United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1997
Distilled Spirits Tax Payment Simplification Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify or impose requirements regarding: (1) the transfer of distilled spirits between bonded premises and between importation and bonded premises; (2) operations as a bonded dealer conducted on the bonded premises of a distilled spirits plant; (3) establishment and operation of such a plant by a bonded dealer; (4) election to be treated as a bonded dealer; (5) the time at which the tax on distilled spirits is determined; (6) distilled spirits lost or destroyed in bond or returned to bonded premises; (7) the time for tax payment and payment by electronic transfer; and (8) application to a plant used by a bonded dealer of provisions relating to sales by proprietors of controlled premises. Directs the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to assess and collect registration fees to defray a portion of the costs resulting from the enactment of this Act. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to study and report to the Congress concerning cooperative agreements regarding the collection of distilled spirits excise taxes.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Uniformed Services Medicare Subvention Program Act - Directs the Secretaries of Defense and of Health and Human Services (HHS) to jointly establish a subvention program to provide the Department of Defense (DOD) with reimbursement from the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act for health services provided to Medicare-eligible covered military beneficiaries who agree to receive such services through the managed care option of the TRICARE program (a DOD-managed health care program). Makes program enrollment voluntary. Requires the Secretary of Defense to waive the TRICARE enrollment fee for program participants for whom Medicare reimbursement may be made. Directs the HHS Secretary to make monthly payments to DOD from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund representing appropriate reimbursement amounts. Provides for the determination of such amounts. Directs the Secretary of Defense to: (1) maintain DOD health care efforts for Medicare-eligible covered military beneficiaries; (2) estimate, for the first fiscal year of the subvention program, the amount expended by DOD for FY 1997 for providing health care items and services to such beneficiaries; and (3) establish monthly targets of the number of such beneficiaries for whom reimbursement will not be provided to DOD. Requires the Comptroller General, for each program year, to report to the Secretaries and the Congress on the extent to which costs under the TRICARE program and the Medicare program have increased as a result of the subvention program. Requires the Secretaries to take necessary steps to offset any excess costs and prevent future excess costs, including: (1) suspension or termination of the subvention program; (2) adjustment of the payment rate; or (3) adjustment of DOD maintenance of effort requirements.
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
Enterprise Capital Formation Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from 50 to 75 percent the exclusion from gain for a taxpayer (currently, excludes corporations) resulting from the sale or exchange of qualified small business stock held more than three (currently, five) years. Exempts such exclusion from alternative minimum tax provisions. Doubles the aggregate gross assets a business may have and still be considered a qualified small business. Provides for the nontaxable rollover of gain from qualified small business stock to another small business stock.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Antitrust Health Care Advancement Act of 1997 - Provides that the following activities shall not be deemed illegal per se in any action under the Federal antitrust laws or similar State law, but shall be judged based on reasonableness: (1) the exchange among health care providers of information relating to costs, sales, profitability, marketing, prices, or fees of any health care service soley for, and reasonably required for, establishing a health care provider network (HCPN); (2) the conduct of an HCPN in negotiating, making, or performing a contract for providing health care services to individuals under the terms of a health benefit plan; and (3) the conduct of any HCPN member for the purpose of providing such services under such contract. Directs the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission to jointly issue guidelines specifying the enforcement policies and analytical principles that will be applied by the Department of Justice and the Commission with respect to the operation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Constitutional Amendment - States that no person born in the United States shall be a U.S. citizen unless a parent is a U.S. citizen, is lawfully in the United States, or has lawful immigration status at the time of the birth.
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
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Natural Disaster Insurance Title II: Multihazard Mitigation Program Natural Disaster Protection and Insurance Act of 1997 - Title I: Natural Disaster Insurance - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) to establish within the Department of the Treasury a National Commission on Catastrophe Risk and Insurance Loss Costs to estimate loss costs from catastrophic natural disasters. Instructs the Commission to: (1) make an initial estimate of catastrophe loss costs (updated at least every three years); (2) file catastrophe loss costs estimates at least every three years; (3) conduct special studies of catastrophe insurance issues in order to develop estimates of catastrophe loss costs, including the investigation of specified issues according to certain procedural guidelines. (Sec. 101) Permits a private insurer to elect to cite the Commission's final catastrophe loss cost estimates in its rate filings to a State department of insurance. Instructs the Secretary to consider catastrophe loss cost estimates when developing reserve prices for Federal excess-of-loss reinsurance contracts. Requires State insurance pools that provide direct insurance, in order to be eligible to purchase Federal excess-of-loss reinsurance contracts, to consider, when developing property coverage rates, such estimates as the minimum loss costs to be filed with State department of insurance. Prescribes guidelines under which the Commission may review and certify private commercial natural disaster hazard models intended to be used to make estimates of catastrophe loss costs. Authorizes appropriations. Expresses the intent of the Congress that: (1) this Act relates specifically to the business of insurance; and (2) specified activities prescribed by this Act and applicable to such business shall be regulated by State law. (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary to implement a program to auction Federal excess-of-loss reinsurance contracts to eligible purchasers in order to increase the capacity of insurance coverage against specified catastrophic natural disasters. Establishes the Federal Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance Fund within the Treasury to make payments on claims and for: (1) the operation of the National Commission on Catastrophe Risk and Insurance Loss Costs; (2) the anticipated Federal contribution to the Natural Disaster Hazard Mitigation Fund (established by this Act); and (3) administrative expenses. (Sec. 103) Prescribes eligibility qualifications for a licensed private corporation providing excess reinsurance for catastrophic natural disasters, which shall not be subject to antitrust liability. (Sec. 104) Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a joint study with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce evaluating specified public policy issues associated with conferring favorable Federal tax treatment to insurance reserves set aside by private insurers for future catastrophic natural disasters. (Sec. 105) Requires the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences to study and report to the Congress on the national flood insurance program operated under the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968. (Sec. 106) Requires each State department of insurance to take into account natural disaster hazard mitigation measures in setting rates and deductibles for property insurance. (Sec. 107) Requires the FEMA Director and the Secretaries of Treasury and of Commerce to study jointly, evaluate, and report to the Congress on the availability and affordability of catastrophe insurance for natural hazards to private enterprises and State and local governments. Title II: Multihazard Mitigation Program - Prescribes guidelines and a deadline for the development of State-wide strategic mitigation plans to reduce the hazards of future natural disasters. Denies non-compliant States eligibility to receive funds from the Natural Disaster Hazard Mitigation Fund. (Sec. 202) Establishes the Natural Disaster Hazard Mitigation Fund. (Sec. 203) Directs the Comptroller General to identify all Federal programs providing assistance for public facilities and lifelines, and determine those which include or could include as an eligible use of Federal assistance the retrofitting or strengthening of public facilities and lifelines to minimize damage from future natural disasters. (Sec. 204) Directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior to enter into an agreement with the interagency National Wildfire Coordinating Group to study and report to the Congress on the threat posed by wildfires. (Sec. 205) Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Postal Service Core Business Act of 1997 - Prohibits the Postal Service from making available to the public any commercial nonpostal service except to the extent that such service was made available nationwide by the Postal Service to the public (whether under the Domestic Mail Manual or otherwise) as of January 1, 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Uniformed Services Medicare Subvention Demonstration Project Act - Directs the Secretaries of Defense and Health and Human Services (HHS) to jointly establish a demonstration project to provide the Department of Defense (DOD) with reimbursement, under provisions of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, for health services provided to Medicare-eligible covered military beneficiaries who participate in the project and receive such services through the managed care option of the TRICARE program (a DOD managed health care program). Requires the project to be conducted during the three-year period beginning on January 1, 1998, in no more than five geographic regions designated by the Secretaries. Makes project enrollment voluntary. Requires the Secretary of Defense to waive the TRICARE enrollment fee for project participants for whom Medicare reimbursement may be made. Requires inclusion in the project of a provision for expansion to incorporate health care services provided to such beneficiaries under the fee-for-services options of the TRICARE program if the Secretaries determine that such expansion is feasible and advisable. Directs the HHS Secretary to make monthly payments to DOD from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund representing appropriate reimbursement amounts. Provides for the determination of such amounts. Directs the Secretary of Defense to: (1) maintain the DOD health care efforts for Medicare-eligible covered military beneficiaries; (2) estimate the amount expended by DOD for FY 1997 for providing health care items and services to such beneficiaries; and (3) establish monthly targets for the number of such beneficiaries enrolled in the project necessary to meet DOD maintenance of health care efforts for such individuals. Limits to $65 million the annual payments to DOD for the project. Requires the Comptroller General, for each project year, to submit to the Secretaries and the Congress a report on the extent to which costs under the TRICARE program and the Medicare program have increased as a result of the project. Directs the Secretaries to modify the project at the end of each year to correct for any discrepancy between cost targets and actual spending under the project. Directs the Secretaries to submit to the Congress an interim and final report on various project aspects.
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
American Farm and Ranch Protection Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross estate, if elected by the executor, the value of land subject to a qualified conservation easement, except for any debt-financed portion. Provides for the treatment of any retained development right. Adds references to such property to provisions controlling the basis of property acquired from a decedent. Prohibits treating the transfer by gift of land subject to a qualified conservation easement as a transfer of property by gift for purposes of provisions relating to gift taxes. Amends provisions relating to the valuation of certain farm and other real property to prohibit a qualified conservation contribution (as defined in provisions relating to charitable contributions) from being deemed a disposition unless it is subject to a conservation easement. Declares that, if property is otherwise qualified real property, being subject to a conservation easement does not disqualify it. Allows a contribution to be treated as exclusively for conservation purposes if the surface estate and mineral interests have been and remain separated (currently, if the surface estate and mineral interests were separated before June 13, 1976, and remain separated) and if the probability of surface mining is so remote as to be negligible.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to terminate the credit for large producers of ethanol used as a fuel after 1998. Disallows the credit for alcohol used to produce any ether. Exempts from tax liquids sold for use or used in an off-highway business use. Repeals the reduced rate on ethanol fuel produced from natural gas. Provides for the tax treatment of fuel alcohol in the same manner as other motor fuels. Repeals the reduced rates on alcohol fuels. Exempts partially, in the case of methanol or ethanol, the rate of tax determined under the Highway Trust Fund financing rate. Imposes a floor stock tax on fuel alcohol held by any individual on a specified date and makes such individual liable for such tax. Exempts fuel alcohol held by any individual for any use to the extent a credit or refund of the tax imposed under current law is allowed. Prohibits the imposition of tax on fuel alcohol held in the tank of a motor vehicle or motorboat and for certain amounts of fuel.
