United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the age (55 or older) and dollar ($125,000) restrictions with respect to the one-time income tax exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal residence.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1989
Federal Employees Fair Tax Act of 1989 - Repeals provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that eliminated the three-year basis recovery rule in computing the amount of an employee's retirement benefits includable in gross income. Repeals Internal Revenue Code provisions that require the inclusion in income of certain distributions received before an annuity starting date.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1989
Calls upon the Soviet Union and its allies to withhold further military assistance to the Republic of Nicaragua and to withdraw military advisors and support personnel from that country. Calls upon the Republic of Nicaragua to: (1) reverse significantly the growth of its armed forces; (2) work toward a stabilization of the regional military balance and prevent the introduction of advanced weapon systems; and (3) separate the armed forces from the Sandinista political party.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1989
Prohibits the Federal Communications Commission from adopting revisions of the rules and policies in the proceeding "Policy and Rules Concerning Rates for Dominant Carrier," CC Docket 87-313, unless the changes expressly provide for: (1) the proper functioning of the long-term support mechanisms for the carrier common line rates administered by the National Exchange Carrier Association; (2) the maintenance of uniform nationwide long distance telephone rates by dominant interexchange carriers; and (3) the use of an industry-wide rate of return to determine costs for access tariffs and to calculate the Universal Service Fund. Requires the FCC to report to the Congress the compliance of revisions with these conditions. Postpones the effectiveness of any rule or policy revisions until 60 days have elapsed during which both Houses of the Congress are in session.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Rural Enterprise Zone Act of 1989 - Title I: Designation of Enterprise Zones - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Secretary) to designate rural enterprise zones for purposes of providing tax and regulatory relief and improving local services. Limits choices to areas nominated by States and local governments. Limits to 100 the total number of areas that may be designated, and the time period of the designation. Authorizes the Secretary to designate a zone only if the area meets certain locational, demographic, unemployment, and poverty criteria. Requires nominating local governments, as a condition of the Secretary's designation, to agree in writing to follow a course of action that may include reducing tax rates, improving local services, simplifying or streamlining regulation of business, and providing job training to area residents. Describes areas to which the Secretary must give preference in selecting areas for designation. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress every four years on the effects of such enterprise zones' designation in accomplishing the purposes of this Act. Title II: Federal Income Tax Incentives - Subtitle A: Credits for Employers and Employees - Allows employers located in enterprise zones a nonrefundable income tax credit for qualified increased employment expenditures and employment of the disadvantaged. Sets the credit amount at ten percent of the increase in payroll plus a specified percentage of wages paid to certain disadvantaged workers through the first 20 years of the enterprise zone designation. Allows a nonrefundable income tax credit to enterprise zone employees for five percent of wages earned. Phases out both credits in the last four years of the enterprise zone designation. Subtitle B: Credits for Investment in Tangible Property in Enterprise Zones - Allows businesses an additional investment tax credit for investments made in certain enterprise zone construction property. Limits the credit to ten percent for new property, including rental property. Requires the recapture of credit amounts upon the early disposition of the property. Subtitle C: Nonrecognition of Qualified Enterprise Zone Capital Gain Where Acquisition of Enterprise Zone Business Property - Provides for the nonrecognition of capital gain on the sale of enterprise zone property if, within one year after the sale, the taxpayer acquires qualified replacement property (generally defined as property related to an enterprise zone or to a business within a zone). Subtitle D: Deduction for Purchase of Enterprise Stock - Allows a taxpayer to deduct up to $100,000 of the aggregate amount paid for the purchase of enterprise stock on its original issue by a qualified issuer. Requires any gain from the disposition of the stock to be treated as ordinary income. Subtitle E: Rules Relating to Industrial Development Bonds - Declares that: (1) limitations on the cost recovery deductions for property financed with tax-exempt bonds shall not apply to enterprise zone property; and (2) the termination of the small issue exemption shall not apply to bonds whose proceeds are used to finance facilities in enterprise zones. Requires that five percent of the private activity bond volume cap for a State that has one or more enterprise zones be set aside exclusively for use in such zones. Subtitle F: Ordinary Loss Deduction for Securities of Enterprise Zone Business Which Become