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United States · Official source
1,647 records where Rep. Morrison, Sid [R-WA-4] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1991
Designates the week of September 22 through 28, 1991, and September 20 through 26, 1992, as Religious Freedom Week.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Northwest Forest Protection and Community Stability Act of 1991 - Title I: Ecologically Significant Old Growth Forest Reserve System - States that this title shall apply only with respect to Federal lands and interests in specified National Forest System lands and specified districts of the Bureau of Land Management in California, Oregon, and Washington. Establishes in the northern spotted owl forests the Ecologically Significant Old Growth Forest Reserve System in order to maintain and enhance northern spotted owl habitat, ecological diversity, old growth forests, and other areas that may be essential to species dispersal and the maintenance of genetic diversity. Provides for the immediate inclusion in the System of certain Federal lands in northern spotted owl forests in such States while designating certain other Federal lands as study areas for possible inclusion. Designates the Olympic and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forests as areas of special significance subject to the special management rules described below. Requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to prepare a map and legal description of the Federal lands and interests in lands under their respective jurisdictions that are included in the System or in a study area for filing with appropriate congressional committees and for public availability. Allows each Secretary to recommend an adjustment of the boundaries of the System or a study area only if the recommendation meets certain criteria and is submitted to appropriate congressional committees together with the reasons for the recommendation. Provides that within one year of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report required below, each Secretary shall recommend those study areas that should be permanently included in the System or removed from further consideration for inclusion in the System. Requires each Secretary, in making such recommendations, to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Makes such recommendations effective after they are submitted to appropriate congressional committees. Requires a study area removed from further consideration for inclusion in the System to thereafter: (1) not be considered a study area; (2) not be subject to the management requirements specified below; and (3) be managed for multiple use pursuant to the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 or the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, whichever applies. Bans timber harvesting in the System and study areas except to the extent necessary for the protection of the forest outside of the System or study area from an insect or disease epidemic or for public safety, recreation, and administration. Requires lands in the System or a study area that do not meet the definition of old growth forest or are damaged by fire or other natural causes to be managed to regenerate old growth forest. States that any management activity allowed in the System and study areas shall have as its primary purpose the maintenance and enhancement of the northern spotted owl habitat, ecological diversity, old growth forests, and such areas as may be essential to species dispersal and the maintenance of genetic diversity. Requires the Secretaries to permit management activities consistent with this purpose, such as fire suppression and prescription, noncommercial silvicultural treatments of young stands, activities to restore aquatic habitats, and research. Withdraws Federal lands in the System and study areas from: (1) disposition under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; (3) operation of the mineral leasing laws; and (4) operation of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970. Bans additional roads, structures, and motorized recreation and access in the System. Allows roads, structures, and motorized recreation and access in study areas (except as otherwise prohibited or restricted) if the Secretary determines that they are compatible with the protection of old growth forest and northern spotted owl habitat. Authorizes the Secretary concerned to permit hunting, trapping, and fishing in the System and study areas (except as otherwise prohibited or restricted) in accordance with applicable Federal and State law. Requires all Federal lands identified by the Secretary of Agriculture as suitable for timber production in the Olympic and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forests to be managed in accordance with specified practices to maintain or enhance habitats for species dependent on old growth forest while maintaining a high level of timber production. Outlines standards for the management of Federal lands in northern spotted owl forests that are not included in the System, a study area, or an area of special significance during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending upon the adoption of a revised land management plan for such lands as required below. Delineates separate standards applicable to lands inside and outside of critical habitat areas during such interim period. Sets forth special rules regarding timber harvesting in roadless areas on National Forest System lands in northern spotted owl forests. Requires NAS to conduct a review of: (1) the harvest requirements specified for the management of critical habitat areas and other areas in northern spotted owl forests; (2) the impact of these requirements on the old growth forest, the species associated with old growth forests, and the social and economic structure of the region; and (3) all feasible silvicultural methods for maintaining or enhancing habitat conditions for such species throughout their range in northern spotted owl forests. Requires an NAS review of Federal lands in study areas to determine if such lands are suitable for permanent inclusion in the System. Requires NAS to submit a report on such review to the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Congress that discusses the social, economic, and environmental impacts of various options, including those regarding Federal lands and interests affected by alternative definitions for old growth forests and boundary changes for the System. Requires such report to also contain NAS recommendations concerning the study areas that should be permanently included in the System or removed from consideration for inclusion in the System. Requires each Secretary to review such report for the purpose of determining whether the land and resource management plans for lands in northern spotted owl forests should be revised to take into account any management recommendations contained in the report. Requires that if a Secretary fails to adopt a preferred management recommendation into such a plan revised after such review, the Secretary must identify in the final environmental impact statement for the plan revision those management recommendations rejected or modified by the Secretary and the reasons therefor. Requires each Secretary to develop annual timber sale programs on lands in northern spotted owl forests outside of the System or a study area that are known to contain the northern spotted owl. Requires each Secretary to submit such programs to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for consultation pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Requires the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to immediately seek to enter into negotiations with the States of California, Oregon, and Washington and other interested parties for the prompt development of habitat conservation plans for the northern spotted owl under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Requires the Secretaries to establish a joint research and monitoring program regarding the status and long-term outlook for the northern spotted owl. Outlines the research and monitoring components of the program. Subjects program results to scientific peer review. Requires each Secretary to prepare a report for the Congress displaying the yields and financial and environmental costs of timber management investment opportunities for lands in northern spotted owl forests. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to include in his report: (1) the reasons why certain Forest Service lands are not suitable for timber production pursuant to the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974; (2) the specific identity of those lands considered to be unsuitable for timber production solely due to difficulties in meeting the reforestation requirements of that Act; and (3) a description of those difficulties. Requires the Secretaries' reports on such investment opportunities to address opportunities for land exchanges with private landowners to consolidate Federal landholdings in northern spotted owl forests to enhance reforestation and timber stand improvement. Exempts as restricted or prohibited actions under certain provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 actions of any person with respect to the operation, maintenance, expansion, upgrade, or completion of electric system power facilities in existing corridors. Provides that the management requirements for System and study areas, areas of special significance, and other areas set forth in this Act shall not apply with respect to electric system power facilities in a corridor. States that a Federal agency shall not be required to consult under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 with the Secretary of the Interior regarding any such action referred to above. Title II: Forest Planning Amendments - Amends the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 to: (1) provide for public participation in the adoption of constraints on the Federal land planning process; (2) allow public petitions in lieu of administrative appeals for amendments or revisions to land use plans, land and resource management plans, and planning process directives if the person filing the petition alleges and relies on new information or a new law or rule to support the proposed amendment or revision; (3) authorize the imposition of penalties for frivolous petitions or appeals; (4) require that if certain documentation pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 is required on an action implementing a land and resource management plan such documentation must be tiered to the final environmental impact statement on the plan; (5) make an environmental assessment the most comprehensive level of environmental documentation required for an action implementing a land and resource management plan, except under prescribed conditions; (6) require budget requests to disclose