United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2001
Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP) of the Social Security Act to grant States the option of covering certain categories of eligible women and child resident aliens under the Medicaid and SCHIP programs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish to a veteran such drugs and medicines as may be ordered on prescription of a duly licensed physician in the treatment of any illness or injury of such veteran. (Currently, other requirements must be met before such veterans will be furnished drugs and medicines on private practitioner prescriptions.)
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act of 2001 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Public Health Service Act to prohibit a group health plan, and a health insurance issuer providing group coverage, from: (1) excluding or restricting benefits for prescription contraceptive drugs, devices, and outpatient services if the plan provides benefits for other outpatient prescription drugs, devices, or outpatient services; (2) denying eligibility based on use or potential use of such items or services; (3) providing monetary payments or rebates to a covered individual to encourage acceptance of less than the minimum protections available; (4) penalizing, reducing, or limiting a professional's reimbursement because the professional prescribed such drugs or devices or provided such services; or (5) providing incentives to a professional to induce the professional to withhold drugs, devices, or services. Amends the Public Health Service Act to apply those prohibitions to coverage offered in the individual market.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Rural Education Development Initiative for the 21st Century Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to make: (1) formula grants to applicant State educational agencies to award competitive or formula subgrants to rural local educational agencies (LEAs) for elementary and secondary education development activities; and (2) direct competitive grants for such activities to specially qualified LEAs in nonparticipating States. Authorizes local use of such funds for: (1) certain local educational technology activities; (2) professional development designed to prepare teachers who are teaching out of their primary subject area; (3) certain academic enrichment programs; (4) innovative academic enrichment programs related to the educational needs of students at-risk of academic failure, including remedial instruction in one or more of the core subject areas of English, mathematics, science, and history; and (5) recruitment and retention of highly qualified teachers in special education, mathematics, or science.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Comprehensive Early Childhood Education Act of 2001 - Establishes programs relating to early childhood education, including comprehensive programs, staff development programs, model Federal programs, and research and demonstration projects. Allocates program funds, with a focus on young children from low-income families, and reserved amounts for migrant, Indian, and Native Hawaiian children. Directs the Secretary of Education to provide for: (1) financial assistance for comprehensive early childhood education programs to prime sponsors and other public and private nonprofit entities; (2) technical assistance, planning, and evaluation; (3) Federal standards for early childhood education, and development of a uniform minimum code for licensing facilities; (4) research and demonstration projects; and (5) procedures to assure that adequate nutrition services will be provided in early childhood education programs under this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to provide financial assistance for: (1) preservice and inservice professional and nonprofessional training of individuals, including volunteers, for employment in early childhood education programs, to be conducted by the program agencies or higher education institutions; and (2) establishing and operating model early childhood education programs for the children of civilian Federal employees. Establishes a Special Committee on Federal Standards for Early Childhood Education. Sets forth requirements for early childhood education councils, special grants to States, use of public facilities for child development programs, and Federal share of program costs. Prohibits discrimination, political activities, sectarian instruction, medical or psychological examination or treatment requirements, or research or experimentation on children (other than routine testing) without parents' informed consent, under programs assisted by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Teacher Sabbatical Leave Grants Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to State and local educational agencies to pay for one-half of the salaries of teachers who use approved sabbatical leave to pursue courses of study to improve their classroom teaching.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Antique Firearm Safety Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to eliminate the exclusion of antique firearms from the definition of a "firearm" subject to Federal firearms provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
FDA Tobacco Authority Amendments Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to, among other things: (1) include "nicotine in a tobacco product" in the definition of the term "drug" and to include "a tobacco product" in the definition of the term "device;" and (2) set forth provisions for tobacco products concerning special standards for such products, warnings regarding such products, and a rule of construction regarding farmers and related entities.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Funding Act of 2001 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 2002 and 2003 for U.S. voluntary contributions to the United Nations Population Fund. Withholds from the U.S. voluntary contribution to the UNFPA amounts allocated by the UNFPA for the country program in China, if the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the UNFPA country program in China does not: (1) focus on improving the delivery of voluntary family planning information and services; (2) conform with the human rights principles affirmed at the International Conference on Population and Development with the support of 180 nations including the United States; (3) operate only in counties of China where all quotas and targets for the recruitment of program participants have been abolished and the use of coercive measures has been eliminated; (4) operate in consultation with and under the oversight and approval of the UNFPA executive board, including the U.S. representative; (5) subject itself to regular, independent monitoring to ensure compliance with the principles of informed consent and voluntary participation; and (6) suspend operations in project counties found to be in violation of program guidelines.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should develop, promote, and implement domestic and international policies to: (1) create a sustainable balance between the world's human population and the natural environment; and (2) slow rapid global population growth by voluntary means consistent with human rights and individual conscience.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2001
