United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1991
Communications Competitiveness and Infrastructure Modernization Act of 1991 - Title I: Communications Infrastructure Modernization Policy - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 (the Act) to establish a new national goal that by 2015 the United States will have established an advanced, interactive, interoperable broadband communications system nationwide. Requires local telephone companies to submit a plan to achieve such goal for approval by the appropriate agency in each State in which they operate. Requires disapproval only when the plan is not in the public interest. Requires such plan to give priority consideration to accelerated deployment of such a system for educational institutions, health care facilities, and small businesses. Requires such plan to provide for deployment to less densely populated and economically disadvantaged areas at a rate reasonably related to the rate of deployment in more populous and affluent areas. Requires the FCC, after final State action, to review the plan to certify compliance with the goals and objectives of this Act. Requires FCC procedures for local telephone companies to ensure coordinated communications network planning in the development of a nationwide communications infrastructure and to assure broad availability of information services. Title II: Regulatory Changes to Promote Efficient Multiple Uses of Communications Technologies - Amends the Act to establish a policy to permit multiple uses of communications technologies and to eliminate restrictions on communications technologies to single lines of services in order to promote communications technology deployment in a manner which secures communication services for the public at reasonable costs. Title III: Modification of Impediments to Convergence of Telephone and Video Technologies - Amends the Act to modify ownership restrictions to permit local telephone companies to provide video programming subject to specified regulatory safeguards to prevent anti-competitive activities only after the FCC makes the certification described under title I and certifies that the company has filed a plan pledging it to comply with such safeguards. Outlines safeguards against telephone company monopolization of the cable service industry, including those: (1) requiring separate video programming subsidiaries for telephone companies; (2) allowing competitors attachment rights to telephone poles and conduits and rights-of-way within telephone company service areas; (3) prohibiting cross-subsidization between local telephone companies and affiliated video programming subsidiaries and marketing by a local telephone company of its subsidiary's video programming; and (4) subjecting local telephone companies to local cable franchise requirements. Requires local telephone companies which distribute affiliated video programming over a broadband communications system to provide video gateway services to facilitate user access to video programming. Exempts from the safeguards outlined above a carrier which provides video programming in rural areas with a population of 10,000 or below in which it also provides local exchange service. Requires periodic FCC evaluation of the effect of the provision of video programming by telephone companies on the video marketplace and recommendations to the Congress concerning any modifications needed as a result of such evaluation. Requires FCC and State rules and regulations to prevent consumers from paying more for telephone services as a result of their local telephone company's provision of video programming. Revises multiple cable franchise provisions. Requires an FCC report to the Congress regarding competition and consumer choice in the delivery of video programming and telephone services. Requires an FCC review of the rural exemption described above to determine how to expedite access to broadband multichannel video programming for all parts of the United States. Sets forth penalties for violations of the safeguards outlined above to prevent telephone company monopolization of the cable service industry.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 1991
Authorizes the President to present a gold medal, on behalf of the Congress, to each of the following individuals in recognition of their contributions to this Nation's cultural heritage: (1) Frank Capra; (2) James Stewart; and (3) Fred Zinnemann. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to design a different gold medal for each such individual. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to strike and sell bronze duplicates of such medals at a price sufficient to cover the costs of such duplicates and the gold medals. Requires the appropriations to be reimbursed out of the sales proceeds. Designates all such medals as National Medals.