Worthless - Permits an ordinary loss deduction for securities of enterprise zone business that become worthless during the taxable year. Subtitle G: Increase in Research Credit for Research Conducted in Enterprise Zones - Increases from 20 percent to 30 percent the tax credit for increasing research conducted in enterprise zones. Applies this subtitle retroactively to taxable years 1987 and thereafter. Subtitle H: Sense of the Congress with Respect to Tax Simplification - Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of the Treasury should simplify the administration and enforcement of any provision of the Internal Revenue Code affected by this Act. Subtitle I: Regulations - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act not later than six months after enactment. Title III: Regulatory Flexibility - Amends Federal law to revise the definition of "small entity" for purposes of the analysis of regulatory functions to include qualified business, government, and nonprofit enterprises operating within enterprise zones. Authorizes Federal agencies, upon request by a designating government, to waive or modify rules and regulations pertaining to the implementation of projects or activities within an enterprise zone. Requires agencies to approve the request if the resulting benefits of job creation, community development, or economic revitalization outweigh the public interest in retaining the rule unchanged. Disallows waiver or modification of a rule that would directly violate a statutory requirement or present a danger to the public health and safety. Amends the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act to direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to promote the coordination of all enterprise zone programs and to consolidate all periodic reports required under such programs into one summary report. Title IV: Establishment of Foreign-Trade Zones in Enterprise Zones - Requires the Foreign-Trade Zone Board to consider on a priority basis and to expedite the processing of applications for the establishment of foreign-trade zones within enterprise zones. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to give priority to, and expedite applications for, the establishment of ports of entry necessary to establish such zones. Title V: Enterprise Zone Business Incubator Program - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a business incubator program to provide loans and grants to State and local governments to give start-up assistance to small businesses in distressed rural areas.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 1992 the period during which qualified mortgage bonds and mortgage credit certificates may be issued. (Under current law, authority for these programs is due to expire as of 1990.)
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
RICO Reform Act of 1989 - Amends the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to include additional predicate offenses within the definition of "racketeering activity," such as prostitution involving minors, computer fraud, and certain activity relating to terrorist acts abroad. Modifies civil remedies provisions of RICO to require U.S. district courts to find proof by a preponderance of the evidence before restraining violations. Authorizes: (1) specified governmental entities whose business or property is injured by conduct in violation of RICO to recover threefold the actual damages to such business or property, plus costs; (2) persons whose business or property is injured by such conduct to recover actual damages, plus costs (and punitive damages of up to twice the actual damages where the plaintiff proves by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant's actions were consciously malicious, or so egregious and deliberate that malice may be implied); (3) such persons to recover threefold the actual damages if any defendant has been convicted of specified Federal or State offenses; and (4) natural persons who suffer serious bodily injury by reason of specified crimes of violence to recover actual damages to such person's business or property, damages sustained by such individual as allowed under State law (excluding pain and suffering), and costs (and, upon proof by clear and convincing evidence that defendant's actions were malicious, up to twice the actual damages). (Current law allows recovery of threefold the damages, plus costs, for persons whose business or property is injured.) Sets forth: (1) statutes of limitation; and (2) procedures for considering affirmative defenses. Permits international service of process. (Current law restricts such service to specified judicial districts within the United States.) Provides for exclusive Federal jurisdiction to hear criminal or civil RICO proceedings. Authorizes recovery beyond actual damages to a person's business or property, where such person would not otherwise be eligible to recover costs under this Act, under specified conditions, including where the judge determines that a limitation of recovery would clearly be unjust.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Amends Federal law to extend the immediate retirement provisions applicable to Federal law enforcement officers to: (1) revenue officers for the Internal Revenue Service; (2) customs inspectors for the U.S. Customs Service; (3) customs canine enforcement officers for the U.S. Customs Service; and (4) inspectors for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Declares that the receipts and disbursements of the Postal Service Fund: (1) shall not be included in the totals of the Federal budget or the congressional budget; (2) shall be exempt from Federal budget limitations on expenditures and net lending; and (3) shall not be counted for purposes of calculating the Federal deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