Urges all Contracting States to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to adopt a resolution recommending that: (1) the Permanent Bureau of The Hague produce and promote practice guides to assist in the implementation and operation of the Convention; and (2) such a proposal to produce practice guides be adopted by the Fourth Special Commission at The Hague in March 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2001
Amends the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 to require the Director of the Office for Victims of Crime to ensure that all sums in the Victims of Crime Fund in a fiscal year are in fact obligated in the subsequent fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2001
Assistant United States Attorneys Retirement Benefit Equity Act of 2001 - Makes applicable to Assistant United States Attorneys the provisions of the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System that apply to Federal law enforcement officers. Directs the Department of Justice to provide notice to incumbent Assistant U.S. Attorneys as to their election rights under this Act and the effects of making or not making a timely election under this Act. Allows such incumbents to elect the option to be treated either: (1) in accordance with the amendments made by this Act; or (2) as if this Act had never been enacted.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2001
Social Security Benefits Protection Act of 2001 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to continue an individual's entitlement to benefits through the month of his or her death, without affecting any other person's entitlement to benefits for that month. Disregards monthly benefits received for the month in which the individual dies for purposes of the maximum benefit cap.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 2001
Access to Innovation for Medicare Patients Act of 2001- Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, to provide for Medicare coverage of self-injected biologicals approved by the Food and Drug Administration that are prescribed as a complete replacement for a drug or biological that otherwise cannot be self-administered.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
National Sea Grant College Program Authorization Enhancement Act - Amends the National Sea Grant College Program Act to make the authorization of appropriations for the National Sea Grant College Program permanent. (Increases FY 2002 and 2003 authorization levels.)
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
America's Better Classroom Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a limited credit for qualified public school modernization bonds (qualified school construction bonds and qualified zone academy bonds). Amends the General Education Provisions Act to provide for the application of certain labor standards to projects financed under this Act. Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to establish provisions concerning employment and training activities related to the construction or reconstruction of public school facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
National Death Penalty Moratorium Act of 2001 - Prohibits the Federal Government from carrying out the death penalty until Congress considers the final findings and recommendations of the National Commission on the Death Penalty, enacts legislation repealing this provision, and implements or rejects the guidelines and procedures recommended by the Commission. Expresses the sense of Congress that States should enact a moratorium on executions to allow time to review whether their administration of the death penalty is consistent with constitutional requirements of fairness, justice, equality, and due process. Establishes the National Commission on the Death Penalty to: (1) determine whether administration of the death penalty comports with such constitutional requirements; and (2) establish guidelines and procedures which ensure that death penalty cases are administered fairly and impartially in accordance with due process, minimize the risk that innocent persons may be executed, and ensure that the death penalty is not administered in a racially discriminatory manner.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to: (1) restrict the application of the windfall elimination provision to individuals whose combined monthly income from the individual's primary insurance amount under such title and the portion of the monthly periodic payment attributable to noncovered service performed after 1956 exceeds $2,000; and (2) provide for a graduated implementation of such provision by specified percentages with respect to incremental amounts above such threshold, up to 100 percent for combined amounts over $3,000.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
FDA Tobacco Jurisdiction Act of 2001 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) jurisdiction over tobacco products as drugs or devices. Declares lawful a specified Federal regulation regarding tobacco. Deems, for tobacco, an action providing appropriate protection of public health to provide a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness. Mandates additional restrictions on marketing, advertising, and access. Provides for model State tobacco control programs. Repeals the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act and the Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
Consumer-Friendly Airline Ticket Transfer Act - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations requiring air carriers to make transferable at no cost any paper tickets purchased after January 1, 2001, for intrastate or interstate air transportation. Amends Federal aviation law to prohibit an air carrier from: (1) barring a person (including a governmental entity) that purchases air transportation from using only a portion of such transportation (including using the air transportation purchased only for one-way travel instead of round-trip travel); and (2) assessing an additional fee to such person or any ticket agent that sold the air transportation to such person.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2001
Authorizes the printing as a House document of an updated version of House Document 101-238 (as revised by the Library of Congress) entitled "Women in Congress, 1917-1990."
