven to nine for the Northern District of California; (3) from four to six for the Eastern District of California; (4) from 12 to 19 for the Central District of California; (5) from three to four for the Southern District of California; (6) from two to four for the Middle District of Florida; (7) from four to six for the Northern District of Georgia; (8) from one to two for the Southern District of Georgia; (9) from one to two for Idaho; (10) from eight to ten for the Northern District of Illinois; (11) from two to three for the Central District of Illinois; (12) from two to three for the Northern District of Indiana; (13) from one to two for the Northern District of Iowa; (14) from one to two for the Southern District of Iowa; (15) from two to three for the Western District of Kentucky; (16) from two to three for Maryland; (17) from two to three for the Western District of Michigan; (18) from one to two for Nebraska; (19) from two to three for Nevada; (20) from five to seven for New Jersey; (21) from one to two for the Northern District of Oklahoma; (22) from two to three for the Western District of Oklahoma; (23) from four to five for Oregon; (24) from one to two for South Carolina; (25) from two to three for the Eastern District of Tennessee; (26) from two to three for the Western District of Tennessee; (27) from four to five for the Northern District of Texas; (28) from three to six for the Southern District of Texas; (29) from two to three for the Western District of Texas; (30) from two to three for Utah; (31) from three to four for the Eastern District of Virginia; (32) from one to two for the Eastern District of Washington; (33) from four to five for the Western District of Washington; and (34) from three to four for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Makes members of the bar of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico eligible for appointment to bankruptcy judgeships.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1986
Authorizes the President, on behalf of the Congress, to present a gold medal to Mary Lasker in recognition of her humanitarian contributions in medical research and education, urban beautification, and the fine arts. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for the sale of bronze duplicates of the medal.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1986
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States, in cooperation with other members of the international donor community, should call upon the Ethiopian Government to recognize that resources donated for famine relief should be used for that purpose and not diverted to resettlement efforts; (2) such forced resettlements by the Ethiopian Government should be halted and monitored by the United Nations (U.N.); (3) the Ethiopian Government should commit sufficient resources to move food and relief goods to meet the needs of its people; and (4) the U.N. should insist on free access to resettlement sites for international observers and the news media and report on conditions in the resettlement camps.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1986
Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to permit the Secretary of Agriculture to require cross compliance (the conditioning of price support benefits eligibility on acreage reduction compliance) for the 1986 through 1990 wheat and feed grain crops. (Current law directs the Secretary to require cross-compliance.)
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1986
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should award the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to Michael J. Smith, Francis R. Scobee, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Gregory B. Jarvis, and Judith A. Resnik, all of whom died in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
United States · United States Congress · 19 December 1985
Pharmaceutical Export Amendments of 1986 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to permit the export of certain drugs (including biological products) intended for human or animal use even though such drugs have not been approved or licensed for use in the United States. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish and update a two-tiered list of countries with adequate governmental health authorities which in the first tier includes developed regulatory procedures and tests with experienced scientific personnel and in the second tier includes sufficient ability to assure consistency of labeling information. Permits shipments to nonlist countries if differing health conditions there make such shipments desirable, e. g. tropical diseases. Permits the export of an unapproved drug to a second tier country if such drug is approved for use in any first-tier country and not banned for use in any first-tier country. Prohibits the export of drugs denied approval on the basis of safety and efficacy or whose manufacture in the United States has been determined to be contrary to U.S. health and safety. Sets forth other criteria and restrictions on the export of such drugs, including notice requirements on shipments and notice of and opportunity to cure deficiencies in such shipments. Permits the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to prohibit noncomplying shipments and shipments otherwise permitted if either Secretary determines a shipment would present an imminent hazard to the public health of the recipient country. Requires the Comptroller General to report biennially to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Congress on the extent to which drugs unauthorized for a country are being received by such country and the extent to which labeling is consistent. Directs the Secretary to contract for a study to be submitted to the Congress within five years on the economic and international health impact of this Act. Includes conditions prevalent in a developing country among the criteria for orphan drugs.
