United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1997 - Amends the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act to direct the court to sentence a person convicted of bringing into the United States a proscribed quantity of a mixture or substance containing a controlled substance in an amount the Attorney General has determined is equal to 100 usual dosage amounts to life imprisonment without possibility of release (or, if the defendant has violated such provision on more than one occasion and if certain requirements under the Federal criminal code are met, to death). Makes conforming amendments to the code.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Citizens' Self-Defense Act of 1997 - Declares that a person not prohibited by Federal law from receiving a firearm shall have the right to obtain firearms for security and to use firearms in defense of: (1) self or family against a reasonably perceived threat of imminent and unlawful infliction of serious bodily injury; (2) self or family in the course of the commission by another person of a violent felony against the person or a member of the person's family; and (3) the person's home in the course of the commission of a felony by another person. Authorizes persons whose rights under this Act have been violated to bring an action in U.S. district court against the United States, any State, or any person for damages, injunctive relief, and such other relief as the court deems appropriate. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the award of attorney's fees; and (2) the statute of limitations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Medicare Diabetes Education and Supplies Amendments of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for Medicare coverage of diabetes outpatient self-management training services and blood-testing strips for individuals with diabetes.
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: 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 · 26 September 1996
Declares that: (1) national broadcast television networks should not air violent video programming between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.; and (2) legitimate news programs, documentaries, educational programs, and sporting events should not contain violence in excess of what is needed to convey the information intended during these hours.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 1996
Save Law Enforcement Training Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide an exemption from its overtime requirements for law enforcement employees while at a police academy or other training facility pursuant to an agreement between the public agency employing such employee and the employee's representatives.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 1996
Urges the President to categorically disavow any intention of issuing presidential pardons to James and Susan McDougal and Jim Guy Tucker, and thereby affirm the principle that in the American system, no one is above the law.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1996
Drug-Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act of 1996 - Amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to impose penalties of a fine and up to 15 years' imprisonment (20 years' imprisonment if the victim is age 14 or under) for possession of a mixture or substance (mixture) containing a detectable amount of a controlled substance, with intent to administer such mixture to another person to facilitate a crime of violence (including a sexual assault) against that person. Enhances penalties for certain activities involving flunitrazepam under: (1) the CSA, including manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to distribute specified quantities of flunitrazepam; and (2) the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act, including possessing, manufacturing, and distributing for purposes of unlawful importation of such quantities. Directs: (1) the United States Sentencing Commission to amend the sentencing guidelines for offenses involving flunitrazepam and to ensure that such guidelines reflect the serious nature of such offenses; and (2) the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration to conduct a study on the appropriateness of rescheduling flunitrazepam as a Schedule I controlled substance. Sets forth reporting requirements. Authorizes the Attorney General to create educational materials regarding the use of controlled substances in the furtherance of rapes and sexual assaults for dissemination to police departments throughout the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1996
California Bay-Delta Environmental Enhancement and Water Security Act - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2000 for the initial Federal share of the cost of developing and implementing: (1) a specified portion of an ecosystem protection plan for the San Francisco Bay Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Watershed (Bay-Delta) in California; and (2) the ecosystem restoration elements of the long-term California-Federal Bay-Delta Program. Requires such appropriated funds to be administered in accordance with procedures established by such Program until the Congress authorizes an entity recommended by the Program to carry out this Act. Requires funds authorized to be appropriated to agencies that are currently or that subsequently become Program participants to be in addition to the baseline funding levels established in this Act for currently authorized projects and programs under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act and other currently authorized Federal programs for the purpose of Bay-Delta ecosystem protection and restoration. Authorizes agencies and departments that are or that become participants in the Program to undertake the activities and programs for which Federal cost sharing is provided by this Act. Requires the United States to immediately initiate coordinated consultations and negotiations with California to expeditiously execute a specified cost-sharing agreement signed by its Governor on July 11, 1996. Directs the Office of Management and Budget to submit to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, as part of the President's FY 1998 Budget, an interagency budget crosscut that displays Federal spending for FY 1993 through 1998 on ecosystem restoration and other purposes in the Bay-Delta Region, separately showing funding provided previously or requested under pre-existing authorities and new authorities granted by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 1996