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
National Right-to-Work Act - Amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to repeal those provisions that permit employers, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement (union security agreement), to require employees to join a union as a condition of employment (including provisions permitting railroad carriers to require, pursuant to such an agreement, payroll deduction of union dues or fees as a condition of employment).
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Military Retirement Equity Act of 1997 - Permits retired members of the armed forces to be paid retirement pay concurrently with compensation for any service-connected disability if the person's entitlement to such retirement pay is based solely on age, length of service, or both. Reduces the retirement pay of individuals receiving both types of pay by a specified percentage of the disability compensation which decreases as the disability rating increases. Prohibits any reduction in the retirement pay of a disabled person when the disability rating is total. Declares that, once the Federal budget deficit has been reduced, the Congress should reexamine and eliminate any offset of retired pay by a veteran's disability compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Bill Emerson English Language Empowerment Act of 1997 - Amends Federal law to declare English to be the official language of the U.S. Government. States that representatives of the Federal Government have an affirmative obligation to preserve and enhance the role of English as the official language of the Federal Government. Requires such representatives to conduct official business in English. Prohibits anyone from being denied Government services because he or she communicates in English. Requires that all officials conduct all naturalization ceremonies entirely in English. Directs that nothing in this Act construed to limit the preservation or use of Native Alaskan or Native American languages. Sets forth definitions for purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress, prior to each fiscal year, to adopt a statement in which total Federal outlays do not exceed total receipts, unless a two-thirds vote of both Houses authorizes a specific excess. Sets a permanent limit on the amount of Federal public debt, prohibiting any increase unless legislation enacted by a two-thirds majority of both Houses becomes law. Waives these provisions when a declaration of war is in effect or when 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.
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 · 28 September 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: General Provisions Title II: Emission Reduction Credits Title III: Tax Incentives Title IV: Revision of Purchase Mandates Title V: Federal Transit Incentives for Natural Gas Vehicles Title VI: Government Contract Incentives for Natural Gas Vehicles Title VII: Research, Development, and Demonstration Incentives for Natural Gas Vehicles Natural Gas Vehicle Incentives Act of 1996 - Title I: General Provisions - Sets forth the findings of Congress with respect to increased use of domestic natural gas as a transportation fuel. Title II: Emission Reduction Credits - Amends the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish an emission reduction credit program for natural gas vehicles, Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV)-certified alternative fuel vehicles, and fueling infrastructure. Title III: Tax Incentives - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish natural gas vehicle property credits for any of the following property placed in service during the taxable year: (1) natural gas vehicles (50 percent of the cost); (2) fueling stations (the lesser of $25,000 or ten percent of the cost); and (3) transportation fuel (25 cents per gallon of liquefied natural gas or per gasoline gallon equivalent of compressed natural gas). (Sec. 302) Imposes an excise tax of 3.54 cents per gallon on liquefied natural gas sold for use or used as motor vehicle or motorboat fuel unless there was a taxable sale of such gas. (Sec. 303) Provides for shorter depreciation recovery periods for natural gas vehicles (three years) and refueling property (seven years). Title IV: Revision of Purchase Mandates - Declares the national policy to be that: (1) a viable, sustainable market for natural gas and other low emission vehicles requires cooperative efforts by and among fleet operators and other users, fuel providers, and vehicle manufacturers; (2) government mandates requiring private sector fleet purchases do not support such cooperative efforts; (3) the low emission vehicle market should be based on voluntary, economically sound decisions; and (4) market-oriented incentives can provide an appropriate and effective means for developing a self-sustaining market for such vehicles and fuels. (Sec. 402) Amends the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to repeal private fleet mandates. Sets forth sunset provisions to end the fuel provider mandate and the State fleet mandate. Title V: Federal Transit Incentives for Natural Gas Vehicles - Amends Federal transportation law to require metropolitan mass transportation planning organizations, in developing plans, to consider opportunities to stimulate the use of natural gas vehicles and ULEV-certified alternative fueled vehicles and the installation of a fueling infrastructure to support such vehicles. (Sec. 504) Declares that research and investigations for which non-profit institutions of higher learning may receive Department of Transportation grants include the relationship between environmental policy and transportation policy, particularly the potential applications for natural gas vehicles and ULEV-certified alternative fueled vehicles in urban settings. (Sec. 505) Requires any Federal grant for a mass transportation project that involves acquiring buses powered by natural gas, or any ULEV-certified alternative fueled bus, and all related fueling property or equipment, to cover at least 90 percent of the project cost. Title VI: Government Contract Incentives for Natural Gas Vehicles - Amends Federal law for Armed Services acquisitions and the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to direct the Secretary of Defense and Federal civilian agencies, respectively, to give a preference in procurement contracts to contractors and subcontractors using motor vehicles that: (1) operate on natural gas; or (2) operate on alternative fuel and meet the ULEV standard. Title VII: Research, Development, and Demonstration Incentives for Natural Gas Vehicles - Directs the Secretary of Energy to conduct a five-year program of natural gas vehicle research, development, and demonstration, including specified activities.
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 · 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 · 18 July 1996
Urges the national broadcast television networks to renew their commitment to voluntarily reserving the first hour of prime-time broadcasting for programming suitable for American family members of all ages.
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 1996
Postal Service Core Business Act of 1996 - Prohibits the Postal Service from making available to the public any commercial nonpostal service except to the extent that such service was made available nationwide by the Postal Service to the public (whether under the Domestic Mail Manual or otherwise) as of January 1, 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 Title II: Enactment of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1996 Title III: Conforming Changes to Other Statutes Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1996 - Title I: Repeal of the Public Utility Holding Act of 1935 - Repeals the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA). Title II: Enactment of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1996 - Declares that this Act does not apply to persons previously exempted from regulations under the PUHCA. Authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to institute proceedings to terminate any such exemption if termination would be necessary for regulating the rates of a public utility company and for protecting consumers. Empowers FERC to exempt any person or transaction from this title if it finds that regulation of such person or transaction is irrelevant to the rates of a public utility company. Prescribes procedural guidelines for both FERC and State access to holding company records (including subsidiaries and affiliates). Retains the jurisdiction of FERC and State commissions to determine whether a public utility company may recover in rates any costs of affiliate transactions. Grants FERC certain Federal Power Act enforcement powers. Transfers from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to FERC all resources that relate primarily to the functions vested in FERC by this Act. Expresses the sense of the Congress that all personnel of the Office of Public Utility Regulation of the SEC should be transferred to FERC. Title III: Conforming Changes to Other Statutes - Amends the Federal Power Act to repeal its conflict of jurisdiction guidelines.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Division A: Reforming Non-Medical Welfare Programs Title I: Block Grants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Title II: Supplemental Security Income Subtitle A: Eligibility Restrictions Subtitle B: Benefits for Disabled Children Subtitle C: State Supplementation Programs Subtitle D: Studies Regarding Supplemental Security Income Program Subtitle E: National Commission on the Future of Disability Subtitle F: Retirement Age Eligibility Title III: Child Support Subtitle A: Eligibility for Services; Distribution of Payments Subtitle B: Locate and Case Tracking Subtitle C: Streamlining and Uniformity of Procedures Subtitle D: Paternity Establishment Subtitle E: Program Administration and Funding Subtitle F: Establishment and Modification of Support Orders Subtitle G: Enforcement of Support Orders Subtitle H: Medical Support Subtitle I: Enhancing Responsibility and Opportunity for Non-Residential Parents Subtitle J: Effective Dates and Conforming Amendments Title IV: Restricting Welfare and Public Benefits for Aliens Subtitle A: Eligibility for Federal Benefits Subtitle B: Eligibility for State and Local Public Benefits Programs Subtitle C: Attribution of Income and Affidavits of Support Subtitle D: General Provisions Subtitle E: Conforming Amendments Subtitle F: Earned Income Credit Denied to Unauthorized Employees Title V: Reductions in Federal Government Positions Title VI: Reform of Public Housing Title VII: Child Protection Block Grant Programs and Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Independent Living Programs Subtitle A: Child Protection Block Grant Program and Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Independent Living Programs Subtitle B: Child and Family Services Block Grant Title VIII: Child Care Title IX: Child Nutrition Programs Subtitle A: National School Lunch Act Subtitle B: Child Nutrition Act of 1966 Title X: Food Stamps and Commodity Distribution Subtitle A: Food Stamp Program Subtitle B: Commodity Distribution Programs Title XI: Miscellaneous Division B: Restructuring Medicaid Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 - Division A: Reforming Non-Medical Welfare Programs - Title I: Block Grants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - Expresses the sense of the Congress that prevention of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and reduction in out-of-wedlock births are important Government interests. (Sec. 103) Replaces the current Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) with a single program of block grants to the States for operating statewide temporary assistance (TEA) programs with certain mandatory work, education, and job preparation requirements for needy families either already with or expecting a child, which are designed to assist such families in becoming self-sufficient. Limits such families generally to no more than five years of TEA cash assistance, with certain exceptions for minor children, battered family members, and hardship situations. Denies TEA assistance in cases where an individual family member is a fugitive felon or a probation or parole violator and in certain other specified situations as well. Requires, in addition, certain adult-supervised living arrangements for unmarried teenage parents. Provides for the exchange of TEA program information with law enforcement agencies under certain conditions. Establishes penalties for States and individual families for specified grant and program violations, respectively, through reduced grants and assistance payments, allowing States to terminate such payments to certain adult family members without small children needing child care who refuse to: (1) engage in work, educational, or job preparation activities (required program activities); or (2) cooperate with the State in establishing paternity or obtaining child support, unless the member qualifies for a good cause exception. Provides for a separate reduction in State family assistance grant payments for States failing to comply with Federal requirements under SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) pertaining to paternity establishment and child support enforcement. Sets forth the mechanism for State appeal of Federal adverse decisions with respect to State plans or imposition of penalties, providing for advance notification of any program violation and the opportunity for a State to correct it before any such penalty is imposed. Limits the amount of any penalty reduction in the State's quarterly family assistance grant payment. Expresses the sense of the Congress that State TEA programs should: (1) assign the highest priority to requiring adults in two-parent families and in single-parent families with older preschool or school-age children to be engaged in required program activities; and (2) require noncustodial, nonsupporting parents under age 18 to fulfill community work obligations and attend appropriate parenting or money management classes after school. Specifies State TEA plan contents, including provisions for numeric goals for reducing illegitimacy in the State over a specified ten year period beginning in 1996, and certain certifications by the State that it will operate child support enforcement and protection programs, in order for it to be eligible (according to certain other criteria as