United States · United States Congress · 13 February 2001
Family Opportunity Act of 2001 or Dylan Lee James Act - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) give States the option of allowing families of disabled children to purchase Medicaid coverage for such children; and (2) provide for treatment of inpatient psychiatric hospital services for individuals under age 21 under waivers allowing for payment of part or all of the cost of home or community-based services. Authorizes a State to apply to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for approval of a demonstration project to provide Medicaid coverage of up to a specified maximum number of children with a potentially severe disability. Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to make appropriations to the Secretary for special projects of regional and national significance for development and support of family-to-family health information centers. Amends SSA title XIX to provide for the restoration of Medicaid eligibility to certain SSI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSA title XVI) beneficiaries under age 21.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2001
Blind Empowerment Act of 2001 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to increase, by specified increments over five years, the level of earnings demonstrating the ability of a blind person to engage in substantial gainful activity for purposes of determining disability insurance benefit payments.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2001
Apples for Teachers Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) make the two percent floor on miscellaneous itemized deductions inapplicable to the qualified professional development expenses incurred by teachers; and (2) allow a credit to elementary and secondary school teachers who provide classroom materials.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 2001
Directs the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) purchase the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Complex in Dixon, Illinois, and related personal property; (2) designate the Complex as the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site; (3) enter into a cooperative agreement with the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home Foundation for the management, operation, and use of the Site; and (4) complete a general management plan for the Site.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 2001
Veterans Outpatient Care Access Act of 2001 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide needed medical services from sources outside the Department of Veterans Affairs when veterans are informed that the waiting period for such services in a Department outpatient clinic will be six months or longer.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 2001
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the current dollar limitation on the deduction for interest on educational loans provision and replace it with a limitation on such deduction based on modified adjusted gross income. Repeals the 60-month limitation period on the allowance of the interest deduction on such loans.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 2001
National Advisory Commission on Tax Reform and Simplification Act of 2001 - Establishes within the legislative branch a National Advisory Commission on Tax Reform and Simplification which shall review and, when applicable, issue proposals on: (1) the present structure and provisions of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) whether tax systems imposed under the laws of other countries could provide more efficient, simple, and fair methods of funding the revenue requirements of the Government; (3) whether the income tax should be replaced with a tax imposed in a different manner or on a different base; and (4) whether the Internal Revenue Code can be simplified, absent wholesale restructuring or replacement. Authorizes appropriations for the Commission. Terminates the Commission after the submission of a report.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2001
Broadband Internet Access Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish the broadband credit which shall be the sum of: (1) the current generation broadband credit; plus (2) the next generation broadband credit. Defines terms.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2001
Postmasters Fairness and Rights Act of 2001 - Amends Federal law to prescribe guidelines within which the Postal Service shall propose changes in pay policies, schedules, and fringe benefit programs affecting postmasters which are to be in effect during the period covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the Postal Service and certain recognized bargaining representatives. Grants certain qualified postmasters' organizations the right to participate in program planning and development pertaining to pay policies, schedules, and fringe benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2001
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal Subchapter B (Communications) of Chapter 33 (Facilities and Services) of Subtitle D (Miscellaneous Excise Taxes).
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2001
IRA Fairness Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the annual limitation on deductible individual retirement account contributions to $5000.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 2001
Capital Gains Tax Reduction Act of 2001 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the maximum capital gains tax rates for both individuals and corporations. Provides for the indexing of assets for determining gain or loss.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 2000
Veterans' Oral History Project Act - Requires the Director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to establish an oral history program to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of American war veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 2000
Debt Relief and Retirement Security Reconciliation Act - Division A: Debt Relief - Title I: Debt Reduction Lock-Box - Amends Federal public finance provisions to establish the Public Debt Reduction Payment Account in the Treasury. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to use amounts in the Account to pay at maturity, or redeem or buy before maturity, any Government obligation held by the public and included in the public debt. Provides that any obligation which is paid, redeemed, or bought with amounts from the Account shall be canceled and retired and prohibits its reissuance. Appropriates funds for the Account. Prohibits such appropriation from being considered as direct spending for purposes of pay-as-you-go provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). (Sec. 102) Reduces the public debt limit by the amount appropriated into the Account. (Sec. 103) Bars Account receipts and disbursements from being counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of : (1) the Federal Government budget as submitted by the President; (2) the congressional budget; or (3) the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act. (Sec. 105) Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the Account. Title II: Social Security and Medicare Lock-Box - Amends H. Con. Res. 290 (106th Congress) to replace a point of order in the House of Representatives or the Senate against consideration of any revision of such resolution or any concurrent budget resolution for FY 2002 that sets forth a deficit for any fiscal year with one that provides a point of order against consideration of any budget resolution that sets forth a surplus for any fiscal year that is less than the surplus of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for such year. Makes it out of order in the House or the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report if the enactment of the reported bill or resolution, the adoption and enactment of an amendment, or the enactment of a bill or resolution in the form recommended in the conference report would cause the on-budget surplus for any fiscal year to be less than the projected surplus of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for such year or increase the amount by which the on-budget surplus for any fiscal year would be less than such trust fund surplus for that year. Makes such point of order inapplicable to social security or Medicare reform legislation. Requires any Federal budget submitted by the President that recommends an on-budget surplus for any fiscal year that is less than the surplus of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for such year to include proposed legislative language for social security or Medicare reform legislation. Makes the lock-box requirements of H. Con. Res. 290 (106th Congress) and the preceding paragraph inapplicable upon the enactment of social security and Medicare reform legislation. Defines "social security reform legislation" and "Medicare reform legislation" as a bill or joint resolution to save social security or Medicare, respectively, that specifies that it constitutes reform legislation for purposes of such resolution. (Sec. 202) Requires any official Federal Government statement of the Federal or congressional budget surplus or deficit totals to exclude the outlays and receipts of the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Program under the Social Security Act. Requires such outlays and receipts to be submitted in separate social security budget documents. Division B: Retirement Security - Title XI: Individual Retirement Account Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) to increase the annual dollar Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contribution limit from $2,000 to $3,000 in 2001, $4,000 in 2002, and $5,000 in 2003, with indexing thereafter. Provides, for individuals age 50 and older, that such limit shall be $5,000 beginning in 2001, with indexing after 2003. Title XII: Expanding Coverage - Provides for increases in amounts of benefit