United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1993
FECA Fraud Deterrence Act - Amends the Federal Employees' Compensation Act to provide that an individual convicted of making a false statement to obtain Federal employees' compensation or of other fraud related to the application for or receipt of benefits shall forfeit entitlement to benefits for any injury occurring before conviction. Specifies that no benefits shall be provided to any individual confined in a correctional facility pursuant to that individual's conviction of a felony offense, except that the Secretary of Labor may pay a specified percentage of the benefits to such individual's dependents. Requires a Federal, State, or local agency to make the name and social security account number of any individual who is confined in a correctional facility under the agency's jurisdiction pursuant to the individual's conviction of felony offense available to the Secretary upon request to carry out provisions of the Act. Revises provisions of the Federal criminal code to provide that whoever knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up a material fact or makes or knowingly uses a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation in connection with the application for or receipt of Federal employees' compensation shall be guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or up to five years' imprisonment.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 1993
Congressional Safety and Health Act of 1993 - Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to apply such Act's provisions to the House of Representatives and the instrumentalities of the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1993
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual income tax deduction for contributions to a savings account established to pay the educational expenses (tuition, supplies, meals, and lodging) of the taxpayer's child or certain other relatives at an institution of higher education or a vocational school. Limits the deduction to $1,500 annually (adjusted for inflation) for each account. Disallows the deduction for contributions to an account maintained for any individual aged 19 or older. Requires any account balance to be distributed after the beneficiary attains age 30. Permits an exclusion from the gross income of the contributor or the beneficiary of account distributions used to pay educational expenses of the latter. Exempts an account from taxation (except for the tax on unrelated business income of a charitable organization), unless a contributor or the beneficiary engages in specified prohibited transactions. Imposes a ten percent surtax on distributions not used for educational purposes. Requires the account trustee to report to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the account's beneficiary concerning the account. Imposes a penalty for failure to report. Allows taxpayers who do not otherwise itemize deductions to deduct for contributions to an education savings account. Imposes penalty taxes in connection with excess contributions or prohibited transactions associated with an account. Exempts from annual contribution limitations distributions from education savings accounts into individual retirement accounts. Excludes from gross income distributions from individual retirement accounts into education savings accounts.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Redesignation of Environmental Protection Agency as Department of Environmental Protection Title II: Administrative Provisions Department of Environmental Protection Act - Title I: Redesignation of Environmental Protection Agency as Department of Environmental Protection - Redesignates the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the Department of Environmental Protection to be headed by a Secretary of the Environment. (Sec. 109) Requires the Secretary to establish a permanent information resources management steering committee and to designate a Chief Information Officer. (Sec. 110) Directs the Secretary to develop policies for encouraging greater public access to departmental information and to maintain a public access system that provides an inventory of the Department's information services and other holdings. (Sec. 111) Establishes a Bureau of Environmental Statistics, an Office of Environmental Justice, and an Advisory Committee on Environmental Justice. Requires the Director of the Office to promote environmental justice for all people wherever they are located or work in the United States and regardless of income, race, ethnicity, or national origin. (Sec. 113) Requires the Secretary to: (1) provide for the acquisition and development of the best credible and unbiased scientific information; and (2) implement peer review and quality assurance guidelines. (Sec. 114) Establishes conflict-of-interest reporting requirements for members of Department advisory committees who are not Federal employees. (Sec. 115) Permits the Department to enter into an umbrella contract only if the contract: (1) does not exceed five years (ten years for a response action contract or a longer period under unusual and compelling circumstances); (2) is awarded pursuant to full and open competition, except under specified conditions; and (3) does not authorize the contractor to procure items on behalf of the Federal Government, other than items procured under and for response action contracts and in which the Government has all rights and interests. Defines an "umbrella contract" as a contract that: (1) provides for the performance of specific advisory and assistance services but does not procure or specify a firm quantity of services; (2) provides for services to be supplied in response to Federal task orders; (3) requires the contractor to provide a stated amount of effort over a given period of time; and (4) has a maximum potential value of at least $1 million, is not a fixed price contract, and is for a period longer than one year. Lists subcontracting requirements. (Sec. 116) Declares that it shall be the policy of the Department to prevent the transfer of inherently governmental functions to private sector contractors. (Sec. 117) Disallows indirect costs incurred by a Department contractor if a cost submitted is unallowable because it is in violation of a cost principle in the Federal Acquisition Regulation or other law. Applies this requirement to contracts in excess of $100,000 other than fixed-price contracts without cost incentives. Prescribes penalties for the submission of unallowable costs. (Sec. 118) Lists unallowable costs as costs of entertainment, gifts, or recreation for contractor employees. Title II: Administrative Provisions - Sets forth provisions governing: (1) the acquisition of copyrights and patents by the Secretary; (2) the acceptance of gifts; (3) the departmental seal; and (4) the use of existing stationery, forms, and other EPA supplies.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1993
Home Office Deduction Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide qualifications for a home office as a principal place of business for purposes of the deductibility of expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1993
Applies the Freedom of Information Act to the legislative branch. Establishes the Disclosure Review Board in the legislative branch to decide complaints relating to disclosure of information withheld by a legislative agency. Requires Board members to be appointed by the Speaker and minority leader of the House of Representatives and the minority and majority leaders of the Senate from among Federal retired administrative law judges. Authorizes a Board member to assess reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation costs incurred in any case in which the complainant substantially prevails under this Act against the United States. Requires the Board to designate one of its members to serve a one-year term as the Complaint Referral Officer. Requires such officer to appoint individuals to serve as Investigation Counsels to investigate and determine unresolved complaints received alleging failure by the legislative agency to make material available as required by this Act and to determine whether there is reasonable cause to believe that any such complaint is true. Requires the Investigation Counsel to meet U.S. magistrate qualifications.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1993
Guam and the Northern Marianas Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue one-dollar coins emblematic of the American forces that liberated Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in World War II. Requires payment of surcharges received from the coin sales to the Secretary of the Interior to construct a visitors center and museum at: (1) the War in the Pacific National Historical Park on Guam; and (2) the American Memorial Park on Saipan.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1993
Crime Victims' Restitution Act of 1993- Amends the Federal criminal code to require (current law authorizes) the court to order restitution of the victim when a convicted defendant is being sentenced for specified offenses. Authorizes a court to order restitution of any person who, as shown by a preponderance of the evidence, was harmed physically, emotionally, or pecuniarily by unlawful conduct of the defendant during the offense or during the course of a scheme, conspiracy, or pattern of unlawful activity related to the offense. Directs the court: (1) to order restitution in the full amount of the victim's losses without consideration of the economic circumstances of the offender or the fact that a victim is entitled to receive compensation from insurance or any other source; and (2) upon determination of the amount owed to each victim, to specify in the restitution order the manner of, and schedule for, restitution in consideration of the financial resources and other assets, projected earnings and other income, and financial obligations of the offender. Specifies that: (1) a restoration order may direct the offender to make a single, lump-sum payment, partial payments at specified intervals, or such in-kind payments as may be agreeable to the victim and the offender; and (2) such in-kind payments may be in the form of the return or replacement of property, or services rendered to the victim or another person or organization. Provides that when the court finds that more than one: (1) offender has contributed to the loss of a victim, the court may make each offender liable for payment of the full amount or may apportion liability among the offenders to reflect the level of contribution and economic circumstances of each offender; and (2) victim has sustained a loss requiring restitution by an offender, the court shall order full restitution of each victim but provide for different payment schedules to reflect the economic circumstances of each victim. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) compensation with respect to losses from insurance or other sources; (2) set-offs against amounts later recovered as compensatory damages by the victim in Federal and State civil proceedings; and (3) payment by the offender to the clerk of the court for accounting and payment in accordance with this Act. Specifies that a restitution order shall constitute a lien against all property of the offender. Makes compliance with a restitution order a condition of any probation, parole, or other form of release of an offender. Specifies actions the court may take, including revocation of probation or supervised release, if a defendant fails to comply. Provides for enforcement of restitution orders. Authorizes: (1) a victim or the offender to petition the court to modify a restitution order in view of a change in the economic circumstances of the offender; and (2) the court to refer any issue arising in connection with a proposed restitution order to a magistrate or special master for proposed findings of fact and recommendations as to disposition, subject to a de novo determination of the issue by the court.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1993
Urges the Attorney General and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to cooperate with the U.S. Postal Service and the Polly Klaas Search Center to use nationwide mailings to disseminate information concerning the kidnapping of Polly Klaas. Commends the community of Petaluma, California, the Petaluma Police Department, and the FBI for their hard work on this case.