United States · United States Congress · 3 June 1991
Amends Federal highway provisions to allow longer combination vehicles (LCVs) to continue to operate only if the Secretary of Transportation determines that such vehicles were authorized by State statute or regulation conforming to Federal law and were in actual, continuing lawful operation on June 1, 1991. Specifies that: (1) all such operations shall continue to be subject to, at the minimum, all State statutes, regulations, limitations, and conditions, including routing-specific and configuration-specific designations and all other restrictions (statutes and restrictions), in force on June 1, 1991; and (2) nothing in this Act shall prevent any State from further restricting or prohibiting the operation of LCVs whose continued operation is authorized under such provisions, with exceptions. Directs the Secretary, within 60 days, to publish in the Federal Register a complete list of such State statutes and restrictions, which shall become final 60 days after publication. Bars LCVs from operating except as provided in such list. Sets forth analogous restrictions with respect to cargo carrying unit limitations under Federal transportation provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 29 May 1991
Ground Transportation Consumer Protection Act of 1991 - Declares the rights of air passengers: (1) to information about ground transportation services at airports; and (2) to access to courtesy vehicles if they are customers of off-airport operators (including rental vehicle, parking lot, hotel, amusement park, or other business). Authorizes an airport operator to charge a fee to off-airport operators provided it is reasonable, nondiscriminatory, and related to the use of the roadways and facilities built primarily to meet the operator's special needs. Amends the Clayton Act to make it unlawful for any city or governmental unit operating an airport that receives Federal assistance or issues tax-exempt airport improvement bonds to impose an unreasonable discriminatory fee on non-tenant, non-aeronautical commercial users of such airport where the effect of the fee substantially lessens competition or tends to create a monopoly in any line of commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1991
Urges the Government of Iran to extend to the Baha'i community the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements to which Iran is a party. Calls upon the President to continue to: (1) urge the Government of Iran to emancipate the Baha'i community by granting such rights; (2) emphasize that the United States regards the human rights practices of such Government, particularly its treatment of the Baha'is and other religious minorities, as a significant element in the development of U.S.-Iranian relations; and (3) cooperate with other governments and international organizations in efforts to protect the religious rights of the Baha'is and other minorities in Iran.
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 1991
Anti-Boycott Passport Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of State to: (1) instruct the U.S. Middle Eastern diplomatic corps to seek an end to the policy of the majority of Arab League nations of rejecting passports of, and denying entrance visas to, persons whose passports or other documents reflect that they have visited Israel; and (2) report to specified congressional committees on the status of efforts to secure an end to such policy. Prohibits the Secretary from issuing any passport that is designated for travel only to Israel. Requires the Secretary to cancel existing passports designated for travel only to Israel. Prohibits the Secretary from issuing more than one official or diplomatic passport to any U.S. Government official for purposes of enabling such official to acquiesce in or comply with the Arab League's passport policy concerning persons who have visited Israel.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Provides for the awarding of the Purple Heart to former prisoners of war held captive before April 25, 1962, on the same basis at it may be awarded former prisoners of war captured on or after such date.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Working Family Tax Relief Act of 1991 - Title I: Refundable Credit for Children - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a refundable tax credit of $800 for each child under the age of 18 in lieu of the deduction for personal exemptions for children. Provides an inflation adjustment for such tax credit. Title II: Changes in Individual Income Tax Rate Structures - Increases the tax rates for higher income individuals. Imposes a surtax on the individual tax rate or the alternative minimum tax of an individual whose income exceeds the threshold amount. Defines the threshold amount as: (1) $250,000 in the case of a joint return or surviving spouse; (2) $200,000 in the case of a head of household; (3) $125,000 in the case of a married individual filing separately; and (4) $150,000 in any other case. Applies such surtax to estates and trusts. Increases the rate of the alternative minimum tax. Repeals the overall limitation of itemized deductions and the phaseout of personal exemptions. Title III: Increased Earned Income Credit - Increases the earned income credit. Title IV: Advance Payments from Secretary of the Treasury of Earned Income Credit and Credit for Children - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to make advance payments of refunds to which eligible taxpayers are entitled by reason of the earned income credit or the tax credit for children. Provides procedures to assure payments to individuals with adjusted gross incomes of $12,000 or less. Title V: Effective Date - Makes this Act effective after December 31, 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1991
Declares that the Congress congratulates the people of New York on the occasion of the tricentennial of the establishment of the Supreme Court of New York.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1991
Live Performing Arts Labor Relations Amendments - Amends the National Labor Relations Act to exclude specified types of employers and performers in the live performing arts from coverage under unfair labor practice provisions: (1) prohibiting specified contracts or agreements between employers and labor organizations; and (2) prohibiting specified actions of labor organizations to force or require cessation of dealings with others, joining of labor or employer organizations, or recognition of or negotiation with labor organizations not certified as representative. Permits such employers to: (1) agree with a labor organization to make membership in it a condition of performing arts employment; and (2) make agreements with a labor organization covering performing artists even if its majority status has not yet been established. Defines "employer" to include purchasers of live musical performance services. Defines "employee" to include independent contractors engaged to perform live musical services.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 1991
Calls upon the Soviet Union to: (1) evacuate all people from all radioactive zones caused by the Chernobyl nuclear accident; (2) decontaminate the Kiev water reservoir on the Dnipro River of radionuclides; (3) cease the planning for construction or operation of, and ask for supervision by an international commission of, nuclear power facilities in the Ukraine; and (4) assemble charts, maps, and any diagrams deemed necessary to indicate areas that have been contaminated.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1991
Emergency Supplemental Persian Gulf Refugee Assistance Act of 1991 - Authorizes supplemental appropriations for FY 1991 for: (1) emergency humanitarian assistance for Iraqi refugees and other persons displaced as a result of the Persian Gulf conflict; (2) peacekeeping activities in the Persian Gulf region; and (3) the reimbursement of appropriations accounts from which such assistance was provided before this Act's enactment. Raises the ceiling on the limitation on appropriations for the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for FY 1991. Provides that such assistance shall not be counted against certain ceiling limitations on international disaster assistance and the drawdown of defense articles and services and military education and training. Permits appropriations under this Act to be appropriated from the Defense Cooperation Account, the Persian Gulf Regional Defense Fund, or the General Fund of the Treasury.
