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United States · Official source
3,094 records where Rep. Mrazek, Robert J. [D-NY-3] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Anti-Boycott MFN Restriction Act of 1991 - Prohibits application of nondiscriminatory treatment (most-favored-nation treatment) to the products of countries that participate in, or cooperate with, the international economic boycott of Israel.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require the United States Trade Representative to include in the National Trade Estimate information with respect to the Arab boycott of U.S. persons who do business with or invest in Israel, or who do business with a person who does business with or invests there.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reinstate the ten-percent investment tax credit with respect to property placed in service after December 31, 1991, and make the at-risk rules inapplicable to such property.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Oil Recycling and Safe Handling Act of 1991 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to revise provisions concerning the management of used oil. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to list as a hazardous waste any used oil and any product derived from such oil that fails to meet certain specifications for flashpoint, lead, arsenic, chromium, cadmium, halogens, and polychlorinated biphenyls. Prohibits compliance with such specifications by blending used oil with virgin oil or other materials. Permits fuel containing used oil that meets specifications without treatment to be marketed as containing ingredients that are not hazardous wastes if the oil and fuel are analyzed to demonstrate compliance. Exempts used oil generated by petroleum refining or production facilities which is to be refined along with normal process streams from requirements for hazardous waste under the Solid Waste Disposal Act if it is inserted into the refining process or production pipeline. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations for the management of used oil classified as a hazardous waste. Exempts from such regulation generators of used oil which is household waste or State or local government curbside collection programs collecting such oil. Exempts certain used oil generators and collectors from hazardous waste regulations under the Solid Waste Disposal Act (other than those under this Act) if they have: (1) recycled or burned used oil at a permitted hazardous waste management facility or have arranged for the periodic transport of such oil by a licensed transporter to a permitted facility; (2) not disposed of such oil except as provided under this Act or mixed the oil with other hazardous wastes; and (3) maintained specified records with respect to the volume of such oil. Applies standards for hazardous waste transporters and facilities to hazardous used oil transporters and facilities. Permits the modification of transporter requirements for used oil that contains less than a specified concentration of halogens. Requires hazardous used oil facilities to obtain hazardous waste management permits. Directs the Administrator to require producers and importers of lubricating base stock to guarantee the reuse of an annually increasing percentage of used lubricating oil. Requires States to encourage used oil collection by providing incentives to retailers and others who accept and collect used oil. Imposes fees on lubricating base stock sold at retail and provides for the use of such fees for State and local used oil collection efforts. Requires agencies procuring recycled goods to report on the effectiveness of the re-refined oil procurement program. Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act to prohibit any person from bringing an action against (currently, recovering response costs or damages from) service station dealers for response costs or damages resulting from releases of used (currently, recycled) oil, subject to certain conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Equal Remedies Act of 1991 - Amends Federal law relating to damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination to remove provisions limiting the dollar amount of damages awarded for pecuniary and nonpecuniary losses and punitive damages.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should continue to support the full protection of the African elephant through the unqualified listing of all populations of the African elephant on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Recognizes the rights of the citizens of the Slovak and Czech republics to determine their own political future. Supports a unified Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. Calls on the peoples, political parties, and parliaments of the Czech and Slovak republics to make unity of the common state the highest priority.
United States · United States Congress · 25 November 1991
Consumer Products Safe Testing Act - Declares the policy that Federal departments and agencies shall encourage the development and use of product testing procedures that accurately reflect the acute health effects on humans of certain products, including consumer products and products containing hazardous or toxic substances, but which do not rely upon animals. Directs each Federal department or agency head (head), within one year, to: (1) review and evaluate any regulation, guideline, or recommendation issued by such department or agency which requires, recommends, or encourages the use of the Draize or other animal acute toxicity test for the purpose of evaluation of the safety of a regulated product; (2) review and evaluate nonanimal alternatives with the potential for partial or full replacement of the products regulated; and (3) promulgate regulations, guidelines, or recommendations that specify that a nonanimal acute toxicity test or battery of tests (NATT) should be used instead of an animal acute toxicity test unless that head determines that the NATT is less likely to predict the acute health effects on humans of a product than the animal acute toxicity test. Requires the appropriate head, if a determination is made that no NATT is as likely to predict the human reaction to the regulated product as the Draize or other animal acute toxicity test, to publish in the Federal Register an explanation of all options considered and the justification for continuing the animal acute toxicity test, which shall be subject to public comment. Provides for periodic review of animal acute toxicity testing regulations. Makes this Act inapplicable to regulations, guidelines, or recommendations related to medical research.
United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991
Chinese Protection Act of 1991 - Provides for the adjustment to permanent resident status of certain nationals of the People's Republic of China.
United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991
Low-Income Housing Revitalization Act - Amends Internal Revenue Code (IRC) provisions relating to the low-income housing credit to increase the credit from four percent to nine percent with respect to new buildings that are federally subsidized. Extends the low-income housing credit permanently. Amends IRC accounting provisions to exempt low-income housing credit activities from limitations on passive losses. Revises the accelerated cost recovery system in connection with low-income residential rental property to reduce the applicable recovery period from 27.5 to 20 years. Disallows an income tax deduction for any expense relating to residential rental units unless such units are suitable for occupancy. Excludes deductions for business expenses, interest on indebtedness, and taxes from calculations to determine the passive loss limitation in connection with rental real estate activity relating to a qualified low-income housing project in which a noncorporate taxpayer actively or materially participates.
United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a capital gains deduction for individuals for assets held from two to six years. Disallows such deduction in computing the alternative minimum tax. 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 December 31, 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.