well) to receive Federal grants for its TEA programs (family assistance grants). Allows the States to decide in their TEA plans: (1) whether or not they intend on providing TEA assistance to aliens; and (2) how to treat families moving interstate. Provides for: (1) the allowable uses of quarterly family assistance grants, family planning services and assistance to low income households in meeting home heating and cooling costs; (2) additional grants to States as rewards for reductions in illegitimate births and for high performance under the TEA program, as well as supplemental grants to certain States for population increases; and (3) a Contingency Fund for State Welfare Programs (Contingency Fund) in the Treasury for payments to certain eligible States. Makes appropriations for such grants and the Contingency Fund. Sets up a Federal loan program for State TEA programs for anti-fraud and other specified activities, making necessary appropriations. Outlines specific program data collection and reporting requirements, as well as certain research, evaluation, and study requirements. Provides for direct funding, by way of three-year tribal family assistance grants, to Indian tribes (with a special rule for Indian tribes in Alaska) with approved tribal family assistance plans. Directs the Bureau of the Census to expand the Survey of Income and Program Participation to obtain information that will enable interested persons to evaluate the impact of the changes made by this title on a random national sample of recipients of assistance under State programs. Provides for the treatment of existing State AFDC waivers in effect on the date of enactment of this Act and those granted subsequently. Retains the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) for Family Supports as the official responsible for administering SSA title IV part A and D programs. (Sec. 104) Allows States to contract with charitable, religious, and private organizations to provide services and administer programs established or modified under titles I, II, and VI of this Act. Prohibits the expenditure of financial assistance provided under such programs for sectarian worship, instruction, or proselytization. (Sec. 105) Directs the Secretary of Commerce to expand census data collection efforts to enable the Bureau of the Census to collect statistically significant data on grandparent caregivers. (Sec. 106) Requires an HHS report to the Congress on State automated data processing systems used in administering SSA title IV part A programs to determine what would be required to establish a system for tracking public program participants and checking case records to determine if such participants are participating in public programs of two or more States. (Sec. 107) Details requirements for a similar report, and study, on alternative outcomes measures for evaluating the success of the States in moving individuals off welfare through employment. (Sec. 108) Makes conforming amendments to SSA, the Food Stamp Act of 1977, and related provisions of other specified Federal laws. (Sec. 111) Directs the Commissioner of Social Security (Commissioner) to: (1) develop a prototype counterfeit-resistant social security card; and (2) study and issue a report to the Congress with regard to improving the social security card application process. (Sec. 112) Requires any organization accepting Federal funds under this Act to disclose that fact in any communication it makes that in any way intends to promote public support or opposition to any Federal, State, or local government policy through any broadcasting station, periodical, or other specified type of general public advertising. Makes any organization failing to make such a disclosure ineligible to receive Federal funds under this Act. (Sec. 113) Amends the Family Support Act of 1988 to remove the "demonstration" status of the Job Opportunities for Certain Low-Income Individuals (JOLI) program and give it an increased annual authorization for any fiscal year. Title II: Supplemental Security Income - Subtitle A: Eligibility Restrictions - Amends SSA title XVI to deny SSI for ten years to individuals found to have fraudulently misrepresented residence in order to obtain benefits simultaneously in two or more States. Denies SSI for fugitive felons and probation and parole violators. Provides for exchange of SSI information with law enforcement agencies under certain conditions. (Sec. 203) Revises the treatment afforded prisoners with regard to SSI and OASDI (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) benefits under SSA title II to: (1) deny SSI benefits for ten years to a person found to have fraudulently obtained SSI benefits while in prison; (2) eliminate the OASDI requirement that confinement stem from a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year; and (3) authorize the Commissioner to contract with any interested State or local institutions used to confine prisoners for monthly reports back of certain identifying information in order to enforce SSI and OASDI benefit limitations, and pay such institution a specified fee with regard to each SSI- or OASDI-eligible inmate identified who becomes ineligible for such benefit as a result of such reporting. Requires the Commissioner to study and report to the Congress on other specified potential improvements in the collection of information respecting public inmates. (Sec. 204) Makes certain changes respecting the effective date of applications for SSI benefits. Subtitle B: Benefits for Disabled Children - Revises the rules with respect to childhood eligibility, with corresponding changes to childhood SSI regulations modifying the medical criteria for evaluation of mental and emotional disorders, and discontinuing the use of individualized functional assessments for children. Modifies medical improvement review standards, specifically dividing their applicability to, and creating separate criteria for, individuals aged 18 or older, and individuals under age 18, respectively. (Sec. 211) Provides that once an eligible child meets the definition of disability, the amount of the individual's cash benefit will be based on whether or not the child meets criteria for needing personal assistance enabling the child to stay at home with his or her family. (Sec. 212) Provides that at least once every three years the Commissioner shall review the continued SSI eligibility of each individual who has not attained age 18 and is eligible for such benefits by reason of an impairment (or combination of impairments) which is likely to improve (or, at the Commissioner's option, is unlikely to improve). Requires a representative payee of a recipient whose case is so reviewed to present, at the time of review, evidence demonstrating that the recipient is, and has been, receiving treatment, to the extent considered medically necessary and available, for the condition which was the basis for providing benefits under the SSI program. Provides that if the representative payee refuses to comply without good cause with such requirement, the Commissioner shall, if in the individual's best interest, promptly terminate payment of benefits to the representative payee, and provide for payment of benefits to an alternative representative payee of the individual or, if the interest of the individual would be served thereby, to the individual. Provides that if an individual is eligible for SSI benefits by reason of disability for the month preceding the month in which the individual attains age 18, the Commissioner shall redetermine such eligibility: (1) during the one-year period beginning on the individual's 18th birthday; and (2) by applying the criteria used in determining the initial eligibility for applicants who have attained age 18. Specifies requirements governing continuing disability reviews for low-birth-weight babies. (Sec. 213) Revises provisions regarding the disposal of resources for less than fair market value by certain individuals and appropriate notification of Medicaid. Provides for the treatment of assets held in trust by individuals who have not attained age 18 and any earnings resulting from such trust. Requires representative payees of eligible individuals below age 18 to establish financial institution accounts on their behalf into which SSI payments shall be paid. Allows representative payees to use funds in the account to pay for certain allowable expenses. Directs the Commissioner to establish a system for accountability monitoring whereby a representative payee shall report on activities respecting funds in the account. (Sec. 214) Reduces cash SSI payments to institutionalized children whose medical costs are covered by private insurance. (Sec. 215) Provides for installment payment of large amounts of past-due SSI benefits, and the recovery of SSI overpayments from social security benefits. Subtitle C: State Supplementation Programs - Repeals maintenance of effort requirements applicable to optional State programs for supplementation of SSI benefits. Subtitle D: Studies Regarding Supplemental Security Income Program - Requires the Commissioner to prepare an annual report for the President and the Congress on the SSI program, and make appropriate arrangements for a study of the disability determination process under SSA titles II and XVI for any needed changes. (Sec. 233) Outlines the requirements for a study and report by the General Accounting Office on the impact of this title on the SSI program and on the extra expenses incurred by families of children receiving benefits under such program that are not covered by other Federal, State, or local programs. Subtitle E: National Commission on the Future of Disability - Establishes the National Commission on the Future of Disability to develop and carry out a comprehensive study of all matters related to the nature, purpose, and adequacy of all Federal programs serving individuals with disabilities in order to develop appropriate recommendations for any needed legislation or administrative action. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle F: Retirement Age Eligibility - Provides that, for purposes of determining an aged individual under SSI, the age used shall be the retirement age used under the OASDI program. Title III: Child Support - Subtitle A: Eligibility for Services; Distribution of Payments - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of SSA title IV to require State plans for child and spousal support to provide: (1) certain services relating to paternity establishment or enforcement of child support obligations; and (2) continuation of services for families ceasing to receive assistance under Aid to Families with Dependent Children. (Sec. 302) Revises payment distribution guidelines for support obligations collected by the State on behalf of a family. (Sec. 303) Requires State plans to establish procedural guidelines for: (1) privacy safeguards regarding paternity and child support actions; and (2) notification to services applicants or recipients of all proceedings and orders affecting child support obligations. Subtitle B: Locate and Case Tracking - Mandates that single statewide automated data systems include a State case registry containing records of: (1) each case in which services are provided by the State agency; and (2) each support order established on or after a specified date. Permits the linking of local registries. (Sec. 312) Requires State plans to include a centralized, automated unit for the collection and disbursement of support payments. Permits the unit to be established by linking local disbursement units through an automated information network if the Secretary agrees that it will not cost more or take more time to establish or operate than a centralized system. (Sec. 313) Requires State plans to: (1) provide for a State-operated and automated State Directory of New Hires containing prescribed information furnished by employers on new personnel; and (2) transmit such information to the National Directory of New Hires. (Sec. 314) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures: (1) for mandatory income withholding for support payments subject to enforcement; and (2) under which wages of a person with a support obligation imposed by a child support order issued before October 1, 1996, shall become subject to withholding if arrearages occur, without the need for a judicial or administrative hearing. Revises the procedural guidelines for income withholding for child support enforcement. (Sec. 315) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures to ensure that Federal and State agencies conducting income-withholding activities have access to State locator systems for motor vehicle or law enforcement purposes. (Sec. 316) Revises the Federal Parent Locator Service to provide for additional information which may be transmitted to locate individuals and assets for purposes of: (1) establishing parentage; (2) establishing, setting the amount of, modifying, or enforcing child support obligations; and (3) enforcing child custody or visitation orders. Directs the HHS Secretary to establish in the Federal Parent Locator Service an automated Federal Case Registry of Child Support Orders and an automated National Directory of New Hires. Requires the Secretaries of Labor and HHS to jointly develop cost-effective methods of accessing information in the various State directories of new hires and the National Directory of New Hires (established under this Act), taking into account impact and cost to the States, and the need to ensure authorized use of wage record information. (Sec. 317) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures requiring recordation on such documents of the social security number of: (1) specified driver's, marriage, and occupational, and professional license applicants; (2) individuals subject to certain domestic relations orders; and (3) deceased persons (on death records). Subtitle C: Streamlining and Uniformity of Procedures - Requires each State to have the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act in effect as of January 1, 1998. Amends the Federal judicial code to revise the procedures for the court to apply when determining which State order to recognize for purposes of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction and enforcement for child support orders. (Sec. 323) Requires the States to have statutorily prescribed procedures requiring: (1) expedited administrative enforcement in interstate cases and support orders; and (2) expedited administrative and judicial procedures for establishing paternity and enforcing support