and contribution limits. Sets indexes for inflation in various increments on such increased limits. (Sec. 1202) Revises requirements relating to plan loans for subchapter S owners, partners, and sole proprietors. (Sec. 1203) Revises specified top-heavy rules. Repeals family aggregation rules. Revises the definition of key employee. Provides that, at the election of the employer, any employee elective contribution to a plan shall not be taken into account for purposes of determining: (1) whether a plan is a top-heavy plan (or whether any aggregation group which includes such plan is a top-heavy group); or (2) compensation. Requires that employer matching contributions be taken into account for purposes of minimum contribution requirements. Revises requirements for qualifications. Provides for distributions during the last year before a determination date is taken into account. Excludes from the definition of top-heavy plan: (1) cash or deferred arrangements using alternative methods of meeting nondiscrimination requirements; and (2) defined contribution plans using alternative methods of meeting nondiscrimination requirements. Provides that elective deferrals will not be taken into account for purposes of a special rule where the maximum contribution is less than three percent. (Sec. 1204) Provides that elective deferrals shall not be taken into account for purposes of limits on certain plan contributions. (Sec. 1205) Repeals specified coordination requirements under the Code for deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations. (Sec. 1206) Eliminates user fee requirements for requests to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) concerning the status of pension plans. (Sec. 1207) Revises certain deduction limits for stock bonus and profit sharing trusts and for defined contribution plans. (Sec. 1208) Provides for optional treatment of elective deferrals as plus contributions. Title XIII: Enhancing Fairness for Women - Allows individuals who are age 50 or older to make additional contributions to an applicable employer plan (Section 401(k) plan or similar plan). Sets such maximum permitted additional contribution at $5,000, indexed in 2006 and thereafter. (Sec. 1302) Sets forth requirements relating to equitable treatment for contributions of employees to defined contribution plans. Increases the 25 percent of compensation limitation on annual additions under a defined contribution plan to 100 percent. Declares that certain contributions by church plans are not to be treated as exceeding a specified limit. Sets limits on contributions to a tax-sheltered annuity which are similar to the limits applicable to tax-qualified plans. Increases the 33 and one-third percent of compensation limitation on deferrals under a section 457 plan to 100 percent of compensation. (Sec. 1303) Provides for faster vesting of certain employer matching contributions under the Code. Requires employer matching contributions to vest at least as rapidly as under three-year cliff vesting or under six-year graded vesting that provides for a nonforfeitable right to 20 percent of employer matching contributions for each year of service beginning with the participant's second year of service and ending with 100 percent after six years of service. (Sec. 1304) Revises minimum distribution rules under the Code. Revises requirements for actuarial adjustment of benefits under a defined benefit plan. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) to: (1) simplify and finalize the regulations relating to minimum distribution requirements; and (2) modify such regulations to reflect increases in life expectancy, and revise required distribution methods so that, under reasonable assumptions, the amount of the required minimum distribution does not decrease over a participant's life expectancy. Provides that, during the first year that such revised regulations are in effect, required distributions for future years may be redetermined, with the opportunity to choose a new designated beneficiary and to elect a new method of calculating life expectancy. Excludes specified amounts from minimum distribution requirements. Repeals a rule relating to distributions begun before death occurs. Reduces the excise tax on failures to satisfy the minimum distribution rules to ten percent of the amount that was required to be distributed but was not distributed. (Sec. 1305) Revises requirements relating to tax treatment of division of section 457 plan benefits upon divorce. Applies the taxation rules for qualified plan distributions pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order to distributions made pursuant to a domestic relations order from a section 457 plan. Provides that a section 457 plan is not to be treated as violating the restrictions on distributions from such plans due to payments to an alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order. (Sec. 1306) Modifies provisions for safe harbor relief for hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. Directs the Secretary to reduce from 12 months to six months the period during which an employee is prohibited from making elective contributions and employee contributions in order for a distribution to be deemed necessary to satisfy an immediate and heavy financial need. Title XIV: Increasing Portability for Participants - Permits rollovers from and to various types of plans under the Code. (Sec. 1402) Permits individual retirement plan (IRA) rollovers into workplace retirement plans only if certain conditions are met. (Sec. 1403) Permits rollover of after-tax contributions in an exempt trust under specified conditions. (Sec. 1404) Sets forth a hardship exception to the 60-day rule. Authorizes the Secretary to waive the 60-day rollover period if the failure to waive such requirement would be against equity or good conscience, including cases of casualty, disaster, or other events beyond the reasonable control of the individual subject to such requirement. (Sec. 1405) Sets forth requirements for treatment of forms of distribution available under transferor and transferee plans under the Code. (Sec. 1406) Revises restrictions on distributions, including the same desk exception. Repeals business sale requirements. (Sec. 1407) Authorizes trustee-to-trustee transfers to purchase permissive service credit with respect to governmental defined benefit plans. (Sec. 1408) Allows employers to disregard rollovers for purposes of cash-out amounts, under retirement plan provisions of the Code. (Sec. 1409) Revises minimum distribution and inclusion requirements for section 457 plans. Title XV: Strengthening Pension Security and Enforcement - Revises the percentage of current liability funding limit. (Sec. 1502) Revises maximum contribution deduction rules. Applies such rules to all defined benefit plans. (Sec. 1503) Allows an employer, in determining the amount of nondeductible contributions for any taxable year, to elect not to take into account any contributions to a defined benefit plan except to the extent that they exceed the full-funding limitation. (Sec. 1504) Requires plan administrators of defined benefit plans (other than governmental plans and certain church plans) with more than 100 participants to notify plan participants and beneficiaries in advance of an amendment that significantly reduces the rate of future benefit accruals. Requires such notice to include sufficient information to allow participants and beneficiaries to understand the effect of the amendment. Imposes an excise tax on the employer or upon a multiemployer plan if the required notice is not provided. (Sec. 1505) Makes certain limitation rules (under section 415 of the Code) for defined benefit plans inapplicable to governmental or multiemployer plans. Sets forth special rules relating to the combination or aggregation of multiemployer plans. (Sec. 1506) Imposes an excise tax on employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) that engage in prohibited transactions with disqualified individuals who are deemed to be substantial shareholders of the corporation sponsoring the plan. Title XVI: Reducing Regulatory Burdens - Revises requirements relating to timing of plan valuations. (Sec. 1602) Allows applicable dividends of ESOPs to be reinvested without loss of dividend deduction. (Sec. 1603) Repeals a transition rule relating to certain highly compensated employees under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. (Sec. 1604) Directs the Secretary to modify certain regulations with respect to certain plan participation by employees of tax-exempt entities under the Code. (Sec. 1605) Treats the provision of certain retirement planning services by an employer to an employee as a de minimis fringe benefit to the extent it is not treated as a working condition fringe. Prohibits including an amount in an employee's gross income solely because the employee may choose between any retirement planning fringe and compensation otherwise includible in gross income, providing such choices are available in a way that does not discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees. (Sec. 1606) Directs the Secretary to provide simplified annual filing requirements for: (1) one-participant (an owner and spouse) retirement plans with assets below a specified amount; or (2) retirement plans for fewer than 25 employees. (Sec. 1607) Directs the Secretary to continue to update and improve the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), or any successor program, giving special attention to: (1) increasing the awareness and knowledge of small employers concerning the availability and use of EPCRS; (2) taking into account special concerns and circumstances that small employers face with respect to compliance and correction of compliance failures; (3) extending the duration of the self-correction period under the Administrative Policy Regarding Self-Correction (APRSC) for significant compliance failures; (4) expanding the availability to correct insignificant compliance failures under APRSC during audit; and (5) assuring that any tax, penalty, or sanction that is imposed by reason of a compliance failure is not excessive and bears a reasonable relationship to the nature, extent, and severity of the failure. (Sec. 1608) Repeals a multiple use test, and directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations, as necessary, including ones permitting appropriate aggregation of plans and contributions. (Sec. 1609) Directs the Secretary to provide by regulation circumstances under which plans can use a facts and circumstances test, which was in effect before 1994, to satisfy nondiscrimination, coverage, and line of business rules. (Sec. 1610) Exempts plans maintained by any governmental entity from certain nondiscrimination rules. (Sec. 1611) Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations to require: (1) that the applicable distribution notice period be not more than 180 (currently 90) and not less than 30 days before the date distribution commences; and (2) the description of a participant's right, if any, to defer receipt of a distribution include a description of the consequences of failing to defer such receipt. Title XVII: Plan Amendments - Prescribes requirements for plan amendments or annuity contract amendments under the Code.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2000