United States Coinage Reform Act of 1989 - Requires that one dollar coins be gold colored, be at least 90 percent copper, and be fabricated in the United States from natural deposits located in the United States. Redesigns the obverse side of the dollar coin to symbolize the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to place such coins into circulation within 18 months and to cease production of one dollar notes, except as required from time to time to satisfy the needs of collectors, within 18 months after the first of such coins are placed in circulation. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study and report to the Congress on the advisability of phasing out production of the one-cent and 50-cent coins and of rounding cash sales to the nearest five cents. Requires that the seigniorage from the production of such dollar coins be used to offset the reverse seigniorage resulting from the destruction of Susan B. Anthony dollar coins.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Title I: National Commission on Natural Resources Disasters - Establishes a National Commission on Natural Resources Disasters to study the effects of natural fire disasters and make recommendations concerning a smooth transition from the loss of natural resources. Directs the Commission to study the effects of such fires on: (1) the economic stability of the affected communities; (2) the availability of sufficient timber supplies to meet future industry needs; (3) fish and wildlife habitats; (4) recreation in the affected areas; (5) the watershed and water quality protection plans in effect within National Forest Systems lands; (6) the ecosystems in the areas; and (7) management plans of the affected National Forest System lands. Requires a report to the Secretary of Agriculture by December 1, 1990. Authorizes the Commission to accept contributions of money and services in carrying out its duties. Authorizes the Secretary, if contributions are insufficient, to transfer to the Commission funds available from the general fund of the Treasury. Terminates the Commission 90 days after submission of its report to the Secretary. Title II: Forest Firefighting Planning and Cooperation - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to report to the Congress on the rehabilitation needs of each national forest resulting from forest fire damage during the previous year. Requires the Secretary to offer training programs annually to certify volunteers for suppressing forest fires on National Forest System lands. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the local fire emergency mobilization plans for fire fighting equipment in each area of the National Forest System which is prone to forest fires.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Current Level Enhanced Rescission Act of 1989 - Amends the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to include in any special message the President sends to the Congress in connection with a proposed rescission of budget authority amendatory language to enable the affected programs to continue to function lawfully at the proposed new budget level. Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to authorize the President, on the same day the President approves any appropriation bill, to transmit to the Senate and the House of Representatives one or more special messages proposing to rescind amounts of budget authority included in the bill. Limits: (1) the amounts subject to rescission (the proposal may not reduce a program below its previous fiscal year level); and (2) each special message to one item of budget authority. Prescribes procedures to govern the expedited treatment of such messages in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Makes any proposed rescission amount available for obligation unless both Houses of Congress agree to the bill or joint resolution accompanying the related special message within 60 days of its transmission.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to remove limitations on the deductibility of contributions to individual retirement plans by active participants in employer-maintained plans.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Volunteer Protection Act of 1989 - Prescribes circumstances under which volunteers working for nonprofit organizations or government entities shall be immune from personal financial liability for acts on behalf of the organization or entity. Sets forth exceptions to and conditions on the granting of such immunity that a State may impose. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to increase by one percent the fiscal year allotment which would otherwise be made to a State to carry out the Social Services Block Grant Program under title XX of the Social Security Act if such State has, within two years, certified to the Secretary that it has enacted a State law which provides such immunity. Provides for the continuation of such increase based on an annual recertification.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Fair Credit Reporting Amendments of 1989 - Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require consumer reporting agencies to disclose promptly to a consumer any adverse information the agency receives. Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to prescribe regulations defining "adverse information."
