United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1985
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to exempt senior citizens and handicapped individuals from paying fees for obtaining firewood for personal use from National Forest System lands.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1985
Family Education Assistance Act of 1985 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual taxpayer an income tax deduction for contributions to a savings account established to pay the educational expenses (tuition, supplies, books, meals, lodging, travel, and personal expenses) at an institution of higher education or a vocational school of a child or another person with respect to whom the individual has been appointed guardian. Sets the maximum amount of the deductions for any taxable year at $1,000 for one eligible student, or $2,000 for two or more eligible students. Provides that the sum of the contributors' deductions may not exceed $1,000 annually per eligible student. Disallows deductions made before January 1, 1990, to an education savings account established for the benefit of an individual who has attained age 22 before the close of the calendar year in which such contribution is made. Disallows deductions made on or after January 1, 1990, to an account for the benefit of an individual who has attained age 19 before the close of the calendar year in which such contribution is made. Provides that no account may have more than one beneficiary and that no individual may be the beneficiary of more than one account. Requires assets in an education savings account be distributed after the individual for whose benefit the account is established attains age 27. Includes distributions from an education savings account in the gross income of the recipient except for: (1) distributions used to pay educational expenses; (2) distributions to another education savings account or to an eligible educational institution; and (3) excess contributions returned before the due date of the return of the individual making the excess contribution. Provides that an education savings account is exempt from taxation except for the tax on unrelated business income. Revokes the tax exemption of the account where the individual for whose benefit the account is established or an individual who contributed to such account engages in certain prohibited transactions with the account. Imposes a penalty tax of ten percent on the distribution of amounts which are improperly used. Requires the trustee of an education savings account to file reports with the Secretary of the Treasury on the maintenance of the account. Imposes a penalty for failure to file required reports. Extends the deduction for contributions to an education savings account to taxpayers who do not otherwise itemize deductions. Provides that contributions to an education savings account are not subject to the gift tax.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should form a National Commission on the Farm Credit System to recommend agricultural credit reforms.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1985
Provides for the expenditure or transfer of funds by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture for the emergency prevention and control of grasshoppers and Mormon crickets on public lands.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1985
Amends the copyright law to redefine the local service area of a primary transmitter in the case of a low power television station for secondary transmission purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1985
Directs the Secretary of Defense to furnish to the House of Representatives all information (including Defense Intelligence Agency analyses) relating to live Americans in Southeast Asia.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 1985
Amends the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute (RICO) to allow a civil action to be brought by a plaintiff only when the private suit rests on an injury caused by conduct that led to the defendant's conviction of one of the predicate offenses listed in the statute or of a criminal violation of RICO itself. Requires the plaintiff to bring such action within one year of the defendant's conviction.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1985
Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of Agriculture to jointly conduct a study of the use of unleaded fuel in agricultural machinery and to report to the Congress on such study. Prohibits any reduction in the permitted lead level in gasoline below a specified level until after the Congress receives such report. Authorizes appropriations
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1985
Makes permanent the formula for determining fees for the grazing of livestock on public lands. Provides that the annual increase or decrease in such fee for any given year shall be limited to not more than plus or minus 25 percentum of the previous year's fee.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1985
Acid Deposition Control Act of 1985 - Title I: Acid Deposition Control Program - Amends the Clean Air Act to establish an interstate transport and acid precursor reduction program. Designates an acid deposition impact region comprising a long-range transport corridor of 31 States east of the Mississippi and the District of Columbia. Sets forth sulfur dioxide emission reduction standards for such region of ten million tons below 1980 levels by the beginning of 1996. Requires such reduction to be accomplished in two phases, half the reductions to be made by the start of 1991. Directs the Acid Precipitation Task Force to conduct an accelerated research program during the first phase, examining the pattern of effects of atmospheric loading of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1990, the program itself to be completed by the start of 1990. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate the results by the start of FY 1991. Authorizes the Administrator to change the second phase of the reduction program, based upon first-phase research, in any of the following areas: (1) excluding or including States; (2) restricting reallotment of reductions among States; (3) altering individual State targets; and (4) requiring reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions. Requires alterations to be made through public rule-making and after notice to the Congress, demonstrating increased protection. Requires impact region States to reduce their sulfur dioxide emissions in two phases to achieve a rate of no more than 1.2 pounds of sulfur dioxide per million British thermal units (Btus). Grants credits for reductions achieved after 1980 and permits States to reallot reductions among themselves unless otherwise prohibited. Requires State Governors to submit to the Administrator for approval two-phase reduction plans and compliance schedules. Directs the Administrator to establish reduction standards for any major source in noncompliance with its own plan or in a State without an acceptable emissions reduction plan. Requires owners or operators of major sources of sulfur dioxide emissions to submit to the Administrator reduction plans for such emissions if their State does not have an approved plan. States that failure to do so constitutes an emissions violation. Sets forth alternative methods of maintaining emissions limitations in addition to enforceable continuous emission reduction measures if such measures are enforceable by entities and persons other than the State in which the emissions occur: (1) least emissions dispatch to meet electric generating demand at existing generating capacity; (2) retirement of major stationary sources at an earlier than provided for date; (3) investments in energy conservation where emission reductions can be identified with such investments; (4) trading of emission reduction requirements and actual reductions through emission reduction banks or brokerage institutions; (5) precombustion cleaning of fuels; and (6) fuel substitution. Directs the President and the Secretary of State to negotiate emissions reductions with the Governments of Canada and Mexico to protect U.S. air from pollution from foreign sources. Directs the President to report periodically to the Congress on progress made. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress within four years on a study of long-range transport of pollutant problems in the remaining States. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1986 through 1989. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress on the emission limitation and enforceable measures adopted by the States or major stationary sources and approved by the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to develop and report to the Congress within four years on an inventory of sources of oxides of nitrogen in the impact region, control methods, and recommendations for emissions standards.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1985
Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to convey specified lands located within Fort William H. Harrison, Montana, to the State of Montana. Subjects such conveyance to the condition that such real property be used to establish a Montana State Veterans' Cemetery.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1985
Korean War Veterans Memorial Act of 1985 - Authorizes the American Battle Monuments Commission to erect a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia or its environs to honor members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Korean war. Subjects the selected site, design, and plans for the construction of such memorial to the approval of the National Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission. Directs that, upon its completion, the memorial shall be turned over to the Department of the Interior which shall then be solely responsible for its maintenance. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1985
Firearms Owners' Protection Act of 1985 - Establishes immunity for firearm owners or dealers from any liability imposed, when a firearm is used without permission, on the grounds that it was likely or foreseeable that the firearm would be used for illegal purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1985
Firearms Manufacturers Protection Act of 1985 - Establishes immunity for firearms manufacturers from any liability imposed by Federal, State, or local law on the grounds that it was likely or foreseeable that the firearm would be used for illegal purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1985
Children's Protection Act of 1985 - Amends the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute to extend the Act's coverage to the sexual exploitation of children. Authorizes a civil suit for treble damages for any person injured personally or in his or her business or property. Amends the Federal criminal code with regard to the sexual exploitation of children. Makes it a Federal offense to print or publish any statement or advertisement to receive, buy, produce, display, photograph, film, print or publish any statement or advertisement to receive, buy, produce, display, photograph, film, print or record any visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Prohibits offering participation in sexually explicit conduct with a minor. Lists factors that may be considered in determining whether a person engaged in such conduct has attained the age of 18. Provides that the Government need not establish the identify of the alleged minor in a prosecution under this section. Increases the penalties for offenses involving the transportation of minors for prohibited sexual conduct.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that U.S. national security policy should reflect a national strategy of peace through strength. Sets forth the principles and goals of such policy.