United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1991
Calls upon the President, as part of the Uruguay Round General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks, to initiate negotiations to make GATT compatible with the Marine Mammal Protection Act and other U.S. health, safety, labor, and environmental laws, including laws to protect the environment outside of the United States. Declares that the Congress will not approve legislation to implement any trade agreement (including the Uruguay Round of the GATT and the U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement) that jeopardizes such laws, including the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Clean Air Act.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1991
Pacific Yew Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior (Secretaries) to pursue a policy to provide for: (1) the long-term conservation of the pacific yew on lands under their jurisdiction; and (2) a sustainable supply of it for medicinal purposes. Requires the Secretary concerned to ensure that timber sales awarded after the enactment of this Act and such sales completed prior to such enactment but still unharvested be conducted in a specified manner. Directs the Secretaries to establish a special task force in each of their respective Departments to ensure that the purposes of this Act are achieved through the: (1) implementation of the policy required by it; and (2) guidelines and plan developed by the Interagency Pacific Yew Committee (established later on in this Act). Requires the Secretaries to inventory pacific yew on lands under their jurisdiction. Directs the Secretaries to jointly establish an interdisciplinary Interagency Pacific Yew Committee to submit interim guidelines for the harvest, management, and conservation of the pacific yew until the Committee develops a proposed conservation and management plan for it. Requires the Secretaries to submit such plan to specified congressional committees. Sets forth requirements for the interim guidelines and the management and conservation plan. Establishes procedures for implementation of them. Directs the Secretaries to encourage and assist in research regarding the: (1) ecology of the Pacific Yew; (2) development of alternative methods of procuring taxol (a cancer-treating drug made from the pacific yew), including use of other yew parts in addition to bark, the sustainable harvest of yew needles, and the use of other yew species; and (3) propagation of Pacific Yew and other yew species in agricultural or commercial settings. Directs the Secretary concerned to ensure: (1) development, implementation, and enforcement of processes for the collection and sale of Pacific Yew resources to minimize the illegal harvest and sale of them; and (2) timely access to Pacific Yew resources so that collection of Pacific Yew parts can occur before the taxol properties of such parts are degraded. States that nothing in this Act shall be interpreted as modifying the provisions of the Endangered Species Act. Directs the Secretaries concerned to report with recommendations to specified congressional committees on ways to increase the harvest of Pacific Yew if sufficient amounts of it cannot be harvested in compliance with this Act and other Federal law to supply the necessary amounts of taxol required for medicinal purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1991
Medicare Cancer Coverage Improvement Act of 1991 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover: (1) any use of a drug in an anticancer chemotherapeutic regimen if such use has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, published in peer-review medical literature, or included in one or more of three specified medical compendia; and (2) an oral form of a drug prescribed for such a use in an anticancer chemotherapeutic regimen if the drug contains the same active ingredients as a drug that would be covered if administered as incident to a physician's service. Requires a study and report to specified congressional committees on Medicare coverage of patient care costs associated with clinical trials of new cancer therapies.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1991
Head Start Entitlement Act of 1992 - Amends the Head Start Act to entitle all of specified eligible children who are three years of age or older to receive services through a Head Start program. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to reserve specified funds under such Act for parent-child centers.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1991
Second National Blue Ribbon Commission to Eliminate Waste in Government Act - Establishes the Second National Blue Ribbon Commission to Eliminate Waste in Government to: (1) conduct a private sector survey on management and cost control in the Federal Government; (2) review executive agency operations and existing General Accounting Office, Congressional Budget Office, Inspector General Reports, and other existing governmental and nongovernmental recommendations for reducing waste; and (3) submit to the President and the Congress a list of those recommendations with estimated savings that the Commission determines are most significant and recommendations for improving the budget process, management, and reducing waste and costs in the Government. Requires the Commission to identify, address, and to report to the President and the Congress on: (1) opportunities for increased efficiency and reduced costs in the Government that can be realized by executive action or legislation; (2) areas in the Government where managerial accountability can be enhanced and administrative control can be improved; (3) specific Federal programs that have accomplished their objectives and ought to be terminated; (4) specific Federal program services that could be provided at a lower cost by the private sector; (5) specific reforms of the budget process that would yield savings, increase accountability and efficiency, and enhance public confidence in the budget process; (6) specific areas in the Government where further study can be justified by potential savings; and (7) specific recommendations for legislative and administrative actions. Requires the Commission to be funded, staffed, and equipped, to the extent practicable and permitted by law, by the private sector without cost to the Government.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1991
Designates December 1, 1991, as World AIDS Day.
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1991
Nuclear Weapons Material Production Termination Act - Prohibits after August 1, 1992, the expenditure of funds by any Federal department or agency for: (1) the production of tritium, plutonium, or highly-enriched uranium for weapons; or (2) the procurement or construction of equipment or facilities for such production, other than for research purposes. Directs that savings achieved as the result of such prohibition shall be used for FY 1993 and thereafter for environmental restoration activities at Department of Energy nuclear weapons facilities. Directs the President to conduct five-year studies on the quantity of tritium needed by the United States and on the costs and environmental impacts of alternative methods of obtaining it. Requires the President to report study results to the Congress. States that the prohibition will no longer be in effect if the Congress, after receiving a report from the President, adopts a joint resolution which finds an overriding need to produce tritium.
United States · United States Congress · 14 November 1991
Sets forth U.S. policy on assistance to El Salvador. Permits funds made available for military assistance for El Salvador for FY 1992 in excess of $21,000,000 to be obligated only with the prior notification of specified congressional committees. Authorizes the transfer of such funds to the Demobilization and Transition Fund for El Salvador established under the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1991. Makes such funds available only for costs of the demobilization, retraining, relocation, and reemployment in civilian pursuits of former combatants in the conflict in El Salvador. Permits the obligation of amounts in the Fund only if the President, prior to obligation of funds, notifies: (1) specified congressional committees; and (2) the Congress that the El Salvadoran Government and representatives of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) have reached a permanent settlement of the conflict. Prohibits any U.S. assistance to El Salvador if the head of the El Salvadoran Government is deposed by military coup or decree. Resumes such assistance only pursuant to a law enacted by the Congress. Permits the delivery of military assistance to the armed forces of El Salvador only with the prior approval of the elected president of El Salvador.
United States · United States Congress · 14 November 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the President should suspend all International Military Educational Training Program funds to the Government of Indonesia, request a report by the United Nations (UN) Rapporteur on Torture on the November 12, 1991, massacre of civilians in East Timor by Indonesia security forces to the UN General Assembly, support the introduction of a resolution in the General Assembly instructing the UN Commission on Human Rights to appoint a Special Rapporteur for East Timor, and request that the Indonesian Government permit an investigation by the UN Special Rapporteur on Summary and Arbitrary Executions of the situation in East Timor and elsewhere in Indonesia and establish an independent commission to investigate the cause of the atrocity and to assist the prosecution of those responsible; (2) the American Ambassador to Indonesia should visit East Timor to investigate reports of the atrocity and of additional repression by Indonesian authorities; and (3) the American policy of de facto acceptance of Indonesia's incorporation of East Timor should be reassessed.