United States · United States Congress · 21 October 1993
Prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from expending, in any year, any amounts in connection with instituting a new logo if its total obligations and expenditures incurred in the previous year exceeded its total revenues.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1993
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Department of Justice should repudiate its reinterpretation of Federal child pornography laws, defend the conviction won in lower courts in Knox v. United States, and vigorously prosecute sexual exploitation of children.
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 1993
Passport and Visa Offenses Penalties Improvement Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal criminal code to increase penalties for passport and visa-related offenses. Sets a maximum term of imprisonment for specified passport and visa-related offenses of: (1) 15 years, if committed to facilitate a drug trafficking crime; and (2) 20 years, if committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism. Provides for the civil forfeiture of property used in committing such an offense or an offense involving forgery or false use of a passport or fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents.
United States · United States Congress · 13 October 1993
Federal Law Enforcement Animal Protection Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal criminal code to set penalties for willfully killing, harming, or attempting to kill or harm any animal being used by a Federal law enforcement officer in the discharge of that officer's duties.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1993
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to replace the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (System). Repeals the Helium Act. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) sell related property and helium reserves; and (2) transfer the proceeds to the Secretary of Agriculture to pay for replacement of the System.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1993
Provides that any comprehensive health care reform legislation should be considered on the floor of the House of Representatives under an open rule that authorizes any Representative to offer one or more amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1993
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should ensure that any member of the U.S. armed forces participating in any United Nations or other multinational peacekeeping operation shall have access to the full protection of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War if taken captive.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1993
Directs the appropriate committees of the House of Representatives to report legislation to: (1) transfer executive branch printing from the Government Printing Office (GPO) to the General Services Administration; (2) transfer the functions now carried out by the Superintendent of Documents to the Librarian of Congress, who shall be responsible for the dissemination of all Government information, with the on-line networks of the Library of Congress to be used for Government information not requiring a printed format; (3) abolish the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint Committee on the Library and to establish a Joint Committee on Information; (4) reduce the in-house printing capacity of GPO to the minimum level necessary; (5) procure other congressional printing whenever possible from the private sector through a competitive bid process, with the procurement to be administered by the Public Printer; (6) reduce the work force at GPO to 500 positions, gradually, by the end of the second fiscal year after the fiscal year in which this resolution is agreed to; and (7) submit to the Congress an annual report by the Public Printer on the standards applicable to, and the efficiency of, GPO and triennial General Accounting Office audits of GPO functions.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 1993
Prohibits, with exceptions, the refugee admission into the United States of persons who served in the Iraqi armed forces during the Persian Gulf conflict.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1993
Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide for downward adjustments in Appropriations Committees' allocations and suballocations when bills are passed that reduce appropriations and require rescissions. Requires the Congressional Budget Office to provide scorecards for such measures.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1993
Supports President Yeltsin's insistence on free and fair elections to allow the peoples of the Russian Federation the opportunity to elect a representative legislature. Applauds President Clinton for voicing his support for President Yeltsin. Expects that President Yeltsin will ensure that elections are held as planned in December 1993. Calls upon the President of the United States, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and the community of nations to offer assistance in facilitating the electoral process in the Russian Federation.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1993
Calls on the President to direct the U.S. Representative to the United Nations (UN) to: (1) urge the UN to begin formal investigations into violations of international law that have been committed in the former Yugoslavia since 1991; (2) encourage the UN Commission of Experts to begin using funds earmarked for such investigations by immediately sending teams of investigators to locations in Germany, Austria, Denmark, France, Croatia, Kosovo, and Serbia, where thousands of victims of war crimes are residing; and (3) urge the UN, by October 6, 1993, to appoint a prosecutor for the International Tribunal to continue and expand such investigations and to prosecute persons responsible for such violations. Encourages the President to provide, on temporary assignment to the Commission or to the prosecutor, Federal personnel who have experience working with victims of rape and other heinous crimes to interview such victims and to gather legal evidence relating to such crimes. Requests the President to work with the UN to establish a time schedule for aggressive prosecution of persons responsible. Calls on the UN Security Council to withhold consideration of lifting the economic sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) until all indictments against those persons ultimately responsible for such violations have been issued by the International Tribunal and such persons have surrendered for trial.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1993
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States should support the process of nonviolent democratic reform in Vietnam; (2) the Secretary of State should declare U.S. support for the democratization of Vietnam and reaffirm that progress on the POW/MIA issue is critical to normalizing economic and diplomatic relations; (3) the administration should take the lead in mobilizing the United Nations and other groups to work toward promoting human rights, the rule of law, and free and democratic elections in Vietnam; and (4) the United States should increase its support for Voice of America programming in Vietnam.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Improved Access to Affordable Health Care Subtitle A: Increased Availability and Continuity of Health Coverage for Employees and Their Families Subtitle B: Reform of Health Insurance Marketplace for Small Business Subtitle C: Preemption Subtitle D: Health Deduction Fairness Subtitle E: Improved Access to Community Health Services Subtitle F: Improved Access to Rural Health Services Subtitle G: State Flexibility in the Medicaid Program: The Medical Health Allowance Program Title II: Health Care Cost Containment and Quality Enhancement Subtitle A: Medical Malpractice Liability Reform Subtitle B: Administrative Cost Savings Subtitle C: Deduction for Cost of Catastrophic Health Plan; Medical Savings Accounts Subtitle D: Anti-Fraud Subtitle E: Medicare Payment Changes; Part B Premium Tax for High-Income Individuals Subtitle F: Removing Anti-Trust Impediments Subtitle G: Encouraging Enforcement Activities of Medical Self-Regulatory Entities Subtitle H: Prefunding Government Health Benefits for Certain Annuitants Subtitle I: Miscellaneous Provisions Title III: Long-Term Care Subtitle A: Tax Treatment of Long-Term Care Insurance Subtitle B: Protection of Assets Under Medicaid Through Use of Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance Subtitle C: Studies Subtitle D: Volunteer Service Credit Demonstration Projects Affordable Health Care Now Act of 1993 - Title I: Improved Access to Affordable Health Care - Subtitle A: Increased Availability and Continuity of Health Coverage for Employees and Their Families - Part 1: Required Coverage Options for Eligible