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 1985
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the administration should comply with the automatic appropriation and earmarking provisions of the Wallop/Breaux Sport Fish Restoration Trust Fund. States that funds owed to the States from such Fund should not be withheld or delayed.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1985
Beekeeper Protection Act of 1985 - Requires the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), within 90 days of enactment of this Act, to investigate and report to the President on the effects of honey imports on certain domestic programs and on the amount of products processed in the United States from honey. Requires the President, if the ITC recommends that fees or limitations be imposed on honey imports, to: (1) impose such fees or limitations; or (2) deny the existence of the facts justifying such fees or limitations . Requires the President to take such action within 60 days of the issuance of the ITC report.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1985
Medicare Vision Reform Act of 1985 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide coverage for all services provided by a doctor of optometry. (Current law permits coverage for optometric services only if related to the condition of aphakia). Requires payment for optometric services to be made on the basis of an assignment.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1985
Amends the Clean Air Act to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from requiring less lead in gasoline than is required as of January 1, 1985.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1985
Amends the Controlled Substances Act to transfer marihuana from schedule I (abuse potential, no accepted medical use) to schedule II (accepted medical use) under such Act. Establishes in the Department of Health and Human Services an Office for the Supply of Internationally Controlled Drugs, to be responsible for regulating the domestic production and distribution of marihuana. Establishes procedures for the production and use of medical marihuana. Permits the distribution of medical marihuana only to hospitals and pharmacies registered to dispense schedule II controlled substances for the purposes of treating glaucoma or cancer or research approved under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Provides for a marihuana abuse prevention and information program through the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1985
Establishes in the legislative branch of the Government the Perot Commission on Americans Missing in Southeast Asia to conduct an investigation and report to the Congress its findings with respect to the existence and the release of prisoners of war in Southeast Asia. Sets forth specified administrative procedures and powers of the Commission. Requires the Commission to terminate 30 days after the filing of its report to the Congress or on January 3, 1987, whichever occurs first.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1985
Prohibits imports of beef, bananas, or sugar from Nicaragua until the President finds that the policies of the Nicaraguan Government regarding opposition to the resistance forces and a democratic government are consistent with its obligations under the terms of the Nicaraguan revolution and the promises made to the Organization of American States.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 1985
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the administration should comply with the automatic appropriation and earmarking provisions of the Wallop/Breaux Sport Fish Restoration Trust Fund and support adequate appropriation for the Boating Safety Account in such Fund. States that funds owed to the States from such Fund should not be withheld or delayed.
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 1985
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish an applicable test rate of nine percent for determining whether there is imputed interest in the case of seller-financed property. Permits a lower test interest rate of 80 percent of the Federal Treasury rate where such rates are lower than the nine percent test rate. Provides for a blended test rate for instances where the loan amount exceeds $4,000,000. Provides that in determining whether wraparound financing meets such testing rate, the test shall be applied to the net rate of interest on the seller's equity in the financing after deducting the existing third party financing. Authorizes the imputation of interest in seller-financed property sales of $4,000,000 or less of ten percent or 90 percent of the Federal Treasury rates, whichever is less, where the test interest rates have not been met. Allows for a blended imputed interest rate where the debt amount exceeds $4,000,000. Requires that all loan amounts from a single transaction or series of related transactions be aggregated for purposes of determining the loan amount. Provides that the imputed interest rules will not apply to assumptions of loans unless the terms and conditions of such debt obligations are modified in connection with the assumption. Repeals the provisions of the Code limiting the amount of interest expense a purchaser of personal use property may deduct for tax purposes. Excepts debt instruments arising from the sale or exchange of a residence from the imputed interest provisions where the obligor of the instrument uses the property as his other residence. Provides that the imputed interest rules shall not apply in the case of sales or exchanges of property where the borrowed amount does not exceed $4,000,000. Requires the interest on the obligation issued in connection with such sales or exchanges to be taken into account by both the buyer and the seller on the cash receipts and disbursement method of accounting unless both buyer and seller agree to use the accrual receipts and disbursement method of accounting.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1985