United States · United States Congress · 12 November 1991
House of Representatives Campaign Spending Limit and Election Reform Act of 1991 - Title I: Expenditure Limitations, Contribution Limitations, Matching Funds, and Reduced Third-Class Mail Rate for Eligible House of Representatives Candidates - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to set forth limitations regarding House of Representatives election expenditures, contributions, and matching funds. Limits aggregate contributions received and expenditures made by an eligible House of Representatives candidate in an election cycle to $600,000, with specified additional limitations in general, special, and runoff elections. Establishes the Make Democracy Work Fund (the Fund) for payment of funds and initial expenditures incurred by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in the administration of this Act. Outlines FEC examination, audit, and repayment procedures to determine candidate compliance with this Act. Subjects FEC actions to judicial review. Directs the FEC to report to the House of Representatives regarding: (1) candidate expenditures made and balances remaining in the Fund after each election; and (2) a detailed explanation and justification of rules, regulations, and forms it has issued under this Act. Precludes a House of Representatives candidate from receiving funds from the Make Democracy Work Fund without prior certification that any television commercial was prepared or distributed by the candidate in a manner that readily permits closed captioning of the commercial's oral content by way of specified broadcast technology. Amends Federal Postal Service law to provide reduced third-class mailing rates to eligible House of Representatives candidates during a general election period. Title II: Limitations on Political Committee and Large Donor Contributions That May Be Accepted By House of Representatives Candidates; Miscellaneous Provisions Relating To Contributions Under The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 - Sets forth limitations on political committee and large donor contributions (and contributions by dependents not of voting age) that may be accepted by House of Representatives candidates. Mandates that contributions to candidates from State and local political party committees be aggregated. Increases the amount that multicandidate political committees may contribute to national political party committees. Deems corporate or labor union expenditures for candidate appearances, debates, or voter guides to be contributions if the corporate or labor organization expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate or favors one candidate over another. Title III: Requirement of Budget Neutrality - Provides that the net costs of providing certain benefits under this Act must be fully offset by specified measures that either raise revenues or reduce spending by a specified deadline (thus achieving budget neutrality). Title IV: Independent Expenditures - Modifies definitions relating to independent expenditures. Sets forth reporting requirements for certain independent expenditures. Title V: Bundling and Soft Money - Prohibits any person from acting as conduit or intermediary for any contribution to any candidate, except in specified circumstances. States that such persons are likewise prohibited from conducting or participating in joint fundraising activities with or on behalf of any candidate. Sets forth limitations upon the combined political activities of political committees of political parties. Prohibits incumbents and candidates for Federal office from soliciting contributions to certain organizations substantially engaged in voter registration or get-out-the-vote campaigns. Mandates that political committees established and maintained by a national political party shall report all receipts and disbursements during the reporting period, whether or not in connection with an election for Federal office. Title VI: Prohibitions Relating to Political Committees and Foreign Nationals - Prohibits a candidate for Federal office from establishing, maintaining, or controlling any political committee other than a principal campaign committee, or certain authorized committees (thereby prohibiting the use of leadership committees). Allows such leadership committees to continue making contributions until one year after January 1, 1993, after which time all funds must be disbursed in one or more specified manners. Prohibits an unauthorized political committee from using the name of any candidate in any fundraising activity on its behalf in a context which suggests that the committee is the candidate's authorized committee. Prohibits a foreign national from controlling, influencing, or participating in election-related activities, including making contributions or expenditures relating to any political election or the administration of a political committee. Title VII: Campaign Surplus - Mandates that the funds exceeding $600,000 of incumbents who are House of Representatives candidates be deposited in a separate account subject to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. Title VIII: Campaign Advertising - Prescribes guidelines for campaign advertising related to: (1) printed communication; and (2) broadcast or cablecast communication. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to entitle House of Representatives candidates to the lowest unit rate charged by a licensee for the same amount of time (currently, the same class and amount of time for the same period on the same date, during the 30 (currently 45) days prior to the primary election and the 45 (currently 60) days prior to the general election). Prohibits the licensee from pre-empting such a candidate's use of the station except in an emergency. Title IX: Contribution Solicitation - Proscribes the solicitation of contributions by false representation by any person as a candidate or as a representative of a candidate or of a political party or committee. Title X: Reporting Requirements - Requires certain reports to identify any person (other than a committee) who contributes more than $50 (currently, more than $200). Directs the FEC to: (1) require with respect to specified reports that operating expenditures be reported on an election cycle basis, by category, as specified by the FEC; and (2) maintain computerized indices of contributions of $50.00 or more. Title XI: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 12 November 1991
Justice for Wards Cove Workers Act - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1991 to remove a provision excluding from application of the Act any disparate impact case filed before March 1, 1975, and decided after October 30, 1983. (Wards Cove Packing Co. Inc. v. Atonio, 1989, held that, in cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the burden is on the plaintiff to prove an employer had no business necessity for a practice with discriminatory effects.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 1991
Budget Process Reform Act of 1991 - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to: (1) eliminate the division of discretionary appropriations into three categories (defense, international, and domestic) for purposes of discretionary spending limits for FY 1993; and (2) consolidate them into a single limit for budget authority and outlay. Directs the Office of Management and Budget to recalculate any adjustments made to such spending limits before enactment of this Act under the sequestration provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Requires the President to report revised discretionary spending limits for FY 1993 to the Congress by the fifth day after enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 5 November 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Byelorussia (a.k.a. Belarus), Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan (a.k.a. Kirghizia) Moldavia (a.k.a. Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan should accept and implement all commitments on human rights, fundamental freedoms, and humanitarian cooperation contained in the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, or any other document of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe; and (2) the President should convey to the leaders of these republics that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is a vital element in achieving genuine security and cooperation in Europe and should keep the Congress informed of the status of human rights and fundamental freedoms in each of these republics.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 1991
Makes the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each even numbered year a legal public holiday known as Democracy Day (exept for purposes of statutes relating to pay and leave of Federal employees).
United States · United States Congress · 30 October 1991
Directs the President to transfer to the Demobilization and Transition Fund for El Salvador (established pursuant to the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1991) a specified amount of funds allocated for foreign military financing for El Salvador for FY 1992 under any joint resolution making continuing appropriations. Requires the transfer to the Fund of 50 percent of funds for such financing for El Salvador provided under such a joint resolution or the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1992 (excluding the funds released by the President) if a pardon (other than a pardon pursuant to an agreement between the parties to the conflict in El Salvador) is granted to any of the army officers convicted of the November 1989 murders at the University of Central America.