Employees, Spouses, and Dependents - Requires each employer to make available to each eligible employee a group health plan under which: (1) coverage of each eligible individual with respect to such employee may be elected on an annual basis; (2) coverage is provided for at least the required coverage specified; and (3) employees may elect to have premiums collected through payroll deduction. Does not require employer contributions to the cost of coverage under such a plan. Provides for the exclusion of: (1) employers who have been employers for less than two years or who have no more than two eligible employees or no more than two eligible employees not covered under any group health plan; and (2) family members under specified circumstances. Specifies that a group health plan shall not be treated as failing to meet the requirements of this Act solely because a period of service by an eligible employee of not more than 60 days is required for coverage. Specifies that the required coverage is standard coverage, except that in the case of a small employer that has not contributed during the previous plan year to the cost of coverage for any eligible employee under any group health plan, the required coverage for the plan year is coverage under a MedAccess standard, MedAccess catastrophic, and MedAccess medisave plan. Provides for a five-year transition for existing group health plans. (Sec. 1002) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) compliance with applicable requirements through multiple employer health arrangements; and (2) coverage options under a State medical health allowance program. Part 2: Preexisting Conditions and Continuity of Coverage; Renewability - Prohibits a group health plan from imposing (and an insurer from requiring an employer from imposing through a waiting period for coverage under a plan or similar requirement) a limitation or exclusion of benefits relating to treatment of a preexisting condition if: (1) the condition relates to a condition that was not diagnosed or treated within three months before the date of coverage under the plan; or (2) the limitation or exclusion extends over more than six month after the date of coverage, applies to an individual who, as of the date of birth, was covered under the plan, or relates to pregnancy. Specifies that, in the case of an individual who is eligible for coverage under a plan but for a waiting period imposed by the employer, the individual shall be treated as having been covered under the plan as of the earliest date of the beginning of the waiting period. (Sec. 1012) Requires each group health plan to waive any period applicable to a preexisting condition for similar benefits with respect to an individual to the extent that the individual, prior to enrollment in such plan, was covered for the condition under any other health plan. (Sec. 1013) Prohibits: (1) a multiemployer plan and an exempted multiple employer health plan from canceling or denying renewal of coverage under such a plan for an employer other than for nonpayment of contributions, fraud or other misrepresentation, noncompliance with plan provisions, or misuse of a provider network provision, or because the plan is ceasing to provide any coverage in a geographic area; (2) an insurer from canceling a health insurance plan or denying renewal of coverage other than as prescribed above; and (3) an insurer who terminates the offering of health insurance plans in an area from offering such a plan to any employer in the area until five years after the date of the termination. Part 3: Enforcement; Effective Dates; Definitions - Makes provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 applicable with respect to enforcement of this Act (by the Department of Labor). Amends the Internal Revenue Code (Code) to impose a tax ($100 per day for each individual involved, subject to specified limitations) on the failure of an insurer to comply with the requirements under part 2 unless the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) determines that the State has in effect a regulatory enforcement mechanism that provides adequate sanctions. Subtitle B: Reform of Health Insurance Marketplace for Small Business - Requires each insurer that makes available a health insurance plan to a small employer in a State to make available to each small employer in the State a MedAccess standard, MedAccess catastrophic, and MedAccess medisave plan, with exceptions for health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and if a State provides for guaranteed availability (rather than guaranteed issue). Requires each insurer that offers a MedAccess plan to a small employer in a State to accept: (1) every small employer in the State that applies for coverage; and (2) every eligible individual who applies for enrollment on a timely basis. Sets forth provision regarding: (1) special rules for HMOs; (2) timely enrollment requirements; and (3) enrollment of spouses and dependents. Makes such requirements inapplicable in a State that has provided (in accordance with specified standards) a mechanism under which each insurer offering a health insurance plan to a small employer in the State must participate in a program for assigning high-risk small employer groups (or individuals within such a group) among some or all such insurers, if the insurers comply. (Sec. 1102) Defines "MedAccess plan" as a health insurance plan that: (1) is designed to provide standard coverage with substantial cost-sharing, only catastrophic coverage, or medisave coverage; (2) includes only essential and medically necessary services; (3) meets applicable requirements relating to guaranteed issue; and (4) meets specifies consumer protection standards. Defines "MedAccess standard plan," "MedAccess catastrophic plan," and "MedAccess medisave plan" to mean a MedAccess plan that provides for at least standard coverage, for only catastrophic coverage, or medisave coverage, respectively. Requests the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to submit to the Secretary a set of rules which NAIC determines is sufficient for determining, in the case of any health insurance plan and for purposes of this subtitle, the actuarial value of the coverage offered by the plan. Directs the Secretary to certify such set of rules for use under this subtitle if they meet such requirements or establish such a set of rules. Specifies that a health insurance plan is considered to provide: (1) standard coverage if the benefits are determined, in accordance with certified rules of actuarial equivalence, to have a value that is within five percentage points of an established target actuarial value for standard coverage; (2) catastrophic coverage if benefits are available under the plan for a year only to the extent that expenses for covered services in a year exceed a deductible amount that is consistent with a specified requirement for a catastrophic health plan under the Code, and are determined, in accordance with certified actuarial equivalence rules, to have a value that is within five percentage points of an established target actuarial value for catastrophic coverage; and (3) medisave coverage if such plan consists of a catastrophic health plan within the meaning of the Code and a medical savings account. Requests NAIC to submit to the Secretary target actuarial values for standard and catastrophic coverage. Permits NAIC to submit periodic revisions of, and permits the Secretary to revise, the set of rules of actuarial equivalence and target actuarial values where necessary to take into account changes in the relevant types of health benefits provisions, in deductible levels for catastrophic coverage, or in relevant demographic conditions. (Sec. 1103) Directs the Secretary to request NAIC to develop model regulations that specify standards with respect to requirements: (1) that insurers make available MedAccess plans; (2) of guaranteed availability of MedAccess plans to small employers; (3) relating to limits on premiums and certain consumer protections; and (4) relating to limitation of annual premium increases. Requires the Secretary to review such standards and, if NAIC fails to specify standards meeting such requirements, to promulgate standards. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the application of MedAccess standards and consumer protection standards by the States; and (2) the Federal role. (Sec. 1104) Sets forth provisions: (1) regarding limits on premiums and annual premium increases; and (2) requiring an insurer, at the time of offering a health insurance plan to a small employer, to fully disclose rating practices for health insurance plans, including rating practices for different populations and benefit designs. (Sec. 1106) Directs the Secretary to: (1) request NAIC to develop models for reinsurance or allocation of risk mechanisms for health insurance plans made available to small employers for whom an insurer is at risk of incurring high costs under the plan; and (2) review such models or specify models. Sets forth provisions regarding implementation of reinsurance or allocation of risk mechanisms by the States and the Federal role. Amends the Code to provide for the imposition of a tax on any health insurance plan which covers any employee in a Federal reinsurance State. (Sec. 1108) Directs the Secretary to establish an Office of Private Health Care Coverage. Requires the Office Director to submit to the Congress annual reports evaluating health care coverage reform. (Sec. 1109) Authorizes the Director to conduct: (1) research on the impact of this subtitle on the availability of affordable health coverage for employees and dependents in the small employers group health care coverage market and other specified topics; and (2) demonstration projects relating to such topics. Requires the Director to develop: (1) methods for measuring the relative health risks of eligible individuals in terms of the expected costs of providing benefits under health insurance plans and, in particular, MedAccess plans; and (2) a model for equitably distributing health risks among insurers in the small employer health care coverage market. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Preemption - Part 1: Scope of State Regulation - Prohibits: (1) State benefit mandates for group health plans; and (2) State or local law prohibitions against two or more employers obtaining coverage under an insured multiple employer health plan. (Sec. 1203) Preempts State restrictions concerning: (1) reimbursement rates or selective contracting; (2) differential financial incentives; and (3) utilization review methods. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study of the benefits and cost effectiveness of the use of managed care in the delivery of health services. Part 2: Multiple Employer Health Benefits Protections - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to allow a limited exemption under preemption rules for multiple employer plans providing health benefits subject to certain Federal standards. (Sec. 1212) Relieves exempted multiple employer plans providing medical care benefits of certain restrictions on preemption of State law. Treats such plans as employee welfare benefit plans. Allows commencement of new arrangements only if such exemption is in effect or an application is pending and the Secretary of Labor determines that provisional protection is appropriate. Sets forth exemption procedures, eligibility requirements, and additional requirements applicable to exempted arrangements. Requires certain disclosures to participating employers, maintenance of reserves, and corrective actions. Provides for expiration, suspension, and revocation of exemptions, and for review of actions by the Secretary. (Sec. 1213) Revises provisions relating to scope of preemption rules, and to treatment of single employer arrangements and of certain collectively bargained arrangements. (Sec. 1215) Establishes special rules for employee leasing healthcare arrangements. Treats such arrangements as multiple employer welfare arrangements except when they are multiple employer health plans. (Sec. 1216) Sets forth enforcement provisions relating to multiple employer welfare arrangements and employee leasing health care arrangements. (Sec. 1217) Sets forth filing requirements for multiple employer welfare arrangements. (Sec. 1218) Provides for cooperation between Federal and State authorities in enforcing ERISA requirements for multiple employer welfare arrangements with the limited exemption. Part 3: Encouragement of Multiple Employer Arrangements Providing Basic Health Benefits - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the commonality of interest or geographic location requirement for tax exempt trust status for multiple employer health plans and insured multiple employer health plans if they meet certain requirements under ERISA and this Act. Part 4: Simplifying Filing of Reports for Employers Covered under Insured Multiple Employer Health Plans - Amends ERISA to direct the Secretary of Labor to prescribe an alternative method providing for a single annual report with respect to all employers who are covered under the same insured multiple employer health plan. Part 5: Compliance with Coverage Option Requirements - Provides for compliance with applicable coverage requirements through multiemployer plans and other multiple employer health arrangements. Subtitle D: Health Deduction Fairness - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide: (1) for a permanent extension and increase in the health insurance tax deduction for self-employed individuals; and (2) that the deduction for certain health insurance costs be determined without regard to an adjusted gross income threshold. Disallows the deduction to individuals eligible for employer-subsidized coverage. Allows the deduction whether or not the individual itemizes other deductions. Subtitle E: Improved Access to Community Health Services - Part 1: Increased Authorization for Community and Migrant Health Centers - Directs the Secretary to provide for grants to migrant and community health centers to promote primary health care services for underserved individuals. Allows grants to be used to promote the provision of off-site services, to improve birth outcomes in areas with high infant mortality and morbidity, to establish primary care clinics in areas in need, and for recruitment and training costs of necessary providers and operating costs for unreimbursed services. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of the impact of such grants on access to health care, birth outcomes, and the use of emergency room services. Part 2: Grants for Projects for Coordinating Delivery of Services - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary to make grants to public and nonprofit private entities: (1) to carry out demonstration projects to increase access to outpatient primary health services in specified geographic areas (i.e., areas that are rational areas for the delivery of health services, have a population of not more than 500,000 individuals, and have been designated by the Secretary as areas with a shortage of personal health services or that have a significant number of individuals with low incomes or insufficient health care insurance through coordinating the delivery of such services under Federal, State, local, and private programs; and (2) for developing plans to carry out such projects. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle F: Improved Access to Rural Health Services - Part 1: Establishment of Rural Emergency Access Care Hospitals Under Medicare - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for: (1) establishment of rural emergency access care hospitals under Medicare; and (2) coverage of and payment for rural emergency access care hospital services under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance). Part 2: Rural Medical Emergencies Air Transport - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary to make grants to States to assist in the creation or enhancement of air medical transport systems that provide victims of medical emergencies in rural areas with access to treatments. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) application and State plan requirements; (2) considerations in awarding grants; (3) State administration and use of grants; (4) the number of grants; and (5) reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Part 3: Emergency Medical Services Amendments - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary to: (1) establish an Office of Emergency Medical Services, headed by a Director; (2) engage in specified emergency medical services activities, including disseminating information obtained in carrying out specified activities to public and private entities, providing technical assistance to State and local agencies, coordinating Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) activities with those of other Federal agencies; and (3) ensure that such activities are carried out consistent with certain requirements regarding maintaining an adequate number of health professionals with expertise in the provision of services, developing, periodically reviewing, and revising as appropriate guidelines for the provision of such services, appropriately using available technologies, and serving the unique needs of underserved inner-city and rural areas. (Sec. 1522) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for the purpose of improving the availability and quality of emergency medical services through the operation of State offices of emergency medical services, subject to specified matching fund, budgetary, and other requirements. (Sec. 1523) Provides for demonstration projects to establish telecommunications between rural medical facilities and medical facilities with expertise or equipment. Directs the Secretary to ensure that