obligations. Subtitle D: Paternity Establishment - Revises the guidelines for State laws governing paternity establishment. Requires State procedures under which the name of the father shall be included on the birth certificate only: (1) if the mother and father have signed a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity; or (2) pursuant to a judicial or administrative order. (Sec. 333) Requires State plans for child and spousal support to provide that the State agency administering the plan will make a determination as to whether a program recipient is cooperating in good faith with State efforts to establish paternity and secure support. Subtitle E: Program Administration and Funding - Directs the Secretary to develop a new incentive system to replace the current one. Revises the guidelines for Federal performance-based incentive payments to the States for effective child support enforcement programs. (Sec. 342) Requires a State plan for child and spousal support to include prescribed procedures for State reviews and audits. Revises the guidelines for Federal evaluation and audit of State programs governing paternity, child and spousal support, and parent location. (Sec 344) Revises the automated data processing requirements for State plans to mandate a single statewide automated data processing and information retrieval system which can perform specified tasks. (Sec. 345) Makes funds available to the Secretary for: (1) training of Federal and State staff, research and demonstration programs, and special projects of regional and national significance; and (2) operation of the Federal Parent Locator Service. Subtitle F: Establishment and Modification of Support Orders - Revises the requirements for State plan procedures for the review and adjustment of support orders. (Sec. 352) Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to authorize a consumer agency to furnish a consumer report: (1) in response to a request by a governmental child support enforcement agency; or (2) to the State administrative agency which sets child support awards. (Sec. 353) Shields a depository institution from Federal or State liability for disclosing any financial record of an individual to a State child support enforcement agency. Prohibits such agency from disclosing such a financial record except for the purpose of, and to the extent necessary in, establishing, modifying, or enforcing a child support obligation. Sets forth civil penalties for any person knowingly or negligently violating such prohibition. Subtitle G: Enforcement of Support Orders - Amends Internal Revenue Code procedural guidelines for the collection of arrearages to provide that no additional fee may be assessed for adjustments to a previously certified amount. (Sec. 362) Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of SSA title IV to revise procedural guidelines for: (1) consent by the United States to income withholding, garnishment, and similar proceedings for enforcement of child support and alimony obligations of current and retired Federal employees; and (2) enforcement of child support obligations of members of the Armed Forces. (Sec. 364) Requires a State plan for child and spousal support to have in effect the Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act of 1981, the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act of 1984, or a similar law, as well as certain procedures governing the voiding of fraudulent transfers by a child support debtor. (Sec. 365) Requires a State plan for child and spousal support to include specified procedures: (1) to ensure that persons owing past-due support work or participate in work activities the court deems appropriate; (2) to report to credit bureaus the name of the parent in arrears for child support; (3) to provide for liens against real and personal property for the support arrearages of a non-custodial parent; and (4) to implement the restriction of driver's, professional, occupational, and recreational licenses of individuals owing support arrearages. (Sec. 370) Requires the Secretary of State to deny, revoke, or limit a passport upon certification of nonpayment of child support. (Sec. 371) Authorizes the Secretary of State to negotiate reciprocal agreements with foreign nations: (1) regarding international enforcement of child support obligations; and (2) designating the Department of Health and Human Services as the central authority for such enforcement. (Sec. 372) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures under which a State agency shall enter agreements with financial institutions doing business within the State to develop and operate a data match system to provide identifying information for each non-custodial parent targeted by the State who maintains an account at the institution, and to encumber or surrender such parent's assets at the institution pursuant to a lien or levy. (Sec. 373) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures under which child support orders relating to the child of minor parents, where the custodial parents are receiving assistance, are enforceable against the child's paternal or maternal grandparents. (Sec. 374) Amends Federal bankruptcy law and the Social Security Act to declare a debt for child support nondischargeable in bankruptcy. Subtitle H: Medical Support - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to include within the definition of medical child support order an order issued through a State administrative process. (Sec. 377) Amends part D of SSA title IV to mandate statutorily prescribed procedures under which all enforced child support orders shall include a provision for the health care coverage of the child. Subtitle I: Enhancing Responsibility and Opportunity for Non- Residential Parents - Amends part D of SSA title IV to prescribe guidelines under which the Administration for Children and Families shall make grants to enable States to establish and administer access and visitation programs to facilitate non-custodial parents' access to their children. Subtitle J: Effective Dates and Conforming Amendments - Sets forth effective dates and conforming amendments. Title IV: Restricting Welfare and Public Benefits for Aliens - Subtitle A: Eligibility for Federal Benefits - Prohibits (with exceptions) specified Federal benefits to nonqualified aliens. Limits (with exceptions) qualified alien access to other specified Federal programs. Requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide the Immigration and Naturalization Service with information on illegal aliens. Subtitle B: Eligibility for State and Local Public Benefits Programs - Sets forth similar prohibitions and limitations on alien access to State and local public benefits. Subtitle C: Attribution of Income and Affidavits of Support - Attributes a sponsor's (and spouse) income and resources to the alien sponsoree in determining eligibility for Federal means-tested public benefits. (Sec. 422) Authorizes States to make similar attributions. (Sec. 423) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to set forth sponsor affidavit of support requirements. (Sec. 424) Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require sponsor cosignature of alien student loans. Subtitle D: General Provisions - Directs the Attorney General to promulgate regulations for verification of Federal public benefits eligibility. (Sec. 435) Makes the determination of an alien's qualifying quarters under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act dependant upon whether or not a parent or spouse received Federal means-tested assistance during such quarters. Subtitle E: Conforming Amendments Related to Assisted Housing - Makes conforming amendments to the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980. Subtitle F: Earned Income Credit Denied to Unauthorized Employees - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require a taxpayer to provide his or her social security number in order to qualify for the individual earned income credit. Title V: Reductions In Federal Government Positions - Outlines the mechanism for various specified Federal executive agency workforce reductions, requiring submission to specified congressional committees of certain determinations about the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions of their respective departments by the Secretaries of Agriculture, of Education, of Labor, of Housing and Urban Development, and of HHS. Requires the Secretaries to make FTE reductions, including reductions-in-force, resulting from such determinations over the ensuing 14 months. Requires the Comptroller General to analyze and report to such committees on such determinations, with recommendations for further FTE reductions, if appropriate. (Sec. 502) Requires the HHS Secretary to reduce the Federal workforce within HHS: (1) by 75 percent of the FTE positions relating to any direct spending program, or any program funded through discretionary spending, that has been converted into a block grant program by this Act; and (2) 75 percent of a proportionate number of the total FTE departmental management positions. Requires reduction of FTE positions in HHS by: (1) 245 FTE positions related to the program converted by this Act into TEA block grants; and (2) 60 FTE managerial positions. (Sec. 503) Encourages the HHS Secretary to reduce personnel in the Washington, D.C., area office (agency headquarters) before reducing field personnel. Title VI: Reform of Public Housing - Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to prohibit (with an exception) increased housing assistance under such Act due to reduced family income resulting from noncompliance reductions in welfare or other public assistance benefits. (Sec. 602) Prohibits an increase in federally appropriated means-tested welfare or public assistance due to reduced income resulting from fraud-caused reductions under another means-tested welfare or public assistance program. Title VII: Child Protection Block Grant Programs and Foster Care, Adoption Assistance and Independent Living Programs - Subtitle A: Child Protection Block Grant Program and Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Independent Living Programs - Replaces title IV-B (Child Welfare Services) with a block grant program to the States to implement: (1) child protection programs regarding child abuse and neglect; and (2) child protection. (Sec. 701) Prescribes guidelines under which the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) shall: (1) establish a national data collection and analysis program to coordinate existing State child abuse and neglect reports; and (2) implement a data collection system regarding adoption and foster care. Appropriates funds for child welfare studies and for assessment of State courts improvement of foster care and adoption proceedings. (Sec. 711) Makes conforming amendments to title IV-E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance). Delineates requirements for State eligibility for Federal payments for foster care maintenance and adoption assistance. Sets forth guidelines for payments and allotments to the States for adoption assistance, foster care, and independent living programs (designed to assist children who have attained age 16 to make the transition from foster care to independent living). (Sec. 731) Instructs the Secretary to submit a legislative proposal to certain congressional committees providing for technical and conforming amendments in the law, pursuant to this Act. (Sec. 732) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should: (1) allocate sufficient funds for adoption and medical assistance to encourage child adoption; (2) offer incentives to make adoption of special needs children more affordable for middle-class families; (3) provide a child that must be removed from its biological parents with a single foster care placement and single coordinated case team, including conclusion of adoption within one year of such child's foster care placement; and (4) participate in programs to enable maximum visibility of waiting children to potential parents. Subtitle B: Child and Family Services Block Grant - Renames the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act as the Child and Family Services Block Grant Act of 1996. Changes the purposes of the Act to emphasize assistance to each State in improving child protective service systems. Delineates criteria governing State eligibility for Federal block grants for: (1) child and family services; and (2) research, demonstrations, training, and technical assistance. (Sec. 751) Abolishes the current Federal program, including the Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, community-based family resource programs, temporary child care for children with disabilities, crisis nursery demonstration programs, certain preventive services for children of homeless families or families at risk of homelessness, and requirements for criminal background checks for child care providers. Instructs the Secretary to: (1) establish a national child abuse and neglect data collection and analysis program (in addition to the current national clearinghouse for information relating to child abuse); (2) provide technical and training assistance to the States for child abuse and neglect programs and for adoption opportunities. Mandates peer review for such grants. Instructs the Secretary to conduct a national random sample study of children at risk of child abuse or neglect. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 through 2002, including grants for demonstration projects. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States to assist them in developing programs related to the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect cases. Requires any State requesting such assistance to establish a multidisciplinary task force on children's justice to study administrative, civil, and criminal judicial handling of such cases, and make recommendations which the State must adopt (or equivalent alternatives). Title VIII: Child Care - Child Care and Development Block Grant Amendments of 1996 - Revises and extends through FY 2002 the authorization of appropriations for the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (the Act, for purposes of this title). Sets forth goals for State child care assistance. (Sec. 803) Amends part A (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act to entitle each State to payments for providing child care assistance. (Sec. 804) Authorizes the State lead agency to administer the financial assistance it receives through other governmental or nongovernmental agencies. (Sec. 805) Revises State application and plan requirements with respect to consumer education information, State licensing compliance, meeting the needs of AFDC or TEA recipients (especially those attempting through work activities to leave the assistance program) and those at risk of becoming dependent on assistance, and assistance for certain low-income working families. (Sec. 807) Reduces from 20 percent to three percent the minimum amount of certain funds available for State activities to improve the quality of child care, limited to: (1) comprehensive consumer education to parents and the public; (2) activities increasing parental choice; and (3) activities designed to improve child care quality and availability. (Sec. 808) Repeals a requirement that States expend a specified minimum amount of reserved funds for early childhood development and before- and after-school services. (Sec. 813) Reduces the allotment reserved for Indian tribes or tribal organizations from three percent to one percent. Prescribes guidelines for the use of such allotment for facility repair and construction. (Sec. 815) Repeals: (1) the Child Development Associate Scholarship Assistance Act of 1985; (2) the State Dependent Care Development Grants Act; (3) specified programs under title X (Programs of National Significance) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and (4) the Native Hawaiian Family-based Education Centers program under the Native Hawaiian Education Act. Title IX: Child Nutrition Programs - Subtitle A: National School Lunch Act - Amends the National School Lunch Act (NSLA) to repeal specified authorities and requirements for the school lunch and related programs, including: (1) State educational authority to use resources from the nutrition and education (NET) program; (2) prohibition of State imposition of teaching personnel and curriculum requirements at any school; (3) certain demonstration grants to private nonprofit organizations or educational institutions for elementary school curriculum food and nutrition projects; (4) aspects of summer food service programs, reducing payment rates and daily meals at camps, reducing the National Youth Sports Program, and revising nutritional standards compliance requirements; (5) certain commodity distribution program requirements, including State Advisory Councils; (6) expansion of the child care food program; (7) adult care food aid to adult day care centers and services for persons over 60; (8) certain pilot projects, including one for paperwork reduction; and (9) an information clearinghouse. (Sec. 901) Includes in the definition of child any individual with one or more mental or physical disabilities, regardless of age, who attends a specified type of institution, or any nonresidential public or nonprofit private school of high school grade or under, in order to participate in a school program for such individuals. (Sec. 902) Revises nutritional requirements. (Sec. 905) Prohibits, in general, any waiver that will increase Federal costs. Subtitle B: Child Nutrition Act of 1966 - Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) to revise the school breakfast program: (1) eliminating Federal assistance for food preparation training and program expansion and start-up costs; (2) repealing certain authorities and requirements relating to State administrative expenses (SAE); (3) repealing the prohibition against State imposition of teaching personnel and curriculum requirements at any school; (4) repealing the program of cash grants for nutrition education. Revises the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC), among other things repealing specified requirements and changing from mandatory to optional: (1) drug abuse education; and (2) provision of WIC information in languages other than English. (Sec. 931) Makes revisions to the nutrition education and training program. Authorizes appropriations. Title X: Food Stamps and Commodity Distribution - Food Stamp Reform and Commodity Distribution Act of 1996 - Subtitle A: Food Stamp Program - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (Act) to establish a maximum 24-month food stamp program (program) authorization period for households whose adult members are elderly or disabled. (Sec. 1012) Expands the definition of "coupon." (Sec. 1013) Treats children who are themselves parents living with their children and married children living with their spouses as part of an existing household rather than as a separate household. (Sec. 1014) Authorizes States to establish additional criteria for separate household determinations. (Sec. 1015) Revises thrifty food plan adjustment requirements. (Sec. 1016) Revises the definition of "homeless individual" to limit the length of time a person may temporarily live in another person's residence. (Sec. 1018) Revises household income exclusion provisions regarding: (1) students; and (2) Federal energy assistance. (Sec. 1020) Revises household income deduction provisions regarding: (1) standard deductions; (2) earned income; (3) dependent care; (4) child support payments; (5) homeless shelter assistance; (6) excess medical expenses; and (7) excess shelter expenses. (Sec. 1021) Eliminates specified excludable auto value increases and establishes the maximum excludable auto value at $4600. (Sec. 1022) Includes as household income third party payments for transitional housing for the homeless. (Sec. 1023) Increases penalties for certain program violations. (Sec. 1024) Disqualifies permanently an individual convicted of specified coupon violations. (Sec. 1025) Revises work requirement and employment and training provisions. Extends employment and training funding authorizations. (Sec. 1028) Authorizes comparable program disqualification based upon welfare or public assistance disqualification. (Sec. 1029) Disqualifies permanently an individual who participates in the program in two or more States. (Sec. 1030) Disqualifies a fleeing felon from program participation. (Sec. 1031) Requires at State option: (1) cooperation with child support agencies in order to maintain program eligibility; and (2) program disqualification for child support arrears. (Sec. 1033) Defines "work program." Makes nonexempt persons ineligible for program benefits if during the preceding 12-month period they received food stamps for four months or more without working at least 20 hours per week, or participating in a workfare program. Sets forth exempted persons and situations. (Sec. 1034) Directs States to implement electronic benefit transfer systems. (Sec. 1035) Eliminates annual minimum allotment adjustments. (Sec. 1037) Authorizes a combined allotment for expedited households. (Sec. 1038) Authorizes program reductions for failure to comply with a public assistance reduction requirement. (Sec. 1039) Authorizes program assistance for households residing in a homeless shelter or drug or alcohol treatment center. (Sec. 1040) Provides that no food store or wholesale food concern be approved for program participation without a prior visit by a Department of Agriculture employee, or whenever possible, a designated State or local official. (Sec. 1041) Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) to establish authorization periods for retail food stores and wholesale food concerns to redeem food stamps or benefits through an electronic benefit transfer system. (Sec. 1042) Includes income and sales tax information among the types of eligibility verification information that may be requested. (Sec. 1043) Establishes a six-month reapplication waiting period for a store that does not meet participation requirements. (Sec. 1044) Revises: (1) food stamp office operating provisions; and (2) expedited coupon service requirements. (Sec. 1045) Eliminates certain certification personnel training requirements. (Sec. 1046) Provides for the exchange of information with law enforcement or Immigration and Naturalization Service personnel. (Sec. 1048) Authorizes a family to withdraw a fair hearing request. (Sec. 1049) Permits States to use income, and immigration eligibility verification systems other than the system used in part A (General Provisions) of title XI (General Provisions and Peer Review) of the Social Security Act. (Sec. 1050) Provides for disqualification of a store: (1) that knowingly submits a falsified application; and (2) that is disqualified from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). (Sec. 1052) Directs program overissuances to be collected by: (1) allotment reduction; (2) unemployment compensation withholding; or (3) Federal pay or Federal income tax refund recovery. (Sec. 1053) Authorizes suspension of a store pending administrative and judicial review. (States that the Secretary shall not be liable for lost sales during such period.) (Sec. 1054) Establishes criminal forfeiture penalties for specified program violations. (Sec. 1055) Terminates Federal matching requirements for program recruitment activities. (Sec. 1057) Authorizes States to use funds otherwise available to a participating household for a work supplementation or support program. Sets forth program provisions. (Sec. 1058) Authorizes waiver of program requirements as necessary to conduct related pilot projects. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 1061) Authorizes States to carry out private sector employment initiatives. Sets forth program provisions. (Sec. 1062) Authorizes appropriations for program operations. (Sec. 1063) Authorizes States to carry out a Simplified Food Stamp Program in lieu of existing program requirements. Sets forth program provisions. (Sec. 1064) Establishes an optional State food assistance block grant program in lieu of the food stamp program. Sets forth program provisions. Subtitle B: Commodity Distribution Programs - Amends the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to combine the emergency food assistance program with the soup kitchen-food bank program. Amends the Act to direct the Secretary to purchase commodities for such combined programs. (Sec. 1072) Amends the Charitable Assistance and Food Bank Act of 1987 to repeal the food bank demonstration project. (Sec. 1073) Makes conforming amendments to the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988. Title XI: Miscellaneous - Requires any funds received by a State under the TEA program, the optional State food assistance block grant program under the Food Stamp Act of 1977, or the child care block grant program under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, to be expended only in accordance with the laws and procedures applicable to expenditures of the State's own revenues, including appropriation by the State legislature, consistent with the terms and conditions required under such provisions of law. (Sec. 1102) Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to eliminate housing assistance with respect to fugitive felons and probation and parole violators, and provide for the exchange of certain housing information with law enforcement agencies upon request for specified official purposes. (Sec. 1103) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Congress should adopt enterprise zone legislation in the 104th Congress, and that such legislation provide various specified incentives and provisions, such as Federal tax incentives that expand access to capital, increase the formation and expansion of small businesses, and promote commercial revitalization. (Sec. 1104) Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) States should diligently continue their efforts to enforce child support payments by the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent, regardless of the employment status or location of the non-custodial parent; and (2) States are encouraged to pursue pilot programs in which the parents of a non-adult, non-custodial parent who refuses to or is unable to pay child support must pay or contribute to the child support owed by the non-custodial parent or otherwise fulfill all financial obligations and meet all conditions imposed on the non-custodial parent, such as participation in a work program or other related activity. (Sec. 1105) Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to modify the eligibility disqualifications for aliens to give State agencies the option of considering either all income and financial resources of the individual rendered ineligible to participate in the food stamp program, or such income, less a pro rata share, and the financial resources of the ineligible individual, to determine the eligibility and the value of the allotment of the household of which such individual is a member. (Sec. 1106) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish and implement a certain strategy for: (1) preventing out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancies; and (2) assuring that at least 25 percent of the communities in the United States have teenage pregnancy prevention programs in place. (Sec. 1107) Expresses the sense of the Senate that States and local jurisdictions should aggressively enforce statutory rape laws. (Sec. 1108) Provides that States shall not be prohibited by the Federal Government from sanctioning welfare recipients who test positive for the use of controlled substances. (Sec. 1109) Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to provide for an increase in funding under such title and authorize the provision of abstinence education, along with a separate funding set-aside for it. (Sec. 1110) Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to make certain amendments in order to encourage electronic benefit transfer systems for the distribution of needs-tested benefits by a government agency. (Sec. 1111) Amends SSA title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) to provide for a reduction in block grants to States for social services. Division B: Restructuring Medicaid - Medicaid Restructuring Act of 1996 - Amends SSA to add a new title XV (Program of Medical Assistance for Low-Income Individuals and Families), the stated purpose of which is to provide funds to States to enable them to provide medical assistance to low-income individuals and families in a more effective, efficient, and responsive manner. (Sec. 2003) Outlines program components, including key provisions for: (1) certain guaranteed benefits for select individuals, including certain poor pregnant women, disabled and poor elderly individuals, and children receiving foster care or adoption assistance; (2) guaranteed coverage of Medicare premiums and cost-sharing for certain Medicare beneficiaries; (3) only nominal cost-sharing for children and pregnant women with regard to primary and preventive care services; (4) prevention of spousal and family impoverishment with regard to long-term care; (5) State flexibility in benefits, provider payments, geographical coverage area, and selection of providers; (6) coverage of abortions only for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or when a woman suffers from a physical disorder, illness, or injury that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed; (7) denial of payment under the State Medicaid plan for any item or service furnished for euthanasia purposes; (8) limitation on payments for Medicaid services to nonlawful aliens, generally allowing treatment only in emergency situations; (9) periodic, independent evaluations and audits under the program; (10) a separate fraud prevention program, as well as, under certain conditions, State fraud control units; (11) an information reporting system with regard to actions taken by State licensing authorities against health care practitioners and providers; (12) quality assurance requirements for nursing facilities, as well as requirements relating to residents' rights; and (13) an optional master drug rebate agreement program for covered outpatient drugs of a manufacturer. (Sec. 2004) Terminates the current Medicaid program as of October 1, 1997. Sets a limitation on Medicaid payments in FY 1997. (Sec. 2005) Directs the HHS Secretary to waive such requirements of SSA titles XV and XVIII as may be necessary for States to conduct certain demonstration projects to use funds to develop and implement innovative programs for individuals dually eligible for benefits under both titles, including such individuals who are chronically ill.