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
NTIA Digital Network Technology Program Act - Amends the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Organization Act to direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish within NTIA's Technology Opportunities Program a digital network technologies program to award grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements (assistance) to eligible institutions to provide educational instruction in digital network technologies. Makes the following institutions eligible for such assistance: (1) a historically Black college or university; (2) a Hispanic-, Alaska Native-, or Native Hawaiian-serving institution; (3) a tribally controlled college or university; or (4) an institution determined to have enrolled a substantial number of minority, low-income students who received assistance under the Higher Education Act of 1965. Provides a matching funds requirement. Prohibits an institution that receives assistance exceeding $2.5 million from receiving further assistance until every other eligible institution has received assistance under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a grants program to help States and local educational agencies recruit, train, and hire 100,000 additional teachers over a seven-year period in order to: (1) reduce class sizes nationally, in grades one through three, to an average of 18 students per classroom; and (2) improve teaching in the early grades so that all students can learn to read independently and well by the end of the third grade.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Child Handgun Injury Prevention Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations governing the design, manufacture, performance of, and commerce in, handgun discharge protection products to reduce or prevent unreasonable risk of injury to children from the unintentional discharge of handguns. Requires a minimum safety standard that ensures that such a product: (1) is of adequate quality and construction to prevent children from operating a handgun; and (2) cannot be removed except through the use of a key, combination, or other method of access made possible by the manufacturer. Directs the Secretary to: (1) consider products that are not detachable but are permanently installed and incorporated into the design of a handgun; and (2) consider using test protocols relating to poison prevention packaging standards. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) require the manufacturer to recall, repair, replace, or provide refunds with respect to, a handgun discharge protection device which has been designed, manufactured, transferred, or delivered in violation of this Act; and (2) make inspections to ascertain compliance. Prohibits: (1) a licensed manufacturer or importer from selling, transferring, or delivering to any person any handgun without a product that meets the standard; and (2) a licensed dealer from selling, transferring, or delivering to any person any handgun without the product supplied to the dealer by the licensed manufacturer or importer. Makes exceptions for Federal, state, and local governments. Requires warning labels for handguns. Provides for enforcement of this Act through civil penalties, firearms license revocation, a private right of action, and criminal penalties. Allows State law to afford greater protection to children regarding handguns than is afforded by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2001
Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) with respect to pensions. (All the following are amendments to the Code, except where the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, ERISA, is mentioned.) Increases: (1) annual dollar Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contribution limits; and (2) benefit and contribution limits, with indexes for inflation. Revises requirements relating to: (1) plan loans for subchapter S owners, partners, and sole proprietors; and (2) specified top-heavy rules. Provides that elective deferrals shall not be taken into account for purposes of limits on certain plan contributions. Repeals specified coordination requirements for deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations. Revises certain deduction limits for stock bonus and profit sharing trusts and for defined contribution plans. Provides for optional treatment of elective deferrals as after-tax contributions. Allows individuals age 50 or older to make additional contributions to an applicable employer plan (section 401(k) or similar plan). Sets forth requirements relating to equitable treatment for contributions of employees to defined contribution plans. Provides for faster vesting of certain employer matching contributions under the Code and ERISA. Revises: (1) minimum distribution rules; (2) requirements relating to tax treatment of division of section 457 plan benefits upon divorce; and (3) provisions for safe harbor relief for hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. Permits, under certain conditions, rollovers: (1) from and to various types of plans; (2) of IRAs into workplace retirement plans; and (3) of after-tax contributions in an exempt trust. Sets forth a hardship exception to the 60-day rule. Sets forth requirements for treatment of forms of distribution available under transferor and transferee plans under the Code and ERISA. Revises restrictions on distributions, including the same desk exception. Allows trustee-to-trustee transfers to purchase permissive service credit with respect to governmental defined benefit plans. Allows employers to disregard rollovers for purposes of cash-out amounts, under retirement plan provisions of the