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Designates July 27, 1989, as National Korean War Veterans Recognition Day and expresses the gratitude of the Congress and the Nation for the contributions made by the Korean War veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1989
Directs the Comptroller General to conduct an annual audit of the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Advisory Council, the Federal Open Market Committee, and all Federal Reserve banks and their branches. Requires the Comptroller General, within six months after the end of each fiscal year, to report to the Congress on the results of such audit.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Establishes the Medicare Geographical Classification Review Board to decide on a rural hospital's application for classification as an urban hospital for Medicare payment purposes. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to alter the Rural Health Care Transition Grant Program to extend and increase authorized appropriations for such program through FY 1992, and permit the Secretary to waive the hospital grant limit. Expands, from four to ten hospitals, a Medicare demonstration program covering additional costs incurred by teaching hospitals in sending their residents to rural hospitals for training. Requires the Secretary to establish five-year Medicare demonstration programs covering costs incurred by five hospitals in providing clinical training to undergraduate nurses. Extends the regional referral center classification of hospitals so classified as of September 30, 1989, and the payment rates applicable to such hospitals under the Medicare program, through FY 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Scrapie Eradication Act - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish scrapie (sheep and goat disease) research and eradication programs, including owner indemnification for any animals destroyed under such programs. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Wildfire Suppression Assistance Act - Amends the Temporary Emergency Wildfire Suppression Act to repeal the provision terminating the authority of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into agreements with foreign fire organizations for wildfire protection, to furnish or accept emergency wildfire protection resources from foreign fire organizations, or to incur obligations for reimbursement to Canada or Canadian organizations in furnishing U.S. wildfire protection resources. (Current law terminates such authority December 31, 1988.)
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Agricultural Program Reporting and Recordkeeping Improvement Act of 1989 - Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to report to the appropriate congressional committees specific proposals to reduce agricultural producer recordkeeping and paperwork requirements. Requires a feasibility study of paperwork reduction through fee-based access to a computerized network utilizing electronic data transmission and video-conferencing.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Amends Federal law regarding stock-raising homesteads to require a written notice to the surface owner before a person may enter lands for prospecting purposes. Authorizes the search for outcrop or surface exposure or mineral deposits by non-mechanized means, but precludes road construction, or the use of explosives or earth-moving equipment. Sets forth conditions under which plans of operation for mineral exploration and development may be pursued. Authorizes a surface owner to petition the Secretary of the Interior for compensation for damages. Requires the Secretary of the Interior to suspend or revoke the approval of a mining or prospecting plan of operations if the mine operator fails to remedy any plan violations. Sets forth conditions under which treble damages may be awarded to an aggrieved surface owner.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Directs the Secretary of Commerce to adjust census figures as necessary so that illegal aliens are not counted for purposes of the apportionment of Representatives in the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest on any indebtedness incurred to pay the educational expenses of the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent. (Under current law, such a loan must be secured by an interest in real property.)
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that Federal law governing the taxation of State and local government bonds should not be changed in order to increase Federal revenues.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Domestic Energy Security Act of 1989 - Title I: National Energy Security Tax Credits - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to establish a crude oil and natural gas exploration and development tax credit. Allows a 20 percent credit for qualified investments. Establishes a marginal production income tax credit for producers who maintain economically unproductive oil wells. Applies the credit to domestic crude that is: (1) from stripper well property; (2) heavy oil; (3) oil recovered through a tertiary recovery method; or (4) harsh environment oil (produced from Arctic areas or in submerged lands). Fixes the credit at 20 percent of the qualified cost (determined in accordance with a formula set forth in this Act) of each barrel produced by the producer during the taxable year. Title II: Additional Exploration and Production Incentives - Amends the IRC to treat certain geological and geophysical costs and surface casing costs as intangible drilling and development costs that a taxpayer may elect to capitalize or to deduct for income tax purposes. Permits a percentage depletion income tax deduction for proven oil and gas wells that have been transferred to a new owner. Exempts oil and gas wells from application of the net income limitation on percentage depletion. Increases from 65 percent to 100 percent the taxable income limitation on the percentage depletion deduction for oil and gas property. Extends the income tax credit for producing fuel from a nonconventional source to qualified fuels from wells or facilities in service before January 1, 1998. (The change represents a seven-year extension of the credit.) Affirms natural gas found in tight sands formations as a qualified fuel with respect to the credit, without exceptions. Title III: Amendments to the Alternative Minimum Tax - Repeals provisions that identify intangible drilling costs as a tax preference item for purposes of determining alternative minimum tax liability and corporate preference reductions. Title IV: Miscellaneous Tax and Administrative Amendments - Declares Revenue Ruling 77-176 (and other rulings that reach similar results) to be inapplicable with respect to the income tax treatment of mineral sharing arrangements. (The Revenue Ruling addresses situations in which a driller receives from a lessee an operating interest in oil and gas property as consideration for drilling a well on the leased tract.) Revises provisions governing the time when economic performance occurs for the purpose of income tax deductions or credits in connection with removal of offshore oil or gas production facilities. Specifies expressly the types of oil and gas exploration and development costs that are exempt from the required application of uniform cost capitalization rules.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
Extends the regional referral center classification of hospitals so classified as of September 30, 1989, and the payment rates applicable to such hospitals under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act through FY 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1989
Repeals provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that establish nondiscrimination requirements for coverage and benefits under certain statutory employee benefit plans. (The consequence is the repeal of section 89 of the Internal Revenue Code.)