Repeals the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. Directs the Secretary of Education to: (1) reserve specified funds for payments to outlying areas and payments to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian tribes (including Alaska Native villages or regional corporations); and (2) allot the remainder among States according to a formula based on relative amounts received under specified provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Requires State educational agencies to distribute such allotments as grants to local educational agencies on the basis of relative school-age population. Limits the use of funds received under this Act to educational purposes only. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1996
Illegal Alien Education Impact Aid Act of 1996 - Directs the Secretary of Education to reimburse States for costs of educating certain illegal alien students. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 September 1996
Preempts any State or local law, ordinance, regulation, or order precluding a tip credit or requiring a tip credit less than the tip credit that is permitted under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 relating to the accounting of tips in determining the wage of tipped employees.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1996
Congressional Pension Forfeiture Act of 1996 - Amends Federal law to provide that any service as a Member of Congress of an individual convicted of a felony committed while a Member during the 105th Congress or later shall not be taken into account as creditable service for purposes of annuity or retirement provisions. Entitles such individual (or his or her beneficiary or estate, if applicable) to be paid so much of such individual's lump-sum credit as is attributable to such service. Prohibits: (1) the individual, while serving as a Member after the date of the conviction, from being eligible to participate in the Civil Service Retirement System or the Federal Employee's Retirement System; and (2) interest from being computed on such lump-sum payment for the period after the conviction or commission of the violation, or after September 26, 1961, whichever is later.
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 · 2 August 1996
Directs: (1) Federal departments and agencies to cooperate with State and local enforcement of State auto emission standards; and (2) U.S. customs and immigration officers to deny U.S. entry to noncommercial motor vehicles that do not meet certain auto emission standards.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1996
Authorizes the President to award the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously to Theodore Roosevelt for his actions in the attack of San Juan Heights, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War on July 1, 1898.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1996
Drug-Induced Rape Act of 1996 - Amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to prescribe penalties of 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $2 million for an individual or $10 million otherwise for distributing a controlled substance to a person without that person's knowledge with intent to rape such person. Prohibits the court from placing on probation or suspending the sentence of anyone sentenced under such provision. Enhances penalties for certain activities involving flunitrazepam under: (1) the CSA, including manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to distribute specified quantities of flunitrazepam; and (2) the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act, including possessing, manufacturing, and distributing for purposes of unlawful importation of such quantities. Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to amend the Sentencing Guidelines so that one dosage unit of flunitrazepam shall be equivalent to one gram of marihuana for determining the offense level under the Drug Quantity Table.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1996
Citizen's Fair Hearing Act of 1996 - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide that any person who satisfies the requirements of the Constitution and demonstrates having suffered or being threatened with economic or other injury resulting from a violation of such Act or a failure of the Secretary of Commerce to act in accordance with it shall be deemed to be within the zone of protected interests of such Act and shall have standing to commence a civil suit on his or her own behalf.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1996
Student Debt Reduction Act of 1996 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to permit lenders under the unsubsidized Federal Family Education Loan program to pay origination fees, up to three percent, on behalf of borrowers and charge them for such fees.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 1996
Amends the Clean Air Act to delete from the glycol ether category in the list of hazardous air pollutants ethylene glycol monobutyl ether as used or emitted by metal or composite can manufacturing. Amends the toxic chemical release forms provisions of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to delete from the lists of toxic chemicals and extremely hazardous substances employed under such Act any substance that has been deleted or removed from the hazardous air pollutants list unless the Administrator demonstrates on the basis of convincing evidence significant human health or environmental threats posed by the substance's storage, use, or release.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1996
Crime Does Not Pay Act - Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to prohibit community development block grants to a State or locality that permits recovery of damages for an injury suffered by a person committing a felony.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1996
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Department of Education should make it a priority to monitor and enforce compliance with requirements of the Higher Education Act of 1965 for compiling and disseminating campus crime statistics and policies.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1996
Directs the Commissioner of Social Security to improve the social security card for purposes of carrying out illegal alien employment provisions under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Amends Federal law to provide criminal penalties for fraud and related activities concerning work authorization documents.