Debt Relief Lock-box Reconciliation Act for Fiscal Year 2001 - Title I: Debt Reduction Lock-Box - Amends Federal public finance provisions to establish the Public Debt Reduction Payment Account in the Treasury. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to use amounts in the Account to pay at maturity, or redeem or buy before maturity, any Government obligation held by the public and included in the public debt. Provides that any obligation which is paid, redeemed, or bought with amounts from the Account shall be canceled and retired and prohibits its reissuance. Appropriates funds for the Account. Prohibits such appropriation from being considered as direct spending for purposes of pay-as-you-go provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). (Sec. 102) Reduces the public debt limit by the amount appropriated into the Account. (Sec. 103) Bars Account receipts and disbursements from being counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of : (1) the Federal Government budget as submitted by the President; (2) the congressional budget; or (3) the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act. (Sec. 105) Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the Account. Title II: Social Security and Medicare Lock-Box - Amends H. Con. Res. 290 (106th Congress) to replace a point of order in the House of Representatives or the Senate against consideration of any revision of such resolution or any concurrent budget resolution for FY 2002 that sets forth a deficit for any fiscal year with one that provides a point of order against consideration of any budget resolution that sets forth a surplus for any fiscal year that is less than the surplus of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for such year. Makes it out of order in the House or the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report if the enactment of the reported bill or resolution, the adoption and enactment of an amendment, or the enactment of a bill or resolution in the form recommended in the conference report would cause the on-budget surplus for any fiscal year to be less than the projected surplus of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for such year or increase the amount by which the on-budget surplus for any fiscal year would be less than such trust fund surplus for that year. Makes such point of order inapplicable to social security or Medicare reform legislation. Requires any Federal budget submitted by the President that recommends an on-budget surplus for any fiscal year that is less than the surplus of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for such year to include proposed legislative language for social security or Medicare reform legislation. Makes the lock-box requirements of H. Con. Res. 290 (106th Congress) and the preceding paragraph inapplicable upon the enactment of social security and Medicare reform legislation. Defines "social security reform legislation" and "Medicare reform legislation" as a bill or joint resolution to save social security or Medicare, respectively, that specifies that it constitutes reform legislation for purposes of such resolution. (Sec. 202) Requires any official Federal Government statement of the Federal or congressional budget surplus or deficit totals to exclude the outlays and receipts of the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Program under the Social Security Act. Requires such outlays and receipts to be submitted in separate social security budget documents.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2000
Recognizes the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. Acknowledges the contributions of children with disabilities, their parents, teachers, related services personnel, and administrators. Reaffirms support for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act so that all children with disabilities have access to a free public education.
United States · United States Congress · 6 September 2000
Missing Children Tax Fairness Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat a child who was kidnapped by a nonfamily member as a dependent for purposes of the deduction for personal exemptions, the child credit, and the earned income credit.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2000
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions concerning tax-exempt insurance companies to: (1) require such a tax-exempt company to be solely and directly owned by its policyholders and operate only in one State; and (2) increase from $350,000 to $531,000 (adjusted annually for inflation) the maximum amount of premiums that may be written annually by such a company in order to remain tax-exempt.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2000
Resource Efficient Appliance Incentives Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a limited credit, for a limited time period, for producers of qualified energy efficient clothes washers and energy efficient refrigerators.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2000
Middle East Peace Process Support Act - Prohibits U.S. assistance to any unilaterally-declared Palestinian state. Directs the President to instruct the U.S. Representative to the United Nations to oppose admission to the United Nations of a unilaterally-declared Palestinian state or formal recognition by the United Nations of such a state.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2000
Rural America Prosperity Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make revisions concerning both farmers and non-farmers. Provides for, with respect to all taxpayers, among other things: (1) the repeal of the estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes; and (2) the deduction of 100 percent of health insurance costs for the self-employed. Provides for, with respect to farmers, among other things: (1) the limited exclusion of the gain from the sale of qualified farmland; and (2) a limited deduction for contributions to a Farm and Ranch Risk Management Account. Provides for a study of the costs of regulations on farmers, ranchers, and foresters. Reciprocal Trade Agreement Authorities Act of 2000 - Authorizes the President, whenever the President determines that one or more existing duties or other import restrictions of any foreign country or the United States are unduly burdening and restricting the foreign trade of the United States to enter into trade agreements with foreign countries (during a limited time period) which, among other things: (1) create more open, equitable, and reciprocal market access; (2) reduce or eliminate trade barriers that decrease market opportunities for U.S. exports; (3) expand market opportunities for U.S. exports; (4) obtain reciprocal tariff and non-tariff barrier elimination; and (5) free the transfer of funds relating to investments. Agricultural Trade Freedom Act - Amends the Agricultural trade Act of 1978 to exempt, subject to specified exceptions, agricultural commodities made available as a result of commercial sales from a unilateral trade sanction imposed by the United States on another country.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2000
Debt Relief Reconciliation Act for Fiscal Year 2001 - Amends Federal public finance provisions to establish the Public Debt Reduction Payment Account in the Treasury. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to use amounts in the Account to pay at maturity, or redeem or buy before maturity, any Government obligation held by the public and included in the public debt. Provides that any obligation which is paid, redeemed, or bought with amounts from the Account shall be canceled and retired and prohibits its reissuance. Appropriates funds for the Account. Prohibits such appropriation from being considered as direct spending for purposes of pay-as-you-go provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Reduces the public debt limit by the amount appropriated into the Account. Bars Account receipts and disbursements from being counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of : (1) the Federal Government budget as submitted by the President; (2) the congressional budget; or (3) the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act. Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the Account.