United States · United States Congress · 29 October 1991
Long Island Sound Restoration Act - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out a demonstration program to make annual grants to the States of New York and Connecticut for: (1) demonstrating methods of restoring and maintaining the water quality of designated bays and harbors of Long Island Sound at which water quality standards pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act have not been achieved or at which other significant water quality degradation has occurred; (2) demonstrating the importance of controlling nonpoint sources of pollution in restoring and maintaining water quality; (3) enhancing opportunities for water-dependent recreational activities, maintaining a healthy ecosystem, protecting and enhancing marine life, minimizing health risks associated with human consumption of shellfish and finfish, and ensuring that social and economic benefits to the public associated with the Sound are advanced; and (4) advancing goals and recommendations of the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan of the Long Island Sound Study. Requires the States of New York and Connecticut, in order to be eligible for grants, to designate bays and harbors of the Sound at which eligible activities will be carried out. Sets forth designation requirements. Requires grants to be used to: (1) carry out eligible activities and monitoring programs at designated bays and harbors; and (2) educate the public on the implementation and results of such activities. Allocates 2/3 and 1/3 of the amounts appropriated in a fiscal year for such grants to New York and Connecticut, respectively. Sets the non-Federal share of the costs of such activities at 30 percent. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 1991
Nuclear Testing Moratorium Act - Prohibits the Secretary of Energy from conducting any explosive nuclear weapons test during the one-year period following the enactment of this Act unless the President certifies to the Congress that the Soviet Union has conducted such a test during such period.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an individual the following qualified employer-provided transportation fringe benefits: (1) the value of transportation in a commuter highway vehicle between the employee's residence and workplace; and (2) up to $60 per month of the value of any transit pass entitling the employee to transportation on mass transit facilities. Provides that the exclusion from gross income for the working condition fringe benefit includes employer-provided parking on or near a location from which the employee commutes to work by mass transportation, by vanpool, or by carpool.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 1991
Designates November 24 through 30, 1991, and November 22 through 28, 1992, as National Adoption Week.
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 1991
Commends: (1) the participants in the Middle East Peace Conference scheduled to convene in Madrid on October 30, 1991; (2) Secretary of State Baker for bringing the parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict to the negotiating table; (3) President Bush for his support of the peace process; and (4) Israel and the Soviet Union for resuming diplomatic relations. Encourages: (1) the participants to continue to overcome their distrust and enmity in the pursuit of peace and security; and (2) Secretary Baker to continue his active role to facilitate the parties in their direct negotiations. Restates the Congress's unequivocal support of, and commitment to, the peace process.
United States · United States Congress · 22 October 1991
Designates 1992 as the Year of Reconciliation Between American Indians and Non-Indians.
United States · United States Congress · 21 October 1991
Medicaid Moratorium Amendments of 1991 - Amends the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenues Act of 1988 to: (1) delay until September 30, 1992, the issuance of regulations changing the treatment under the Medicaid program (title XIX of the Social Security Act) of voluntary contributions and provider-specific taxes; and (2) maintain current regulations that allow intergovernmental transfers as a source of a State's expenditures for which Federal matching funds are available under the Medicaid program. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to submit to specified congressional committees a report on: (1) regulations to limit the use of voluntary contributions and provider-specific taxes to obtain Federal financial participation; (2) specific types of voluntary contributions and provider-specific taxes that may be used as sources of State expenditures for which Federal financial participation is available; and (3) any legislation that the Secretary believes is appropriate. Sets forth budget compliance provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 17 October 1991
Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require that a complaint alleging discrimination in Federal Government employment be filed with the department, agency, or unit within one year after the alleged discrimination occurs.
United States · United States Congress · 17 October 1991
Designates January 4 through 10, 1992, as Braille Literacy Week.
United States · United States Congress · 17 October 1991
Designates the week of February 2 through 8, 1992, as Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 16 October 1991
Designates March 1992 as Irish-American Heritage Month.
United States · United States Congress · 16 October 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) U.S. policy toward the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should be guided by a conviction that the interests of international security must take precedence over any conflicting interests in promoting nuclear commerce; and (2) the United States should encourage the IAEA to introduce reforms to strengthen its ability to pursue its safeguards objectives. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should undertake bilateral and multilateral initiatives to maintain and enhance international confidence in the effectiveness of IAEA safeguards and in other multilateral undertakings to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons, including initiatives for: (1) building international support for the principle that nuclear supply relationships must require purchasing nations to agree to full-scope international safeguards; (2) encouraging each nuclear weapon state to undertake a comprehensive review of its own procedures for declassifying information relating to the design or production of nuclear explosive devices and to investigate any measures that would reduce the risk of such information contributing to nuclear weapons proliferation; (3) arranging for timely payment of annual financial contributions by all IAEA members; and (4) seeking agreement among the parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to apply IAEA safeguards in perpetuity and to establish new limits on the right to withdraw from that Treaty. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should direct the U.S. representatives to the IAEA to work toward the early adoption of reforms in the implementation of the safeguards responsibilities of the IAEA, including: (1) making public the IAEA's annual safeguards implementation report, establishing a public registry of commodities in international nuclear commerce, and creating a public repository of current nuclear trade control laws, agreements, regulations, and enforcement and judicial actions by IAEA member nations; (2) enabling the IAEA to issue fines for violations of safeguards procedures, pay rewards for information on possible safeguards violations, and establish a hotline for reporting such violations and other illicit uses of weapons-grade nuclear material; (3) implement special inspections of undeclared nuclear facilities and seeking authority for the IAEA to conduct challenge inspections on demand at suspected nuclear sites; and (4) developing with other IAEA member states an agreement on procedures to expedite approvals of visa applications by IAEA inspectors. Directs the President, within six months, to submit to specified congressional committees a report describing the bilateral and multilateral initiatives which the President has taken during the period since the enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 1991
Condemns the unconstitutional military junta in Haiti. Supports the restoration of the legitimately elected government of President Aristide and the peace efforts of the Organization of American States. Calls upon: (1) the Attorney General to temporarily suspend the forced return of Haitian nationals during this crisis; (2) the Coast Guard to begin a coordinated search and rescue at sea operation with respect to Haitians fleeing Haiti; and (3) the Aristide government, upon its restoration, to respect and promote the human rights of all Haitian citizens.