the amount of funds to fully implement the land and resource management plan for each unit of the National Forest System; (7) require land and resource management plans to identify management indicators and specify measurable conditions to maintain viable populations of native plant and animal species, designate sensitive species, and provide standards and guidelines that will ensure the conservation of sensitive species when an activity or project is proposed that would affect their habitat; and (8) terminate the viability requirement for fish and wildlife management planning purposes with respect to a species which is listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Title III: Administrative and Judicial Review of Federal Land and Resource Management Plans and Activities - Creates the Federal Board of Land Management Appeals as an independent tribunal within the Department of the Interior to hear administrative appeals of actions relating to land and resource management plans, land classifications, and management activities implementing plans under specified Federal land planning and management statutes. Requires the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to expedite appeals of Federal land and resource management plans and activities in Oregon, Washington, and California that are affected by northern spotted owl or old-growth forest issues. Limits administrative review of actions subject to this title which are taken within the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management to one level of informal review. Makes a final decision of the Federal Board of Land Management Appeals appealable only to the appropriate Federal court of appeals for the circuit in which the affected lands are situated. Title IV: Economic Assistance and Forest Productivity Programs - Provides for increased payments with respect to national forests under certain existing Federal laws for counties in Washington, Oregon, and California to assist rural communities. Outlines provisions setting forth a program to provide grants and benefit payments to, and promote economic diversification and stability for, communities and employees that are economically dependent on National Forest System Lands and public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and that are adversely impacted by a declining timber supply. Includes as part of such program the establishment of: (1) a special economic adjustment fund in the Treasury to consist of five percent of the Federal portion of all moneys received each year from the sale of timber and other forest products from Federal lands; and (2) a Timber Economic Adjustment Commission to distribute to communities and employees who meet specified eligibility criteria grants and benefit payments from such special fund. Requires the Commission to report to the Congress and the Governors of California, Oregon, and Washington on its accomplishments, the economic conditions of communities and employment in the region in which National Forest Lands and public lands are located, and its recommendations. Directs the Secretaries to establish a special initiative to improve the timber productivity on Federal, State, county, and private lands in counties that include communities eligible for program assistance. Requires the Secretaries to develop a program to maximize employment opportunities for displaced employees. Specifies the components of such initiative, which include improved wood utilization. Amends the Cooperative Forest Assistance Act of 1978 to earmark a portion of the amount authorized to be appropriated each year to implement the forestry incentives program for assistance in California, Oregon, and Washington for planning, reforestation, and timber stand improvement practices to further second growth management of timber resources to offset the expected decline in timber harvests from Federal lands as a result of listing the northern spotted owl as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Requires such assistance to be concentrated in those counties containing northern spotted owl forests. Amends the Kuntson-Vandenberg Act to require the purchasers of Federal timber harvested from lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management to make reforestation payments to the same extent as is required with respect to National Forest Lands. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, in recognition of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Forest Service and the changes now occurring in forest management, to study the organization of the Service and make such changes to the Service's organizational structure as may be necessary to meet future challenges. Amends the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture, in developing a list of approved forest activities and practices that will be eligible for cost-share assistance under the Stewardship Incentive Program, to attempt to achieve the development and implementation of habitat conservation plans under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Earmarks 20 percent of annual Program appropriations to carry out the Program in Regions 5 and 6 of the National Forest System. Directs NAS to convene a multidisciplinary task force of independent scientists to: (1) review fish and wildlife management programs for their effectiveness in maintaining healthy and diverse fish and wildlife populations on Federal lands; (2) review the strengths and weaknesses of the species approach to protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973; and (3) develop strategies to maintain fish and wildlife populations and habitat to avoid the number of species that become threatened or endangered. Provides that the costs incurred as a result of this Act and its amendments shall not be considered for purposes of determining the revenues and direct and indirect costs of the timber sale program of the Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management. Treats the provisions of this Act and its amendments as emergency funding requirements under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Intermodal Carriers Competitiveness Act of 1991 - Prohibits a State, political subdivision, or interstate agency of two or more States from adopting or enforcing any law, rule, regulation, or standard relating to interstate or intrastate rates, routes, services, or terms of service of any national intermodal carrier with respect to the provision of surface transportation of property in the State.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Food Quality Protection Act of 1991 - Title I: Cancellation and Suspension - Amends provisions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) relating to cancellation and changes in classification or other terms or conditions of registration with respect to the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Requires that a rulemaking under such provisions be based on a validated test or other significant evidence raising prudent concerns of unreasonable adverse effects to man or to the environment. Sets forth procedural requirements for such a rulemaking. Provides for amendment of a rule and for judicial review. Allows the Administrator, in the case of a suspension, to waive certain requirements. Allows the Administrator to elect to proceed with a special review proceeding or a public interim administrative review proceeding, if published before a specified date, under the law in effect before enactment of this Act. Requires the Administrator to reassess each tolerance and exemption from the requirement for a tolerance at certain times in connection with reregistration of pesticides. Establishes the Science Review Board to assist the Scientific Advisory Panel in reviews conducted by the Panel. Revises procedures applicable after denial of an application for registration. Allows the Administrator to deny an application for registration because it does not comply with the requirements of a rule issued under provisions of this Act. Repeals provisions regulating the authority of the Administrator to initiate a public interim administrative review process. Declares a decision made after a hearing in certain circumstances during phase three of reregistration to be final. Amends provisions regulating: (1) review by district courts of suspension of registrations; and (2) public hearings. Title II: Data Collection - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to collect pesticide use data of Statewide or regional significance for all the major crops and crops of dietary significance. Mandates research, development, and dissemination of integrated pest management techniques and other pest control methods that enable producers to reduce or eliminate application of pesticides which pose a greater than negligible dietary risk to humans. Title III: Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to define, subject to exception, "pesticide chemical" as it is defined in the FIFRA. Adds to the list of prohibited acts under the FDCA violation of provisions relating to confidentiality of data, as amended by this Act. Deems a food adulterated if it bears or contains: (1) a pesticide chemical residue that is unsafe; or (2) a new animal drug, or conversion product thereof, that is unsafe. Sets forth requirements relating to tolerances and exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance for pesticide chemical residues in food, including residues of degradation products. Prohibits establishment of a tolerance higher than a level the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency determines is adequate to protect the public health. Sets forth the factors the Administrator must consider. Allows a greater than negligible dietary risk if: (1) use protects from greater adverse health effects to humans or the environment; (2) use avoids greater risks from another pesticide; or (3) the unavailability of the pesticide would reduce the availability of an adequate, wholesome, and economical domestic supply of the food, and the adverse effects from the reduction would outweigh the risk posed by the residue. Allows the Administrator to issue an exemption from the requirement for a tolerance only if the Administrator determines that a tolerance is not needed to protect the public health, in view of the levels of dietary exposure that could reasonably be expected to occur. Sets forth the factors the Administrator must consider. Sets forth procedures and requirements in connection with: (1) petitions for tolerances or exemptions; (2) certain actions authorized on the Administrator's own initiative; (3) the required submission of additional data to support the continuation of a tolerance or exemption; and (4) confidentiality of data submitted to the Administrator. Provides for continuation of previously issued regulations. Sets forth transitional provisions. Prohibits a final rule that revokes, modifies, or suspends a tolerance or exemption until the Administrator has taken any necessary action under the FIFRA with respect to the registration of the pesticide involved. Requires the Administrator, if the Administrator takes certain actions with respect to the registration of a pesticide, to revoke any tolerance or exemption that allows the presence of the chemical or chemical residue. Requires the suspension of any tolerance or exemption upon the suspension of the use of an associated registered pesticide. Provides for: (1) tolerances for unavoidable residues in the case of a residue of a canceled or suspended pesticide chemical that will unavoidably persist in the environment and thereby be present in or on a food; and (2) residues resulting from an application which was lawful at the time of the application. Directs the Administrator to require the payment of fees sufficient for the Administrator's functions under these provisions. Prohibits, subject to exception, a State from establishing or enforcing any limit on a qualifying pesticide chemical residue in or on any food which is not identical to Federal requirements. Prohibits a State from enforcing a residue limit which was lawful at the time of application. Authorizes appropriations for increased monitoring by the Secretary of Health and Human Services of pesticide residues in imported and domestic food.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1991