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Privacy and Identity Protection Act of 2000 - Title I: Provisions Relating to the Social Security Account Number - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act (SSA) with regard to: (1) governmental use and treatment of social security account numbers, including restrictions on the sale of such account numbers by governmental agencies; and (2) prohibitions against public access to such account numbers in governmental agency possession, and against use of such account numbers on checks issued for payment by such agencies. (Sec. 101) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the current usage by governmental agencies of the Social Security account numbers of individuals, and derivatives of such numbers, for identification purposes; and (2) the most effective means by which any such usage extending beyond the original purposes of the Social Security account number may be minimized. Amends SSA title II to provide for independent verification of birth records provided in support of applications for Social Security account numbers. Directs the Commissioner of Social Security and the Attorney General to report jointly to Congress on the progress of the Social Security Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service in implementing a process for enumeration at entry for aliens entering the United States. Amends SSA title II to prohibit: (1) the appearance of Social Security account numbers on driver's licenses or motor vehicle registrations; and (2) the display of such account numbers, or any derivative, on any card or tag provided by governmental agencies to their employees for identification purposes. (Sec. 102) Provides for the regulation and restriction of the sale and purchase of the Social Security account number in the private sector. (Sec. 103) Amends SSA title II to subject criminal penalties the sale and purchase of Social Security account numbers. (Sec. 104) Amends SSA title XI with regard to civil monetary penalty authority concerning treatment of withholding of material facts, and application of civil money penalties to elements of criminal violations. (Sec. 105) Amends SSA titles II and XVI (Supplementary Security Income) (SSI) to provide authority for judicial orders of restitution in cases of Social Security payments obtained by fraud. Amends SSA title VII (Administration) to provide for the establishment of a special fund in the Treasury for receipt of restitution payments. (Sec. 106) Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for confidential treatment of credit report header information including the Social Security account number of the consumer or any derivative thereof. (Sec. 107) Amends SSA title VII to provide for law enforcement authority by special agents of the Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration. Title II: Provisions Relating to Representative Payees - Amends SSA titles II and XVI to authorize reissue to beneficiaries or alternative representative payees of OASDI and SSI benefits misused by organizational representative payees. (Sec. 202) Amends SSA titles II and XVI to provide for: (1) oversight of nongovernmental organizational representative payees and disqualification from service as a representative payee upon a felony conviction; (2) fee forfeiture in case of benefit misuse by such a representative payees; (3) liability of representative payees for misused benefits; and (4) extension of civil monetary penalty authority with respect to representative payees.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2000
Family Opportunity Act of 2000 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) give States the option of allowing families of disabled children to purchase Medicaid coverage for such children; and (2) provide for treatment of inpatient psychiatric hospital services for individuals under age 21 under waivers allowing for payment for part or all of the cost of home or community-based services. Authorizes a State to apply to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for approval of a demonstration project to provide Medicaid coverage to up to a specified maximum number of children with a potentially severe disability. Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to make appropriations to the Secretary for special projects of regional and national significance for development and support of family-to-family health information centers. Amends SSA title XIX to provide for the restoration of Medicaid eligibility to certain SSI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSA title XVI) beneficiaries under age 21.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2000
Medicare Access to Telehealth Services Act of 2000 - Amends the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to revise provisions on Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) reimbursement for telehealth services, among other changes: (1) providing for, in the case of any Federal telemedicine demonstration program in Alaska or Hawaii, the use of store-and-forward technology; and (2) requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study and report to Congress on certain additional services appropriate for Medicare payment.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2000
Broadband Internet Access Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish the broadband credit which shall be the sum of: (1) the current generation broadband credit; plus; (2) the next generation broadband credit. Defines terms. Requires a study and report.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit rural mail carriers to treat qualified vehicle expenses in excess of reimbursements as miscellaneous itemized deductions.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2000
Health Care Access and Rural Equality Act of 2000 - Title I: Increase in Market Basket Percentage Adjustment for Rural Hospitals - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for an increase in the market basket percentage adjustment for rural hospitals. Title II: Capital Relief for Rural Health Care Infrastructure - Amends part A (Determination of Benefits) of SSA title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to establish a Capital Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program under which the Secretary of Health and Human Services may make loans up to a specified amount from the loan and loan guarantee fund to any rural entity for projects for capital improvements. Title III: Refinement of the Medicare Dependent, Small Rural Hospital Program - Amends SSA title XVIII to make the Medicare-dependent, small rural hospital program permanent and to give any hospital under such program the option of basing eligibility for payment on discharges during any of the three most recent audited cost reporting periods in lieu of the current basing of eligibility for payment on discharges during the cost reporting period beginning in FY 1987. Title IV: Exemption for Medicare Swing Bed Hospitals - Amends SSA title XVIII to exempt Medicare swing bed hospitals from the prospective payment system for skilled nursing facilities. Amends the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 to make January 1, 2001, the effective date of the elimination of certain restrictions with respect to the hospital swing bed program. Title V: Treatment of Physician Pathology Services - Provides for the treatment of certain physician pathology services under Medicare. Title VI: Medicaid Payment Correction for Certain Rural Health Clinics - Prohibits a State plan approved under SSA title XIX (Medicaid) from recouping or denying certain alleged plan overpayments for rural health clinic services furnished on or after January 1, 1998, and before October 1, 2000. Prohibits the Secretary from withholding, suspending, disallowing, or denying Federal financial participation under Medicaid with respect to such overpayments. Requires the State or the Secretary, as the case may be, to pay to the rural health clinic or the State, as the case may be, any amounts recouped, denied, withheld, suspended, or disallowed. Title VII: Technical Corrections to the Balanced Budget Refinement Act - Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to: (1) payments to critical access hospitals for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests; (2) the all-inclusive payment option for outpatient critical access hospital services; and (3) the option to use rebased target amounts to all sole community hospitals. Makes technical corrections to the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 with regard to clinical diagnostic laboratory services furnished by a critical access hospital and other specified matters. Amends Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) to authorize the Secretary to make grants of up to a specified amount to applicant hospitals to assist eligible small rural hospitals in meeting the costs of establish data systems required to meet requirements established under Medicare pursuant to the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a small tax-exempt bond issuer, the proceeds of the obligations of which are to be used to make or finance eligible loans for health care or educational purposes, to elect to apply specified current limitations on the amount of obligations by treating each borrower as the issuer of a separate issue.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2000
Debt Reduction Reconciliation Act of 2000 - Amends Federal public finance provisions to establish the Public Debt Reduction Payment Account in the Treasury. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to use amounts in the Account to pay at maturity, or redeem or buy before maturity, any Government obligation held by the public and included in the public debt. Provides that any obligation which is paid, redeemed, or bought with amounts from the Account shall be canceled and retired and prohibits its reissuance. Provides that if the Congressional Budget Office estimates an on-budget surplus for FY 2000 in a report submitted to the congressional budget committees pursuant to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that exceeds the amount of the surplus for such fiscal year set forth in the concurrent resolution on the budget for FY 2001 (H. Con. Res. 290, 106th Congress), then an amount equal to that excess is appropriated into the Account for FY 2000. Prohibits such appropriation from being considered as direct spending for purposes of pay-as-you-go provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Reduces the public debt limit by the amount appropriated into the Account. Bars Account receipts and disbursements from being counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of : (1) the Federal Government budget as submitted by the President; (2) the congressional budget; or (3) the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act. Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on the Account.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2000