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 · 10 June 1996
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from tax certain State organizations or funds providing coverage for losses on property arising from earthquakes.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1996
Worker Right to Know Act - Amends the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to limit the scope of allowable union security agreements to requiring employee payment of union dues or fees related only to collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjustment necessary to performing the duties of exclusive representation. Requires, under NLRA, employee consent in an annual signed written agreement before a union may accept that employee's payment of dues or fees for purposes beyond the scope of the union security agreement as limited by this Act. Requires such an agreement to include a ratio of the dues or fees related to the limited purposes and those related to other purposes. Amends the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 to prohibit payroll deduction for union dues unrelated to the limited scope purposes, unless a written agreement authorizes such deduction. Requires, under NLRA, employers to post notice of worker rights to organize and collectively bargain, as well as of the limited scope of any union security agreement. Directs the National Labor Relations Board to prescribe the size and form of such notice. Provides, under NLRA, that employees subject to union security agreements who pay dues and fees for the required limited purposes shall have the same right as any union member to participate in union affairs related to such purposes (collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjustment). Amends the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 to require every labor union to attribute and report expenses by function classification in detail necessary to allow its members to determine whether such expenses were related to collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjustment necessary to performing the duties of exclusive representation or were related to other purposes. Requires disclosure under such Act to employees required to pay any union dues or fees (under a union security agreement) as well as to union members. Directs the Secretary of Labor to prescribe related regulations.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1996
NAFTA Infrastructure Responsibility Act of 1996 - Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to Mexican border States and local governments for certain transportation projects necessary to: (1) relieve congestion due to increased traffic resulting from implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); and (2) improve enforcement of motor carrier safety laws. Limits the Federal share of the costs of such projects to 80 percent. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 to authorize appropriations to be used to enter agreements with Mexican border States that have established infrastructure banks to make available to them lines of credit for projects to construct Federal-aid highways which will support traffic resulting from NAFTA.
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 · 24 April 1996
United States Armed Forces Protection Act of 1996 - States certain congressional findings and policy concerning the placement of U.S. armed forces under United Nations (UN) operational or tactical control. Prohibits Department of Defense funds from being obligated or expended for activities of any element of the armed forces that is placed under UN operational or tactical control, unless: (1) the President, at least 15 days before UN control is to become effective (or not later than 48 hours afterwards in an emergency), certifies to the Congress that such action is in the national security interests; or (2) such placement is specifically authorized by law or is part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization operation. Specifies information to be submitted with the President's certification, including: (1) information on the national security interests to be advanced; (2) the mission, size, and composition of the U.S. forces involved; (3) the command and control relationship of the U.S. forces with the UN command structure and with the U.S. unified command for the region; (4) the exit strategy for, and withdrawal authority of, U.S. forces; and (5) the anticipated monthly incremental cost of U.S. participation. Provides that this Act shall not apply to activities of the armed forces carried out as part of specified ongoing activities of the UN Protection Force in Macedonia or Croatia. Requires that members of the armed forces be informed of their unit's mission and their chain of command in any operation to which their unit is assigned.