Inter-American Scientific Cooperation Act of 1991 - Directs the National Science Foundation to establish the Inter-American Scientific Cooperation Program aimed at increasing science and technology cooperation between the United States and Latin America. Requires the Program to identify and cooperate with private and governmental funding bodies. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Program to encourage the use of debt-for-science exchanges to finance cooperative scientific research projects. Requires the Program Director to make funds available, in accordance with the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, to non-Federal organizations for such exchanges. Requires intent by a debtor nation to contribute at least 75 percent of the full face value of the discounted debt, or at least 20 percent over the current market purchase price of the debt. Requires the Director to appoint a Board of Governors for the U.S. side of a United States-Mexico Binational Science Endowment. Requires that the Endowment be an independent, nongovernmental, nonadvocacy, not-for-profit organization operated exclusively for scientific and educational purposes, receiving funds and supporting projects of potential benefit to both nations. Authorizes the use of a limited amount of funds authorized under specified Acts to carry out this Act. Authorizes and encourages the Administrator of the Agency for International Development to provide a specified amount from the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for certain purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1991
Economic Growth Act of 1991 - Title I: Investment and Job Creation Incentives - Subtitle A: Reduction in Capital Gains Tax for Individuals - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a capital gains deduction for individuals for assets held from one to three years. Provides special rules for the gain or loss from the sale or exchange of collectibles and sales of interest in partnerships. Disallows such deduction in computing the alternative minimum tax. Revises the formula for determining gain from the dispositions of certain depreciable realty to take into account depreciation adjustments (adjustments allowed or allowable for exhaustion, wear and tear, obsolescence, or certain amortization). Subtitle B: Inflation Adjustment for Investments - Requires indexing, based on the consumer price index, of the adjusted basis of certain assets (corporate stock and tangible property that is a capital asset of property used in a trade or business after April 15, 1991) that have been held for more than one year at the time of sale or other transfer, solely for the purpose of determining gain or loss. Provides for the inflation adjustment treatment of: (1) short sales; (2) regulated investment companies and real estate investment trusts; and (3) partnerships, S corporations, and common trust funds. Prohibits gain from the sale or other disposition of an indexed asset from being taken into account under the limitation on investment interest. Subtitle C: Enterprise Zones - Part I: Designation - Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Secretary) to designate enterprise zones for purposes of providing tax and regulatory relief and improving local services. Limits choices to areas nominated by States and local governments. Limits the total number of areas that may be designated, and the time period of the designation. Authorizes the Secretary to designate a zone only if the area meets certain locational, demographic, unemployment, and poverty criteria. Requires nominating local governments, as a condition of the Secretary's designation, to agree in writing to follow a course of action that may include reducing tax rates, improving local services, simplifying or streamlining regulation of business, and providing job training to area residents. Describes areas to which the Secretary must give preference in selecting areas for designation. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress every two years on the effects of such enterprise zones' designation in accomplishing the purposes of this Act. Part II: Federal Income Tax Incentives - Allows a nonrefundable income tax credit to enterprise zone employees for five percent of any wages earned as do not exceed a specified amount. Phases out such credit. Provides for the nonrecognition of capital gain on the sale of enterprise zone property. Allows a taxpayer a deduction on the aggregate amount paid for the purchase of enterprise stock on its original issue by a qualified issuer. Requires any gain from the disposition of the stock to be treated as ordinary income. Excludes enterprise zone capital gains from income computation of alternative minimum taxes. Part III: Regulatory Flexibility - Amends Federal law to revise the definition of "small entity" for purposes of the analysis of regulatory functions to include qualified business, government, and nonprofit enterprises operating within enterprise zones. Authorizes Federal agencies, upon request by a designating government, to waive or modify rules and regulations pertaining to the implementation of projects or activities within an enterprise zone. Requires agencies to approve the request if the resulting benefits of job creation, community development, or economic revitalization outweigh the public interest in retaining the rule unchanged. Disallows waiver or modification of a rule that would directly violate a statutory requirement or present a danger to the public health and safety. Part IV: Establishment of Foreign-Trade Zones in Enterprise Zones - Requires the Foreign-Trade Zone Board to consider on a priority basis and to expedite the processing of applications for the establishment of foreign-trade zones within enterprise zones. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to give priority to, and expedite applications for, the establishment of ports of entry necessary to establish such zones. Part V: Repeal of Title VII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 - Repeals title VII (enterprise zone development) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987. Subtitle D: Research and Experimentation Credit Made Permanent - Makes permanent the tax credit for increasing research activities and the tax credit for clinical testing expenses. Title II: Savings Incentives - Allows individuals to establish individual retirement plus accounts with tax treatment similar to that for individual retirement plans. Makes contributions to such accounts nondeductible. Allows existing individual retirement accounts (IRA) to be rolled over into individual retirement plus accounts with payment of tax on the amount rolled over for which a deduction was once allowable, but no tax when withdrawn. Title III: Homeownership Incentives - Subtitle A: First-Time Homebuyers - Allows a tax credit for the first-time purchase of a principal residence by individuals with incomes of $31,000 or less (phased-out to incomes of up to $41,000). Limits such credit to $1,000. Subtitle B: Penalty-Free IRA Plus Withdrawal for Home Purchase, Higher Education, and Health Costs - Allows penalty-free distributions from IRA Plus accounts of up to 25 percent of the account limit for: (1) first-time homebuyers; (2) medical expenses; and (3) higher education expenses. Title IV: Work Incentives - Subtitle A: Reduction in Social Security Penalty on Working Elderly - Amends title II of the Social Security Act (Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Benefits) to raise the earnings limit for retirees. Appropriates to each payor fund amounts equivalent to the aggregate increase in social security benefits payable from such fund which is attributable to such amendment. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study during 1997 whether further amendments relating to deductions on account of work and the exempt amount under the earnings limit are necessary or appropriate. Subtitle B: Economic Growth Dividend - Requires any economic growth dividend (as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury) to be used to increase the personal exemption amount. Requires, after 1995, all revenues resulting from real growth in the gross national product greater than three percent to fund an increased personal exemption. Requires, for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 1992, and before October 1, 1995, that 50 percent of such dividend be used to increase the personal exemption amount and the other 50 percent be used to make a downward adjustment in the maximum deficit amount.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1991
Directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish and administer a Yakima River Basin Water Conservation Program for the purpose of evaluating and implementing measures to improve the availability of water supplies for irrigation and the protection and enhancement of fish and wildlife resources, including wetlands, while improving the quality of water in the Yakima River basin. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to eligible entities for the purpose of carrying out this Act. Requires the Program to encourage and provide funding assistance for the following phases of water conservation: (1) development of water conservation plans, consistent with specified guidelines discussed below, by individuals and areawide entities; (2) investigation of the feasibility of specific potential water conservation measures identified in the plans; (3) implementation of measures that have been identified in the plans and investigated for feasibility; and (4) post-implementation monitoring and evaluation of implemented measures. Directs the Secretary to establish the Yakima River Basin Conservation Advisory Group to provide assistance with respect to the Program. Directs the Secretary to adopt guidelines to be used in the administration of the Program. Sets forth the contents of such guidelines. Details the manner in which costs of the four phases are to be shared among Federal, State, and local sources. Requires the coordination of on-farm water management improvements with programs administered by the Secretary of Agriculture and State conservation districts. Authorizes appropriations to carry out the Program. Provides for the implementation by the Yakima Indian Nation of: (1) an irrigation demonstration project on the Yakima Indian Reservation that shall provide for the construction of distribution and on-farm irrigation facilities to use water savings resulting from system improvements to the Wapato Irrigation Project; and (2) a Toppenish Creek corridor enhancement project to demonstrate integration of management of agricultural, fish, wildlife, and cultural resources to meet tribal objectives. Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary for initiation, operation, and maintenance of such projects and for implementation of system improvements to the Wapato Irrigation Project. States that the Program is intended to result in reductions in water diversions allowing for changes in the present operation of the Yakima Federal Reclamation Project to improve instream flows in the Yakima River basin. Details the instream flows the Secretary is required to provide through the Yakima Project Superintendent, allowing flow increases to facilitate anadromous fish migration which, to the extent possible, are obtained through voluntary sale and leasing of water or water rights. Provides for review and adjustment of the water supply in the Yakima River basin set aside for the instream flows to be provided by the Secretary in order to meet water entitlements. Dedicates water savings resulting from improvements to the Wapato Irrigation Project to fish, wildlife, and on-reservation irrigation. Requires water accruing in the additional storage capacity of Lake Cle Elum that is made available pursuant to the modifications discussed below to be: (1) administered in accordance with the laws of the State of Washington; and (2) considered part of the Yakima River basin's water supply. Authorizes releases from other Yakima Project storage facilities to utilize the water described above, except that water deliveries to holders of existing water rights shall not be impaired. Authorizes appropriations for Chandler Power Canal operations for the delivery of water to the Kennewick Division. Authorizes appropriations for: (1) modifying the radial gates at Cle Elum Dam to provide additional storage capacity in Lake Cle Elum; (2) providing for shoreline protection of the Lake; (3) constructing juvenile fish passage facilities at the Dam; (4) operation and maintenance responsibilities of the Federal Government for the Dam; and (5) environmental mitigation. Provides for the enhancement of water supplies for Yakima River Basin tributaries for fish and wildlife and irrigation purposes. Requires a study to determine the measures to be implemented to enhance water supplies for such purposes on Taneum Creek. Authorizes appropriations for such enhancement and for the Taneum Creek study. Makes implementation of this Act contingent upon compliance by the Secretary with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Authorizes appropriations for environmental compliance activities.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 1991
Medicare Physician Payment Reform Amendments of 1991 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise the transition rules for phasing in the resource-based relative value scale (RB RVS) method of payment for physician services to prohibit adjustments for asymmetry in the transition and for behavioral responses. Declares spending under this Act to be an emergency requirement under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) and exempt from sequestration.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 1991
Designates August 29, 1991, as National Sarcoidosis Awareness Day.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1991
Technical Education and Training Act of 1991 - Requires the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to carry out an advanced technical education and training program under which accredited associate-degree-granting colleges, using matching non-Federal funds, provide training in technical competencies in strategic fields, with emphasis on collaborative programs with local employers and on attracting nontraditional students seeking to upgrade skills, recent high school graduates, and high school dropouts. Sets forth program elements, including: (1) model instructional programs in state-of-the-art competencies in advanced-technology occupations; (2) faculty development in laser technology, robotics, fiber optics, electronics, and other advanced technologies; and (3) private sector participation and provision of work experience opportunities. Requires the Director to: (1) award competitive grants to associate-degree-granting colleges; and (2) establish an inventory of advanced technical education and training programs. Requires the appointment of a National Advisory Council on Advanced Technical Education and Training to ensure the program is consistent with the needs of industries and provide other advice and evaluations. Requires an annual report from the Council to the NSF and the Congress. Requires the program to give emphasis to training to accommodate working people, parents, and the handicapped. Requires the designation of ten centers of excellence among associate-degree-granting colleges to serve as national and regional clearinghouses for educational institutions striving to upgrade their technical education programs and mathematics and science courses. Requires the Director to make: (1) no fewer than 20 grants annually to associate-degree-granting colleges to develop partnerships in mathematics and science education with secondary schools in the community; and (2) grants for partnerships with four-year academic institutions to enable students to achieve bachelor degrees in mathematics, science, engineering, or technology.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1991
Designates October 1991 as Country Music Month.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 1991
Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating and the Secretary of Defense to enter into an agreement under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act under which the Coast Guard is authorized to utilize the personnel, services, equipment (including aircraft and vessels), and facilities of the Department of Defense to assist in enforcing U.S. large-scale driftnet fishing laws and in implementing international agreements, and United Nations resolutions on large-scale driftnet fishing.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1991
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the operation of and complaints regarding, the U.S. Postal Service.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 1991
Designates March 19, 1992, as National Women in Agriculture Day.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1991
Earthquake Hazard Reduction Amendments Act - Amends the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 to mandate identification of earthquake-prone States. Establishes the Earthquake Loss Mitigation Advisory Committee. Requires development of comprehensive earthquake loss-reduction criteria for State and local land use and management ordinances, building codes, and other measures. Requires that a percentage of the annual earthquake insurance premiums collected under the Primary Insurance program enacted by this Act be deposited in the Self-Sustaining Mitigation Fund to support specified hazard reduction activities. Requires the Director to support public education programs. Provides for assistance, to the extent provided for in appropriations Acts, to States which are in compliance with the loss-reduction criteria of this Act to support development and implementation of mitigation plans. Prohibits making, increasing, extending, or renewing any federally-related mortgage loan secured by: (1) residential property in an earthquake-prone State unless the property is covered by earthquake insurance coverage under this Act or equivalent private insurance; or (2) improved real estate or a mobile home located in an earthquake-prone State if the State is not in compliance with the loss-reduction criteria of this Act and the property does not meet minimum mitigation criteria. Establishes the Primary Insurance Program against loss from any earthquake. Requires the Director to arrange for participation, on other than a risk-sharing basis, by private insurers, insurance agents and brokers, insurance adjustment organizations, and others. Mandates development of a plan of operation for the Insurance Fund and the Reinsurance Fund. Limits Program coverage to residential property in earthquake-prone States. Establishes an independent advisory committee in the executive branch to be known as the Earthquake Insurance and Reinsurance Advisory Committee. Establishes in the Treasury the Residential Property Insurance Fund to carry out the Primary Insurance Program. Credits to the Insurance Fund premiums received by the Program. Requires, if gross reimbursements to private insurers exceeds amounts in the Insurance Fund, loans from the industry for ten percent of the additional losses, with the remaining amounts borrowed from the Treasury and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Requires the Director to make reinsurance and excess reinsurance available to private insurers participating in the Program and their reinsurers. Provides for the excess reinsurance liability of the insurance industry and the Federal Government. Specifies the lines of insurance for which reinsurance coverage must be provided. Establishes in the Treasury the Reinsurance Fund to carry out the excess loss reinsurance program. Credits to the Fund any reinsurance premiums received under the excess loss reinsurance program and amounts borrowed from the Treasury under this Act. Requires the Director, to the extent that the Reinsurance Fund is insufficient to pay claims and expenses, to issue to the Secretary of the Treasury obligations to cover the insufficiency.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1991 - Prohibits any agency, department, or official of the United States or any State (the government) from burdening a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except that the government may burden a person's exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person: (1) is essential to further a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest. Sets forth provisions pertaining to judicial relief, attorney's fees, and applicability.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide that title I (Protection of Employee Benefit Rights) does not preempt any State law which provides for: (1) the payment of prevailing wages; or (2) standards or other requirements relating to apprenticeship or other training programs.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