Gray Market Cigarettes Abolition Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to cigarettes manufactured for export, but which nevertheless are sold domestically. Sets additional restrictions on tobacco products labeled for export. Requires imported cigarettes to meet specified requirements of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, as well as other specified requirements. Establishes additional civil penalties for, and requires the forfeiture of, cigarettes sold for domestic consumption without the precise warnings required by the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 2000
Agricultural Opportunities Act - Title I: Agricultural Worker Registries - Directs the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to establish a database system of U.S. worker and eligible alien agricultural worker registries to provide temporary and seasonal agricultural job opportunity and referral information. States that such registries may be established as part of the "America's Job Bank" and "America's Talent Bank" databases. Bases registry coverage on job opportunities in a single State, except for the New England States which may be represented by a single registry. Requires prospective employers of H-2C visa agricultural workers to first apply for registry workers before a petition to import H-2C workers may be approved. Sets forth individual registrant requirements. States that an agricultural worker may apply for registry inclusion in the State of his or her residency. Grants referral preference to U.S. workers. Directs the Attorney General to establish an employment eligibility verification system. Title II: H-2C Program - Sets forth registry application requirements for H-2C employers and employer associations, including assurances: (1) that the job opportunity is not the result of a labor dispute, and is temporary or seasonal; (2) respecting required wages and benefits, and compliance with labor laws; (3) respecting advertising in the registry and other labor market sources, and contact of former employees; and (4) respecting provision of workers compensation. Provides that: (1) the Secretary, upon application approval, shall complete a registry search and notify an employer of available registered workers within seven days of the beginning work date; (2) if insufficient workers are available, the Secretary shall so notify an employer, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State; (3) an employer shall pay a user fee for each admitted alien worker; (4) an employer may apply directly to the Secretary of State for alien worker admissions if such worker referral has not been received within the seven-day period; and (5) an employer may file a request for redetermination of need. (Sec. 204) Sets forth employment requirements with respect to: (1) wages; (2) housing; (3) transportation reimbursement; and (4) obligation to employ U.S. workers. (Sec. 205) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish an alternative agricultural temporary worker program (H-2C visa) for admission of aliens who are outside the United States. Sets forth program provisions. States that nothing in this title shall preclude the Secretary and the Attorney General from continuing to apply special procedures to alien employment in the range production of livestock. Directs the Attorney General to establish an H-2C departure verification program. . Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Directs the Secretary to establish a process to receive and enforce complaints against employers by aggrieved persons or third party organizations (including bargaining representatives). Sets forth related provisions respecting: (1) expedited investigation of housing, wage, and child labor violations; (2) written notice of findings and opportunity for appeal; (3) ability of alien workers to change employers; and (4) remedies. Establishes the Commission on Housing Migrant Agricultural Workers which shall study the problem of in-season housing for migrant agricultural workers. Directs the Secretaries of Labor, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services to conduct a study of migrant worker child care, including the relationship between such child care and child labor violations in agriculture. Directs the Secretaries of Labor and Agriculture to conduct a study of agricultural field sanitation conditions. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of persistent and serious agricultural labor standards violations. (Sec. 302) Authorizes and requests the Attorney General to establish bilateral commissions between the United States and each country having specified numbers of H-2C workers in the United States. (Sec. 304) Directs the Secretary to establish registry user and alien employment user fee schedules and related collection processes. (Sec. 305) States that additional funds for agricultural worker registry startup costs may be taken from amounts available to Federal or State entities under the Wagner-Peyser Act. (Sec. 308) Sets forth the termination date for the this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 2000
Water Pollution Program Improvement Act of 2000 - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to make arrangements with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study on the: (1) scientific basis underlying the development and implementation of total maximum daily loads for pollutants in waters for which effluent limitations under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act are not stringent enough to implement applicable water quality standards; (2) costs of implementing measures to comply with such loads; and (3) availability of alternative programs or mechanisms to reduce the discharge of pollutants from point sources and nonpoint source pollution to achieve water quality standards. Requires the NAS to report on the study to the Administrator and specified congressional committees. Provides for Federal, State, and private sector comments on such report. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Administrator, before making a final determination with respect to the Proposed Revisions to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program and Federal Antidegradation Policy and the Proposed Revisions to the Water Quality Planning and Management Regulations Concerning Total Maximum Daily Loads of August 1999, to: (1) review the NAS report and incorporate recommendations into the proposed revisions; and (2) publish in the Federal Register and receive public comment on incorporated recommendations and those that weren't incorporated, with an explanation why they were not incorporated. Bars the Administrator from making such final determination until the conclusion of the public notice and comment period. Prohibits the Administrator, for purposes of ensuring that States continue to have exclusive authority to regulate nonpoint sources of pollution, from: (1) taking any action to affect any definition of, or distinction made between, point and nonpoint sources of pollution contained in an EPA rule in effect on June 1, 2000; and (2) requiring approval of any measures set forth by a State to control nonpoint sources of pollution pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, except as authorized under specified provisions regarding nonpoint source management programs.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 2000
Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) from taking any action to finalize, implement, or enforce the proposed rule entitled "Hours of Service of Drivers" published by FMCSA in the Federal Register on May 2, 2000. Requires the Administrator to extend by 90 days the period for public comment on such rule.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 2000
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Adjustment Act - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to prescribe a formula for periodic adjustments to the maximum amount of deposit insurance coverage ($100,000), including an inflation adjustment.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 2000
Declares that Federal funding for diabetes research should be increased in accordance with the recommendations of the Diabetes Research Working Group so that a cure for juvenile diabetes can be found.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 2000