United States · United States Congress · 8 October 1991
Economic Equity Act - Title I: Employment Opportunities - Subtitle A: Nontraditional Employment for Women Act - Nontraditional Employment for Women Act - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act to modify requirements regarding women in nontraditional employment (defined as occupations or fields where women comprise less than 25 percent of the individuals) relating to: (1) job training plans and coordination and special services plans; (2) the duties of the State job training coordinating council; and (3) the use of certain funds. Requires States to develop demonstration programs to train and place women in nontraditional employment. Subtitle B: Worker Retraining Act of 1991 - Worker Retraining Act of 1991 - Mandates grants to not more than ten States to plan, establish, and operate worker retraining initiatives to allow employed low-income individuals to advance from low skill to higher skill positions. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Women in Apprenticeship Occupations and Nontraditional Occupations Act - Women in Apprenticeship Occupations and Nontraditional Occupations Act - Requires the Department of Labor to promote an outreach program to employers to inform employers of the availability of technical assistance in preparing the work place to employ women in apprenticeable occupations and other nontraditional occupations. Mandates a report to the Congress on the participation of women in apprenticeable and other nontraditional occupations. Subtitle D: Glass Ceiling Act of 1991 - Glass Ceiling Act of 1991 - Establishes a Glass Ceiling Commission to study and report to the President and appropriate committees of the Congress concerning: (1) eliminating artificial barriers to the advancement of women and minorities; and (2) increasing the opportunities and developmental experiences of women and minorities to foster advancement to management and decision making positions in business. Establishes the National Award for Diversity and Excellence in American Executive Management. Allows a recipient business to publicize the receipt of the award and use the award in its advertising, if the business agrees to help other U.S. businesses improve with respect to the promotion of opportunities and developmental experiences of women and minorities to foster the advancement of women and minorities to management and decision making positions. Authorizes appropriations. Terminates the Commission and the authority to make awards four years after enactment of this Act. Subtitle E: Women and Minorities in Science and Mathematics Act of 1991 - Women and Minorities in Science and Mathematics Act of 1991 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 with regard to women and minorities who are underrepresented in science and mathematics to mandate grants and contracts for education programs. Modifies existing provisions regarding: (1) off-campus programs; (2) adult and continuing education staff development; (3) research and research application in adult and continuing education; (4) the "talent search" and "upward bound" programs; (5) midcareer teacher retraining; (6) school, college, and university partnerships; (7) professional development resource centers; (8) congressional teacher scholarships; (9) model and cooperative education; (10) graduate education programs; (11) Harris fellowships; (12) graduate assistance in areas of national need; (13) the Minority Science Improvement Program; and (14) science and engineering access programs. Subtitle F: Commission on the Advancement of Women in the Science and Engineering Work Forces Act - Commission on the Advancement of Women in the Science and Engineering Work Forces Act - Establishes the Commission on the Advancement of Women in the Science and Engineering Work Forces. Title II: Women in Business - Subtitle A: Act for Microenterprise - Act for Microenterprise - Amends the Social Security Act to exclude business assets from consideration in determining: (1) eligibility for aid and services to needy families with children (AFDC); and (2) income and resources in connection with provisions relating to supplemental security income (SSI). Excludes income from a business with five or fewer employees, during the first year of the business, from consideration in determining the amount of aid under AFDC and SSI. Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to require approval of any State law making unemployment compensation payable to individuals starting microenterprises. Requires State law to entitle an individual performing services in a microenterprise to receive regular or extended unemployment compensation. Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to allow assistance under certain provisions of the Act to be used for: (1) loans to commercial enterprises with five or fewer employees, one or more of whom own the enterprise; and (2) counseling, technical assistance, educational programs, planning, and training to facilitate such commercial enterprises. Amends the Small Business Act to set forth Congressional findings regarding microenterprises and implementation of loan programs under specified provisions of the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958. Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act to add references to microenterprise loans to provisions defining "qualified thrift investments." Requires each Federal banking agency to establish a division to be known as the Microenterprise Technical and Operations Office to offer technical assistance, training, outreach, and other support. Subtitle B: Microlend for the Future Act - Microlend for the Future Act - Authorizes the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to make loans and grants to community based organizations for the startup and expansion of microenterprises, with the organizations using the loans to make loans and the grants to provide technical assistance to microenterprises. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Women's Business Procurement Assistance Act of 1991 - Women's Business Procurement Assistance Act of 1991 - Amends the Small Business Act to add references to small businesses owned and controlled by women to provisions concerning: (1) Government-wide goals for participation of small businesses in procurement; (2) U.S. policy on small business participation in Federal procurement and on timely payment by prime contractors to small business subcontractors; and (3) a clause required to be included in Federal agency contracts. Requires that each Federal agency having procurement powers: (1) designate a specialist responsible for programs to assist small businesses owned and controlled by women; and (2) engage in affirmative efforts to identify and solicit offers from such businesses. Establishes in the Small Business Administration the Office of Women's Business Ownership. Subtitle D: Equal Surety Bond Opportunity Act - Equal Surety Bond Opportunity Act - Prohibits discrimination by a surety in any aspect of a surety bond transaction: (1) on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, or age; (2) because the applicant has exercised any right under this title; or (3) because the applicant previously obtained a bond through certain means. Specifies activities not constituting discrimination. Provides for civil and equitable relief and prohibits a company from being approved as a surety by the Secretary of the Treasury unless the company is in full compliance with the requirements of this subtitle. Amends Federal Law to require surety companies to be in compliance with this subtitle. Subtitle E: Small Business Access to Surety Bonding Survey Act of 1991 - Small Business Access to Surety Bonding Survey Act of 1991 - Requires the Comptroller General to conduct a survey and report to specified congressional committees on the experiences of businesses, especially small businesses, in obtaining surety bonds from corporate surety firms. Title III: Economic Justice - Subtitle A: Pay Equity Technical Assistance Act - Pay Equity Technical Assistance Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor to carry out a continuing program regarding reducing or eliminating, conducting research on, and providing technical assistance concerning wage disparities based on sex, race, or national origin. Subtitle B: Legislative Pay Equity Study - Declares that it is congressional policy that persons employed in the legislative branch shall receive equal pay for comparable work. Establishes the Commission on Employment Discrimination in the Legislative Branch. Subtitle C: Part-Time and Temporary Workers Protection Act - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to set forth special participation, vesting, and accrual rules applicable to part-time and temporary employees. Allows limited reductions in employer-provided group health plan premiums for part-time employees. Modifies, for provisions relating to protection of employee benefit rights, the definition of "employee" to include persons who have performed at least 500 hours of service per year. Subtitle D: Child Support Enforcement Improvements Act of 1991 - Child Support Enforcement Improvements Act of 1991 - Shields a depository institution from liability under Federal or State law for disclosing any financial record of an individual to a State child support enforcement agency attempting to establish, modify, or enforce a child support obligation. Prohibits the recipient enforcement agency from improperly disclosing the information and provides for civil damages. Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to allow a consumer reporting agency to furnish a consumer report to such an enforcement agency that is making such an attempt. Amends the Social Security Act to require that a State plan for child and spousal support include certain procedures relating to the provision by an absent parent of medical insurance coverage for one or more children of a custodial parent. Increases the incentive payment to States for successful enforcement of court orders for the coverage. Modifies requirements concerning: (1) regulation of the interception of refunds from the internal revenue service; and (2) employer withholding of support payments. Provides for a national network to build on the statewide child support enforcement systems States are developing. Subtitle E: Dependent Care Tax Credit Refundability - Amends the IRC to allow as a limited refundable credit a portion of: (1) expenses for household services and for the care of a qualifying individual; and (2) respite care expenses. Subtitle F: Pell Grant Eligibility Expansion Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to remove provisions prohibiting, in certain circumstances, basic educational opportunity grants (BEOGs) to less than half-time students. Subtitle G: Federal Council on Women Act - Federal Council on Women Act - Establishes in the legislative branch the Federal Council on Women to make recommendations on a wide range of issues and concerns relating to women. Title IV: Retirement Equity - Subtitle A: Pension Reform Act of 1991 - Pension Reform Act of 1991 - Amends the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to modify requirements relating to the effective date of the application of nondiscrimination rules to integrated plans. Amends the IRC to repeal provisions relating to nondiscrimination requirements and permitted disparity with regard to contributions to pension plans, including simplified pension plans. Modifies minimum coverage requirements for qualified pension, profit-sharing, and stock bonus plans with regard to whether an employer operates separate lines or a single line of business. Amends the IRC and ERISA to modify minimum vesting standards to remove provisions relating to multiemployer plans. Requires the Comptroller General to report to specified congressional committees on alternative: (1) methods of requiring employee pension benefit plans to provide cost-of-living and other adjustments to benefits; and (2) pension portability mechanisms for preserving and enhancing the real value of deferred vested pension benefits. Allows a domestic relations court order entered after enactment of this Act and amending an order originally entered before 1985 to be considered a qualified domestic relations order for purposes of certain provisions of the Retirement Equity Act of 1984. Subtitle B: Spousal Pension Equity Act - Spousal Pension Equity Act - Amends provisions of the IRC relating to limitations on the amount of annual compensation taken into account to prohibit aggregation of spousal incomes when both spouses are licensed to perform services in the same professional field and perform the services for the employer. Subtitle C: Social Security Care Provider Act of 1991 - Social Security Care Provider Act of 1991 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to change the formula for determining the number of an individual's benefit computation years. Subtitle D: Social Security Modernization Act of 1991 - Social Security Modernization Act of 1991 - Amends OASDI to require, provided this method increases benefits, that the combined earnings of an individual and his or her spouse, during their marriage, be divided equally for determining OASDI benefits. Terminates the amendment made by this subtitle after the year 2015. Mandates studies every five years by the appropriate congressional committees to determine the effect of the termination on beneficiaries. Subtitle E: Former Military Spouses - Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to apply amendments relating to retired pay to any divorces, dissolutions of marriage, annulments, and legal separations (currently, to any such events that occur more than 90 days after enactment of the Act). Subtitle F: Federal Employees Former Spouses - Amends the Civil Service Retirement Spouse Equity Act of 1984 to modify requirements for entitlement of a former spouse of a Federal employee or Member of Congress to a survivor annuity. Allows any former spouse who becomes eligible, because of this subtitle, for a survivor annuity, to enroll in a health benefits plan under specified provisions of Federal law.
United States · United States Congress · 8 October 1991
Telecommunications Act of 1991 - Title I: Infrastructure Development - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for the establishment of a Federal-State Joint Board to impose and enforce network quality standards upon common carriers (CC) to ensure the continued maintenance and evolution of CC facilities and services. Directs the Board to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to establish standards, to be enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the State commissions as to matters within their respective jurisdictions, for measuring CC network quality. Requires each CC to submit to the Board a quarterly data report regarding compliance with the prescribed standards. Authorizes the Board to require periodic independent audits of CC compliance with such standards. Directs the FCC to establish enforcement penalties and procedures, including expedited customer complaint mechanisms, to ensure CC compliance with such standards. Requires each local exchange carrier (LEC) to provide interconnection, on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis, to CCs and other providers of telecommunications and information services who request it, and to provide the interconnecting party with physical colocation, unless it demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that physical colocation is not technically practicable, in which case virtual colocation is required. Specifies that a rural exchange carrier (REC) shall not be required to provide interconnection to another LEC. Directs the FCC to: (1) adopt and make effective rules to enforce the obligations imposed by such Act; and (2) initiate a rulemaking to require that the interconnection offered by an LEC pursuant to such Act provide for the portability of telephone numbers. Requires the FCC to revise its order entitled "Filing and Review of Open Network Architecture Plans" to require that: (1) the plans for compliance with such order offer unbundled features and functions; (2) such features and functions are made available on a reasonably uniform basis by all of the CCs subject to such order, and are accessible throughout the service territory of each such carrier; (3) such plans include a schedule for timely offering of new features and functions; and (4) CCs subject to such order not unreasonably discriminate between affiliated and unaffiliated providers of information services in offering tariffed and non-tariffed features, functions, and capabilities. Directs the FCC, at least once every three years, to: (1) conduct a proceeding in which interested parties shall have an opportunity to comment on whether the order, as further revised, and the plans filed pursuant to it, have opened the networks of the carriers subject to such order to reasonable and non-discriminatory access by providers of telecommunications and information services; and (2) revise such order as necessary or appropriate and require the CCs subject to the order to file new plans consistent with such revisions, which shall also be subject to public comment and FCC review prior to their becoming effective. Restricts the release of personally identifiable customer information obtained or collected by an LEC in the course of providing telephone exchange information. Requires: (1) an LEC to prepare and file tariffs in accordance with such Act with respect to the interconnection and network access services required under such Act; (2) the costs that an LEC incurs in providing such services to be borne solely by the users of the features and functions comprising such services; and (3) the FCC to review such tariffs to ensure that the charges for such services are cost-based and the terms and conditions contained in such tariffs do not bundle together any separable elements, features, or functions. Requires: (1) an LEC to submit supporting information with its tariffs for interconnection and network access services that is sufficient to enable the FCC and the public to determine the relationship between the proposed changes and the costs of providing such services; and (2) the submission of such information to be pursuant to rules adopted by the FCC to ensure that similarly situated carriers provide such information in a uniform fashion. Authorizes an LEC to include in its tariffs for interconnection services an element intended to recover the amount necessary to preclude any substantial increases in the rates for telephone exchange service (service) that would otherwise result from the offering of interconnection services, subject to specified