Code. Revises minimum distribution and inclusion requirements for section 457 plans. Repeals, for plan years beginning in 2004 and following years, the current liability full funding limit under the Code and ERISA. Revises maximum contribution deduction rules, and applies them to all defined benefit plans. Allows an employer, in determining the amount of nondeductible contributions for any taxable year, to elect not to take into account any contributions to a defined benefit plan except to the extent they exceed the full-funding limitation. Establishes an excise tax for the failure of a defined benefit plan or an individual account plan (except governmental, church, and other specified plans) subject to minimum funding standards to meet specified notice requirements, under the Code and ERISA, for plan amendments which significantly reduce benefit accruals. Makes certain compensation limitations for defined benefit plans inapplicable to governmental and multiemployer plans. Prohibits combining or aggregating a multiemployer plan with any other plan maintained by the employer for the purpose of applying such limitations. Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 to protect the investment of employee contributions to 401(k) plans by providing that specified requirements apply to elective deferrals for plan years beginning after December 31, 1998. Requires that pension benefit statements be furnished annually (once every three years for defined benefit plans) or on request. Establishes an excise tax for certain prohibited allocations of stock in an S corporation ESOP. Revises Code and ERISA requirements relating to timing of plan valuations. Allows applicable dividends of ESOPs to be reinvested without loss of dividend deduction. Repeals a transition rule relating to certain highly compensated employees under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations with respect to certain plan participation by employees of tax-exempt entities. Treats the provision of certain retirement planning services by an employer for an employee as a de minimis fringe benefit to the extent it is not treated as a working condition fringe. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to provide simplified annual filing requirements for retirement plans with assets below a specified amount, if they cover: (1) one participant (an owner and spouse); or (2) fewer than 25 employees. Directs the Secretary to continue to update and improve the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, or any successor program. Repeals a multiple use test. Allows certain alternative ways of satisfying nondiscrimination, coverage, and line of business rules. Exempts plans maintained by any governmental entity from certain nondiscrimination rules. Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations relating to the notice and consent period regarding distributions. Revises ERISA provisions relating to: (1) annual report dissemination; (2) the National Summit on Retirement Savings; (3) missing participants; (4) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) reduction of premiums for new plans of small employers and of additional premiums for new and small plans; (5) PBGC authority to pay interest on premium overpayment refunds; (6) substantial owner benefits in terminated plans; (7) civil penalties for breach of fiduciary responsibility; and (8) benefit suspension notices. Prescribes time requirements for plan amendments or annuity contract amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to waive the Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) late enrollment penalty for individuals entitled to health benefits under the TRICARE program (a managed health care program of the armed forces) as a member or former member of the uniformed services, or dependent of such a member or former member. Amends Federal law, as amended by the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001, to waive the TRICARE requirement for enrollment in Medicare part B in the case of individuals enrolled under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Home Health Fairness Act of 2001 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, to: (1) eliminate a specified 15 percent reduction in cost and per beneficiary limits with respect to payment rates for home health services under the Medicare prospective payment system for such services; and (2) provide for a permanent payment increase for such services furnished in a rural area. Makes this Act effective as if included in the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Resolution to Expand Access to Community Health Centers (REACH) Initiative - Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that appropriations for consolidated health centers under the Public Health Service Act should be increased by 100 percent over the next five fiscal years in order to double the number of individuals who receive health care services at community, migrant, homeless, and public housing health centers.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2001