Comprehensive Budget Process Reform Act of 2000 - Makes this Act effective for fiscal years beginning after September 30, 2001. Title I: Budget With Force of Law - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) to revise required contents of the annual budget resolution. Requires such resolution to set forth, for the current fiscal year and for at least each of the four ensuing fiscal years: (1) subtotals of new budget authority and outlays for nondefense and defense discretionary spending, direct spending (excluding interest), and interest; and (2) subtotals of new budget authority and outlays for emergencies, for fiscal years to which the amendments made by title II of this Act apply. (Current law requires the resolution to set forth levels of new budget authority and outlays for each major functional category.) Removes a provision which requires the resolution to exclude the outlays and revenue totals of the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program in surplus and deficit totals required under congressional budget process provisions. Revises matters which may be included in the budget resolution. Authorizes the resolution to change the statutory limit on the public debt if the amendment is submitted by the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives or the Senate Finance Committee to the appropriate Budget Committee. Requires the report accompanying the resolution to include: (1) new budget authority and outlays for each major functional category based on allocations of total levels; (2) a measure, as a percentage of gross domestic product, of total outlays, total Federal revenues, the surplus or deficit, and new outlays for nondefense discretionary, defense, and direct spending; and (3) a justification for not subjecting any program or activity for which an allocation is made to annual discretionary appropriations if the resolution includes any committee allocation (other than the Appropriations Committees) exceeding current law levels. Amends Federal provisions concerning elements of the President's required budget submission to Congress. Requires such submission to include, for the affected fiscal year and at least each of the nine ensuing fiscal years: (1) totals of new budget authority and outlays; (2) total Federal revenues and the amount by which the aggregate level of revenues should be increased or decreased by reported bills and resolutions; (3) the budget surplus or deficit; (4) subtotals of new budget authority and outlays for nondefense and defense discretionary spending, direct spending, and interest; (5) the public debt; and (6) subtotals of new budget authority and outlays for emergencies for fiscal years to which title II of this Act applies. Amends the CBA to prohibit a joint resolution on the budget and its accompanying report from: (1) appropriating or providing, impounding, or rescinding any new budget authority; increasing any outlay; or increasing or decreasing any revenue (other than through reconciliation instructions); (2) establishing or changing directly (other than through reconciliation instructions) any program, project, or activity; (3) establishing or changing any limit or control over spending, outlays, receipts, or the surplus or deficit except those that are enforced through congressional rulemaking; or (4) amending any law except as provided under CBA provisions relating to permissible revisions of joint budget resolutions or enacting any provision of law that contains any matter not permitted to be included in such resolutions. Provides a point of order against consideration of any budget resolution or related amendment or conference report that contains matter not specified in content requirements. (Sec. 104) Removes a provision that provides for an adjustment of the allocation of discretionary spending in the House if the budget resolution is not adopted by April 15. Removes an exception which allows general appropriations bills in the House, after May 15, to be considered before the budget resolution has been agreed to. Eliminates a provision which exempts, after April 15, certain reported legislation which does not increase the deficit from a requirement that the budget resolution be adopted before consideration of budget-related legislation. Requires a three-fifths majority in the Senate to waive or suspend provisions requiring the budget resolution to be adopted before budget-related legislation is considered. Provides for expedited procedures upon presidential veto of the budget resolution. Authorizes the House or Senate majority leader to introduce a concurrent or joint budget resolution upon such veto. Discharges the Budget Committees from further consideration of the resolution if such resolution is not reported within five days of referral. Deems any agreed-to concurrent resolution to be the joint budget resolution for the applicable fiscal years. (Sec. 105) Changes CBA references to the concurrent resolution to the joint resolution. Title II: Reserve Fund for Emergencies - Repeals provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) regarding: (1) discretionary spending limits and emergency appropriations; and (2) direct spending and emergency legislation. (Sec. 205) Amends Federal provisions regarding the presidential budget to require such budget to include a reserve fund for emergencies. Requires the budget submission, in the case of budget authority requested for an emergency, to include a justification of the reasons that the emergency is an emergency consistent with the definition set forth under this Act. (Sec. 206) Amends the CBA to provide for adjustments in allocations for the amount of new budget authority or outlays and outlays flowing from budget authority after reporting of a joint budget resolution that provides budget authority for an emergency. Prohibits such adjustments from exceeding the amount reserved for emergencies established by this Act. Permits any such adjustment made by the Budget Committee chairmen to be placed before the committee for its consideration by a majority vote of committee members. Requires the amount set forth in the reserve fund for emergencies for budget authority for a fiscal year to equal the average of the enacted levels of budget authority for emergencies in the five fiscal years preceding the current year. Sets forth a formula for calculating the amount in the fund for outlays. Bases such amount on the average outlays flowing from new budget authority in the fiscal year that the budget authority was provided as well as on average outlays for the four years following such fiscal year. Sets forth procedures for the consideration of legislation that provides budget authority or increases outlays for an emergency in an amount exceeding the amount provided for in the budget resolution. Requires committees, when reporting legislation that provides budget authority for any emergency, to identify all provisions that provide such authority and the resulting outlays in the accompanying report or joint explanatory statement of managers. (Sec. 207) Includes up-to-date tabulations of amounts remaining in the reserve fund for emergencies in summary budget scorekeeping reports provided by the Budget Committees. (Sec. 208) Makes it out of order to consider an amendment to a budget resolution which changes the amount of budget authority and outlays set forth for the emergency reserve fund. Permits limitations on the contents of the budget resolution and the point of order against changing the budget authority and outlays for the emergency reserve fund to be waived or suspended only by a three-fifths majority in the Senate. (Sec. 209) Makes the amendments of this title effective only after the enactment of legislation changing or extending for any fiscal year the discretionary spending limits set forth in the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act or legislation reducing the amount of any sequestration under such Act by the amount of any reserve for any emergencies. Title III: Enforcement of Budgetary Decisions - Subtitle A: Application of Points of Order to Unreported Legislation - Applies a certain point of order against the consideration of unreported legislation in the House before the adoption of the budget resolution. Subtitle B: Compliance with Budget Resolution - Amends rule XIII of the Rules of the House to require committee reports to include a budget compliance statement prepared by the chairman of the Budget Committee. Subtitle C: Justification for Budget Act Waivers - Amends rule XIII of the Rules of the House to provide a point of order against consideration of any resolution from the Committee on Rules to consider any reported legislation which waives specified provisions of the CBA unless the report contains certain information on the provision proposed for waiver. Subtitle D: CBO Scoring of Conference Reports - Amends the CBA to provide for Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis and scoring of conference reports. Requires such analysis to include, for reported legislation and conference reports, a determination of whether the measure provides direct spending. Title IV: Accountability for Federal Spending - Subtitle A: Limitations on Direct Spending - Provides a point of order in the House and the Senate against consideration of legislation that: (1) provides direct spending for a new program unless such spending is limited to a period of ten or fewer fiscal years; or (2) authorizes the appropriation of new budget authority for a new program unless such authorization is specifically provided for a period of ten or fewer fiscal years. Removes provisions regarding points of order and legislation providing new entitlement authority. (Sec. 412) Amends rule XVIII of the Rules of the House to provide that, in the Committee of the Whole, an amendment to subject a new program providing direct spending to discretionary appropriations if offered by the chairman of the Budget or Appropriations Committees may be precluded from consideration only by the specific terms of a special House order. Excludes from the definition of "direct spending," for purposes of this paragraph, outlays flowing from new budget authority for a social security trust fund. Declares that the purpose of the following amendments is to hold the discretionary spending limits and allocations made to the Appropriations Committee harmless for legislation that offsets a new discretionary program with a designated reduction in direct spending. Amends the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act to require, if a provision of direct spending legislation is enacted that decreases direct spending for any fiscal year and is designated as an offset and specifically identifies an authorization of discretionary appropriations for a new program, the reductions in new budget authority and outlays resulting from such provision to be designated as an offset in specified CBO pay-as-you-go estimates. Excludes such offsets from such estimates. Requires, if an Act other than an appropriation Act includes provisions reducing direct spending and identifies those provisions as offsets, the adjustments to be an increase in the discretionary spending limits for budget authority and outlays in each fiscal year equal to such authority and outlay