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Designation and Treatment of Renewal Communities Title II: Additional Tax Provisions Title IV (sic): Low-Income Educational Opportunity Scholarship Program Title III (sic): Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse Title V (sic): CRA Credit for Investments in Community Development Organizations Located in Renewal Communities Saving Our Children: The American Community Renewal Act of 1996 - Title I: Designation and Treatment of Renewal Communities - Renewing American Communities Act of 1996 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to create a new subchapter on renewal communities (RCs), authorizing designation of not more than 100 areas as RCs if: (1) the areas have pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress and meet other requirements; and (2) State and local governments agree to take actions such as tax reduction, crime reduction strategies, and reducing, repealing, or not enforcing within the area certain governmental requirements such as licensing, zoning, and permits. Sets forth special rules for empowerment zones and enterprise communities designated as RCs. Excludes from gross income the capital gain from an RC stock, business property, or partnership interest held more than five years. Allows a deduction for the purchase of RC stock. Allows a deduction to any qualified individual or other person for amounts paid in cash to a family development account for the individual's benefit. Allows family development account use for postsecondary education, first home purchase, business capitalization, medical expenses, and qualified rollovers. Excludes family development accounts from taxation. Requires that the individual resided in an RC and was allowed an earned income credit for the preceding taxable year. Authorizes designation of not more than 25 RCs as FDA matching demonstration areas. Mandates, to the extent provided in appropriations Acts, depositing into each individual's account the amount deposited into that individual's family development account during the year. Sets the commercial revitalization credit (established below) at 20 to 50 percent of the revitalization expenditures regarding a revitalization building. Increases, for an RC business, the dollar limit on expensing certain depreciable business assets. (Sec. 105) Requires that any: (1) reduction in taxes regarding any RC be disregarded in determining the eligibility of a State or local government for, or the amount of, any assistance or benefits under any U.S. law other than the subchapter created by this title; and (2) RC be treated for all Federal law purposes as a labor surplus area. (Sec. 106) Allows a deduction for deposits to family development accounts and a credit for commercial revitalization expenditures. Title II: Additional Tax Provisions - Decreases the targeted jobs credit percentage and revises the list of targeted groups and related definitions. Renames the credit as the work opportunity credit. (Sec. 202) Allows an individual a credit for 75 percent of the contributions to an organization: (1) described in Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) (charitable, etc., organizations); (2) primarily assisting poor individuals; and (3) meeting other requirements, including limitations on political activity. (Sec. 203) Allows a charitable contribution deduction to an individual who does not itemize deductions. Title IV (sic): Low-Income Educational Opportunity Scholarship Program - Low-Income Educational Opportunity Act of 1996 - Requires an RC to establish and operate a Low-Income Educational Opportunity Scholarship program to: (1) provide RC families a choice of schools; and (2) provide assistance for attending public and private elementary and secondary schools, including religious schools. (Sec. 408) Requires that children attending: (1) private schools receive assistance for tuition, fees, and transportation; and (2) alternative public schools receive assistance for transportation. (Sec. 409) Sets forth school eligibility requirements. (Sec. 410) Declares that a scholarship under this title is an award of aid to a family, not to a school or institution. Prohibits deeming scholarships as parental income for Federal income tax purposes or for determining eligibility for other Federal programs. Requires, if a State law or constitution does not allow the expenditure of State or local funds by religious organizations, that the RC segregate Federal funds from State or other public funds. (Sec. 415) Requires that any constitutional challenge to the program be tried immediately in U.S. District Court and provides for a right of immediate appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Sec. 417) Authorizes appropriations. Title III (sic): Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to declare that these provisions apply to each program under the PHSA that makes Federal awards to prevent or treat substance abuse. Allows, notwithstanding any other provision of law, a religious organization (RO) to be an award recipient, make subawards, provide services through vouchers, or accept vouchers for providing services. Makes ROs eligible on the same basis as any other nonprofit private organization so long as activities are implemented consistent with the establishment clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution. Prohibits Federal or State: (1) discrimination against an organization on the basis that the organization has a religious character; and (2) requirements that an RO, in order to be a program participant, remove religious art, icons, scripture, or other symbols. Requires an RO to arrange for services through an alternative entity if an individual objects to the RO. Allows an RO to require a beneficiary who has elected to receive services from the organization to actively participate in religious practice, worship, and instruction. Prohibits using funds for sectarian worship or instruction, unless the beneficiary may choose where the assistance is redeemed or allocated. Declares that assistance to or on behalf of a beneficiary is aid to the beneficiary and not to the organization. Requires, if a State law or constitution would prevent the expenditure of State or local funds by ROs, that the RC segregate Federal funds from State or other public funds. Requires giving credit for religious education and training equivalent to credit given for secular course work. Mandates waiver of educational requirements if the RO has a record of successful drug treatment and the State or local government fails to demonstrate empirically that the educational qualifications are necessary. Title V (sic): CRA Credit for Investments in Community Development Organizations Located in Renewal Communities - Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to allow the appropriate Federal financial supervisory agency, in assessing the record of a financial institution, to consider the institution's ventures with any community development organization in an RC. Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to waive certain human drug application or supplement fees for drugs developed in an RC.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1996
Designates the Civil War Center located on Raphael Semmes Drive at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as the United States Civil War Center. Makes the Center and the Civil War Institute of Gettysburg College located at 233 North Washington Street in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the flagship institutions for planning the sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Eligibility for Services; Distribution of Payments Title II: Locate and Case Tracking Title III: Streamlining and Uniformity of Procedures Title IV: Paternity Establishment Title V: Program Administration and Funding Title VI: Establishment and Modification of Support Orders Title VII: Enforcement of Support Orders Title VIII: Medical Support Title IX: Enhancing Responsibility and Opportunity for Non- Residential Parents Title X: Effective Dates and Conforming Amendments Child Support Improvement Act of 1996 - Title I: Eligibility for Services; Distribution of Payments - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require State plans for child and spousal support to provide: (1) certain services relating to paternity establishment or enforcement of child support obligations; and (2) continuation of services for families ceasing to receive assistance under Aid to Families with Dependent Children. (Sec. 102) Revises payment distribution guidelines for support obligations collected by the State on behalf of a family. (Sec. 103) Requires State plans to establish procedural guidelines for: (1) privacy safeguards regarding paternity and child support actions; and (2) notification to services applicants or recipients of all proceedings and orders affecting child support obligations. Title II: Locate and Case Tracking - Mandates that single statewide automated data systems include a State case registry containing records of: (1) each case in which services are provided by the State agency; and (2) each support order established on or after a specified date. Permits the linking of local registries. (Sec. 202) Requires State plans to include a centralized, automated unit for the collection and disbursement of support payments. Permits the unit to be established by linking local disbursement units through an automated information network if the Secretary agrees that it will not cost more or take more time to establish or operate than a centralized system. (Sec. 203) Requires State plans to: (1) provide for a State-operated and automated State Directory of New Hires containing prescribed information furnished by employers on new personnel; and (2) transmit such information to the National Directory of New Hires. (Sec. 204) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures: (1) for mandatory income withholding for support payments subject to enforcement; and (2) under which wages of a person with a support obligation imposed by a child support order issued before October 1, 1996, shall become subject to withholding if arrearages occur, without the need for a judicial or administrative hearing. Revises the procedural guidelines for income withholding for child support enforcement. (Sec. 205) Requires the States to have statutorily prescribed procedures to ensure that Federal and State agencies conducting income-withholding activities have access to State locator systems for motor vehicle or law enforcement purposes. (Sec. 206) Revises the Federal Parent Locator Service to provide for additional information which may be transmitted to locate individuals and assets for purposes of: (1) establishing parentage; (2) establishing, setting the amount of, modifying, or enforcing child support obligations; and (3) enforcing child custody or visitation orders. Directs the HHS Secretary to establish in the Federal Parent Locator Service an automated Federal Case Registry of Child Support Orders and an automated National Directory of New Hires. Requires the Secretaries of Labor and of HHS to jointly develop cost-effective methods of accessing information in the various State directories of new hires and the National Directory of New Hires, taking into account impact and cost to the States, and the need to insure authorized use of wage record information. (Sec. 207) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures requiring recordation on such documents of the Social Security number of: (1) specified driver's, marriage, and occupational, and professional license applicants; (2) individuals subject to certain domestic relations orders; and (3) deceased persons (on death records). Title III: Streamlining and Uniformity of Procedures - Requires each State to have the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act in effect as of January 1, 1998. Amends the Federal judicial code to revise the procedures for the court to apply when determining which State order to recognize for purposes of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction and enforcement for child support orders. (Sec. 303) Requires the States to have statutorily prescribed procedures requiring: (1) expedited administrative enforcement in interstate cases and support orders; and (2) expedited administrative and judicial procedures for establishing paternity and enforcing support obligations. Title IV: Paternity Establishment - Revises the guidelines for State laws governing paternity establishment. Requires State procedures under which the name of the father shall be included on the birth certificate only: (1) if the mother and father have signed a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity; or (2) pursuant to a judicial or administrative order. (Sec. 403) Requires State plans for child and spousal support to provide