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1991
Designates September 20, 1991, as National POW/MIA recognition Day. Requires the display of the National League of Families POW/MIA flag: (1) at all national cemeteries and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial on May 30, 1991 (Memorial Day), September 20, 1991 (National POW/MIA Recognition Day), and November 11, 1991 (Veteran's Day); and (2) on, or on the grounds of, the White House, and the buildings containing the primary offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, and the Director of the Selective Service Commission on September 20, 1991 (National POW/MIA Recognition Day).
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1991
Defense Environmental Activities Act - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 for the armed forces and other agencies and activities of the Department of Defense (DOD) for environmental restoration, defense. Earmarks a specified amount of FY 1992 DOD appropriations for other environmental activities. Requires information pertaining to amounts obligated in the past fiscal year and estimated to be allocated for the current fiscal year for DOD compliance with applicable environmental law and for certain DOD waste minimization programs to be included in an annual report of the Secretary of Defense on DOD environmental restoration.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 1991
World War II Cadet Nurse Civil Service Fairness Act - Includes service of at least one year but less than two years in the Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II as creditable service for purposes of civil service retirement. (Current law provides for individuals with two or more years of service.) Requires the retirement annuity of an affected individual to be redetermined provided he or she: (1) files an appropriate written application with the Office of Personnel Management within 14 months of enactment of this Act; and (2) makes required deposits to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund with respect to service in the Corps.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 1991
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to exclude from OASDI coverage any service performed on an election day by State and local election officials and workers.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991
Authorizes the Thomas Paine National Historical Association U.S.A. Memorial Foundation to construct in the District of Columbia or its environs an appropriate monument honoring the American patriot, Thomas Paine. Prohibits the use of Federal funds for the establishment of the memorial.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991
Microenterprise Development Act of 1991 - Authorizes the President, acting through the Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID), to provide assistance for microenterprises in developing countries. Directs AID to establish specified criteria for determining the financial intermediaries that will receive such assistance. Requires a significant portion of such assistance to be used to support direct credit assistance by, and the institutional development of, financial intermediaries with a primary emphasis on assisting people living in absolute poverty, especially women. Outlines funding sources for such assistance. Permits the President, in order to generate local currencies for providing such assistance, to use development and economic support fund assistance to provide assistance to developing countries on a loan basis repayable in local currencies. Sets forth minimum levels of assistance to be provided under this Act. Requires the Administrator to develop a monitoring system to evaluate AID's microenterprise development activities.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991
World Summit for Children Implementation Act of 1991 - Provides for assistance in implementing the plan of action adopted by the World Summit for Children. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the U.S. Government should commit to increasing participation in the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children under the Child Nutrition Act (the WIC program) by 20 percent per year in FY 1992 through 1996, to reach full participation by the end of FY 1996; and (2) specified minimum amounts should be appropriated for the WIC program in FY 1992 and 1993 to reach such full participation goal. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the commitment to provide full funding for the Head Start Program, contained in the Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1990, should be implemented in order that the goal of full participation of all eligible three- and four-year-old children can be reached by FY 1994. Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to undertake a Children's Vaccine Initiative. Requires that the Director of the National Vaccine Program: (1) plan and coordinate the Initiative; and (2) ensure that the Public Health Service conducts vaccine research, production, and delivery activities under the Initiative in collaboration with non-governmental institutions and with other Federal agencies to ensure the full use of U.S. scientific and industrial capacity to prevent infectious disease. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for contributions to the United Nations Children's Fund for activities to promote child health and other assistance programs for children (to carry out specified provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961). Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (the Act) to authorize appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for special health needs of children and mothers under the Child Survival Fund. Requires that specified minimum amounts of funds under various provisions for FY 1992 and 1993 be reserved only for such specified child survival activities. Expresses the sense of the Congress that authorization, in such amounts as may be required, should be granted to the President to exercise the (Public Law 480) debt authority with respect to least developed countries that are pursuing reforms to promote long-term economic development (as provided in specified provisions of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, as amended by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990). Amends the Act to establish a Vitamin A Deficiency Program. Reserves for such Program specified amounts in FY 1992 and 1993 from funds for development assistance for agriculture, rural development, and nutrition. Amends the Act to direct the President, in carrying out provisions for development assistance for health-related activities, to promote, encourage, and undertake activities relating to research on, and treatment and control of, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in developing countries. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993, for such purpose, to the International AIDS Prevention and Control Fund. Provides that such amounts shall be in addition to other amounts available for such purpose. Amends the Act to reserve specified amounts in FY 1992 and 1993, from funds for development assistance for education and under other provisions of the Act, for international basic education, including early childhood education, primary education, teacher training, other support activities, and adult literacy training. Expresses the sense of the Congress that at least specified minimum amounts should be appropriated for the Migration and Refugee Assistance account, and that at least specified minimum portions of such funds should be reserved for programs of refugee assistance overseas (in addition to amounts available for programs for Soviet, Eastern European, and other refugees resettling in Israel). Amends the Act to replace provisions for certain disadvantaged children in Asia with provisions for assistance to children in exceptionally difficult circumstances. Includes among such children street children, AIDS orphans, other orphaned and abandoned children, and children displaced by armed conflict, poverty, famine, or other disasters. Reserves specified minimum portions of certain funds under the Act in FY 1992 and 1993 for assistance for such children. Requires that such assistance be made available in accordance with policies and general authorities under certain disaster assistance provisions. Directs the President to report annually to the Congress on U.S. contributions to the achievement of the goals of the World Summit for Children, including U.S. efforts to achieve such goals in the United States and in other countries, with an analysis of past, current, and planned funding levels.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991
Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to prohibit, except under specified circumstances, the Export-Import Bank from using any of its funds or borrowing authority to extend credit for the sale of defense articles and services to any country. (Currently, only to economically less developed countries.)
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1991
Violence Against Women Act of 1991 - Title I: Safe Streets for Women - Safe Streets for Women Act of 1991 - Subtitle A: Mandatory Restitution, Treatment, and Rehabilitation for Sex Offenses - Requires that a court order restitution, treatment, and rehabilitation for violations of Federal sexual abuse laws, including participation in a psychotherapeutic treatment program by a licensed therapist for specified persons who committed sexual or sexual-related offenses. Specifies that: (1) the treatment program shall be designed to rehabilitate the affected person and to deter such person from committing a sexual offense after being released from the institution; and (2) treatment for a substance abuse-related condition shall be made available to such person in addition to, but not as a substitute for, counseling under such program. Sets forth provisions with respect to the period of treatment, the requirement of a complete forensic psychological assessment prior to the commencement of the treatment program, termination of treatment, supplemental chemical treatment (but the affected person may refuse to participate, or continue to participate, in supplementary chemical treatment), and the responsibilities of the Attorney General (such as contracting for treatment and documenting subsequent criminal sexual abuse). Directs the Attorney General to establish an advisory committee on therapeutic treatment for sex offenders. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Law Enforcement and Prosecution Grants to Reduce Violent Crime Against Women - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance to make grants to areas of high intensity crime against women. Requires that the grants be used for personnel, training, technical assistance, data collection, and other equipment for the more widespread apprehension, prosecution, and adjudication of persons committing violent crimes against women. Authorizes the Director to make grants to States, for use by States and their subdivisions, to be used for the same purposes as the high intensity area grants and to reduce the rate of violent crimes against women. Authorizes the Director to make general grants to: (1) States to reduce violent crimes against women; and (2) Indian tribes to reduce violent crimes against women in Indian country. Authorizes the Director, in addition to the grants under this subtitle, to direct any Federal agency, with or without reimbursement, to use its authorities and resources in support of State and local assistance efforts. Authorizes appropriations. Bars any State or other grantee (recipient) from receiving funds under this title unless such recipient incurs the full cost of forensic medical exams for victims of sexual assault when such exams are required under this title. Specifies that a recipient does not incur the full medical cost of such exams if it chooses to reimburse the victim after the fact unless the reimbursement program waives any minimum loss or deductible requirement, provides victim reimbursement within a reasonable time (90 days), permits applications for reimbursement within one year from the date of the exam, and provides information to all subjects of such exams about how to obtain reimbursement. Subtitle C: Safety for Women in Public Transit and Public Parks - Directs the Secretary of Transportation, from funds authorized under existing provisions, to make capital grants for the prevention of crime and to increase security in existing and future public transportation systems. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and loans to States and local public bodies to increase the safety of public transportation through lighting, camera surveillance, security phones, or other projects. Sets the Federal share of each project at 90 percent of the net cost. Directs the Secretary to provide grants and loans to study ways to reduce violent crimes against women in public transit through better design or operation of public transit systems. Amends the National Park System Improvements in Administration Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to reduce violent crime in the National Park System (NPS). Provides for the compilation of a list of areas within the NPS with the highest rates of violent crime. Allows funds to be used, around public parks and recreation areas, for increasing lighting, providing emergency phone lines, increasing security or law enforcement personnel, and any other project to increase security and safety. Amends the Land and Water Conservation Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of the Interior to provide grants for capital improvements and other measures to increase safety in public parks and recreation areas. Subtitle D: National Commission on Violent Crime Against Women - Establishes the National Commission on Violent Crime Against Women to promote a national policy on violent crime against women and to make recommendations on reducing such crime. Authorizes appropriations. Terminates the Commission after submission of its final report, subject to extension by the President for up to one more year. Subtitle E: New Evidentiary Rules - Amends the Federal Rules of Evidence to exclude, notwithstanding any other provision of law and in criminal cases other than a sex offense case, reputation or opinion evidence of the past sexual behavior of a victim from admission into evidence. Allows other types of evidence of a victim's past sexual behavior in accordance with specified procedures if its probative value outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice. Makes reputation or opinion evidence of the plaintiff's past sexual behavior, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, inadmissible in a civil action involving allegations of actionable sexual misconduct. Makes other types of evidence of a plaintiff's past sexual behavior admissible in accordance with specified procedures if its probative value outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice. Defines actionable sexual misconduct to include sex harassment or discrimination claims under title VII (Equal Employment Opportunity) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and gender bias claims under title III of this Act. Makes evidentiary rulings made under specified Federal Rules of Evidence relating to sex offense cases and the relevance of a victim's past behavior subject to interlocutory appeal by the Government or by the alleged victim. Allows the alleged victim to waive those rules if the prosecution seeks to offer evidence of prior sexual history. Makes evidence of an alleged victim's clothing, notwithstanding any other provision of law and in a criminal case under Federal laws relating to sexual abuse, inadmissible to show the victim incited or invited the offense. Subtitle F: Assistance to Victims of Sexual Assault - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to allow States to use amounts transferred by the State under block grant provisions for rape prevention and education programs conducted by rape crisis centers or similar nongovernmental nonprofit entities. Authorizes appropriations. Removes a requirement that a minimum amount from the block grants under the PHSA be allotted to States on the basis of population. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to make grants for research and service demonstration projects to develop and evaluate techniques for lowering the overall incidence of rape by 20 percent by the year 2000 and for reducing the trauma and long-term impact of rape. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Safe Homes for Women - Safe Homes for Women Act - Subtitle A: Interstate Enforcement - Provides for a Federal term of imprisonment or fine, in addition to any State penalties, for any person who travels or causes another (including the intended victim) to travel across State lines or in interstate commerce with intent to injure a spouse or intimate partner and who, during the travel or thereafter, injures his or her spouse or intimate partner in violation of a criminal law of the State where the injury occurs, or in violation of a State protection order. Provides for temporary protection orders while a case under these provisions is pending. Mandates that a court order restitution to the victim of an offense under this Act. Requires, provided certain conditions are met, that a protection order issued by the court of one State be accorded full faith and credit by the court of another State. Makes a protection order issued against a person who filed a written pleading for protection not entitled to full faith and credit if no cross or counter petition, complaint, or other written pleading was filed seeking such a protection order or, if a cross or counter petition was filed, the court did not specifically find each party entitled to such an order. Subtitle B: Arrest in Spousal Abuse Cases - Amends the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) to authorize the Secretary to make grants, with regard to spousal abuse, to: (1) implement pro-arrest programs and policies in police departments and improve case tracking; (2) centralize and coordinate police enforcement, prosecution, or judicial responsibility for cases in one group of officers, prosecutors, or judges; and (3) educate judges to improve judicial handling of cases. Directs the Secretary to delegate to the Attorney General responsibility to carry out these provisions. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Funding for Shelters - Amends the FVPSA to authorize appropriations to carry out that Act, earmarking at least 85 percent of funds appropriated for States, and at least ten percent for Indian tribes and tribal organizations, for grants (under current law, demonstration grants) to prevent family violence and provide immediate shelter and related assistance. Limits the percentage which may be used to provide training and technical assistance to State, Indian tribal, and local domestic violence programs and to other professionals who provide services to victims of domestic violence. Subtitle D: Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Amendments - Amends the FVPSA to: (1) specify that the purpose of such Act is to increase public awareness of, as well as to prevent, family violence, and to provide for training to the courts, and legal, social service, and health professionals (current law specifies only local public agencies, nonprofit private organizations, and others seeking such assistance); and (2) grant preference in the distribution of funds to States that give special emphasis to projects including counseling and self-help services to victims and their children (current law covers counseling, alcohol and drug abuse treatment, and self-help services to abusers and victims.) Directs the Secretary to provide for the funding of domestic violence coalitions that shall further the purposes of domestic violence intervention and prevention through activities such as: (1) working with judicial and law enforcement agencies to encourage appropriate response to domestic violence cases and specified issues, such as the use of mandatory arrest of accused offenders and the use of interstate extradition in cases of domestic violence crimes; (2) working with family law judges, Child Protective Services agencies, and children's advocates to develop appropriate responses to child custody and visitation issues in domestic violence cases, and where domestic violence and child abuse are both present; and (3) conducting public education campaigns regarding domestic violence through the use of public service announcements and informative materials designed for print and electronic broadcast media, billboards, and public transit advertising. Authorizes appropriations. Sets forth provisions with respect to the allotment of funds. Requires: (1) that any State domestic violence coalition have standing to challenge whether a grantee is in compliance with the eligibility requirements, or to seek enforcement, of provisions of the FVPSA; and (2) that each such coalition submit a report to the Secretary detailing the coordination, training, technical assistance, and public education services performed, and evaluating the effectiveness of such services. Raises the limit on funding of grants in any fiscal year to any single entity (other than to a State) to $75,000 (currently, $50,000, and a $150,000 limit on the total amount of such grants to any such single entity). Modifies provisions with respect to grants to entities other than States to require that the local share as a proportion of the total amount of funds provided under such Act to the project involved be 35 percent for new programs for the first year of the program and 20 percent for each year therafter for existing programs. (Current law specifies 35 percent in the first year such project receives a grant under such Act, 55 percent in the second such year, and 65 percent in the third such year.) Repeals a provision requiring that a specified portion of State demonstration grant funds for preventing, and assisting victims of, family violence be distributed to provide shelter for victims. Includes shelter as "related assistance" that may be funded under grants for such purposes, as well as medical services, legal assistance, technical assistance with respect to obtaining financial assistance under Federal and State programs, employment training, and educational and preventive health services. Increases the minimum allotment to States for grants under the FVPSA. Requires the General Accounting Office, within 120 days, to complete a study of, and submit to the Congress a report and recommendations on, problems of recordkeeping of criminal complaints involving domestic violence. Directs the Secretary to: (1) award to not less than ten States model State leadership grants for domestic violence intervention; and (2) provide grants or contracts with public or private nonprofit organizations for the establishment and maintenance of a national resource center and six specialty resource centers focusing on one or more specified issues of concern to domestic violence victims. Sets forth eligibility requirements, funding provisions, and, with respect to the latter, reporting requirements. Subtitle E: Confidentiality for Abused Persons - Requires the Postmaster General to promulgate regulations to secure the confidentiality of abused persons' addresses. Title III: Civil Rights - Declares that all persons within the United States shall have the same rights, privileges, and immunities in every State as are enjoyed by all other persons to be free from crimes of violence motivated by the victim's gender (defined as any crime of violence, including rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact, or any other crime of violence committed because of or on the basis of gender). Makes any person, including a person who acts under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State, who deprives another of the rights, privileges, and immunities secured by the Constitution and laws as enumerated by this Act liable to the injured party in an action for compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive and declaratory relief, or other relief as the court deems appropriate. Amends the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976 to allow the awarding of attorney's fees in actions to enforce this title. Title IV: Safe Campuses for Women - Safe Campuses for Women Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to make, on a competitive basis, grants to and contracts with institutions of higher education for rape education and prevention programs. Requires that the grants be used to educate and provide support services to student victims of rape or sexual assault, with 25 percent of the funds available for model demonstration programs for rape prevention and education curricula and for local programs to provide services to student rape victims. Authorizes appropriations to carry out title X (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) of the Act. Amends the General Education Provisions Act to add sexual assault to the list of criminal offenses about which statistics must be disclosed by institutions participating in certain programs. Title V: Equal Justice for Women in the Courts - Equal Justice for Women in the Courts Act - Subtitle A: Education and Training for Judges and Court Personnel in State Courts - Authorizes the State Justice Institute to make grants for model programs to be used by States in training judges and court personnel in State laws on rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes of violence motivated by the victim's gender. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the State Justice Institute to expend at least: (1) 40 percent of appropriated funds on programs regarding domestic violence; and (2) 40 percent on programs regarding rape and assault. Subtitle B: Education and Training for Judges and Court Personnel in Federal Courts - Directs the Federal Judicial Center to study and report on the nature and extent of gender bias in the Federal courts. Requires the Center to develop and disseminate model programs to be used in training Federal judges and court personnel in the laws on rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes of violence motivated by the victim's gender. Authorizes appropriations. Requires between 25 and 40 percent of such funds to be used for the study required by this subtitle.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1991
Telecommunications Equipment Research and Manufacturing Competition Act of 1991 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to authorize any Bell Telephone Company (BTC), through an affiliate of such company, to manufacture and provide telecommunications equipment, except that no BTC may engage in such manufacturing with an unaffiliated BTC or affiliates thereof. Allows such manufacturing or provision to be conducted only through an affiliate that is separate from any BTC. Requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prescribe regulations to ensure that: (1) such manufacturing affiliate maintains separate accounts and records from its affiliated BTC which identify all financial transactions with the BTC; (2) neither a BTC nor any of its non-manufacturing affiliates carry out sales, advertising, installation, production, or maintenance operations for a manufacturing affiliate, except under specified conditions, such manufacturing affiliate conducts all of its manufacturing activity within the United States and uses component parts manufactured in the United States unless specified requirements regarding good faith efforts to obtain such component parts in the United States and domestic content are met; (3) such affiliate incurs debt entirely separate from and without recourse against the affiliated BTC; (4) such affiliate shall not be required to operate separately from any other affiliates of its BTC; (5) if an affiliate of a BTC becomes affiliated with a manufacturing entity, it shall be treated as a manufacturing affiliate of the BTC; (6) such affiliate shall make available any telecommunications equipment manufactured by such affiliate to any purchasing carrier, so long as each such purchaser does not manufacture such equipment or agrees to make available to the BTC or any of its affiliates any telecommunications equipment manufactured by such purchasing carrier or any of its affiliates for use with the public telecommunications network by such carrier or any of its affiliates; and (7) such affiliate shall not discontinue or restrict sales to other local exchange telephone companies of any telecommunications equipment until arrangements are made to provide to them the specifications, plans, and tools to allow them to arrange for the manufacture of such equipment by another entity. Directs the FCC to require that each BTC maintain and file with the FCC complete information with respect to the protocols and technical requirements for connections with and use of its telephone exchange service facilities. Prohibits a BTC from disclosing any such information to its affiliates unless such information is immediately so filed. Requires any two or more carriers providing regulated telephone exchange service in the same area to notify each other of the deployment of telecommunications equipment. Requires the FCC to ensure that manufacturers in competition with a BTC's manufacturing affiliate have access to information with respect to the protocols and technical requirements for connection with and use of its telephone exchange service facilities required for such competition that such BTC makes available to its affiliate. Requires the FCC to prescribe regulations to require any BTC which has a manufacturing affiliate to: (1) provide to other manufacturers of telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment that is functionally equivalent to equipment manufactured by BTC affiliates opportunities to sell such equipment to such BTC which are comparable to opportunities the BTC provides to its affiliates; (2) not subsidize its manufacturing affiliate with revenues from its regulated telecommunications service; and (3) only acquire equipment from its manufacturing affiliate at the open market price. Allows a BTC and its affiliates to engage in close collaboration with any manufacturer of customer premises or telecommunications equipment during the design and development of hardware and software relating to such equipment.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to restore prior law for determining wages subject to employer social security taxes for certain employers whose employees receive income from tips.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture: (1) to establish through December 31, 1991, a minimum basic formula price for Class I (beverage use) milk that shall not be less than the August 1990 price; and (2) pool the proceeds from such formula uniformly among producers. Directs the Secretary to make loan guarantees for facility upgrades through December 31, 1992. Sets forth minimum solid content for beverage milk (whole, lowfat, and skim). Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to direct the Commodity Credit Corporation to encourage the export of heifers through the export enhancement program under specified conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991