Agricultural Efficiency and Equity Act of 1985 - Title I: Acreage Base and Program Yield System - States that the purpose of this Act is to prescribe an efficient and predictable system for establishing farm and crop acreage bases and program yields. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to provide for the establishment and maintenance through the county committees of farm acreage and crop acreage bases for each program crop based on the preceding five crop years. Permits producer crop acreage base adjustments. Permits the Secretary to suspend acreage limitations when market factors or emergencies demand. Requires program participation in order to receive price support assistance. Directs the Secretary to provide through the county committees for a farm program yield for each crop based on the preceding five years. Sets forth related county committee recordkeeping responsibilities. Title II: Price Support Levels for Program Crops and Reconciliation with Permanent Law - Applies the provisions of this Act to wheat, feed grains, cotton, and rice. Makes conforming amendments to specified agricultural Acts. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to provide: (1) that price supports for peanuts for which marketing quotas have been disapproved shall be 50 percent of parity; and (2) no supports for tobacco for which marketing quotas have been disapproved.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1985
World War I Veterans' Service Pension Act - Directs the Administrator of Veterans Affairs to pay a monthly pension of $150 to each veteran of World War I who meets specified service requirements. Requires such veteran, if receiving another pension administered by the Veterans Administration (VA), to elect which pension he will receive. Provides for the payment of a monthly pension of $100 to surviving spouses of World War I veterans who meet certain marriage requirements. Requires such surviving spouses to choose between pensions if they are currently receiving another pension through the VA.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1985
Accepts the statue of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the Congress, for the National Statuary Hall and extends thanks to Montana for contributing the statue. Authorizes ceremonies and the temporary placement of the statue in the rotunda of the Capitol on May 1, 1985. Directs that such proceedings and other pertinent matter be printed as a House document. Specifies the quantity and manner in which such document is to be copied and distributed.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1985
Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to exempt from the cargo preference requirements activities of the Commodity Credit Corporation or the Department of Agriculture that promote the export of agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1985
Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to extend until 30 days after sine die adjournment of the first session of the 99th Congress the referendum period with respect to the national wheat marketing quota for the marketing year beginning June 1, 1986.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1985
Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to exempt from certain cargo preference requirements activities of the Commodity Credit Corporation or the Department of Agriculture that promote the export of agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1985
Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to allow a retired railroad worker to be employed in any non-railroad employment and still qualify for an annuity, subject to specified deductions, including reduction of certain benefits by $1 for every $2 earned from the last non-railroad employment.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1985
Authorizes the States to regulate the interstate transfer of ground and surface water located in the States. Prohibits the invalidation, impairment, or supersedure of any State water transfer law by any Act of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1985
Agricultural Export Expansion Act of 1985 - Prohibits the cargo preference laws from applying to export activities of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) or the Department of Agriculture under which: (1) stocks of farm commodities or the products thereof acquired by the CCC are made available to U.S. exporters, users, or foreign purchasers for the maintenance or expansion of export markets for U.S. farm commodities; (2) commercial credit guarantees are blended with direct interest-free credits from the CCC to reduce the interest rate on export sales of U.S. farm commodities; or (3) the CCC or the Department of Agriculture promotes the export of U.S. farm commodities on a commercial basis.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1985
Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to prohibit the use of Commodity Credit Corporation funds to finance ocean freight charges for the export of farm commodities to the extent such charges are higher than they otherwise would be because of a requirement that the commodities be transported in U.S.-flag vessels. Directs the Maritime Administration to pay such increased charges. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1985
Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to provide that no provisions of law requiring the transportation of U.S. agricultural commodities in U.S.-flag vessels shall apply to agricultural commodities exported by or through the Commodity Credit Corporation if such exports are covered by commercial credit guarantees that are blended with direct interest-free credit from the Corporation.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1985
Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide that ERISA does not preempt State laws: (1) which protect the freedom of choice of an individual under an employee benefit plan to select any licensed health practitioner to perform health services covered by such plan; or (2) which require surety bonds, cash or security deposits, or other financial guarantees or assurances to protect employee benefit plans from insolvency.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1985
Directs the President to report quarterly to the Congress on all outstanding loans, loan guarantees, credits, and grants issued by the Federal Government or by a multilateral organization of which the United States is a member to the government of a Communist country or to any person on behalf of (or any entity controlled by) a Communist country. Specifies information to be included in the report.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1985
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to terminate the provisional listing in effect under the Color Additive Amendments of 1960 for certain food color dyes (thus disapproving them for commercial uses).
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that air service to small communities is an essential part of the transportation system, and that Federal financial support for such service under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 should not be eliminated. (Under current law such support terminates in 1988.)