National Aquaculture Development Act of 1991 - Designates the Department of Agriculture as the lead Federal agency for the coordination and implementation of national policy for private aquaculture. Establishes in the Department of Agriculture the Office of Aquaculture Policy Coordination and Development. Requires the Department to treat private aquaculture as a form of agriculture and aquaculture products as agricultural commodities. Amends the National Aquaculture Act of 1980 to add specified tasks to the aquaculture duties of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretaries). Sets forth requirements regarding the location and functioning of the National Aquaculture Information Center. Requires the interagency aquaculture coordinating group to establish a working relationship with the industry advisory councils of regional aquaculture centers and with national organizations and commodity associations. Mandates reports to the Congress regarding: (1) the application of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to aquaculture; and (2) actions taken to revise the National Aquaculture Development Plan. Removes provisions requiring the concurrence of the Secretaries in order to specify which of the Secretaries has responsibility for implementing each action in the Plan. Shifts certain requirements and powers from the Secretaries to the Secretary of Agriculture.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress and the President, prior to each fiscal year, to agree on an estimate of total receipts (except those derived from borrowing) for that fiscal year by enactment of a law devoted solely to that subject. Prohibits outlays for that year (except those for repayment of debt principal) from exceeding this amount unless the Congress, by a three-fifths roll call vote of each House, authorizes a specific excess of outlays over receipts. Requires a three-fifths roll call vote of each House to increase the public debt. Directs the President to submit a balanced budget to the Congress. Requires the approval of a majority of the total membership of each House by roll call vote before any bill to increase revenue may become law. Waives these provisions when a declaration of war is in effect. Makes this article effective beginning with FY 1995 or with the second fiscal year after its ratification, whichever is later.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1991
Designates the week of October 27 through November 2, 1991, and October 11 through 17, 1992, as National Job Skills Week.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1991
Designates the week of November 10, 1991, as Hire a Veteran Week.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 1991
Medicare Physician Regulatory Relief Amendments of 1991 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) prohibit the denial of physician claims because of patient failure to complete Medicare secondary payer questionnaires; (2) prohibit carriers from using extrapolation to recover the amounts they reimbursed physicians for claims for which Medicare disallows payment, if the physician requests that each such claim be individually identified; (3) prohibit the imposition of specified user fees on physicians; (4) require consideration of physician comments in annual carrier performance reviews; (5) allow individuals (including physicians) to file administrative appeals when they have suffered damages as a result of the failure of a carrier to carry out Medicare policies; and (6) require review of medical necessity denials by physicians in the same medical specialty as the physician providing the service. Amends the Medicare and Medicaid (title XIX of the Social Security Act) programs to permit the reimbursement of a patient's regular physician for services provided by another physician who covers for the regular physician under contractual arrangements. Amends title XI of the Social Security Act to repeal the peer review requirement for certain surgical procedures.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1991
Authorizes the President, on behalf of the Congress, to present to the Secretary of Defense, Richard B. Cheney, a gold medal in recognition of his exemplary performance as a leader in coordinating the planning, strategy, and execution of combat action by U.S. armed forces which led to the liberation of Kuwait. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for the sale of bronze duplicates of the medal.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1991
Designates March 20, 1992, as National Agriculture Day.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1991
Designates the week beginning August 25, 1991, as National Parks Week.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should ask the United Nations (UN) to release through UNICEF a portion of Iraq's frozen assets to provide medical and humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people, particularly children, with release of the funds contingent on Iraqi Government acceptance of UN oversight and control.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 1991
Paperwork Reduction in Health Care Act of 1991 - Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to: (1) identify, inventory, and assess the Federal paperwork burden associated with health care services; and (2) establish a goal for reducing such burden in each of FY 1992 through 1997 by at least five percent of the preceding fiscal year's paperwork burden.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1991
Targeted Dislocated Worker Assistance Act of 1991 - Title I: Expanded Unemployment and Training Benefits - Allows any State to enter into an agreement with the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) that the State agency which administers the State's unemployment compensation law will make payments to qualified displaced workers for certain program benefits for up to 26 weeks after the last week for which they received regular unemployment compensation. Specifies such program benefits as: (1) additional unemployment compensation in the same weekly amount as their now-exhausted regular unemployment compensation; (2) a monthly housing allowance for 50 percent of the lesser of a specified fair market rent or their own rent or mortgage payment; (3) reimbursement of all direct costs of an approved educational or training program; and (4) a relocation allowance, if necessary. Bases eligibility for such benefits on the individual's: (1) exhaustion of all other unemployment compensation rights; (2) having no prospect for work in the same region and industry where previously employed; (3) having a family income 70 percent or less of the lower living standard, and with no more than certain specified assets; (4) not having a two-year college degree or equivalent; and (5) being enrolled in an approved educational or training program before the 13th week for which he or she received regular compensation during the benefit year for which such rights were exhausted. Provides for payment to each State for 100 percent of the amount of the benefits paid to individuals under the agreement, with special conditions for treatment of benefits reimbursable under other Federal laws. Provides for estimation and certification of such payments. Authorizes appropriations. Sets forth penalties for fraud and provisions relating to overpayments. Title II: Expansion of Job Training Partnership Act - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) to authorize additional appropriations to provide programs under title III of JTPA to individuals who are eligible displaced workers under title I of this Act. Waives a certain support services and payments limitation with respect to such funds; but limits to not more than 50 percent the portion which may be expended by any substate grantee for needs-related payments and supportive services. Expands the supportive services category to include mortgage, rent, and insurance payment assistance. Title III: Unemployment Benefits to Certain Individuals Not Otherwise Eligible - Allows a State to apply to the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) for a grant to help meet the costs of providing benefits under an expanded unemployment benefits program to individuals affected by a severe contraction in a specific industry in such State. Authorizes the Secretary to make such a grant if the contraction meets severity and duration requirements prescribed by the Secretary. Limits administrative expenses to not more than 15 percent of such grant. Requires that such an expanded unemployed benefits program provide unemployment compensation to individuals who: (1) would be eligible for it under the State law if services performed as a self-employed individual were covered; and (2) ceased to have such self-employment by reason of a severe contraction in a specific industry. Requires the program to provide such compensation also to individuals who would be eligible for it under State law but for a reduction in hours of employment during the applicable base period by reason of such severe contraction. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the luxury excise tax on passenger vehicles, boats, aircraft, jewelry, and furs.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 1991
Smith-Wyden Rural Health Care Improvement Act of 1991 - Title I: Tax Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for family practice physicians, nurse practitioners, and certified physicians' assistants who serve in rural and medically underserved areas. Allows such individuals a tax deduction for education loan interest. Title II: Other Provisions - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations for FY 1992 for area health education centers. Deems physicians or other licensed health care practitioners employed in federally-funded migrant health centers, community health centers, and centers to provide health services to the homeless as Public Health Service employees for purposes of liability claims of medical malpractice. Requires such health entities to have implemented appropriate policies and procedures to assure against malpractice.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1991
Leading Employers Into Apprentice Partnerships Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax exemption for organizations administering a qualified apprenticeship education program. Allows a general business credit of 20 percent of contributions made to such programs by a business.