Horn of Africa Recovery and Food Security Act of 1991 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President to provide assistance for civil strife relief and rehabilitation in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan). Amends the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to authorize the President to provide supplemental emergency food assistance for civilian victims of civil strife in the Horn of Africa. Permits the President to transfer funds from unobligated amounts in the economic support fund (ESF) and military assistance to carry out this Act. Makes available a percentage of assistance for management support activities of the Agency for International Development. Requires the President to consult with other nations, armed and unarmed parties in the Horn of Africa, and the United Nations Secretary General to bring about negotiated settlements of the wars in the region. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) direct the U.S. representative to the United Nations to take specified steps with respect to peace and the implementation of an arms embargo in the region; (2) play an active role in other fora in pressing for settlements to such wars; and (3) participate in regional and international peace consultations. Declares that development assistance in the Horn of Africa should be targeted to aid the poor. States that U.S. Government aid institutions should seek to: (1) build upon the capabilities and experiences of organizations active in local grassroots relief, rehabilitation, and development efforts; (2) consult with such organizations and incorporate their views into the policymaking process; and (3) support the expansion of their activities without compromising their private nature. Declares that current legislative provisions that restrict assistance to Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan should be retained until concrete steps toward peace, democracy, and human rights are achieved. States that development assistance should be: (1) targeted to the voluntary relocation and repatriation of displaced persons and refugees; and (2) carried out in coordination with strategies for debt relief of countries in the region and with efforts to establish an International Fund for Reconstruction of developing nations which settle civil wars. Prohibits assistance appropriated under this Act from being available for involuntary or forced resettlement of persons. Prohibits development assistance to Ethiopia, Somalia, or Sudan unless the President certifies that the government of the country has: (1) begun to implement peace or national reconciliation agreements; (2) demonstrated a commitment to human rights; (3) manifested a commitment to democracy and has held or scheduled free and fair elections; and (4) agreed to distribute development assistance without discrimination. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive directors of the multilateral development banks to oppose any loan or other funds, except to meet basic human needs, to or for Ethiopia, Somalia, or Sudan until the President makes such certification. Prohibits ESF assistance, grant military assistance, or international military education and training assistance to Ethiopia, Somalia, or Sudan unless the President certifies that the government of the country has: (1) begun to implement peace or national reconciliation agreements; (2) demonstrated a commitment to human rights; and (3) held or scheduled free and fair elections.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991
Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to exclude from the definition of "owner or operator," for purposes of limiting liability for releases of hazardous substances, a person who, without participating in the management of a vessel or facility, holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect a security interest in such vessel or facility. Defines "indicia of ownership" as an interest in a vessel or facility acquired either for: (1) securing payment of a loan or indebtedness or the performance of an obligation; or (2) protecting a security interest. Makes liable for any release or threatened release of a hazardous substance attributable to their activities: (1) any person who causes the transfer of a vessel or facility subject to a security interest; or (2) a fiduciary or trustee who acquires ownership or control of a vessel or facility. Makes conforming amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1991
Permits the transfer of military equipment captured during Operation Desert Storm to a foreign government: (1) only to the extent that military equipment in Department of Defense stocks could be so transferred; and (2) subject to the same requirements applicable to the transfer of equipment in such stocks. Prohibits the transfer of equipment to a country whose government has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1991
National Sea Grant College Program Authorization Act of 1991 - Amends the National Sea Grant College Program Act to require that the National Sea Grant College Program be administered by a National Sea Grant Office within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Authorizes appropriations to carry out specified provisions of the Act and for administration of the Act. Repeals provisions authorizing grants relating to marine affairs and resource management.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1991
Authorizes the President to present a gold medal to General H. Norman Schwarzkopf in recognition of his exemplary performance in coordinating the planning, strategy, and execution of U.S. combat action and his invaluable contributions to the United States and to the liberation of Kuwait. Authorizes appropriations.
![Official portrait of Rep. McHugh, Matthew F. [D-NY-28]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/m000473_200.jpg)