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Transfer of Auburn Dam and Reservoir Project Title II: Sacramento and American Rivers Flood Control Project Title III: Auburn Dam Water Conservation Project Disaster Prevention and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1996 - Title I: Transfer of Auburn Dam and Reservoir Project - Transfers from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of the Army (Secretary) jurisdiction over the Auburn Dam and Reservoir Project. Provides a Project description and specifies the applicability of Federal reclamation and water resource project laws. Reduces by 50 percent the amount authorized to be appropriated for the Project. Title II: Sacramento and American Rivers Flood Control Project - Directs the Secretary to construct expeditiously the project for flood control and recreation on the Sacramento and American Rivers, California, substantially in accordance with a prior report of the Army Chief of Engineers and at a specified total estimated cost. Requires such Project to include the construction of a pumping plant, access roads, and appurtenant facilities with which to fulfill U.S. obligations to the Placer County Water Agency. Authorizes appropriations. Provides for possible future expansion and increased power generation at such plant. Directs the Secretary to cooperate with California to establish an independent consulting board to review plans for, and provide technical confirmation of, such Project. Authorizes appropriations. Provides for Project: (1) cost-sharing responsibilities; (2) feasibility and environmental studies; (3) soil and fish and wildlife mitigation measures; and (4) authority for certain levee and other flood control improvements. Requires the Secretaries to complete a comprehensive risk assessment of Folsom Dam and its ancillary facilities and to take appropriate actions with respect to its performance when operated in conjunction with the project authorized under this title. Authorizes the Secretary to undertake additional actions to extend flood protection in specified areas along the Sacramento and American Rivers. (Sec. 202) Directs the Secretary to construct specified features of the North Area Local Project of the American River Watershed Investigation, subject to entering into appropriate local cost-sharing agreements with non-Federal sponsors. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary to carry out a flood control project in Cirby, Linda, and Dry Creeks in Placer and Sacramento Counties, California. Title III: Auburn Dam Water Conservation Project - Authorizes the Secretaries to enter into agreements with California for the transfer to the United States of specified rights-of-way, water rights, and facilities constituting and adjacent to the Auburn Dam portion of the Central Valley Project and the project authorized under title II of this Act. Recognizes the existence of substantial national interest in the earliest development of a multipurpose Auburn Dam to provide flood protection, water conservation, recreation, and instream requirements for American River flows and other beneficial uses.
United States · United States Congress · 16 April 1996
Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Jackson, Mississippi, as the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1996
Small Business OSHA Relief Act of 1996 - Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) to require each OSHA standard promulgated by the Secretary of Labor to be based upon a cost-benefit assessment and a determination that the standard's benefits justify the costs it imposes. Directs the Secretary, in the case of any employer of 250 or fewer employees cited for a violation of specified requirements, standards, or rules, which is a significant threat to an employee's health or safety, but where the employer has made a good faith correction effort, to waive up to 100 percent of the penalty otherwise proposed for such violation: (1) if the employer corrects the violation within the time set for abatement; or (2), if the employer does not correct the violation within such time, to the extent that the employer uses the amount which would have been paid as the penalty for correction of the violation. Prohibits issuance of a citation for any posting requirement and any requirement to prepare and maintain injury and illness records or written plan or verification, unless: (1) the employer has willfully or repeatedly violated the requirement; or (2) the failure to meet such requirement has resulted in employee exposure to a hazard. Directs the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with States for consultation to employers concerning the provision of safe and healthful working conditions. Requires the Secretary to reimburse States that enter into such agreements for 90 percent of costs and 100 percent of State staff training and specified out-of-State travel expenses. Prohibits the Secretary from establishing any performance measures for any subordinate within the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (including any regional director, area director, supervisor, or inspector) with respect to the number of inspections conducted, citations issued, or penalties assessed.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1996
Medical Device Reform Act of 1996 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to set forth the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mission. (Sec. 3) Allows device approval applicants to declare a review impasse and mandates use of a dispute resolution process. (Sec. 4) Revises requirements regarding: (1) investigational devise exemptions; (2) premarket approval requirements (mandating a device review priority); (3) humanitarian device exceptions; (4) safety and effectiveness performance standards (allowing consensus standards recognition); (5) effectiveness determinations (as used in classifying devices); (6) premarket notification; (7) classification panels; and (8) premarket approval application review (allowing review by accredited persons). (Sec. 12) Mandates procedures for accrediting parties that review premarket approval applications and conduct good manufacturing practice inspections. (Sec. 13) Mandates reclassification of certain devices. (Sec. 14) Modifies requirements regarding: (1) device tracking; (2) postmarket surveillance; and (3) good manufacturing practice regulations (including foreign harmonization) and inspections (including adding references to