the telecommunications technologies demonstrated include interactive video telecommunications, static video imaging transmitted through the telephone system, and facsimiles transmitted through such system. (Sec. 1524) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) emergency medical services (including for State offices of Emergency Medical Services and for telecommunications demonstrations); and (2) trauma care and certain other activities. Subtitle G: State Flexibility in the Medicaid Program: The Medical Health Allowance Program - Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to provide for the establishment of State health allowance programs under which the State makes payments to a group health plan which provides coverage to an eligible individual as an allowance towards the costs of providing the individual with benefits under the plan. Subtitle H: Medicaid Program Flexibility - Amends SSA title XIX Medicaid) to modify: (1) Federal requirements to allow States more flexibility in contracting for coordinated care services under Medicaid; and (2) provisions regarding the extension of certain waivers. Title II: Health Care Cost Containment and Quality Enhancement - Subtitle A: Medical Malpractice Liability Reform - Part 1: General Provisions - Makes this subtitle applicable with respect to any medical malpractice liability claim and to any medical malpractice liability action brought in State or Federal court, except a claim or action for damages arising from a vaccine-related injury or death to the extent that title XXI of the Public Health Service Act applies. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) preemption of State law; (2) effect on sovereign immunity and choice of law or venue; (3) jurisdiction; and (4) effective dates. Part 2: Medical Malpractice and Product Liability Reform - Prohibits a medical malpractice liability action from being brought in any State court during a calendar year unless the relevant claim has been initially resolved (i.e., a decision has been reached on whether the defendant is liable to the plaintiff for damages and on the amount of damages) under a certified alternative dispute resolution (ADR) system or an alternative Federal system. Prohibits a medical malpractice liability action from being brought in Federal court based on diversity of citizenship during a calendar year unless the relevant claim has been initially resolved under such a system in the State whose law applies. Directs the Attorney General to establish an ADR process for tort claims consisting of medical malpractice liability claims brought against the United States under chapter 171 of the Federal judicial code (U.S. Court of Federal Claims). Prohibits a medical malpractice liability action based on such a claim from being brought in any Federal court unless the claim has been initially resolved under such process. Sets forth procedures for filing actions. (Sec. 2012) Limits to $250,000 the amount of noneconomic damages that may be awarded to a claimant and family members in a medical malpractice liability action. Sets limits on punitive damages and on periodic payments for future losses. (Sec. 2013) Set forth provisions regarding: (1) limits on attorney fees and other costs; (2) joint and several liability (generally, liability may be found only for those damages directly attributable to the person's proportionate share of fault or responsibility for the injury); (3) a statute of limitations of seven years; and (4) a uniform standard for determining negligence (the defendant's conduct at the time of providing the health care services was not reasonable). (Sec. 2017) Specifies that in the case of a medical malpractice liability claim relating to services provided during labor or the delivery of a baby, if the health care professional did not previously treat the injured individual for the pregnancy, the trier of fact may not find that the defendant committed malpractice nor assess damages unless the malpractice is proven by clear and convincing evidence. Part 3: Requirements for State Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems - Lists requirements for State ADR systems, including that such a system: (1) applies to all medical malpractice liability claims under the jurisdiction of the courts of that State; (2) requires that a written opinion resolving the dispute be issued within six months after each party against whom the claim is filed has received notice of the claim; (3) is approved by the State or local governments; (4) provides for the transmittal to the State agency responsible for monitoring or disciplining health care professionals and providers of any findings of malpractice; and (5) provides for the regular transmittal of information on disputes resolved under the system to the Administrator for Health Care Policy and Research in a manner that protects the identity of the parties involved. (Sec. 2032) Directs the Secretary, by October 1 of each year, to certify State ADR systems that meet such requirements. Directs the Secretary to establish an alternative Federal ADR system for the resolution of medical malpractice liability claims in States that do not have in effect a certified ADR system. (Sec. 2033) Directs the Secretary, within five years, to submit to the Congress a report describing and evaluating State ADR systems and the alternative Federal system, including: (1) information on the effect of the ADR systems on health care costs, access to health care, and quality of care provided within the State; and (2) to the extent that such report does not provide information on no-fault systems operated by States as ADR systems, an analysis of the feasibility and desirability of establishing a system for resolving medical malpractice liability claims on a no-fault basis. Part 4: Other Provisions Relating to Medical Malpractice Liability - Authorizes a State agency responsible for disciplinary actions for a type of health care practitioner to enter into agreements with State or county professional societies to permit their participation in the licensing of such practitioner and to review any health care malpractice action, claims, or allegation, or other information concerning the practice patterns of any such practitioner. Sets forth agreement requirements. (Sec. 2042) Directs the Secretary to study incentives adopted by State and local governments, insurers, medical societies, and other entities to encourage physicians to volunteer to provide health care services in medically underserved areas. (Sec. 2043) Directs each State to require: (1) each health care professional and health care provider to participate in a risk management program to prevent, and provide early warning of, practices which may result in injuries to patients or endanger patient safety; and (2) each provider of health care professional and provider liability insurance in the State to establish risk management programs or sanction programs of risk management for health care professionals and providers provided by other entities, and require each such professional or provider, as a condition of maintaining insurance, to participate in one such program at least once in each three-year period. (Sec. 2044) Directs the Secretary to make grants: (1) for basic research in the prevention of, and compensation for, injuries resulting from health care professional or provider malpractice and for research of the outcomes of health care procedures; (2) to the States to assist in improving their ability to license and discipline health care professionals; and (3) to States and local governments, private nonprofit organizations, and health professional schools for educating the general public about the appropriate use of health care, realistic expectations of medical intervention, and the resources and role of health care professional licensing and disciplinary boards in investigating claims of incompetence or health care malpractice, and for developing programs of faculty training and curricula for educating health care professionals in quality assurance, risk management, and medical injury prevention. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Administrative Cost Savings - Part 1: Standardization of Claims Processing - Directs the Secretary to adopt standards relating to: (1) data elements for use in paper and electronic claims processing under health benefit plans and in utilization review and management of care; (2) uniform claims forms; and (3) uniform electronic transmission of the data elements. (Sec. 2102) Authorizes the Secretary, two years after standards are adopted for classes of services upon determining that a significant number of claims for benefits for such services under health benefit plans are not being submitted in accordance with such standards, to require that all providers of such services submit claims to health benefit plans in accordance with such standards. (Sec. 2103) Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide for the ongoing receipt and review of comments and suggestions for changes in the standards adopted and promulgated; (2) establish a schedule for the periodic review of such standards; and (3) revise such standards. Part 2: Electronic Medical Data Standards - Directs the Secretary to promulgate standards for hospitals concerning electronic medical data, including standards for transmission of such data and confidentiality of patient-specific information. Authorizes the Secretary to periodically revise such standards. (Sec. 2112) Sets forth requirements with respect to: (1) the sharing of hospital information under Medicare; (2) waiver of such requirements; and (3) application of such requirements to hospitals of the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Sec. 2113) Authorizes the head of a Federal agency to require a provider to present and transmit a required data element electronically in accordance with applicable presentation or transmission standard. (Sec. 2114) Sets forth limitations on data requirements where standards with respect to data elements are in effect. (Sec. 2115) Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory commission on the standards established under this part and operational concerns about the implementation of such standards. Authorizes appropriations. Part 3: Development and Distribution of Comparative Value Information - Directs the Secretary to determine whether each State is developing and implementing a health care value information program that meets specified criteria and a specified schedule. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make grants to enable each State to plan development and initiate implementation of its health care value information program; and (2) recover the amount of such a grant by offset against any other amount payable to the State under the Social Security Act under specified circumstances. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 2122) Directs the Secretary to take actions necessary to implement a comparable program in a State that fails to develop or implement a health care value information program in accordance with such criteria and schedule. Authorizes the Secretary to charge fees for the information materials provided pursuant to such a program. (Sec. 2123) Directs the head of each Federal agency with responsibility for the provision of health insurance or health care services to individuals to develop health care value information relating to each program that such head administers and covering the same types of data that a State program meeting such criteria would provide. (Sec. 2124) Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop model systems to facilitate the gathering of data on health care cost, quality, and outcome and the analysis of such data in a manner that will permit the valid comparison of such data among providers and among health plans; (2) support experimentation with different approaches to achieve such objectives in the most cost effective manner; and (3) evaluate the various methods to determine their relative success. Authorizes the Secretary to establish standards for the collective and reporting of data on health care cost, quality, and outcomes. Authorizes appropriations. Part 4: Additional Standards and Requirements; Research and Demonstrations - Directs the Secretary to: (1) adopt standards relating to the design and use of magnetized Medicare identification cards to assist health care providers in determining whether individuals are eligible for benefits for provided services under the Medicare program and in billing the Medicare program for covered services; (2) take steps to encourage and assist States in the design and use of magnetized Medicaid identification cards under their Medicaid plans; and (3) establish a Medicare and Medicaid information system to provide information on group health and other health benefit plans that are primary payors to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 2132) Specifies that, effective January 1, 1994, no effect shall be given to any provision of State law that requires medical or health insurance records (including billing information) to be maintained in written, rather than electronic, form. (Sec. 2133) Requires, effective January 1, 1995, each health benefit plan: (1) to use a beneficiary's social security number as the personal identifier for claims processing and related purposes (authorizes the Secretary to impose a civil money penalty on any plan that fails to do so); and (2) to use the unique identifier under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (Medicare) for a provider that furnishes health care items or services to a beneficiary under the plan as the identifier of that provider for claims processing and related purposes. (Sec. 2134) Directs the Secretary to: (1) determine, where benefits are payable under two or more health benefit plans, whether problems relating to the rules for determining the liability of plans or the availability of information among plans causes significant administrative costs; and (2) promulgate standards, if the implementation of standards would significantly reduce such administrative costs. Authorizes the Secretary to impose a civil money penalty on plans that fail to comply with such standards. (Sec. 2135) Directs the Secretary to provide grants to qualified entities for research on the application of comprehensive information systems in continuously monitoring and improving patient care. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to: (1) two to five community organizations or coalitions of health care providers, health benefit plans, and purchasers to establish and document the efficacy of communication links between the information systems of health benefit plans and of health care providers; (2) two to five public or private nonprofit entities for the development of regional or community-based clinical information systems; and (3) public or private nonprofit entities to develop and test the definition of a comprehensive set of data elements and the specification and manner of presentation of the individual data elements of the set, for electronic medical data generated by physicians and other entities (other than hospitals) that provide health care services. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Deduction for Cost of Catastrophic Health Plan; Medical Savings Account - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to include under the medical expense deduction the portion of such expense attributable to coverage under a catastrophic health plan. (Sec. 2202) Allows individuals a tax deduction for percentage of contributions made to a medical care savings account established for the benefit of an eligible individual. Allows such deduction whether or not an individual itemizes deductions. Disallows distributions from such accounts as medical expense deductions. Excludes employer contributions to such accounts from employment taxes. Establishes an excise tax for excess contributions to medical care savings accounts. Subtitle D: Anti-Fraud - Part 1: Criminal Prosecution of Health Care Fraud - Amends the Federal criminal code to: (1) set penalties for health care providers who knowingly engage in any scheme or artifice to defraud any person in connection with the provision of health care; and (2) make activity which, if engaged in by the U.S. Postal Service, would be a violation of mail fraud provisions punishable to the same extent with respect to private or commercial interstate carriers. (Sec. 2303) Authorizes appropriations to hire, equip, and train no fewer than: (1) 225 special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and support staff to investigate health care fraud cases; (2) 50 assistant United States Attorneys and support staff to prosecute such cases; and (3) 25 investigators in the Office of Inspector General, DHHS, to be devoted exclusively to health care fraud cases. (Sec. 2304) Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize the Attorney General to make payments of up to $10,000 to a person who furnishes information unknown to the Government relating to a possible prosecution of health care fraud, subject to specified requirements and exceptions. Part 2: Coordination of Health Care Anti-Fraud and Abuse Activities - Directs the Secretary to establish in the Office of the Inspector General of DHHS a program (all-payer fraud and abuse control program) to: (1) coordinate Federal, State, and local law enforcement programs to control fraud and abuse with respect to the delivery of, and payment for, health care in the United States; (2) conduct investigations, audits, evaluations, and inspections relating to such delivery and payment; and (3) facilitate the enforcement of provisions of the Social Security Act and other statutes applicable to health care fraud and abuse. Directs the Secretary to establish standards to carry out such program, including standards relating to the furnishing of information by health insurers, providers, and other to enable the Secretary to carry out the program and procedures to assure that such information is provided and utilized in a manner that protects the confidentiality of the information and the privacy of individuals receiving health care services. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) qualified immunity for providing information; (2) ensuring access to documentation; and (3) failure to comply as grounds for exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. (Sec. 2312) Authorizes additional appropriations to enable the Secretary to conduct investigations of allegations of health care fraud and to carry out the all-payor fraud and abuse control program. (Sec. 2313) Establishes in the Treasury an Anti-Fraud and Abuse Trust Fund to be used to assist the Inspector General of DHHS in carrying out the all-payor fraud and abuse control program in the fiscal year involved. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the deposit into the Fund of Federal health anti-fraud and abuse penalties; and (2) the use of such penalties to repay beneficiaries for cost-sharing. (Sec. 2314) Amends SSA title XI to provide for the application of Federal health anti-fraud and abuse sanctions to all fraud and abuse against private health benefit plans. Subtitle E: Medicare Payment Changes; Part B Premium Tax for High-Income Individuals: Part 1 - Medicare Payment Changes - Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) eliminate the membership limitation for Medicare health maintenance organizations; and (2) revise the Medicare select policy program and provide for a civil money penalty for misrepresentations made in connection with a Medicare select policy. (Sec. 2402) Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 to: (1) make permanent the Medicare select policy program; and (2) allow access to Medicare select policies in all States. (Sec. 2403) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to take such steps as may be necessary to consolidate the administration of Medicare parts A and B. Part 2: Part B Premium Tax for High-Income Individuals - (Sec. 2411) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a tax on the Medicare part B premiums of high income individuals. Subtitle F: Removing Anti-Trust Impediments - Directs the Attorney General to promulgate guidelines under which a health care joint venture may submit an application requesting that the Attorney General provide the entities participating in the venture with an exemption under which: (1) monetary recovery on an antitrust claim brought against the entity shall be limited to actual damages if specified conditions are met; and (2) the conduct of the entity in making or performing a contract to carry out the venture shall not be deemed illegal per se. Requires the Attorney General to approve or disapprove the application within a specified time frame and to provide a statement explaining the reasons for any disapproval. Directs the Attorney General to approve the application if an entity participating in the venture submits to the Attorney General an application that contains the identities of the parties to the venture; the nature, objectives, and planned activities of the venture; and specified assurances and information. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) revocation and renewal of exemptions and withdrawal of an application; (2) requirements relating to notice and publication of exemptions; and (3) issuance of health care certificates of public advantage to each eligible health care joint venture that complies with specified requirements. Establishes the Interagency Advisory Committee on Competition, Antitrust Policy, and Health Care to: (1) discuss and evaluate competition and antitrust policy and their implications regarding the performance of health care markets; (2) analyze the effectiveness of health care joint ventures receiving exemptions in reducing costs and expanding access; and (3) make recommendations to the Congress. Subtitle G: Encouraging Enforcement Activities of Medical Self-Regulatory Entities - Part 1: Application of the Clayton Act to Medical Self-Regulatory Entities - Provides that no damages, cost of suit, or attorney fee may be recovered under section 4, 4A, or 4C of the Clayton Act, or under any similar State law, except by a State or the United States, from any medical self-regulatory entity as a result of engaging in standard setting or enforcement activities that are: (1) designed to promote the quality of health care provided to patients; and (2) not conducted for purposes of financial gain. Directs the court to award the cost of such a suit, including a reasonable attorney fee, to a substantially prevailing defendant. Part 2: Consultation by Federal Agencies - Requires any Federal agency engaged in the establishment of medical profession standards to consult with appropriate medical societies or associations, specialty boards, or recognized accrediting agencies, if available, in carrying out medical professional standard setting and guidelines or standards relating to the practice of medicine. Subtitle H: Prefunding Government Health Benefit for Certain Annuitants - Requires that certain agencies prefund Government health benefits contributions for their annuitants. Subtitle I: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends Civil Service and Federal Employees' Retirement Systems law to increase the minimum age required to be eligible for an immediate retirement annuity. Provides for the conformance of other Federal retirement systems with the minimum age increase made above. Title III: Long-Term Care - Subtitle A: Tax Treatment of Long-Term Care Insurance - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the treatment of qualified long-term care insurance as accident and health insurance for purposes of insurance company taxation. (Sec. 3002) Excludes from gross income benefits provided under a long-term care insurance contract. Includes in gross income employer-provided coverage for long-term care services. (Sec. 3003) Includes amounts paid for qualified long-term care services as medical expenses for individual itemized deductions. Includes any parent or grandparent as a dependent for purposes of such expenses. (Sec. 3004) Provides for the nonrecognition of gain or loss on the exchange of any life insurance contract or an endowment or annuity contract for a long-term care insurance contract. (Sec. 3005) Excludes from gross income certain amounts withdrawn from individual retirement accounts and certain employer cash or deferred arrangement to pay long-term care premiums. (Sec. 3006) Allows insurance companies to issue accelerated death benefit riders on life insurance contracts. Subtitle B: Protection of Assets Under Medicaid Through Use of Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance - Amends SSA title XIX to require State Medicaid plans to disregard some or all of the individual's assets attributable to coverage under a qualified long-term care insurance contract in determining the individual's eligibility for long-term care services. Subtitle C: Studies - Requires the Comptroller General to study the feasibility of: (1) encouraging health care providers to donate their services to homebound patients; and (2) providing heads of households who care for elderly family members in their home with an income tax credit. (Sec. 3203) Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study and report to the Congress on the feasibility of encouraging or requiring the use of a single designate public or nonprofit agency to coordinate, through case management, the provision of long-term care benefits under current Federal, State, and local programs in a geographic area. Subtitle D: Volunteer Service Credit Demonstration Projects - (Sec. 3301) Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to require the Commissioner of the Administration on Aging to establish and operate a volunteer service credit demonstration project in each State.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1993
General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to set forth a 15-year statute of limitations within which a person may bring a civil action against an aircraft manufacturer for damages for death or injury or damage to property arising from an aircraft accident.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 1993
Amends the Federal criminal code to include within the scope of penalties for animal enterprise terrorism, traveling in interstate or foreign commerce, or using or causing to be used the mail or any facility in interstate or foreign commerce, for the purpose of causing physical harm to another person or to the property of another in order to: (1) prevent that person from participating in an animal enterprise; or (2) retaliate against that person for such participation.