reductions, respectively, achieved by the specified offsets. Prohibits the adjustments for the budget year in which the offsetting provisions take effect from exceeding the amount of discretionary new budget authority provided for the new program in an Act making discretionary appropriations and the resulting outlays. Provides for: (1) adjustments to discretionary spending limits, allocations, and budgetary allocations resulting from programs for which offsets were designated and resulting outlays; and (2) reductions of committee allocations of new budget authority and outlays with respect to reported legislation containing provisions that decrease direct spending and are designated as offsets. Subtitle B: Enhanced Congressional Oversight Responsibilities - Amends rule X of the Rules of the House to require House committees, in developing oversight plans, to provide a specific timetable for review of laws, programs, or agencies within their jurisdiction. Requires such timetable to demonstrate that each law, program, or agency within a committee's jurisdiction will be reauthorized at least once every ten years. Removes a provision of such rule pertaining to procedures for consideration of legislation providing new entitlement authority which exceeds the appropriate allocation of budget authority. Requires the House Appropriations Committee to report at least once each Congress (currently, from time to time) on recommendations for terminating or modifying provisions of law which provide permanent budget authority. (Sec. 422) Amends the CBA to require the joint explanatory statement accompanying a conference report on a joint budget resolution that includes an allocation to a committee (other than the Appropriations Committee) of levels exceeding current law levels to set forth a justification for not subjecting any program to annual discretionary appropriations. Makes conforming amendments to provisions regarding the presidential budget submission and to House rules regarding committee consideration of legislation. (Sec. 424) Requires the Budget Committees, during the 107th Congress, to report results of a study on budget reform proposals. Subtitle C: Strengthened Accountability - Requires certain reports on legislation providing new budget authority or increases or decreases in revenues or tax expenditures to include CBO projections of how such legislation will affect levels of budget authority, outlays, revenue, or tax expenditures for the affected fiscal year and the ensuing nine (currently, four) fiscal years. Provides for ten-year (currently, four) CBO cost estimates of reported legislation as well. Amends rule XIII of the Rules of the House to require committee reports to contain cost estimates for each of 11 fiscal years. (Sec. 432) Repeals rule XXIII (relating to the establishment of the statutory limit on the public debt) of the Rules of the House. Title V: Budgeting for Unfunded Liabilities and Other Long-Term Obligations - Subtitle A: Budgetary Treatment of Federal Insurance Programs - Amends the CBA to establish a new title known as the Federal Insurance Budgeting Act of 2000. Requires the President's budget, beginning with FY 2007, to be based on the risk-assumed cost of Federal insurance programs. Defines "risk-assumed cost" as the net present value of the estimated cash flows to and from the Government resulting from an insurance commitment or modification. Requires the program accounts for such programs to pay: (1) the risk-assumed cost borne by the taxpayer to the financing account; and (2) actual insurance program administrative costs. Requires the financing accounts to: (1) receive premiums and other income; (2) pay all claims for insurance and receive all recoveries; and (3) transfer to the program account at least annually amounts necessary to pay administrative costs. Provides that a negative risk-assumed cost shall be transferred from the financing to the program account and from the program account to the general fund. Requires all payments by or receipts of the financing accounts to be treated in the budget as a means of financing. Permits insurance commitments to be made for FY 2007 and thereafter only to the extent that new budget authority to cover the risk-assumed cost is provided in advance in an appropriations Act. Prohibits modification of an outstanding commitment in a manner that increases the risk-assumed cost unless budget authority for the additional cost has been provided in advance. Makes such requirements inapplicable to insurance programs that constitute entitlements. Provides for re-estimations of risk-assumed cost in each subsequent year. Requires agencies with responsibility for Federal insurance programs to develop models to estimate risk-assumed cost by year through the budget horizon and to submit such models, all relevant data, justifications for critical assumptions, and annual projected risk-assumed costs to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with budget requests each year starting with the request for FY 2003. Directs OMB and CBO, after a comment period for interested persons, to revise the models, data, and major assumptions they would use to estimate the risk-assumed cost of Federal insurance programs. Makes such requirement inapplicable to an agency that is subject to statutory requirements to maintain a risk-based assessment system with a minimum level of reserves against loss and to assess insured entities for risk-based premiums. Requires the President's budget submissions and budgets and CBO's reports on the economic and budget outlook for FY 2004 through 2006 to estimate, for display purposes only, the risk-assumed cost of existing or proposed Federal insurance programs. Requires OMB, CBO, and the General Accounting Office to report to the Budget Committees on the advisability and appropriate implementation of this subtitle. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2006 to OMB and each agency responsible for administering a Federal program to carry out this subtitle. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow from, receive from, lend to, or pay the insurance financing accounts appropriate amounts. Establishes a financing account for each Federal insurance program on September 30, 2006. Appropriates to such accounts the amount of the risk-assumed cost of outstanding Federal insurance commitments as of the close of September 30, 2006. Terminates this subtitle on the last day of FY 2008. Subtitle B: Reports on Long-Term Budgetary Trends - Requires the President's budget submission to include: (1) an analysis based upon current law and one based upon the policy assumptions underlying the submission for every fifth year of the period of the 75 fiscal years beginning with the affected fiscal year of the estimated levels of total new budget authority, outlays, estimated revenues, surpluses, and deficits and, for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and all other direct spending, estimated levels of total new budget authority and outlays; and (2) a specification of underlying assumptions and a sensitivity analysis of factors that have a significant effect on the projections made in each analysis and a comparison of the effects of the two analyses on the economy. Establishes a conforming requirement for CBO's annual report to the Budget Committees on fiscal policy. Title VI: Baselines and Byrd Rule - Subtitle A: The Baseline - Revises required elements of the President's budget submission to include percentage changes between the current year and the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted for: (1) estimated expenditures and appropriations which are necessary to support the Government, with an exception for detailed budget estimates; (2) laws in effect when the budget is submitted and proposals in the budget to increase revenues as well as for each of the nine ensuing fiscal years; and (3) certain proposed appropriations and expenditures for legislation that would establish or expand Government activities or functions, with an exception for detailed budget estimates. Includes within the submission: (1) a comparison of levels of estimated expenditures and proposed appropriations for each function and subfunction in the current fiscal year and the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted, along with the proposed increase or decrease of spending in percentage terms for each function and subfunction; (2) a table on sources of growth in total direct spending under current law and as proposed in the submission for the budget year and the ensuing nine fiscal years; and (3) a comparison of the estimated level of obligation limitations, budget authority, and outlays for highways subject to discretionary spending limits set forth in the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act for the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted and the corresponding levels for such year under current law as adjusted. (Sec. 612) Amends the CBA to require the report accompanying the budget resolution to include: (1) a comparison of levels for the current fiscal year with proposed spending and revenue levels for subsequent fiscal years along with the proposed increase or decrease of spending in percentage terms for each function; and (2) a comparison of the proposed levels of new budget authority and outlays for the highway category for the budget year with the corresponding levels under current law as adjusted consistent with the anticipated revenue alignment adjustments made pursuant to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act. (Sec. 613) Includes similar requirements in certain CBO reports. (Sec. 614) Requires the OMB and CBO Directors, in making budgetary projections for years for which there are no discretionary spending limits, to assume discretionary spending levels at the levels for the last fiscal year for which such levels were in effect. Subtitle B: The Byrd Rule - Makes certain procedures (Byrd rule) that provide for the removal of extraneous matter in reconciliation legislation inapplicable to conference reports.