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) all Americans should take an active role in combating reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) by recognizing specified symptoms (which often follow an injury or surgery); (2) national and community organizations should be recognized and applauded for their work in promoting RSD awareness and for providing information and support to its sufferers; (3) health care providers should continue to increase their efforts to diagnose the disease in its earliest possible stages to increase the likelihood of remission; and (4) the Government has a responsibility to endeavor to raise awareness about the importance of the early detection and proper treatment of RSD, work to increase research funding so that the causes of, and improved treatment and cure for, RSD may be discovered, and continue to consider ways to improve access to, and the quality of, health care services for detecting and treating RSD.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Home Energy Generation Act - Amends the Federal Power Act to mandate that: (1) each retail electric supplier make available an electric energy meter capable of net metering to certain retail customers that have installed an energy generation unit intended for net metering; and (2) rates, charges, and contract terms for electric energy sales to customer-generators be the same as those that would be applicable if the customer-generator did not own or operate a qualified generation unit and use a net metering system. Prescribes the manner in which such retail electric suppliers shall calculate the net energy measurement and billing for a customer using a net metering system. Subjects qualified generation units and net metering systems to specified safety, performance, and reliability standards. Authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to: (1) adopt additional control and testing requirements for customer-generators necessary to protect public safety and system reliability; and (2) prohibit additional charges by electric suppliers and local distribution systems for equipment or services for safety or performance additional to those necessary to meet such standards. Sets a deadline for FERC to promulgate: (1) model standards for the physical connection between local distribution systems and qualified generation units and other specified electric generation units; and (2) regulations ensuring simplified contracts will be used for the interconnection of electric energy by electric energy transmission or distribution systems and generating facilities with a power production capacity of 250 kilowatts or less.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Heather French Henry Homeless Veterans Assistance Act - Encourages all Federal, State, and local departments and agencies and other entities and individuals to work toward the national goal of ending homelessness among veterans within a decade. Establishes within the Department of Veterans Affairs the Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to: (1) support the continuation within the Department of at least one center to monitor the structure, process, and outcome of Department programs addressing homeless veterans; and (2) assign veterans receiving specified services provided in, or sponsored or coordinated by, the Department as being within the "complex care" category. Directs the Secretary to: (1) make grants to Department health care facilities and to grant and per diem providers for the development of programs targeted at meeting certain special needs of homeless veterans; (2) require certain officials to initiate a plan for joint outreach to veterans at risk of homelessness; (3) carry out two treatment trials in integrated mental health services delivery; (4) ensure that each Department primary care facility has a mental health treatment capacity; (5) carry out a program of transitional assistance grants to eligible homeless veterans; and (6) make technical assistance grants to aid nonprofit community-based groups in applying for homeless program grants. Extends through FY 2006 the homeless veterans reintegration program.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Access to Cancer Clinical Trials Act of 2001 - Amends the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code to provide coverage for qualified individuals participating in approved cancer clinical trials if a group health plan or an issuer offering health insurance coverage in connection with a group health plan or in the individual market otherwise provides coverage to such an individual. Directs the Secretaries of Health and Human Services (HHS), of Labor, and of the Treasury to: (1) analyze cancer clinical research and its cost implications for managed care; and (2) report to Congress an assessment of any incremental cost to group health plans resulting from this Act and any recommendations regarding action on other diseases. Requires the Secretaries of Labor, of the Treasury, and of HHS to ensure coordinated administration of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Amends the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1994 (which is part A of title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) to establish provisions for Effective Prevention Program Implementation through a program of technical assistance grants for comprehensive prevention of violence, criminal and delinquent behavior, substance abuse, and other problem behaviors. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to provide such grants to States that meet specified requirements to implement prevention programs that meet a high scientific standard of program effectiveness. Requires: (1) State distribution of program funds through competitive grants to local educational agencies (LEAs); and (2) LEA use of funds for comprehensive prevention programs.