United States · United States Congress · 9 September 1993
Executive Office Accountability Act of 1993 - Amends the Inspector General Act of 1978 to: (1) establish an Office of Inspector General (IG) in the Executive Office of the President; (2) require the IG to serve under the President's authority, direction, and control with respect to matters concerning ongoing criminal investigations, policy making, and national security (unless the President notifies the IG that disclosure of pertinent information would interfere with the core functions of his or her constitutional responsibilities); and (3) require the IG to comply with the same semiannual reporting requirements that all other IGs are subject to, plus, at a minimum, supply additional specified information as well. Requires the President to appoint a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Executive Office of the President. Requires the: (1) Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to direct the CFO to review the financial management activities within the Executive Office of the President for the purpose of consolidating its accounting, budgeting, and other financial management activities under the CFO; (2) CFO to submit to the Director of OMB a proposal for reorganizing the Executive Office of the President for such purposes; (3) Director of OMB to approve or disapprove such proposal; and (4) CFO to implement the proposal upon such approval.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1993
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that no person, under any law enacted by the Congress or any rule issued by a Federal entity, shall be liable for conduct occurring, or with respect to income accruing, before the date of enactment of the law or issuance of the rule.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1993
Amends rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives to prohibit a bill or joint resolution carrying any provision providing for a retroactive tax increase from being reported in the House. Provides that no amendment in the House or proposed by the Senate carrying a retroactive tax measure shall be in order during the consideration of a bill or joint resolution. Allows a question of order to be raised at any time under this clause.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1993
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Federal Government should terminate the policy of allowing resettlement of members of the Iraqi armed forces in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
Federal Regulation Reduction, Reform, and Budget Act of 1993 - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to jointly report to the President and the Congress on direct costs to the private sector of complying with Federal regulations. Requires such reports to be issued in five-year intervals. Provides for initial and subsequent annual reports to the President and the Congress on an aggregate regulatory baseline which is a projection of the aggregate direct cost to the private sector of complying with Federal regulations for budget years and outyears. Requires a concurrent resolution on the budget to include reconciliation directives specifying changes in laws and regulations necessary to reduce such direct costs and to reduce regulatory authority from the aggregate regulatory base. Provides for the allocation of aggregate two-year regulatory authority among congressional committees. Requires the CBO to submit to the appropriate committees (except the Committees on Appropriations) an analysis of private sector regulatory costs for each public bill or resolution. Requires the President's annual budget submissions to comply with reconciliation directives. Amends the Regulatory Flexibility Act to require Federal agencies to prepare an analysis of the costs that will be incurred by small entities, other businesses, and individuals in complying with proposed agency rules. Requires the submission to the Congress and CBO and OMB of a cost estimate and cost benefit analysis of any new proposed regulations that would have an aggregate direct cost to the private sector of at least $10 million for any fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
At-Birth Abandoned Infants Assistance Amendments of 1993 - Amends the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act of 1988 to condition Federal project grants upon the existence of a State statutory scheme which effectuates: (1) the designation of preadoptive parents; (2) prompt placement of designated abandoned infants with preadoptive parents; and (3) expedited judicial proceedings to establish permanent parental rights for such preadoptive parents (thereby terminating the parental rights of all other persons with respect to that infant).
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Authorization of Appropriations Title II: Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork on the Public Title III: Enhancing Federal Agency Responsibility and Accountability for Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork Title IV: Enhancing Government Responsibility and Accountability for Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork Title V: Enhancing Agency Responsibility for Sharing and Disseminating Public Information Title VI: Additional Government Information Management Responsibility Title VII: Effective Dates Paperwork Reduction Act of 1993 - Title I: Authorization of Appropriations - Amends the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 to authorize appropriations to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Title II: Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork on the Public - Applies the Act to all federally sponsored paperwork. Requires a Government-wide paperwork reduction goal of at least five percent and individual agency goals that aggregate to the Government-wide goal. Title III: Enhancing Federal Agency Responsibility and Accountability for Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork - Makes the senior official charged with carrying out the responsibilities of a Federal agency under the Act the head of a separate office with qualified staff responsible for assuring agency compliance with requirements under the Act. Requires each agency to: (1) prepare estimates of the burden that will result from proposed collections of information; (2) develop a strategic Information Resources Management Plan; and (3) establish oversight procedures for agency information systems. Requires each agency head to establish a certification process for the review of each information collection request before it is submitted to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. Title IV: Enhancing Government Responsibility and Accountability for Reducing the Burden of Federal Paperwork - Makes the OMB Director responsible for ensuring that all information collection requests display an estimate of the paperwork burden for each response. Requires OMB procedures in order for agencies to estimate such burden. Requires OMB pilot projects to test approaches to improve information management practices and related activities. Reduces the time afforded the OMB Director for approving a routine agency request to collect information. Provides for greater participation by the public and Federal agencies in the review of proposed paperwork burdens generated by agency information requests. Requires the OMB Director to make publicly available any decision to disapprove a collection of information requirement contained in an agency rule, together with the reasons for such decision. Provides protection for whistleblowers of unauthorized Federal paperwork burdens. Provides for expedited OMB review of an agency information request with a reduced paperwork burden. Title V: Enhancing Agency Responsibility for Sharing and Disseminating Public Information - Provides for Government-wide standards for sharing and disseminating public information. Imposes certain responsibilities on Federal agencies for sharing and disseminating public information. Abolishes the Federal Information Locator System established in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and replaces it with a system in each agency for providing public access via electronic and other means to a comprehensive inventory of agency information dissemination products. Title VI: Additional Government Information Management Responsibility - Revises the statistical policy and coordination functions of the OMB Director. Requires the OMB Director to: (1) establish an interagency working group on statistical policy to coordinate agency statistical activities; and (2) provide training in the statistical policy functions of the chief statistician to Federal employees. Provides for the use of electronic information collection and dissemination techniques to reduce the Federal paperwork burden. Requires the OMB Director's annual report to the Congress to list any increased Federal paperwork burdens and describe each agency's plans to implement the applicable policies, standards, and guidelines under the Act. Requires the OMB Director to develop a plan for meeting the automatic data processing needs of the Federal Government in accordance with the Act and certain requirements of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. Title VII: Effective Dates - Sets forth the effective dates for this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
At-Birth Abandoned Baby Act of 1993 - Amends part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act to require States to place babies abandoned at birth with preadoptive parents within 30 days of obtaining custody of such babies, and to find new preadoptive parents for such babies if the initial preadoptive parents do not petition the courts of the State within 90 days of receiving them for an expedited hearing to become their permanent adoptive parents. Treats such babies as children with special needs, thus qualifying their adoptive parents for adoption assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose Title II: Binding Budget Law Title III: Enforcement Mechanics 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 Title IV: Sustaining Mechanism Title V: Protection of Social Security Title VI: Timetable Title VII: Conforming Amendments Title VIII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation Title IX: Effective Date Budget Process Reform Act - Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose - Declares that the purpose of this Act is to facilitate rational, informed, and timely decisions by the Congress. 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. 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 to prohibit baseline budgeting. Requires the President to submit to the Congress on or before the 15th day after a joint resolution on the budget is enacted a detailed budget for the fiscal period beginning on October 1 of the current calendar year. Title III: Enforcement Mechanics - Subtitle A: Supermajority Required to Break Budget Law - Requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House and the Senate to consider any spending bill prior to the enactment of the budget law. Requires the Congressional Budget Office to provide to the Congress an estimate of the costs in each major functional category of certain spending bills as soon as practicable after its introduction. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to consider over-budget spending bills. 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 limit the President's rescission authority to spending that is above the limits of the budget law. 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." Requires fixed-dollar appropriations for every account except social security and interest on the debt. Prohibits open-ended appropriations. Requires Executive agencies to adjust benefit levels to ensure that appropriations for entitlement programs are not exceeded. Restricts budget authority and entitlement authority to one fiscal period. Subtitle D: "Pay As You Go" Requirement for New Spending - Prohibits 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 and the Senate to waive such prohibition. 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. Restricts legislation providing funding to the Committees on Appropriations. Title V: Protection of Social Security - 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: Timetable - Revises the timetable for the congressional budget process. Title VII: Conforming Amendments - 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 VIII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation - Sets forth definitions for specified terms. Title IX: Effective Date - Declares the effective date of this Act to be January 1, 1995, applicable to fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1995.
![Official portrait of Rep. Meyers, Jan [R-KS-3]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/m000684_200.jpg)