United States · United States Congress · 18 December 1985
Rural Satellite Dish Owners Protection Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit encryption of any satellite cable programming for private viewing beginning 30 days after enactment of this Act, unless: (1) the encryption complies with Federal Communications Commission standards; (2) decryption devices are available for lease or purchase by all interested persons within 60 days after request at a reasonable price relative to manufacturing and distribution costs; and (3) monthly subscription fees for such programming do not exceed fees assessed to cable subscribers within the same vicinity. Provides for the civil enforcement of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 10 December 1985
Calls upon the President to direct the Agency for International Development to work in a global effort to provide universal access to childhood immunization by 1990 by: (1) assisting in the delivery, distribution, and use of vaccines; and (2) performing and supporting research and development activities that will be targeted at developing new vaccines and at modifying existing vaccines to make them more appropriate for use in developing countries. Declares that the President should appeal to the public to provide the necessary resources to achieve universal access to childhood immunization by 1990. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to increase the authorization of appropriations for FY 1987 for the Child Survival Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1985
Telecommunications Equipment and Information Services Act of 1985 - Authorizes the Bell operating companies to provide information services (excluding electronic publishing) and to manufacture telecommunications equipment, subject to such regulations as the Federal Communications Commission may prescribe. Conditions such authority on the Commission's determination that no Bell operating company could impede competition in the information services or telecommunications equipment manufacturing businesses. Requires the Commission to include in its annual report to the Congress an assessment, providing for public comment, of the impact of this Act on employment in such businesses.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1985
Farm Credit Act Amendments of 1985 - Title I: Provisions to Strengthen the Operation of Farm Credit System Lending Institutions - Amends Part A of title IV of the Farm Credit Act of 1971 to merge specified revolving funds and make such funds available to the Farm Credit Administration (FCA) for the purchase on behalf of the United States of stock in the Farm Credit System Capital Corporation (established by this Act). Replaces existing debt-to-capital provisions with authority to maintain adequate capital in Farm Credit System (FCS) institutions. Empowers the FCA to appoint a receiver or conservator for an FCS institution in situations of: (1) insolvency; (2) substantial asset dissipation; (3) unsound conditions; (4) willful violation of a final lease and desist order; or (5) concealment of records. Provides for the charter of a new Farm Credit System Capital Corporation (Corporation) within 60 days. Makes such Corporation a federally chartered instrumentality of the United States and an FCS institution. Directs the Corporation to provide financial and technical assistance to financially-troubled FCS institutions. Sets forth related operating and administrative provisions. States that the Corporation shall assume all assets and debts of the predecessor Corporation. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, upon FCA certification of need, to purchase Corporation obligations in order to assist FCS institutions. Provides initial capitalization through institution contributions. Title II: Regulation of Farm Credit System - Amends Part B of title V of the Farm Credit Act to state that the FCA shall be an independent executive agency. Vests management in a Farm Credit Administration Board. Sets forth related operating and administrative provisions, including authority to establish advisory committees. Requires: (1) at least annual examinations of FCS institutions; and (2) each institution to make an annual audit report. Authorizes the FCA to publish reports of such examinations under specified circumstances. Authorizes the FCA to: (1) initiate cease-and-desist and temporary cease-and-desist proceedings against FCS institutions on persons; and (2) initiate proceedings to remove an individual from office or suspend an officer or director in an FCS institution. Sets forth hearing, judicial review, and penalty provisions. Title III: Protection for Farmers and Other Farm Credit System Borrowers - Amends the Farm Credit Act of 1971 to set forth loan disclosure (interest rates, variable loan rates, stock purchases) and access to information provisions (borrower document copies). Provides for a credit review committee. Requires, in cases of voluntary or involuntary association liquidation, that the supervising bank minimize the adverse effects on borrowers whose loans are purchased by other FCS institutions. Title IV: Implementation Procedures - Makes titles I through III of this Act effective 30 days after their enactment. States that the Governor of the FCA shall perform the functions of the Chairman of the Farm Credit Administration Board until his appointment. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the needs of the U.S. agriculture industry require implementation of this Act as soon as possible.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 1985