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to restore the authority of States to transfer up to ten percent of TANF funds to carry out State programs pursuant to SSA title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) for FY 2002. Amends SSA title XX to: (1) restore funds to States and territories for FY 2001 and 2002; and (2) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to compile information on State activities carried out under SSA title XX and report it annually to Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Landmine Elimination and Victim Assistance Act of 2001 - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Department of Defense should field currently available weapons and other technologies, and use tactics and operational concepts, that provide suitable alternatives to anti-personnel mines and mixed anti-tank mine systems; and (2) the United States should end its use of such mines and join the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 to make permanent (currently terminates on October 23, 2003) the prohibition on the transfer of anti-personnel landmines. Directs the President to establish an interagency working group to develop a comprehensive plan for expanded mine action programs, including victim rehabilitation, social support, and economic reintegration.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2001
Supports the goals of International Women's Day. Recognizes and honors the women who have fought and continue to struggle for gender equality and women's rights. Reaffirms the commitment to ending discrimination and violence against women, to ensuring the safety and welfare of women, and to pursuing policies that guarantee the basic rights of women. Encourages the President to: (1) affirm his commitment to pursue policies to protect the health and rights of women; and (2) issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe International Women's Day.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2001
Innocence Protection Act of 2001 - Amends the Federal judicial code to authorize a person convicted of a Federal crime to apply to the appropriate Federal court for DNA testing to support a claim that the person did not commit: (1) the Federal crime of which the person was convicted; or (2) any other offense that a sentencing authority may have relied upon when it sentenced the person with respect to such crime. Sets forth: (1) guidelines for the court to use in ordering DNA testing; (2) post-testing procedures; (3) provisions regarding preservation of evidence; (4) criminal penalties for destroying or altering DNA evidence; and (5) provisions regarding post-conviction DNA testing in State criminal justice systems. Prohibits a State from denying an application for DNA testing made by a prisoner in State custody who is under sentence of death if specified conditions apply. Provides grants to prosecutors for DNA testing programs. Establishes the National Commission on Capital Representation. Withholds funds from States not complying with standards for capital representation. Provides for capital defense incentive grants and resource grants. Increases compensation in Federal cases, and sets forth provisions regarding compensation in State cases, where an individual is unjustly sentenced to death. Adds a certification requirement in Federal death penalty prosecutions. Expresses the sense of Congress regarding the execution of juvenile offenders and the mentally retarded.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2001
Pell Grant Math and Science Incentive Act of 2001- Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a program of Math and Science Pell Supplements. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award first-year undergraduate scholarships to students who: (1) have demonstrated proficiency in mathematics and science courses before graduating from high school; and (2) are eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant for the year in which such scholarship is awarded.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2001
Federal Living Wage Responsibility Act - Requires the Federal government and any employer under a Federal contract or subcontract exceeding $10,000 to pay each of their respective workers: (1) an hourly wage (or salary equivalent) necessary for such employee to earn, while working 40 hours a week on a full-time basis, the amount of the Federal poverty level for a family of four; and (2) an additional amount, based on the locality in which a worker resides, sufficient to cover the costs to such worker to obtain any fringe benefits not provided by the worker's employer. Exempts employers that are: (1) small business concerns; or (2) nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations, if the ratio of the total compensation of the chief executive officer to that of the full-time equivalent of their lowest-paid employee is not greater than 25 to 1. Directs the Secretary of Labor to enforce this Act. Makes Federal contractors that are part of a pattern or practice of violations of such wage requirements subject to Federal contract suspension, a five-year ineligibility period, and liability for Government costs of obtaining a replacement contractor. Provides for judicial review of the Secretary's determinations, and authorizes the President to suspend the provisions of this Act in times of emergency. Allows an aggrieved worker to bring a civil action against an employer for appropriate relief for a violation of this Act, if the employer has not paid or reinstated the worker as a result of the administrative action.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2001