that the State agency administering the plan will make a determination as to whether a program recipient is cooperating in good faith with State efforts to establish paternity and secure support. Title V: Program Administration and Funding - Directs the Secretary to develop a new incentive system to replace the current one. Revises the guidelines for Federal performance-based incentive payments to the States for effective child support enforcement programs. (Sec. 502) Requires a State plan for child and spousal support to include prescribed procedures for State reviews and audits. Revises the guidelines for Federal evaluation and audit of State programs governing paternity, child and spousal support, and parent location. (Sec. 504) Revises the automated data processing requirements for State plans to mandate a single statewide automated data processing and information retrieval system which can perform specified tasks. (Sec. 505) Makes funds available to the Secretary for: (1) training of Federal and State staff, research and demonstration programs, and special projects of regional and national significance; and (2) operation of the Federal Parent Locator Service. Title VI: Establishment and Modification of Support Orders - Revises the requirements for State plan procedures for the review and adjustment of support orders. (Sec. 602) Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to authorize a consumer agency to furnish a consumer report: (1) in response to a request by a governmental child support enforcement agency; or (2) to the State administrative agency which sets child support awards. (Sec. 603) Shields a depository institution from Federal or State liability for disclosing any financial record of an individual to a State child support enforcement agency. Prohibits such agency from disclosing such a financial record except for the purpose of, and to the extent necessary in, establishing, modifying, or enforcing a child support obligation. Sets forth civil penalties for knowing or negligent violation of such prohibition. Title VII: Enforcement of Support Orders - Amends Internal Revenue Code procedural guidelines for the collection of arrearages to provide that no additional fee may be assessed for adjustments to a previously certified amount. (Sec. 702) Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of SSA title IV to revise procedural guidelines for: (1) consent by the United States to income withholding, garnishment, and similar proceedings for enforcement of child support and alimony obligations of current and retired Federal employees; and (2) enforcement of child support obligations of members of the armed forces. (Sec. 704) Requires a State plan for child and spousal support to have in effect the Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act of 1981, the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act of 1984, or a similar law, as well as certain procedures governing the voiding of fraudulent transfers by a child support debtor. (Sec. 705) Requires a State plan for child and spousal support to include specified procedures to: (1) ensure that persons owing past-due support work or participate in work activities the court deems appropriate; (2) report to credit bureaus the name of the parent in arrears for child support; (3) provide for liens against real and personal property for the support arrearages of an absent parent; and (4) implement the restriction of driver's, professional, occupational, and recreational licenses of individuals owing support arrearages. (Sec. 710) Requires the Secretary of State to deny, revoke, or limit a passport upon certification of nonpayment of child support. (Sec. 711) Authorizes the Secretary of State to negotiate reciprocal agreements with foreign nations: (1) regarding international enforcement of child support obligations; and (2) designating the Department of Health and Human Services as the central authority for such enforcement. (Sec. 712) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures under which a State agency shall enter agreements with financial institutions doing business within the State to develop and operate a data match system to provide identifying information for each absent parent targeted by the State who maintains an account at the institution, and to encumber or surrender such parent's assets at the institution pursuant to a lien or levy. (Sec. 713) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures under which child support orders relating to the child of minor parents, where the custodial parents are receiving assistance, are enforceable against the child's paternal or maternal grandparents. (Sec. 714) Amends Federal bankruptcy law and the Social Security Act to declare a debt for child support nondischargeable in bankruptcy. Title VIII: Medical Support - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to include within the definition of medical child support order an order issued through a State administrative process. (Sec. 802) Amends part D of SSA title IV to mandate statutorily prescribed procedures under which all enforced child support orders shall include a provision for the health care coverage of the child. Title IX: Enhancing Responsibility and Opportunity for Non-Residential Parents - Amends part D of SSA title IV to prescribe guidelines under which the Administration for Children and Families shall make grants to enable States to establish and administer access and visitation programs to facilitate absent parents' access to their children. Title X: Effective Dates and Conforming Amendments - Sets forth effective dates and conforming amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 1996
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to suspend, between December 31, 1995, and January 1, 2001, the tax on any ozone-depleting chemical (or any product made using any ozone-depleting chemical) used as a propellant in any metered-dose inhaler.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Tax Incentives for Oil and Gas Production Subtitle A: Production Credit Subtitle B: Modifications to Percentage Depletion Title II: Percentage Depletion Rate for Marginal Production Title III: Other Provisions Title IV: 6-Year Period of Limitation for Collection of Oil and Gas Royalties Energy Independence Act of 1996 - Title I: Tax Incentives for Oil and Gas Production - Subtitle A: Production Credit - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a business tax credit for producing crude oil and natural gas from new wells and marginal wells. Provides: (1) a formula for reducing such credit in years in which oil and gas prices increase; and (2) an inflation adjustment for such formula. Allows such credit against the regular and minimum tax. Subtitle B: Modifications to Percentage Depletion - Repeals the net income limitation on percentage depletion for oil and gas properties. (Sec. 112) Makes all marginal production of domestic crude oil or domestic natural gas eligible for percentage depletion. Title II: Percentage Depletion Rate for Marginal Production - Revises the percentage depletion rate for such marginal production. Title III: Other Provisions - Allows the election to treat geological and geophysical expenses incurred in connection with the exploration for, or development of, domestic oil or gas as expenses which are not chargeable to capital account. (Sec. 302) Makes the enhanced oil recovery credit applicable to secondary recovery methods. Allows such credit against the minimum tax. Title IV: 6-Year Period of Limitation for Collection of Oil and Gas Royalties - Establishes a six-year statute of limitations on actions commenced by the United States for recovery of royalties due under an oil and gas lease on Federal lands unless a lessee has made a false or fraudulent statement with the intent to evade the royalties due.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 1996
Declares that it is the sense of the Congress that the Board of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund should submit to the Congress without further delay its annual report due on April 1, 1996.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1996
Drive Away from Ethanol Welfare Act of 1996 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the credit for alcohol used to produce any ether. Limits other tax incentives to produce alcohol for use as fuel. Reduces the credit for any alcohol which is ethanol.
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 1996
Congratulates the people of Taiwan on holding the first democratic presidential election in Chinese history. Declares that the United States is committed to: (1) moving nations toward freedom and democracy; and (2) encouraging and protecting its democratic friends on Taiwan, within the framework of the Taiwan Relations Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1996
Uniformed Services Medicare Subvention Demonstration Project Act - Directs the Secretaries of Defense and Health and Human Services (HHS) to jointly establish a demonstration project (project) to provide the Department of Defense (DOD) with reimbursement, under provisions of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, for health services provided through DOD to certain Medicare-eligible covered military beneficiaries. Requires the project to be conducted in one or more regions in which the TRICARE program (a DOD managed health care program) has been implemented. Allows such project to be conducted for up to two years. Requires such Secretaries to jointly submit to the Congress a first annual report and a final report containing specified information concerning project participants and such project's effects on military medical care access, readiness, and training. Directs the HHS Secretary to make monthly payments to DOD from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund (HHS trust funds) representing appropriate reimbursement amounts. Provides for the determination of such amounts. Directs such Secretaries to jointly: (1) establish a base level of TRICARE coverage required in a geographic region for eligibility under the project; (2) determine baseline costs of such care and coverage; and (3) establish upper reimbursement limits. Directs the Secretary of Defense to waive the enrollment fee for individuals enrolled in a TRICARE program participating in the project. Establishes in the Treasury the Medicare Subvention Fund (Fund) for providing payments to the HHS Secretary for reimbursement of the HHS trust funds and for the payment of all expenses related to the participation of Medicare-eligible covered military beneficiaries in excess of the base level established under this Act, as well as administrative expenses. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1997 and 1998 for deposit into the Fund to carry out the purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1996
Defend America Act of 1996 - Expresses U.S. policy to deploy by the end of 2003 a National Missile Defense (NMD) system that: (1) is capable of providing a highly effective defense of U.S. territory against limited, unauthorized, or accidental ballistic missile attack; (2) will be augmented over time to provide a layered defense against larger and more sophisticated ballistic missile threats; and (3) does not feature an offensive-only form of deterrence. Directs the Secretary of Defense to develop for deployment an affordable and operationally effective NMD system which shall achieve an initial operational capability by the end of 2003. Outlines system elements, including the use of missile interceptors on the ground, at sea, and in space. Directs the Secretary to take specified actions to implement the NMD system development upon enactment of this Act, including the conduct of an integrated systems test by the end of 1998. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress the Secretary's plans for the development and deployment of the NMD system. Urges the President to pursue high-level discussions with the Russian Federation to achieve an agreement to amend the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty to allow deployment of the NMD system. Requires the President to present any such agreement to the Senate for its advice and consent. Requires the President and the Congress, if such an agreement is not achieved within one year after enactment of this Act, to consider exercising the option of withdrawing the United States from the ABM Treaty.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1996
Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 - Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide hospital care and medical services to, among others, any veteran: (1) with a compensable service-connected disability (currently, for any service-connected disability, regardless of compensation); or (2) who is unable to defray the expenses of necessary medical care and services. Authorizes the Secretary, with respect to veterans not otherwise eligible for such care and services, to furnish hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care which the Secretary determines is needed. (Sec. 3) Repeals the requirement that veterans be eligible to receive hospital care through the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to receive surgical, dental, optometric, and podiatric services, but requires such eligibility before receiving certain prosthetic appliances as well as special clothing necessitated by the wearing of such appliances. (Sec. 4) Directs the Secretary, in managing the provision of hospital care and medical services, to establish and operate a system of annual patient enrollment, with specified priorities relating to the degree of disability of a veteran and related factors. Requires the Secretary to design, establish, and manage Department health care programs so as to promote cost-effective delivery of health care services in the most clinically appropriate setting. Authorizes the Secretary to contract out when Department medical facilities are not capable of economically furnishing such care and services. Requires the Department to maintain its capacity to provide for the specialized treatment and rehabilitative needs of disabled veterans, with at least the same capacity to provide such services as in existence on the date of enactment of this Act. (Sec. 5) Repeals a provision of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 which terminates on October 1, 1996, the authority of the Secretary to enter into agreements with the Secretary of Defense for the sharing of medical facilities and resources. Empowers the United States to collect from primary health providers of covered beneficiaries the charges for care or services covered under the primary health-plan contract which are provided through the Department. (Sec. 6) Repeals a statement of congressional purpose with respect to entering into health care resources sharing agreements with medical schools, health-care facilities, and medical research centers. Makes eligible as additional parties to such agreements health-care plans and providers, insurers, and other entities or individuals. Repeals a requirement of reciprocal reimbursement under such agreements. Allows the provision of services under such agreements to non-veterans only if the Secretary determines that such an arrangement will not result in the denial of or delay in the provision of care to any veteran in that facility and either: (1) is necessary to maintain an acceptable level and quality of service to veterans at that facility; or (2) will result in the improvement of services to eligible veterans there. (Sec. 7) Exempts from inclusion under full-time equivalent position limitations in the Department the number of positions held by persons providing health-care resources under resource sharing agreements.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1996