requirements. Directs the FCC to adopt and make effective rules governing the calculating of such element. Specifies that any amounts recovered by the LEC through the imposition of this additional element shall be used to defray the costs of providing service. Specifies that the resale of service in conjunction with the furnishing of an interstate telecommunications or any information service shall not be prohibited or subject to unreasonable conditions by the FCC, any State, or any LEC. Requires the FCC to: (1) adopt and make effective rules for the conduct of coordinated network planning by CCs; and (2) initiate an inquiry to examine the effects of competition in the provision of telephone exchange access and service on the availability and rates for service furnished by RECs. Directs the FCC to provide for expedited: (1) review of complaints alleging violations of service, quality, network access, and interconnection rules; and (2) licensing of new technologies or services related to the furnishing of telecommunications or information services determined to be in the public interest. Title II: Provisions Affecting Divested Operating Companies - Authorizes a divested operating company or affiliate (DOC) to provide information services, subject to specified requirements. Bars a DOC from offering electronic publishing services in any State in which it provides service until the FCC, after notice and opportunity for public comment, determines that: (1) at least 50 percent of all businesses and residences within the areas in each State in which such DOC provides service have access to transmission and switching facilities (other than those owned or controlled by a DOC) that are comparable to those offered by the DOC for the delivery of electronic publishing services; (2) at least ten percent of all businesses and residences within the areas in each State in which such DOC provides service subscribe to services delivered over such alternative facilities; and (3) the DOC seeking to provide such services has demonstrated that there is no substantial possibility that the DOC could use its position as an LEC to impede competition in the provision of electronic publishing services or impose additional costs upon service subscribers. Permits a DOC to petition the FCC for a waiver of restrictions on electronic publishing imposed under such Act. Requires such petition to be granted if the DOC can demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that: (1) electronic publishing service would not exist unless offered by such DOC; and (2) the provision of such DOC would not impose additional costs upon service subscribers. Sets forth additional requirements. Permits a DOC to provide information services after October 1, 1991, only through a subsidiary that is separated from the service operations of the divested company, with exceptions. Provides for a minimum number of outside directors. Specifies that any transaction between a DOC and any other affiliate of such DOC (including the subsidiary): (1) shall not be based upon any preference or discrimination arising out of the affiliation, or have the effect of permitting any violation of the requirements of such Act; and (2) shall be carried out in the same manner as such company or affiliate conducts such business with unaffiliated persons, shall be pursuant to contract or tariff reported to the FCC and made available for public inspection, and shall be fully auditable and reflect all costs associated with the conduct of such business. Bars such subsidiary from: (1) entering into any joint venture or partnership with the DOC; (2) having employees or a financial structure in common with the DOC, except as provided in such Act; (3) owning any property in common with a DOC; or (4) establishing any other subsidiary or affiliate except after notice to the FCC in such form and containing such information as the FCC may require. Requires such subsidiary to: (1) carry out directly its own marketing, sales, accounting, hiring and training of personnel, purchasing, and maintenance; and (2) maintain books, records, and accounts, prepare its own financial statements, and prepare and file with the FCC the annual and periodic reports required of publicly traded companies by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sets forth additional provisions with respect to: (1) advertising; (2) securities information; (3) outside ownership; (4) transmission capacity; (5) preservation of separate subsidiary requirements for grandfathered functions; (6) provision of services and information to others on the same terms and conditions as provided to the subsidiary; and (7) a cost allocation system requirement to prohibit any cost of providing information services from being subsidized by revenue from service or access services. Requires the FCC to establish cost assignment and allocation regulations, under which joint and common costs shall be allocated to unregulated services under a formula that ensures that the rates for service are no greater than they would have been in the absence of such investment, or based upon the highest forecast unregulated usage of the investment over the life of the investment, whichever method results in the lesser allocation of such costs to service. Directs the FCC, by regulation, to ensure that the economic risks associated with the provision of information services by DOCs are not borne by service customers in the event of a business loss or failure. Prohibits: (1) investments or other expenditures assigned to information services from being reassigned to service or access service; and (2) any DOC affiliate which is providing information services and is required to be, or is, structurally separate from an affiliate engaged in the provision of service from obtaining credit under any arrangement that would permit a creditor, upon default, to have recourse to the assets of the DOC, or would induce a creditor to rely on the tangible or intangible assets of the DOC in extending credit. Requires the FCC to prescribe regulations governing the accounting for the transfer of assets between a DOC and its affiliates which protect the interests of service ratepayers and meet specified requirements. Establishes an annual auditing requirement for each DOC that engages in, or has a financial or management interest in an entity that provides, information services. Sets forth provisions with respect to the conduct of the audit, submission and certification of audit results, and access to documents. Requires the FCC and a State commission, within their respective jurisdictions, to require a DOC to assess any affiliate providing information services a charge for the reasonable value of any intangible assets used in the provision of such services and to credit the amount of such charge to the provision of service. Bars a DOC from providing electronic publishing services, other than those it provided on or before October 1, 1991, in any State in which such DOC provides service, unless and until all entry barriers to the competitive provision of telecommunications services imposed by each State or State commission in which such DOC service have been removed with respect to such DOC. Requires any DOC that offers a gateway service to make such service available concurrently to all of its subscribers at the same rates, terms, and conditions. Sets forth enforcement provisions with respect to persons injured by a violation of requirements under such Act. Directs the FCC to take such actions as necessary to: (1) prevent anticompetitive practices between a DOC and any affiliate of the DOC; (2) protect ratepayers of DOCs from subsidizing the provision of information services by such DOCs; and (3) prevent any DOC from imposing any unjust or unreasonable rates or charges for any CC services provided in connection with the provision of information services. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes a State to regulate the rates, terms, or conditions for the offering of information services, subject to specified requirements. Bars a State from imposing regulations upon an LEC with respect to the intrastate provision of information services by such carrier or affiliate if such regulations: (1) are necessary and appropriate to separate the provision of information services from the provision of service by such carrier or affiliate; (2) are intended to protect the privacy rights of service customers; (3) do not affect the rates, terms, or conditions for the provision of such information services or the types of such services offered by such carrier or affiliate; and (4) are not inconsistent with the purposes, or do not significantly impede the enforcement, of this Act or any regulation or order prescribed by the FCC pursuant to this Act. Specifies that: (1) nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit State authority to take actions, consistent with this Act, to ensure the availability of service at reasonable rates in areas served by RECs, to relieve a DOC of any obligations, limitations, or responsibilities imposed by any other provision of such Act, or to create any antitrust immunity to any civil or criminal action under Federal or State antitrust law, or alter or restrict the applicability of any Federal or State law to the actions of a DOC; and (2) a DOC shall remain fully subject to the order entered on August 24, 1982, in United States v. Western Electric Company .