Civil Service Supplemental Retirement System Act of 1985 - Title I: Civil Service Supplemental Retirement System - Establishes a Civil Service Supplemental Retirement Plan for Federal employees, postal employees, and Members of Congress who began service after December 31, 1983. Sets forth provisions for the benefit plan including: (1) eligibility for an annuity after five years of creditable service; (2) entitlements to retirement based on age and years of service; (3) the formulas for computing an annuity; (4) survivor election reductions; and (5) funding. Sets forth provisions for mandatory retirement for air traffic controllers, law enforcement officers, and firefighters. Establishes a Thrift Savings Plan under which participants may contribute up to 10 percent of their annual basic pay. Requires employing agencies to contribute the lesser of: (1) 50 percent of amounts contributed by the employee; or (2) three percent of such employee's basic pay. Provides for the payment of benefits, lump sum or annuity, at the employee's separation from service. Establishes in the Treasury the Thrift Savings Fund for the deposit and accounting of amounts under the Plan. Prescribes how money in such Fund shall be invested. Describes survivor annuities under the supplemental retirement plan. Describes disability benefits for employees who have completed five years of creditable service. Sets forth general and administrative provisions. Directs the Office of Personnel Management to pay all benefits payable under the benefit plan and administer provisions not specifically assigned to another entity. Directs the Office to adjudicate all claims under provisions it administers. Provides for annual cost-of-living adjustments in basic pensions based upon an increase in the Consumer Price Index. Provides for withholding of State income taxes from retirement annuities. Declares that basic annuities, survivor annuities, and disability benefits are exempt from legal process (i.e. levy, attachment, garnishment) unless otherwise provided by Federal law. Establishes in the executive branch the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board to be responsible for policies and regulations for, and review of, the investment and management of the Thrift Savings Fund. Directs the Board to establish an Employee Thrift Advisory Council to advise the Board on matters relating to investment policies for the Fund. Directs the Board to appoint an Executive Director to carry out its policies, invest and manage the fund, and administer provisions of the Thrift Savings Plan. Title II: Amendments to Chapter 83 of Title 5, United States Code - Provides for civil service retirement for certain employees excluded from the supplemental retirement plan. Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the Federal Employees' Retirement Contribution Temporary Adjustment Act of 1983 to extend its provisions until January 1, 1987. Allows employees covered under such Act to elect participation in the supplemental retirement plan. Title IV: Effective Dates - Declares this Act in effect on January 1, 1987, with specified exceptions.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 1985
Declares that the House of Representatives, in an effort to bring about an end to the human rights abuses committed by the Soviet Union against the Afghanistan people, supports the President's intent to discuss such concerns with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and calls upon him to reiterate the U.S. desire to achieve a negotiated political settlement that is agreeable to all parties in Afghanistan (including the complete withdrawal of foreign troops, the restoration of an independent and sovereign Afghanistan, and the safe return of Afghan refugees).
United States · United States Congress · 30 October 1985
Designates 1986 as Save for the U.S.A. Year. Requests the President to initiate a nationwide campaign, to be known as the Buy Back America campaign, to encourage the people of the United States to buy U.S. savings bonds and certificates and thereby reduce borrowings from foreign sources. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to enhance the marketability of such bonds and certificates.
United States · United States Congress · 29 October 1985
Emergency Reye's Syndrome Prevention Act of 1985 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require nontopical drugs containing aspirin to carry a label warning that such product should not be used by children or teenagers who have chicken pox, influenza, or flu symptons without consulting a doctor because of such product's possible association with the development of Reye's Syndrome.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 1985
Agricultural IDB Protection Act of 1985 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the definition of "manufacturing facility" for purposes of tax-exempt industrial development bonds to include land, improvements to land, or property of a character subject to the allowance for depreciation that is used in the cultivation, raising, production, catching, harvesting, or processing of plants or animals. Modifies the definition of "substantial farmland" to require the size of the parcel to be 30 percent of the median size of a farm in the county in which the parcel is located. Permits used farm equipment to be eligible for industrial development bonds if it is acquired by an individual who is a first-time farmer.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 1985
Declares that the House, in an effort to bring about an end to the human rights abuses committed by the Soviet Union against the Afghanistan people, supports the President's intent to discuss such concerns with the Soviet Union and calls upon him to reiterate the U.S. desire to achieve a negotiated political settlement that is agreeable to all parties in Afghanistan (including the complete withdrawal of foreign troops, the restoration of an independent and sovereign Afghanistan, and the safe return of Afghan refugees).
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 1985
Authorizes the President to provide military assistance to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Authorizes appropriations for such purpose for FY 1986.
United States · United States Congress · 8 October 1985
Amends the copyright law to prohibit a copyright holder from conveying the right to publicly perform an audiovisual work on non-network commercial television without simultaneously conveying the right to perform in synchronization any copyrighted music which accompanies such work.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1985
Amends the copyright law to make permanent the prohibition against importing certain English language books not manufactured in the United States and Canada, denying copyright protection to books imported in violation of this restriction (the manufacturing clause).