Revises Federal veterans' benefits provisions to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish hospital care, and to allow the Secretary to furnish nursing home care, to a veteran who is catastrophically disabled (a veteran whose expenditures for such care exceeded 7.5 percent of his or her gross adjusted income for the preceding year). (Sec. 2) Makes eligible for medical services on an ambulatory or outpatient basis, notwithstanding that there is insufficient medical evidence to conclude that such disability may be associated with the described exposure, any disabled veteran who the Secretary finds: (1) may have been exposed to dioxin or was exposed to a toxic substance found in a herbicide or defoliant used for military purposes during the Vietnam era while serving on active duty in Vietnam; (2) was exposed while serving on active duty to ionizing radiation from the detonation of a nuclear device in connection with such veteran's participation in the test of such a device or with the American occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, from September 11, 1945, through July 1, 1946; or (3) may have been exposed to a toxic substance or environmental hazard while serving on active duty in Southwest Asia during the Persian Gulf War. Prohibits the provision of such medical services: (1) for any disability that is found to have resulted from a cause other than the exposure described; or (2) after December 31, 1996. Repeals a provision regarding the order of priority for furnishing ambulatory or outpatient medical services for veterans. (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary to furnish nursing home, domiciliary, or long-term care to qualifying disabled veterans where necessary for medical purposes or to obviate the need for hospital care. (Sec. 4) Authorizes the Secretary to furnish hospital and nursing home care to any adult dependent of a veteran which the Secretary determines is needed for a disability if such dependent agrees to pay a specified amount representing a portion of the costs of care. Makes such amounts collected or received by the United States for hospital, nursing home, and domiciliary care available to the Secretary for payment of the costs of such care, without fiscal year limitation. (Sec. 5) Revises the definition of covered "medical services" for purposes of veterans' benefits provisions to include: (1) primary health care services which include initial diagnostic services, treatment services, referral to specialized care or services, and long-term followup care or services for certain chronic conditions, and routine services regarding disabilities that are provided by physicians who specialize in such disabilities; and (2) medical equipment and prosthetic appliances that are prescribed by a physician based on specific medical needs. (Sec. 7) Repeals a requirement that the Secretary include in the budget documents submitted to the Congress for any fiscal year a detailed report on contract care and services furnished. Authorizes the Secretary to furnish primary health care or preventive health services to veterans who reside in locations that are more than 50 miles or one hour traveling time from a Department of Veterans Affairs facility by or through contract with non-Department facilities under specified circumstances. (Sec. 8) Modifies provisions regarding prosthetic appliances and seeing eye dogs. Directs the Secretary to furnish medical equipment or a prosthetic appliance (equipment) as well as necessary fitting and training to any veteran who is entitled to such equipment. Authorizes the Secretary to repair or replace any reasonably necessary equipment belonging to the veteran which is damaged or destroyed by an accident caused by a service-connected disability for which the veteran is in receipt of, or would, but for the receipt of retirement pay, be entitled to, disability compensation. Authorizes the Secretary to provide eligible veterans: (1) training in a Department facility or by contract, including certain travel and incidental expenses; (2) special clothing made necessary by the wearing of equipment; (3) seeing-eye or guide dogs trained to aid the blind and devices for aiding individuals in overcoming blindness, plus training, including travel expenses; and (4) devices for assisting in overcoming deafness, including telecaptioning decoding devices for television receivers. (Sec. 9) Revises provisions regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical-Care Cost Recovery Fund to make specified amounts available to the Secretary for payment of the costs of furnishing hospital care and medical services, including the costs of Department personnel salaries. (Sec. 10) Grants authority for reimbursement by Medicare of certain health care services provided by Department facilities. (Sec. 11) Directs the Secretary to ensure that the Department maintains its capacity to provide for the specialized treatment and rehabilitative needs of disabled veterans, including veterans with spinal cord dysfunction, blindness, and mental illness, in a manner that: (1) affords reasonable access to care and services for those specialized needs; and (2) ensures that overall Department capacity to provide such services is not reduced below its capacity to provide such services as of the date of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1996
Iran Oil Sanctions Act of 1996 - Directs the President to impose certain economic sanctions against persons who with actual knowledge or reason to know: (1) export certain petroleum and natural gas-related goods or technology that would significantly and materially enhance Iran's ability to develop its petroleum resources; or (2) make an investment of $40 million or more in any 12-month period that directly contributes to Iran's development of such resources. Specifies exceptions to trade sanctions, among other things for certain defense-related articles or services essential to U.S. national security. Prohibits with respect to any sanctioned person: (1) extension of Export-Import Bank assistance; (2) licenses or permits for the exportation of goods or technology; (3) importation into the United States of products produced by such person; and (4) loans from U.S. financial institutions. Specifies sanctions against financial institutions. Authorizes the Secretary of State upon request to issue an advisory opinion to any person as to whether a proposed activity would be subject to sanctions. Waives the requirements of this Act if the President certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that Iran has: (1) ceased its efforts to develop or acquire a nuclear explosive device, chemical or biological weapons, or ballistic missiles and missile launch technology; and (2) been removed from the list of countries determined, under the Export Administration Act of 1979, to have repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism. Sets forth additional criteria for such waiver. Directs the President to establish a List of Petroleum and Natural Gas-Related Goods and Technology which shall be subject to the export control restrictions of this Act. Requires the President to report periodically to the appropriate congressional committees on efforts to persuade other countries to: (1) pressure Iran to cease its weapons of mass destruction programs and support of international terrorism; and (2) ask Iran to reduce the presence of Iranian diplomats and other personnel and withdraw any of them who participated in the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. Requires the President to ensure continued reports to the Congress on Iran's: (1) nuclear and other military capabilities; and (2) support for acts of international terrorism. Applies the sanctions required under this Act to persons making investments for the development of petroleum resources in Libya. Declares that determinations to impose sanctions under this Act are not reviewable in any court.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1996
Declares that the House of Representatives: (1) endorses efforts by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to upgrade the currency for security reasons; and (2) strongly encourages the Secretary of the Treasury and the Bureau to incorporate cost-effective, tactile features into the design changes, thereby including the blind and visually impaired in independent currency usage.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1996
Deepwater Port Modernization Act - Amends the Deepwater Port Act of 1974 to revise the term "deepwater port" to include a fixed or floating manmade structure (other than a vessel) that is located beyond the territorial sea and off the U.S. coast which is used as a port or terminal for the transportation of oil from the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Eliminates: (1) certain utilization and transfer restrictions on deepwater ports; and (2) a certain antitrust precondition with respect to the licensing of such ports. Declares that certain deepwater port licensing conditions may include reasonable environmental monitoring requirements. Repeals the restriction on the issuance of a deepwater port license requiring that the Secretary of Transportation first receive opinions from the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission as to whether such action would adversely affect competition, restrain trade, promote monopolization, or otherwise contravene the antitrust laws. Requires a deepwater port, among other things, to accept, transport, or convey without discrimination all oil delivered to it. Directs the Secretary to publish guidance regarding preparation by a licensee of an operations manual which shall address deepwater port facility description, tanker navigation procedures, safety and fire protection, maintenance procedures and emergency drills.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1996
Antitrust Health Care Advancement Act of 1996 - Provides that the following activities shall not be deemed illegal per se in any action under the Federal antitrust laws or similar State law, but shall be judged based on reasonableness: (1) the exchange of information relating to costs, sales, profitability, marketing, prices, or fees of any health care service health care providers solely for, and reasonably required for, establishing a health care provider network (HCPN); (2) the conduct of an HCPN in negotiating, making, or performing a contract for providing health care services to individuals under the terms of a health benefit plan; and (3) the conduct of any HCPN member for the purpose of providing such services under such contract. Directs the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission to jointly issue guidelines specifying the enforcement policies and analytical principles that will be applied by the Department of Justice and the Commission with respect to the operation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1996
Repeals the amendments enacted under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 that require any member of the armed forces who is determined to be HIV-positive (Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1) to be separated within six months after such determination.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1996
Declares that: (1) Congress intends to pass an increase in the public debt limit before March 1, 1996; and (2) social security beneficiaries should be assured, in the interim, that social security benefits will be paid on a timely basis in March 1996. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to issue U.S. obligations before March 1, 1996, in an amount equal to the monthly insurance benefits payable under title II (Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act in March 1996. Exempts such obligations from the public debt limit until the earlier of March 15, 1996, or the date of enactment of the first increase in such limit after enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1996
Constitutional Amendment - Requires a two-thirds vote of each House of the Congress in order to pass any bill levying a new tax or increasing the rate or base of any tax. Allows the Congress to waive that requirement during war or certain military conflict. Requires all votes under this Amendment to be by yeas and nays and the names of persons voting for and against to be entered in the Journal of each House.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1996
Small Business Investment and Growth Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a maximum small business tax rate on taxable small business income for S corporations. Describes such income as taxable income of the taxpayer from the active conduct of an eligible trade or small business. Requires each S corporation to establish a qualified retained earnings account. Allows qualified distributions from such a qualified retained earnings account to the owners to enable the S corporation shareholder to pay income taxes. Requires regulations to establish a presumption that distributions are to pay income taxes if such distributions do not exceed 34 percent of small business income. Provides for an additional tax on nonqualified distributions.
![Official portrait of Rep. McCrery, Jim [R-LA-4]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/m000388_200.jpg)