United States · United States Congress · 8 October 1991
Sets forth congressional findings with respect to China's: (1) exploiting the labor of Chinese prisoners to produce cheap products for export; (2) detaining many prisoners past the expiration of their sentences in violation of internationally recognized human rights; and (3) holding such prisoners in conditions that fall below international standards for the treatment of prisoners. Urges China to: (1) allow international inspections of detention places suspected of producing export goods; (2) release the texts of government policies regarding such exportation; (3) detail steps it will take to prohibit the export of Chinese prison-made products; and (4) reform the Chinese political, judicial, penal, and economic systems so that Chinese citizens are not jailed for their political and religious beliefs (and receive fair and open trails for any crimes of which they are accused), Chinese prisoners are compensated for their work, and workplace conditions in Chinese prisons are safe and humane. Urges Hong Kong and other nations through which Chinese products are transshipped to: (1) prohibit the importation of Chinese forced labor products; and (2) investigate trading companies suspected of dealing in prison-made goods.
United States · United States Congress · 3 October 1991
Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Act - Amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program to examine marine mammal health and effectively coordinate responses to strandings and unusual mortality events. Requires the Secretary to establish: (1) as part of the Program, a stranding response program; and (2) an emergency response group (ERG) of marine science and conservation experts which the Secretary shall utilize to respond to marine emergencies or unusual mortality events (emergencies). Requires the ERG to: (1) assist the Secretary in determining when an emergency is occurring; (2) develop contingency plans for responding to such emergencies; (3) assist the Secretary in formulating a response plan for particular emergencies; and (4) identify individuals or organizations at a regional or local level who could, in times of such emergencies, assist the Secretary in implementing a coordinated and effective response. Directs the ERG to develop, and the Secretary to issue, contingency plans for responding to such emergencies. Establishes in the Treasury the Marine Mammal Emergency Response Contingency Fund. Authorizes the Secretary to accept, solicit, and use the services of volunteers, and accept and use gifts, devises, and bequests to carry out the stranding response and emergency response programs. Directs the Secretary to: (1) coordinate facilities for the storage, preparation, examination, and archiving of marine mammal tissues, to be known as the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank; (2) establish criteria for access to such tissues; (3) issue guidance for marine mammal tissue collection, preparation, and archiving, tissue analysis, and quality assurance protocols to ensure uniformity in techniques and data reporting for such analysis; (4) monitor and determine the levels, and if possible the effects, of potentially harmful contaminants present in representative species and populations of marine mammals in U.S. coastal waters, using the most effective and advanced diagnostic technologies and tools practicable; and (5) develop and maintain a central data base for tracking and assessing data on marine mammals. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1991
Breast Cancer Screening Safety Act of 1991 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require certification in order for a facility to perform or interpret mammograms, inspect equipment, perform needle localizations or other procedures using mammography equipment, or conduct quality assurances oversight related to mammography. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue and renew certificates for up to two years. Allows the Secretary to approve a private nonprofit organization to be an accreditation body which meets certain requirements, including inspecting facilities. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish standards for facilities to assure the safety and accuracy of mammography; (2) specify organizations eligible to certify individuals to perform radiological procedures; (3) specify boards eligible to certify individuals to interpret screening mammograms; (4) establish standards regarding the qualifications for individuals to interpret screening mammograms; and (5) specify boards eligible to certify individuals to inspect screening mammography equipment and oversee quality assurance practices. Directs the Secretary to conduct annual announced and unannounced inspections of certified facilities. Provides for: (1) intermediate sanctions for certain violations; (2) suspension, revocation, and limitation of certificates; and (3) injunctions. Requires fees for certificate issuance and renewal, and for inspections, sufficient to cover costs. Requires annual publication of a list of facilities convicted of fraud and abuse, false billings, or kickbacks, facilities that have had certificates revoked, suspended, or limited, and facilities that have been the subject of a sanction or other similar matters. Allows the Secretary to exempt facilities in a State with more stringent requirements from compliance with this Act. Directs the Secretary to: (1) make grants for research on new methods of establishing a Mammography Registry; and (2) based on the research, establish the Registry. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require that screening mammographies paid for under Medicare be performed by a facility: (1) certified under this Act; and (2) in compliance with specified provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1991
Cancer Screening Incentive Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a refundable tax credit for expenditures (not paid by insurance or otherwise) incurred by the taxpayer for qualified cancer screening tests.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1991
Resolution Trust Corporation Reform and Accountability Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to provide specified additional funding to the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC). Suspends RTC funding upon failure to provide certain financial statements. Limits RTC legal services payments. Prohibits RTC employment of certain former savings association directors and officers. Repeals the provision permitting the use of brokered deposits for certain conservatorships. Directs the General Accounting Office to conduct an RTC privatization study.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1991
Hazardous Materials Listing Act - Amends transportation law to provide for the designation of materials that may pose an unreasonable risk to the environment when transported as hazardous materials. Amends the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 to include in emergency powers the authority to abate situations which involve a hazard of substantial harm to the environment. Requires the Secretary of Transportation, in the administration of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act, to consult on a regular basis with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that the designation of hazardous materials includes all hazardous materials that may be accidentally discharged into the air, water, or soil by any carrier.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1991
Amends the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to require the Secretary of Transportation to also designate as hazardous materials under such Act any material designated by the Coast Guard as a hazardous material when shipped by water.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1991
Medicare EKG Payment Restoration Act of 1991 - Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) reestablish separate payment for the interpretation of electrocardiograms (EKGs) that are ordered or performed during an office visit or consultation with a physician; and (2) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish separate fee schedule amounts for EKG interpretations and to adjust the relative values established for office visits to or consultations with a physician to reflect the establishment of such separate fee schedule amounts. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish practice guidelines for the use of EKGs for dissemination along with other educational information relating to the use of EKGs to physicians; (2) develop a profile of the use of EKGs by physicians; and (3) conduct a study and report to the Congress on the utilization and costs of EKGs.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that it is inappropriate for the Federal Government to take actions that have the effect of preempting the tax decisions of State governments. Protests the decision of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to prohibit Federal payments under the Medicaid program (title XIX of the Social Security Act) relating to State Medicaid expenditures that are made from revenues derived from provider-specific taxes. Urges the Secretary to drop the proposed rule implementing his decision.