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the rail passenger service provided by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) is an essential service that should continue to receive Federal financial assistance without a reduction that would cause an exorbitant fare increase for its users.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1985
Consumer Rail Equity Act - Reaffirms the intent of the Congress that the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 and the Staggers Rail Act of 1980 be implemented in a manner which provides both greater competitive alternatives and adequate railroad revenues. Directs the Interstate Commerce Commission to consider only transportation of the same commodity from the same origination point to the same destination when it makes a determination regarding the presence of effective competition. Establishes a rebuttable presumption of rail market dominance if a person challenging a transportation rate shows that alternative noncircuitous rail service from the same origination point to the same destination is unavailable. Shifts the burden of proof regarding transportation rate reasonableness from the shipper to the rail carrier establishing the challenged rate. Amends the rate-reasonableness determination process to require the Commission to find unreasonable a challenged transportation rate differential which exceeds the fully allocated cost of transportation unless the excess differential is not greater than an amount calculated according to a specified formula. Declares that it is Federal policy to encourage and promote competitive transportation rates for both domestic energy supplies and domestically produced agricultural commodities in order to enhance such commodities' competitive position in the import and export markets. Directs the Commission to establish a rail cost adjustment factor which includes actual cost experience and changes in railroad productivity, volume, and product mix. Provides that certain rail carrier rates shall be reduced to the extent of any subsequent decreases in rail cost adjustment factors. States that the revenue-variable cost percentages for the transportation of any particular rail carrier shall be determined using the Commission's Rail Form A cost-finding methodology in effect as of February 20, 1985. States that Commission-prescribed rate increases intended to compensate for inflationary cost increases to take into account changes in railroad productivity, volume, output mix, and actual cost experience. Requires the Commission to complete and render final decisions on rail rate proceedings within 12 months after such proceedings have commenced. Includes within the standards used to determine railroad revenue adequacy: (1) identification of revenues, expenses, and investment base reasonably related to rail transportation service; (2) straight-line depreciation of assets reasonably related to rail transportation service, minus deferred tax reserves resulting from accelerated depreciation; and (3) actual cost of debt capital and reasonable estimates of the current cost of equity capital. Requires the Commission, when making revenue adequacy determinations, to consider specified indicators of a rail carrier's financial status, including merger and acquisition actions and the cost of capital used in such actions. Requires the Commission to determine, on an annual basis, which rail carriers are earning adequate or inadequate revenues and to determine for each rail carrier the revenues required to achieve or maintain revenue adequacy. Authorizes (currently, requires) the Commission to exempt persons from application of this Act when: (1) such application is not necessary to implement Federal transportation policy; and (2) the Commission finds there is no market dominance involved in the affected transaction. Requires any rail carrier providing service under certain line rates to participate in competitive joint rail rates through practicable interchange connections (or publish a competitive proportional rate) if requested to do so by a rail carrier (or shipper or receiver) who has an actual or practicable interchange connection. Directs the Commission, upon petition of any interested party, to require certain terminal facilities owned by a rail carrier in interstate or foreign commerce to be used by another rail carrier if the Commission finds: (1) it is in the public interest to do so; and (2) that the owner of such terminal facility will not suffer substantial impairment of its own business interests. Directs the Commission to require, upon petition by an interested party, that rail carriers enter into reciprocal switching agreements if such an agreement is in the public interest or necessary to provide alternative competitive rail service. Directs the Commission to establish reciprocal switching compensation at a level not to exceed the current percentage of the actual variable costs for such service (unless the carrier demonstrates that a higher level is reasonable and necessary). Revises railroad line abandonment procedures to provide that a rail carrier must wait one year before resubmitting a previously denied abandonment application, unless a substantial change in circumstances can be shown. Requires the Commission to hold hearings in communities affected by a proposed railroad line abandonment if requested to do so by community protestants. Requires the Commission to base its abandonment determination upon financial data regarding the facility proposed to be abandoned rather than upon financial data regarding industry-wide averages. Subjects to Commission review any State decision regarding intrastate rates, rules, and practices if a party to such State proceedings petitions for Commission review. Requires the Commission to take action on such petition within 120 days of its receipt. Authorizes the Commission to vacate a State decision found inconsistent with this Act.