accredited entities and post-inspection procedural requirements). (Sec. 18) Regulates the effect of the dissemination of medical texts, peer-reviewed scientific publications, displays at trade shows, and other material. (Sec. 19) Removes distributors from record keeping and reporting requirements. Declares that the failure of a device to perform as labeled or in an acceptable manner does not constitute a malfunction when caused by improper servicing. Repeals user reporting requirements. (Sec. 20) Prohibits subjecting a person to penalties if the person acted in good faith and had no reason to believe the acts violated the law. (Sec. 21) Allows using monetary penalties for violation correction. Entitles violators to reasonable discovery. (Sec. 22) Mandates an information system to track the status of each submission requesting FDA action. (Sec. 23) Prohibits actions by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the FDCA from requiring the preparation of an environmental impact statement or assessment. (Sec. 24) Prohibits the Secretary from relying on any statements not promulgated in accordance with rulemaking requirements to require any action under the FDCA. (Sec. 25) Mandates training programs for FDA employees regarding FDCA regulations and policies. Allows the FDA to conduct or contract for scientific research only if directly related to FDCA implementation. (Sec. 26) Regulates communications to non-FDA persons regarding certain matters before completion of related investigations.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1996
Drug and Biological Products Reform Act of 1996 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to set forth the mission of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and mandate an annual report to specified congressional committees. (Sec. 3) Modifies new drug requirements regarding: (1) clinical investigation commencement; (2) application contents and review; (3) effectiveness determinations; (4) the use of scientific advisory panels; and (5) marketing approval application review by accredited persons. (Sec. 8) Provides for the accreditation of persons to: (1) review applications for new drugs or for certification of insulin-containing drugs; and (2) conduct good manufacturing practice (GMP) inspections. (Sec. 9) Allows applicants to declare an impasse in a review or a submission for an investigational use exemption and mandates use of a dispute resolution process. (Sec. 10) Adds references to accredited persons to provisions relating to GMP inspections. Imposes post-inspection requirements. Deems certain chemistry, manufacturing, and controls to comply with current GMP and prohibits actions to delay or prevent the manufacture or marketing of a drug for failure to conform to GMP, subject to exception. (Sec. 12) Allows a new drug manufactured in a small facility to be used to show safety and effectiveness. (Sec. 13) Regulates changes in the manufacture of a new drug, biological product, new animal drug, blood, or blood component. (Sec. 14) Repeals provisions relating to the certification of drugs containing insulin or antibiotics. (Sec. 15) Requires that applications or petitions requesting conversion from prescription to nonprescription status and all matters relating to nonprescription drugs be reviewed by a single office in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Allows a single scientific advisory panel to provide recommendations. (Sec. 16) Mandates an applicant-accessible information system to track applications and submissions to the FDA. (Sec. 17) Prohibits actions by the Secretary of Health and Human Services from requiring an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment. (Sec. 18) Regulates drugs compounded by a licensed pharmacist on the order of a licensed physician. (Sec. 19) Directs the Secretary to meet with foreign countries to discuss harmonization of regulatory requirements. (Sec. 20) Controls the effect of the dissemination of medical texts, peer-reviewed scientific publications, and other material. (Sec. 21) Prohibits the Secretary from relying on statements not promulgated in accordance with rulemaking requirements to require any action under the FDCA. (Sec. 22) Mandates training for FDA employees on regulations and policies under the FDCA. (Sec. 23) Regulates: (1) the delegation of authority under the FDCA; (2) judicial review of decisions regarding investigational new drugs and new drugs; and (3) communication to non-FDA persons regarding certain matters before completion of an investigation. (Sec. 26) Defines "biological product" and "human tissue." Declares that blood, a blood component, an organ, milk, or human tissue is not a drug. Prohibits subjecting computer software developed or modified by, or used in, a human tissue establishment to any premarket clearance requirement. Requires such software to be validated to demonstrate that it achieves its intended purpose before use and subjects it to the GMP requirements of the FDCA. Requires licenses to introduce biological products, blood, and blood components into interstate commerce. Regulates licensing. Allows regulation of human tissue only if the Secretary demonstrates that voluntary regulation is inadequate to protect the public health. Provides for such regulation.