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 2000
Qualified Personal Service Corporations Clarification Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the criteria for determining whether a corporation is a qualified personal service corporation. Includes within the definition of qualified personal service corporation a qualifying corporation substantially all of whose stock is held by certain former employees. (Thus permitting such corporation to use the cash method of accounting.)
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to income averaging for farmers to take into account as negative taxable income, in the case of any prior taxable year, any excess of : (1) the deductions allowed for such taxable year reduced by the net operating loss for such year; over (2) the gross income for such year.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 2000
Agriculture Competition Enhancement Act of 2000 - Makes it unlawful for a business purchaser of livestock, poultry, or a basic agricultural commodity for (wholesale) resale, either unprocessed or processed, to acquire the voting assets of any person if: (1) the total amount of such assets or annual sales of each person exceeds specified limits; and (2) such acquisition would reduce competition so as have a negative effect on prices paid to producers. (Sec. 3) Requires such a purchaser filing a premerger notice under the Clayton Act to also file with the Secretary of Agriculture. Provides for: (1) public comment; and (2) review by the Secretary respecting such action's anticompetitive effects. (Sec. 4) Subjects such actions to specified enforcement provisions of the Clayton Act. (Sec. 5) Directs the Attorney General to establish in the Department of Justice an Office of Special Counsel for Agriculture to handle agricultural antitrust issues. (Sec. 6) Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study respecting whether: (1) the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration needs additional resources to monitor and investigate the competitive implications of meat packing industry practices; and (2) disparities exist in the Administration's authority respecting the poultry, meat, and pork industries.
United States · United States Congress · 12 April 2000
Farm Income Fairness Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from net earnings from self-employment: (1) certain farm rental income; and (2) payments under the environmental conservation acreage reserve program.
United States · United States Congress · 12 April 2000
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the presence of brain activity and spontaneous cardiac activity should be considered conclusive evidence for all legal purposes of the presence of human life, without regard to age, health, defects, or condition of dependency; (2) the absence of such activity, other than an irreversible cessation of these activities, should not be considered conclusive evidence for legal purposes that a human life is not present; and (3) the Constitution protects all human life in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 2000
Date Certain Tax Code Replacement Act - Prohibits the imposition of any tax by the Internal Revenue Code: (1) for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2004; and (2) in the case of any tax not imposed on the basis of a taxable year, on any taxable event or for any period after December 31, 2004. Excepts the: (1) tax on self-employment income (chapter 2 of the Code); (2) Federal Insurance Contributions Act (chapter 21 of the Code); and (3) Railroad Retirement Tax Act (chapter 22 of the Code). Establishes the National Commission on Tax Reform and Simplification to review: (1) the present structure and provisions of the Code; (2) whether the tax systems of other countries could provide more efficient and fair methods of funding government revenue requirements; (3) whether the income tax should be replaced with a tax imposed in a different manner or on a different base; and (4) whether the Code can be simplified, absent wholesale restructuring or replacement. Requires a Commission report to Congress on review results, with recommendations for Code reform and simplification. Terminates the Commission 90 days after such report. Authorizes appropriations (with interim funding). Declares that any new Federal tax system should be approved by Congress in its final form before July 4, 2004.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 2000
Constitutional Amendment - Requires any legislative measure changing the internal revenue laws to require the concurrence of two-thirds of the Members of each House voting and present, unless the legislative measure is determined not to increase the internal revenue by more than a de minimis amount. States that for the purposes of determining any increase in the internal revenue, there shall be excluded any increase resulting from the lowering of an effective rate of any tax. Permits Congress to waive such requirements when: (1) a declaration of war is in effect; or (2) the United States is engaged in military conflict which causes an imminent and serious threat to national security and is so declared by an adopted joint resolution. Prohibits any increase in the internal revenue enacted under such a waiver from being effective for longer than two years.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 2000
Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2000 - Title I: Penalties and Interest - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to move the failure to pay tax estimated tax penalty provisions from chapter 68 (Additions to the Tax, Additional Amounts, and Assessable Penalties) to chapter 67 (Determination of Interest Rate; Compounding of Interest) of the IRC while converting such current tax penalty provisions into interest provisions. Exempts from the interest penalty an underpayment of less than $2,000. (Sec. 102) Excludes from gross income interest paid on any tax overpayment. (Sec. 103) Repeals the failure-to-pay penalty. Imposes a five percent service charge for late-paying taxpayers not entering into an installment agreement. (Sec. 104) Permits the abatement of interest if a gross injustice would otherwise result. (Sec. 105) Permits making cash bond deposits to offset potential tax underpayments. Title II: Confidentiality and Disclosure - Makes the IRC the exclusive law governing the disclosure of returns and return information. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe related regulations. Sets forth related rules. (Sec. 202) Revises provisions concerning the definition of "Chief Counsel advice." (Sec. 203) Eliminates the requirement that a former spouse must make a written request to obtain collection information from a joint return. (Sec. 204) Prohibits examining the return of the representative of a taxpayer solely on the basis of the representative relationship. (Sec. 205) Limits disclosure of a nonparty's return information to that information relating to the resolution of a proceeding. (Sec. 206) Prohibits the public disclosure of a taxpayer's address and tax identification number with respect to accepted offers-in-compromise. (Sec. 207) Prohibits the disclosure of returns and return information to contractors unless specified requirements are met, including an annual review of a contractor to determine compliance. (Sec. 208) Establishes additional consent-to-disclose requirements, including requiring that such a consent designate a specific recipient. (Sec. 209) Requires a taxpayer to be notified by the Secretary if it is determined that the taxpayer's return has been disclosed without authorization. (Sec. 210) Permits the Secretary to use any means of mass communication to notify a taxpayer of an undelivered refund. Title III: Other Requirements - Exempts from the church-tax-inquiry provisions information disclosures related to tax exemption standards. (Sec. 302) Expands the availability of declaratory judgment procedures to tax-exempt organizations. (Sec. 303) Requires the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration's semi-annual report to list the ten most common employee misconduct complaints by category. (Sec. 304) Doubles the threshold for reporting refunds to the Joint Committee on Taxation. (Sec. 305) Requires reports concerning: (1) awards of costs and fees in administrative court proceedings; (2) penalty abatement; and (3) alternative means of communicating with taxpayers.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 2000
Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a comprehensive fraud audit of the Department of Education and report its results to specified congressional committees.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2000
IDEA Full Funding Act of 2000 - Amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to authorize funding to reach the Federal Government's goal of providing 40 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure to assist States and local educational agencies with the excess costs of educating children with disabilities. Authorizes appropriations for IDEA part B programs of assistance for education of all children with disabilities, in specified amounts for FY 2001 through 2010, and as necessary thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from self-employment net income certain conservation reserve program payments. Amends the Social Security Act to exclude such payments from the definition of "net earnings from self-employment."
![Official portrait of Rep. Nussle, Jim [R-IA-2]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/n000172_200.jpg)