Affordable HIV/AIDS Medicines for Poor Countries Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to encourage developing countries (including sub-Saharan African countries) and pharmaceutical companies to make HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals and medical technologies available to people who live in such countries without charge or at affordable prices. Sets forth certain restrictions and limitations, including that: (1) appropriated funds made available to U.S. agencies may not be obligated to seek the revocation or revision of any intellectual property or competition law or policy of a developing country (including any sub- Saharan African country) that regulates HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals or medical technologies if such law or policy promotes access to such drugs and technologies by the country's population; and (2) the USTR may not initiate a proceeding in the World Trade Organization (WTO) challenging any law or policy of a developing country (including a sub-Saharan African country) that promotes access by HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals or medical technologies by the population of the country. Requires the President to direct the U.S. representative to the WTO to urge the WTO and member countries to exempt developing countries (including sub-Saharan African countries) from the application of any provision of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or any other international agreement relating to intellectual property rights that would prohibit or restrict such countries from establishing or implementing any law or policy that promotes access to HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals or medical technologies to their population.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2001
Influenza Vaccine Emergency Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act, as amended by Public Law 106-505, to subject influenza vaccine manufacturers and distributors in interstate commerce to specified emergency authorities regarding the supply and distribution of such vaccines in the case of an emergency declared by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Requires payment by the Secretary to the parties as otherwise provided for by contract.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2001
Pays tribute, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to the U.S. citizens who died in the attack, and to the members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2001
Exempts amounts owed for prescription drugs and medical supplies dispensed by Department of Veterans Affairs pharmacies from otherwise applicable interest and administrative charges imposed on indebtedness owed to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2001
Medicare Education and Regulatory Fairness Act of 2001 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) concerning: (1) prospective application only of certain regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS); and (2) certain requirements for judicial and regulatory challenges of regulations. Requires the Secretary, with respect to Medicare audits, except when clear and convincing evidence exists of fraud or similar fault, to give a physician, provider of services, or provider of ambulance services (physicians or providers) the option of entering into: (1) an arrangement to offset alleged overpayments against future payments; or (2) a repayment plan with its carrier or fiscal intermediary to recoup such an overpayment. Prohibits the Secretary from taking any action to recoup an overpayment or to impose a penalty during the period in which a physician or provider is appealing a determination that such an overpayment has been made or the amount of the overpayment. Prohibits carriers, absent cause, from demanding the production of records or documentation before paying a Medicare claim. Amends SSA title XI with respect to prohibited extensions of remuneration to a Medicare-eligible individual to influence a choice of provider, practitioner, or supplier. Excludes from the meaning of remuneration any waiver of copayment made in a written, mailed communication with existing patients. Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to: (1) construction of hearing rights related to decisions to deny or not renew a physician enrollment agreement; (2) the post-payment audit process; (3) definitions relating to physicians or providers; and (4) the right to appeal on behalf of deceased beneficiaries. Amends SSA title XVIII to require carriers, fiscal intermediaries, and contractors to conduct education programs (funded from the Medicare Integrity Program) for physicians and providers on billing, coding, cost reporting, and documentation regulations and procedures. Outlines provisions with regard to certain information requests from physicians and providers. Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for the inclusion of regulatory costs in the calculation of the sustainable growth rate with respect to the costs of physicians' services. Prohibits the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) from implementing any new evaluation and management documentation guidelines under Medicare, unless it: (1) has provided for an assessment of the proposed guidelines by organizations representing physicians; (2) has established a plan that contains specific goals, including a schedule, for improving use of such guidelines; (3) has completed a minimum of four pilot projects to test such guidelines; and (4) finds that specified objectives will be met in the implementation of such guidelines.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2001
No Guns for Violent Perpetrators Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit the shipment, transportation, or possession of a firearm or ammunition by an individual who has committed an act of juvenile delinquency that would be a violent felony if committed by an adult.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2001
Restoration of Women's Citizenship Act - Declares as U.S. citizens certain deceased women who lost their (U.S.) citizenship solely because of marriage to an alien prior to September 22, 1922.