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Food Amendments Title II: Animal Drugs Food Amendments and the Animal Drug Availability Act of 1996 - Title I: Food Amendments - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to state the mission of the Food and Drug Administration. (Sec. 102) Modifies requirements regarding label claims of a relationship between a nutritional ingredient and a health-related condition. (Sec. 104) Prohibits construing FDCA provisions relating to misbranding or food additives to require a separate disclosure of a method of production or an ingredient other than in the statement of ingredients, unless necessary to protect the public health. (Sec. 105) Allows certain labeling and additive (including color additive) petitions to be submitted to an accredited person and deems the person's recommendation to be a decision of the Secretary of Health and Human Services unless the Secretary makes certain findings. Provides for accreditation. (Sec. 107) Allows an additive in feed for food-producing animals, and allows approval of a new animal drug, if the additive or drug presents a small risk (currently, if the additive will not adversely affect the animals and if no residue will be found in food from the animal). (Sec. 108) Prohibits States and subdivisions from having any requirement for a human food, a drug or biological product, or a cosmetic of the type authorized or required under the adulteration, misbranding, or new drug provisions of the FDCA, subject to exception and waiver. (Sec. 109) Directs the Secretary to regularly meet with other countries regarding reducing regulation and seeking reciprocal arrangements. (Sec. 110) Prohibits the Secretary from relying on statements that have not been promulgated in accordance with Federal rulemaking requirements to require any action to be taken to satisfy an FDCA requirement. (Sec. 111) Amends the FDCA and the Federal Trade Commission Act to remove or repeal provisions regulating the sale, public eating place serving, and advertising of colored oleomargarine or colored margarine. Repeals related definitions. Title II: Animal Drugs - Amends the FDCA to revise the definition (for new animal drug provisions) of "substantial evidence." Modifies requirements regarding approval of supplemental applications. Exempts use in a minor species and the minor use of a drug from provisions prohibiting approval if there is a lack of substantial evidence that the drug will have its purported effect. Revises requirements regarding combination drugs. (Sec. 202) Reduces the period for approval of new animal drug applications. (Sec. 203) Empowers applicants to declare that a review impasse exists. Sets forth a dispute resolution process. (Sec. 204) Revises requirements regarding drug residues and tolerances. (Sec. 205) Regulates animal feed drugs that are limited by approved applications to use under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian (veterinary feed directive drugs) (VFDDs). Deems animal feed with a new animal drug unsafe unless its labeling, distribution, holding, and use (currently, its labeling and use) conform to specified FDCA requirements. Allows withdrawal of approval for certain VFDD recordkeeping violations. Adds to the prohibited acts list the refusal to permit record access as required by VFDD provisions and the failure to maintain records or make reports as required by VFDD provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1996
Truth in Employment Act of 1996 - Amends the National Labor Relations Act to provide that nothing in specified prohibitions against unfair labor practices shall be construed as requiring an employer to employ any person who seeks or has sought employment with the employer in furtherance of other employment or agency status.
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 · 19 March 1996
ERISA Clarification Act of 1995 - Directs the Secretary of Labor to issue guidance on the application of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to insurance company general accounts. Requires such guidance to: (1) be for purposes of determining, in cases where an insurer issues one or more policies to or for the benefit of an employee benefit plan, which assets of the insurer (other than plan assets held in its separate accounts) constitute assets of the plan for purposes of specified provisions of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code; and (2) provide that assets not treated as plan assets under certain provisions not be treated as plan assets under other provisions. Authorizes the Secretary to exclude any assets of the insurer with respect to its operations, products, or services from treatment as plan assets.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1996
Open Competition Act of 1996 - Amends the National Labor Relations Act to prohibit discrimination against any bidder on a prime contract for a federally funded project on the basis of a requirement that such person enter into or adhere to a collective bargaining agreement or any similar agreement as a condition of performing work on such contract.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1996
Methamphetamine Control Act of 1996 - Amends the Controlled Substances Act to provide that any chemical supply house that, after having been provided a warning within the previous ten years, sells a listed chemical to a person who uses or intends or attempts to use the listed chemical, or who causes the listed chemical to be used or attempted to be used, to manufacture or produce methamphetamine, shall: (1) be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $250,000; or (2) for a second violation, be ordered to cease the production and sale of any chemicals. Directs the Attorney General to provide a written warning to each chemical supply house that violates such provision. Requires that all amounts received from enforcement of the civil penalty be used by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for the environmental cleanup of clandestine laboratories used to manufacture methamphetamine. Increases penalties for the possession and distribution of a list I chemical. Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to amend the Federal sentencing guidelines to reflect such amendment. Adds penalties for the manufacture and possession of equipment used to make methamphetamine. Includes specified transactions involving pseudoephedrine among those constituting a "regulated transaction." Adds iodine, red phosphorous, and hydrochloric gas to the list of list I chemicals. Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to methamphetamine, including that the rise in manufacture and usage of methamphetamine is of major concern to the United States, that a substantial portion of the ephedrine used to make methamphetamine is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border, and that all ephedrine and pseudoephedrine producing countries and Mexico should cooperate in any way possible to deter the smuggling of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine into the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1996
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the People's Republic of China should: (1) reaffirm its commitment to conduct relations with Taiwan by peaceful means; (2) engage in diplomatic negotiations to discuss any disagreement with Taiwan without any threat of military or economic coercion against Taiwan; and (3) immediately live up to its commitment to work for a peaceful resolution of any disagreements with Taiwan and desist from military actions designed to intimidate Taiwan. Calls on Taiwan to adhere to its commitment to negotiate its future relations with the mainland by mutual, not unilateral, decision. Calls for the United States: (1) to maintain its commitment to resist any resort to force or use other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan, consistent with its undertakings in the Taiwan Relations Act; (2) to maintain a naval presence sufficient to keep open the sea lanes in and near the Taiwan Straits; (3) in the face of the several overt military threats by the People's Republic of China against Taiwan, and consistent with the commitment of the United States under the Taiwan Relations Act, to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons systems; and (4) to assist in defending the people of Taiwan against invasion, missile attack, or blockade by the People's Republic of China.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1996
Security and Freedom Through Encryption (SAFE) Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to permit any person within any State, and any U.S. person in a foreign country, to use any encryption regardless of the encryption algorithm selected, encryption key length chosen, or implementation technique or medium used, with an exception for the unlawful use of encryption in furtherance of a criminal act. Allows any person within any State to sell in interstate commerce any encryption. Specifies that no person in lawful possession of a key to encrypted information may be required by Federal or State law to relinquish to another person control of that key, with an exception for access for law enforcement purposes. Sets penalties for the willful use of encryption in furtherance of the commission of a criminal offense. (Sec. 3) Amends the Export Administration Act of 1979 to grant the Secretary of Commerce exclusive authority to control exports of all hardware, software, and technology for information security (including encryption), except that which is specifically designed or modified for military use. Prohibits requiring any validated license (with limited exceptions pursuant to the Trading With The Enemy Act or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act) for the export or reexport of any: (1) software, including software with encryption capabilities that is generally available as is and that is designed for installation by the purchaser, or that is in the public domain for which copyright or other protection is not available or is available to the public because it is generally accessible to the public in any form; or (2) computing device solely because it incorporates or employs in any form software (including software with encryption capabilities) exempted from any requirement for a validated license under this section. Directs the Secretary to authorize the export or reexport of: (1) software with encryption capabilities for nonmilitary end-uses in any country to which exports of software of similar capability are permitted for use by financial institutions not controlled in fact by U.S. persons, unless there is substantial evidence that such software will be diverted to a military end-use or an end-use supporting international terrorism, modified for military or terrorist end-use, or reexported without any U.S. authorization that may be required under the Act; and (2) computer hardware with encryption capabilities if the Secretary determines that a product offering comparable security is commercially available outside the United States from a foreign supplier without effective restrictions.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1996
Amends the Clean Air Act, with respect to limitations on certain Federal assistance, to exempt traffic signal synchronization projects from regional emissions analysis requirements and requirements under Environmental Protection Agency rules for determining conformity to State or Federal implementation plans of transportation plans and programs funded or approved under Federal aid highway program or Federal Transit Act provisions.
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