United States · United States Congress · 3 June 1991
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to transfer certain sewage facilities in the Wenatchee National Forest to Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County, Washington, in exchange for equal value in sewer charges from such facilities to the Secretary.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1991
Small Employer Health Insurance Incentive Act of 1991 - Exempts small employer purchasing groups organized for the purpose of obtaining health insurance for employer members from State insurance mandates, State taxes on premiums, and State laws relating to managed care. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow self-employed individuals participating in small employer purchasing groups an itemized deduction of 100 percent for health insurance costs (25 percent for nonparticipants). Makes such deduction permanent law.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1991
Designates October 1991 as Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1991
Designates the week beginning October 20, 1991, as World Population Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1991
Farm Animal and Research Facilities Protection Act of 1991 - Amends title XIV of the Food Security Act of 1985 to add a new subtitle prohibiting (and establishing criminal penalties for) specified acts of destruction, theft, or damage to farm animal, research, and educational facilities. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture and the Attorney General to jointly conduct a study of the extent and effect of terrorism on animal research, production, and processing facilities. Grants jurisdiction for cases arising under these provisions to U.S. district courts. Establishes a private right of action.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1991
Rural Clinical Laboratory Personnel Shortage Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish a program of contracts under which allied health professionals agree to serve in technical positions as employees in clinical laboratories that serve rural areas with shortages of employees in such positions in consideration of the Federal Government paying a limited amount of the principal and interest of the educational loans of the professionals. Authorizes appropriations. Mandates grants and contracts for the education and training of clinical laboratory personnel. Authorizes appropriations. Requires a program for the accreditation of entities engaged in the certification of clinical laboratory personnel. Provides, until establishment of accreditation standards, for a competency-based examination to determine the proficiency of individuals who do not meet formal educational qualifications.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1991
Hospital Antitrust Fairness Act - Exempts from the antitrust laws combinations of, or contracts to allocate hospital services by, two or more hospitals if: (1) each such hospital is located outside of a city or in a city of less than 125,000 inhabitants; (2) in the most recently concluded calendar year, each such hospital received more than 40 percent of its gross revenue from payments made under Federal programs; and (3) there is in effect with respect to each such hospital a certificate issued by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) specifying that HCFA has determined that Federal expenditures would be reduced, and consumer costs would not increase, if such hospitals merge or allocate the services specified in the request.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1991
Energy Technology Research and Development Authorization Act of 1991 - Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Energy for FY 1992 and 1993 for: (1) supporting research and technical analysis (with amounts for the Basic Energy Sciences Program, including amounts for the Advanced Photon Source, the Energy Research Analysis Program, the Multiprogram Energy Laboratories Facilities Support Program, university and science education, and the Advisory and Oversight Program Direction and Policy Management for Energy Research Activities); (2) nuclear energy (with amounts for the Nuclear Energy Research and Development Program and for a research and development program to mitigate hazards associated with high level radioactive waste and spent fuel from nuclear reactors); (3) fusion energy research and development (with amounts for magnetic fusion energy research and for the Inertial Confinement Fusion Program); (4) the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation Program; (5) the Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program; and (6) fossil energy (with amounts for basic and supporting research, advanced technology development, petroleum, natural gas, cooperative research and development, and supporting activities). Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to appropriations for substantial and major construction projects of the Department of Energy (DOE) in civilian energy research and development areas. Directs the Secretary, after the completion of the preliminary design phase of a major construction project, to report to the Congress on: (1) estimates of the total cost of construction, the time required to complete construction, and the annual operating costs of the facility; (2) the intended useful operating life of the facility; and (3) any existing facilities to be closed as a result of the operation of such facility. Requires the Secretary, after the completion of the preliminary design phase of the Advanced Neutron Source and Burning Plasma Experiment major construction projects, to provide the Congress with information on their anticipated costs and schedules. Directs the Secretary to: (1) proceed expeditiously to procure a deployment contractor for the commercialization of the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation technology; and (2) authorize the University of California and Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., to enter into cooperative research and development agreements with private sector entities to develop non-uranium enrichment applications of such technology. Requires the Secretary to award a contract for further design and engineering with respect to a standardized commercial nuclear power plant design that has been certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Sets forth contract selection criteria. Limits Federal funding for such project and requires 50 percent of the funding to be from non-Federal sources. Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on plans for increasing the participation of historically black colleges in DOE Basic Energy Science programs. Requires the Secretary to establish a research, development, and production center at the Hanford Reservation in Richland, Washington, to be known as the Research Reactor User Complex (RRC). Authorizes the DOE and DOE contractors operating the RRC to enter into agreements with non-Federal entities to use the RRC for: (1) the production of industrial and medical isotopes or steam for use or sale; or (2) irradiation services to support research or commercial objectives. Limits such agreements to a period of 25 years. Requires DOE contractors operating the RRC to: (1) maintain and operate the Fast Flux Test Facility; (2) ensure that all experiments meet applicable safety requirements and criteria; and (3) provide support services to the non-Federal entities that have entered into such agreements. Establishes an RRC Fund in the Treasury. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the appropriateness of cost sharing requirements for DOE fossil research and development projects. Requires the Secretary to submit an annual three-year budget estimate for DOE civilian research and development programs to the Congress. Sets forth restrictions on authorizations.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow farmers' cooperatives to elect to treat as ordinary income or loss certain capital gains and losses from the disposition of assets used in conducting business with or for patrons.
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 1991
Freedom from Want Act - Title I: Domestic Assistance Programs - Part A: Nutrition, Education, and Health Care - Expresses the sense of the Congress that it should make a commitment to increasing participation in the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children (the WIC program) by 20 percent in each of FY 1992 through 1996, so that the goal of full participation may be reached by the end of FY 1996. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Head Start Act should be fully funded so that the goal of participation of all eligible three- and four-year-old children in Head Start programs can be achieved by FY 1994. Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to increase the reimbursement provided by the Department of Agriculture for congregate and home-delivered meals for older Americans to 65.66 cents in FY 1992, with adjustments for inflation in FY 1993 and 1994. Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to undertake a Children's Vaccine Initiative, for research, development, testing, and evaluation of children's vaccines, and for assisting in delivery of such vaccines in the United States and throughout the world. Directs the Secretary of HHS to consult with the World Health Organization and the United Nation's Children's Fund in organizing such Initiative. Requires the Director of the National Vaccine Program to plan and coordinate such Initiative, and ensure that the Public Health Service conducts activities under the Initiative in collaboration with nongovernment institutions and other Federal agencies. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to ensure that rules issued under the Federal Meat Inspection Act that impose labeling standards for any meat or meat food product sold or offered for sale in commerce also impose equivalent labeling standards for meat or meat food products distributed by the Department of Agriculture through domestic commodity food assistance programs. Part B: Individual Development Account Demonstration - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction for payments (other than certain assistance from an organization of a demonstration project under this part) made by or on behalf of eligible individuals to an individual development account (IDA) to accumulate funds to pay the following qualified expenses: (1) postsecondary education expenses; (2) first-home purchase; (3) business capitalization; (4) retirement expenses; and (5) transfers to an IDA of the individual's spouse or dependent. Sets forth requirements relating to such IDAs. Establishes five-year IDA demonstration projects to determine: (1) the social, psychological, and economic effects of providing to individuals with limited means an opportunity to accumulate assets; and (2) the extent to which an asset-based welfare policy may be used to enable individuals with low income to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Allows any organization to apply to the Secretary of the Treasury for grants to conduct such a project. Requires each organization authorized to conduct such a project to establish a Reserve Fund drawn from investments, public and private funds, and IDA penalty amounts. Requires the organization to use Reserve Fund amounts to: (1) assist project participants in obtaining skills and information to achieve economic self-sufficiency through activities requiring IDA qualified expenses; (2) provide financial assistance to the IDAs of individuals selected by the organization to participate in the project; (3) administer the project; and (4) provide the organization evaluating the project with necessary information. Directs the organization to invest Reserve Fund amounts that are not immediately needed to carry out such project fund uses. Limits the administrative expenses. Requires that unused Federal grant funds be transferred to the Secretary when the project terminates. Makes eligible for IDA demonstration project assistance any individual who is a member of a household with: (1) a household income for the immediately preceding calendar year of not more th an 200 percent of the poverty threshold; and (2) a household net worth, as of the close of such year, of not more than $20,000. Directs the project organization to select individuals whom the organization deems suited to receive such assistance. Sets forth a table for organization contributions to an individual's IDA, based on: (1) the individual income for the applicable period, as a percentage of the poverty threshold; and (2) matched with the lesser of either a specified percentage of the qualified savings of the individual for the period, or a specified dollar amount. Provides for a greater organization contribution for individuals with lower incomes. Requires local control over demonstration projects by giving the organization sole authority over project administration, and allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe only regulations that are necessary to ensure compliance with approved applications and this Act. Requires each project organization to prepare ten semiannual progress reports for an oversight panel, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Treasurer (or equivalent official) of the State in which the project is conducted. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish an oversight panel for such demonstration projects. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to revoke the original authorization for a demonstration project upon receipt of a notice that the project has failed to implement the oversight panel's recommendations. Sets forth required revocation actions and procedures. Requires the oversight panel to enter into a contract with an independent research organization to evaluate the IDA demonstration projects, individually and as a group, addressing specified questions. Authorizes appropriations for IDA demonstration projects. Requires that funds in the IDAs of demonstration project participants to be disregarded for purposes of all means-tested Federal programs. Part C: Microenterprise Programs - Amends the Social Security Act to include microenterprise training programs under the JOBS program under provisions for aid to families with dependent children (AFDC). Requires adjustment of performance standards for microenterprises to take account of the time required for their establishment. Provides for limited exclusions of microenterprise resources and income under the AFDC program. Defines a microenterprise as a commercial enterprise which has five or fewer employees, one or more of whom owns the enterprise; and (2) none of the owners of which has income exceeding 200 percent of the poverty threshold. Authorizes States to waive Federal AFDC requirements with respect to participants in State-approved microenterpise programs. Provides that participation in such State-approved microenterprise programs shall not affect the participants' means-tested Federal benefits. Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to make microenterprises eligible for rural development loans and grants. Expresses the sense of the Congress that one percent of funds for specified types of rural development assistance should be reserved for certain purposes relating to microenterprises. Amends the Housing and Community Development Act to make microenterprises eligible for assistance under community development block grants. Provides that certain assisted activities relating to microenterprises shall be considered to benefit persons of low and moderate income. Expresses the sense of the Congress that each grantee under the community development block grant program should reserve one percent of any grant received to provide assistance to facilitate commercial economic development through microenterprises. Amends the Small Business Act to express the sense of the Congress that: (1) one percent of specified funds for small business loans should be reserved for specified purposes relating to microenterprises; and (2) the Small Business Administrator should take such other necessary actions to maximize participation by microenterprises in programs under such Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958. Provides for small business loans for microenterprises. Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) to authorize the use of funds for training activities with respect to microenterprises. Directs the State Governor to adjust performance standards relating to microenterprises to reflect the time required to establish and develop a stable income from such an enterprise as participants seek to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Provides for JTPA microenterprise grants. Directs the Secretary of Labor, from specified funds for FY 1992 through 1996, to make grants in limited amounts to not more than ten States per year to implement and enhance community-based microenterprise activities. Requires State matching funds and annual reports. Authorizes appropriations for such microenterprise grants. Part D: Increasing the Food Purchasing Power of Low-Income Households - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to up to 20 nonprofit community-based organizations to carry out food retailing development projects to: (1) increase the access of individuals residing in communities underserved by supermarkets to more affordable and quality food; and (2) strengthen the operation of existing food retail stores in underserved communities by providing such stores with services that lower costs, improve management, and increase the quality and nutritional value of food inventories. Sets forth priorities in selecting grantees. Sets forth requirements for grant expenditures. Authorizes appropriations for such food retailing development program. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to up to ten eligible entities to carry out a food stamp and producer direct marketing demonstration project to: (1) increase retail marketing opportunities for local agricultural producers through farmers markets, roadside stands, and other means; (2) increase the access to and consumption of fresh, perishable agricultural commodities by low-income individuals; (3) identify and implement successful strategies to increase the number of agricultural producers certified to redeem food stamp coupons in exchange for commodities sold directly to coupon recipients; and (4) increase the number of food stamp recipients who use such coupons to purchase such commodities from agricultural producers. Sets forth requirements for grant expenditures. Defines an eligible entity as a community-based organization with strong ties to both the farming community and to an anti-hunger organization. Authorizes appropriations for such food stamp and producer direct marketing demonstration program. Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to revise WIC farmers' market demonstration programs. Increases from ten to 20 the number of States allowed to provide WIC participants with coupons to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables from farmers markets. Sets forth requirements for program reports and review. Authorizes appropriations. Part E: Assessing Food Security within Communities - Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to provide for regional centers for community food security. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Federal Extension Service, to make competitive grants to seven land grant colleges and universities to establish seven regional centers for community food security, with one of them designated to serve as a coordinating center. Sets forth requirements for selection of recipients, use of grants, prohibited uses, term of grants, performance evaluations, and annual reports. Defines food security as the ability of all people at all times to purchase or receive from usual food sources enough nutritionally adequate food for an active and healthy life. Part F: Findings Regarding Communities Making the Transition to Hunger-Free Status - Expresses the sense of the Congress regarding criteria for communities making the transition to food secure status. Part G: Infant Mortality Reduction - Subpart 1: Low Birthweight and Infant Mortality - Establishes within the Department of Health and Human Services a program to make grants to States, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations to establish demonstration projects to reduce infant mortality by reducing the incidence of low birthweight births in high-risk communities. Sets forth grant application requirements and preferences in awards. Directs the Secretary of HHS to: (1) establish an Infant Mortality Advisory Panel; and (2) evaluate such projects and provide technical assistance to grantees. Requires annual reports from grantees. Limits project duration to three years. Authorizes appropriations. Subpart 2: Breast Feeding and Infant Morbidity and Mortality Study - Directs the Secretary of HHS to establish a program to award grants to conduct studies of the impact of breastfeeding on infant mortality and morbidity in certain high-risk populations. Authorizes appropriations for each fiscal year for conducting such study. Part H: Amendments to the Food Stamp Act of 1977 - Mickey Leland Childhood Hunger Relief Act - Subpart 1: General Provisions - Sets forth general provisions. Subpart 2: Ensuring Adequate Food Assistance - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to remove the excess shelter deduction cap for purposes of food stamp program (program) eligibility. (Sets forth transitional caps through FY 1995.) Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to adjust the basic benefit level upwards by specified increments at the beginning of each fiscal year until it reaches 105 percent of the cost of the thrifty food plan. Eliminates food stamp reductions for households reapplying for program reinstatement within 30 days. Excludes third party payments for transitional housing for the homeless from consideration as program income. Increases funding for the nutrition assistance program in Puerto Rico. Excludes general assistance vendor payments from consideration as program income. Subpart 3: Promoting Self-Sufficiency - Excludes from consideration as program income: (1) the first $50 a month received as child support; and (2) child support payments to non-household members. Increases annually the fair market value limit of vehicles that program recipients may own. Excludes from financial resources the value of a vehicle a household depends upon to carry heating fuel or water for home use where it has no other access to fuel or water. Increases dependent care deductions and participant and State agency reimbursements in connection with employment and training activities. Subpart 4: Simplifying the Provision of Food Assistance - Permits related adults living in the same household to apply for separate program benefits under specified conditions. Permits a participating family made up of, or including, an elderly or disabled member to own $300 in allowable financial resources. (Current law refers to a family member 60 years of age or older.) Makes program authorization of appropriations permanent. Subpart 5: Implementation and Effective Dates - Sets forth the effective dates for provisions of this Act. Title II: International Programs - Part A: Food as a Human Right - Declares that the United States should: (1) make a major effort toward strengthening the right to food in international law; and (2) propose to the United Nations General Assembly that a Declaration and Convention on the Right to Food be adopted and submitted to countries for ratification. Prohibits the provision of development assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the provision or financing of agricultural commodities under the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 for countries that engage in a consistent pattern of violations of internationally recognized rights to food and medical care. Requires the United States to: (1) make a major effort toward reforming and restructuring the United Nations mechanism for responding to international disasters and humanitarian emergencies; and (2) evaluate the role of the United Nations Disaster Relief Organization and develop a proposal for strengthening the United Nations response to such emergencies. Part B: Democratic Empowerment - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President, acting through the administrator of the agency responsible for administering development assistance (administering agency), to provide assistance for eligible emerging democracies. Defines an "eligible emerging democracy" as a least developed country that is making a transition from an undemocratic to a democratic system of government. Lists authorized assistance as development and relief and rehabilitation assistance and assistance for child survival, maternal health, basic nutrition, and basic education. Waives provisions of law that prohibit or restrict assistance to countries in arrears or default on loan or credit payments owed to the United States with respect to assistance for eligible emerging democracies. Establishes a Fund for Democratic Empowerment to carry out such assistance program. Authorizes appropriations. Part C: Children - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for U.S. contributions to the United Nations Children's Fund. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize appropriations for the Child Survival Fund for FY 1992 and 1993. Earmarks amounts of foreign assistance for activities that deal directly with the special health needs of children and mothers. Requires the President, with respect to the provision of development assistance, to promote and undertake activities relating to research on, and the treatment and control of, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in developing countries. Designates such assistance as the International AIDS Prevention and Control Program. Earmarks amounts of development assistance for FY 1992 and 1993 for the Vitamin A Deficiency Program and programs to eliminate iodine deficiency. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should join in a comprehensive initiative to reduce micronutrient deficiencies from iron, as well as leading in the elimination of vitamin A and iodine deficiency. Earmarks foreign assistance for basic education programs. Directs the President to report annually to the Congress on U.S. contributions to the goals and strategies of the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children; the Plan of Action for Implementing the Declaration; the World Declaration on Education for All; and the Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs. Part D: Women in Development - Removes a limitation on, and earmarks an amount of, assistance to promote the participation and integration of women in the development process in developing countries. Requires specified amounts of such assistance to be used to support the integration of women into programs of the administering agency and to support needs of such agency in administering the women in development policy. Part E: Refugees - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for migration and refugee assistance, with earmarked funds for programs of refugee assistance overseas. Expresses the sense of the Congress that other international donors should join with the United States in ensuring that refugee relief and rehabilitation efforts are adequately funded and supported. Part F: Agriculture and the Environment - Requires agricultural development programs supported by the United States under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and in the multilateral development banks and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to incorporate principles of environmental sustainability. Directs the Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID) to establish specified environmental sustainability guidelines and standards to be applied to all agricultural development programs supported under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, bilateral agricultural projects, and, where appropriate, environmental projects supported under such Act. Requires the U.S. executive directors of the multilateral development banks and the IMF to seek the adoption of requirements comparable to such standards by their respective institutions. Declares that AID should make a long-term commitment to research the ecological and socioeconomic components of sustainable agricultural development. Provides that research topics should include: (1) how traditional systems of agriculture respond to local ecological conditions and how such responses can be incorporated in agricultural development that aims to increase yields without degrading long-term productive potential or the ability to withstand ecological pressures; (2) the role of subsistence agriculture in meeting the nutritional needs of rural populations and the improvement of subsistence food production; and (3) the improvement of crops which comprise a substantial part of the diet of the poorest part of the population. Declares that the United States should encourage the Consultative Group on International Agriculture to incorporate such topics into its research priorities and to promote the application of research findings into project design and implementation. States that AID should increase its support for agricultural research institutions that have demonstrated a capacity to contribute to sustainable agricultural development. Directs the AID Administrator to report to the Congress on AID programs directed toward sustainability as a basis for agricultural assistance efforts. Part G: World Bank and International Monetary Fund - Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of the Treasury should instruct the U.S. executive directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), the International Development Association (Association), and the IMF to seek the establishment by their institutions of programs and policies to assist in the realization of the right to food. Amends the International Financial Institutions Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct: (1) the U.S. executive director of the Association to advocate, in the context of the Association's tenth replenishment, that at least 50 percent of the Association's loans go to countries that have developed a national development and poverty alleviation strategy; and (2) the U.S. executive directors of the World Bank and the IMF to urge such institutions to develop Policy Framework Papers (including sections on environmental goals) for borrowing countries. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the World Bank and the Association should: (1) give greater programmatic and budgetary priority to child survival and development; and (2) commit to devoting at least five percent of the annual lending programs to primary health and five percent to basic education. Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. executive directors of the World Bank and the Association to urge such institutions to: (1) promote environmental sustainability as a guiding principle in agricultural development projects; (2) emphasize food-based policies in agriculture by increasing funding for research focusing on improving foods which comprise a substantial portion of the diet of poor people; and (3) ensure that such projects target and integrate women. Amends the Bretton Woods Agreements Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive director of the IMF to urge the IMF to ensure that IMF programs are designed to avoid any deterioration in the provision of social services for basic human needs and to maintain sustainable use of the environment. Part H: Debt Relief - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President to make certain debt relief authorities concerning relatively least developed countries with respect to which an IMF standby agreement or a World Bank or Association structural adjustment program or similar IMF program is in effect applicable to least developed countries pursuing specified national economic policy reforms, even if such an arrangement is not in effect. Part I: Private and Voluntary Organizations - Increases the amount of funding for private and voluntary organizations under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Rural Physicians' Incentives Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction on medical education loan interest of a physician which accrues while the physician is living in and providing primary care to residents of a medically underserved rural area. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to exempt services furnished in a rural area from a special fee schedule applicable to new physicians. Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend beyond the normal two-year limit, for borrowers serving an internship or residency program in preparation for practice in an area of primary care, the deferral of payments on: (1) insured student loans (Stafford Loans), including those eligible for interest subsidies; and (2) low-interest student loans (Perkins Loans). Amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to modify provisions setting forth requirements concerning billing by one physician for services rendered by another physician in specified circumstances.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Rural Health Leadership Education Act of 1991 - Amends the Rural Development Act of 1972, as amended by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, to authorize grants for rural health leadership development education programs.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Rural Health Statistics Act of 1991 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require that the geographic area description and analysis in a currently-mandated annual report on the health of the Nation's people include a description and analysis by rural area and urban area.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Rural Medical Emergencies Air Transport Act of 1991 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to at least seven 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. Requires: (1) preference for States with plans to integrate the proposed air medical system into a comprehensive network or plan for regional or statewide emergency medical services; and (2) the grant to be administered by the State agency responsible for medical emergency or trauma services programs. Allows the State to award grant funds to public and private entities. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Rural Mental Health Initiatives Act of 1991 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish, in the National Institute of Mental Health, the Office of Rural Mental Health. Mandates grants for demonstration projects to improve the availability of rural mental health services through providing such services in the same facilities as other health or social services, and otherwise integrating mental health, other health, and social services. Requires reports to the Congress. Requires that funds be made available to carry out these provisions from amounts appropriated under the Act for mental health research. Requires State comprehensive mental health services plans to describe how mental health services will be provided to rural residents.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to allow a consortium including one or more rural hospitals (including at least a small rural hospital and/or one or more rural health clinics) to participate in the rural health medical education demonstration project of the Department of Health and Human Services. Authorizes appropriations as necessary to pay costs of such project which are attributable to travel and living expenses of medical residents and travel expenses of supervising physicians, to the extent such costs are not reimbursed under the Medicare program.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Rural Access to Obstetrical Care Act of 1991 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) provide for demonstration projects to reduce infant mortality by improving access in rural, underserved areas to obstetric services for eligible pregnant women under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act; (2) develop and make available to the public each year a compendium of State initiatives to address the obstetric access crisis in rural areas; and (3) provide funding for a study, and report to the Congress on, obstetrical malpractice claims payment by Medicaid and private insurance companies.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Improving Access to Health Care Through Telecommunications Act - Mandates grants to rural health care consortia for acquisition and operation of interactive telecommunications systems to improve delivery of health care services. Allows information uses to include consultations, x-ray transfers, professional education programs, patient record transfers, and claims processing. Limits grants to one consortium per State, subject to waiver for consortia serving two or more States. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services should explore, expand, and promote opportunities for shared services in all areas, including alcohol and drug treatment, gerontology, mental health, pharmacy services, radiology, and other diagnostic specialties.