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1989
Tax Exemption Equity Act of 1989 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny tax-exempt status to organizations that directly or indirectly perform or finance abortions. Denies the income, estate, and gift tax charitable contribution deductions for donations to them.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1989
Repeals a provision of the Internal Revenue Code that disallows the income tax deduction of 25 percent of the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals after tax year 1989 (thus extending the deduction indefinitely).
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual taxpayer a refundable income tax credit, in an amount based on adjusted gross income (minimum credit of $150), for each dependent below the age of compulsory school attendance in the State where the taxpayer resides. Sets the maximum credit amount as the total employee tax withheld from the taxpayer's wages during the year under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. Disallows application of the nonrefundable dependent care income tax credit with respect to a taxpayer's dependents under age 13, unless the child is physically or mentally incapable of self-care.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1989
Amends the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988 to delay until 1990 the effective date of the new nondiscrimination requirements (Internal Revenue Code section 89) for coverage and benefits under certain statutory employee benefit plans.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1989
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel should not be increased as a means of reducing the Federal deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the administration should oppose the European Community Meat Ban Directive which will restrict U.S. access to the Community's agricultural markets and will be inconsistent with the Community's obligation under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); (2) the Community should submit evidence to support its hormone ban directive to the GATT Scientific Dispute-Settlement Panel which will review the claim that U.S. beef is unsafe for human consumption; and (3) if the Community denies access to U.S. beef based on scientifically unsubstantiated standards, the administration should adopt countermeasures, including reciprocal trade action granted under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 and other laws.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a study of the classification of anhydrous ammonia as a poisonous gas for purposes of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act. Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation from implementing the classification of anhydrous ammonia as a poisonous gas for purposes of such Act until the Secretary of Agriculture has reported to the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to exclude, beginning with FY 1990, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund receipts and outlays in Federal deficit determinations for purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
Tax Fairness for Farmers, Ranchers, and Small Businessmen Act of 1989 - Amends estate tax provisions of the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from recapture any use valuation benefits of a qualified heir who rents the property to another qualified heir on a net cash basis. Applies this provision retroactively in connection with the estates of decedents dying after 1976. Repeals provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that eliminated income averaging. Increases from 25 percent to 50 percent the allowable income tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals and makes the deduction permanent (under current law it will expire after tax year 1989). Allows a one-time exclusion from gross income of up to $125,000 of gain realized by a farmer from the sale or exchange of land used for farming or ranching during the ten-year period preceding the sale. Permits a full investment tax credit carryforward to certain farmers (current law requires a 35 percent reduction).
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
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 · 3 January 1989
Directs the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to study the effects of the reclassification of anhydrous ammonia as a poisonous gas on U.S. agriculture, transportation of hazardous materials, industrial uses (including commercial refrigeration), and U.S. industry (including meat and poultry packing). Directs OTA to report on such study, with recommendations, to the Congress within 18 months. Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation from taking any action with respect to implementing any rule or regulation reclassifying anhydrous ammonia as a poisonous gas until after 90 days following transmittal of such report to the Congress. Requires the Secretary to take the OTA study results and recommendations into consideration in issuing any such rule or regulation.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
Provides that the Tax Reform Act of 1986 shall be applied and administered as if the three-year basis recovery rule applicable to government employees' annuities had not been repealed.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to remove charitable contributions of appreciated capital gain property as an item of tax preference for purposes of the alternative minimum tax.